Vandana Shiva: Tradition, Biodiversity and Sustainable Living

Distributism: Economics as if People Mattered

This is a rather long article by Dr. Peter Chojnowski on the economic theory of Distributism.  It is well worth the read if you have the time.  For those of you that want to know more about Distributism, I have posted a link.

In truly “prophetic” utterances, the analysis of present circumstances, along with a consideration of the laws written into human nature which manifest themselves in history, can yield a prediction concerning the general outline of things to come. This judgment of the well-informed and perceptive mind, is somewhat undermined by only one factor. The universe and the “universe” of human society in which the inherent laws written into human nature by its Creator reveal themselves in historical events, is also a universe which contains free creatures who are undetermined as regards the means they can employ to achieve their specifically human end. Human freedom inserts a variable in the material necessity of the universe. This contingency and variability has its ultimate source in the spirituality of the human soul. It is precisely on account of his materialistic rejection of the human soul, that Karl Marx, for instance, could make such ridiculously precise predictions as to the “necessary” movement of economic, political, and social history. This does not mean, however, that there is not an inherent natural law which determine which human endeavors will “work” and which will lead to catastrophe. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, there were a group of scholars, theologians, philosopher, social critics, and poets, who predicted the inevitable demise of the Capitalist economic system which was just developing in Continental Europe, but had been operative for 100 years in England. When you read their works, especially the British authors of the early 20th century, here we include Hilaire Belloc, G.K. Chesterton, and Arthur Penty, one is struck by the fact that their analysis are more valid today than they were 70 or 80 years ago, their predictions more likely to be imminently fulfilled. What they predicted was nothing less than the collapse of the Capitalist system. In the case of Belloc, in his book The Servile State, it was predicted that capitalism would soon transform itself into an economic and social system which resembled the slave economies of the pre-Christian and early Christian eras. Why did they predict such a collapse or inevitable transformation? In their writings, many reasons are given, however, we can narrow them down to three. The first, they referred to as the “capitalist paradox.” The paradox is a consequence of capitalism being an economic system which, in the long run, “prevents people from obtaining the wealth produced and prevents the owner of the wealth from finding a market.” Since the Capitalist strives both for ever greater levels of productionand lower wages, eventually “the laborer who actually produces say, boots cannot afford to buy a sufficient amount of the boots which he himself has made.” This leads to the “absurd position of men making more goods than they need, and yet having less of those goods available for themselves than they need.”

Seven Beautiful Spots Saved by the Environmental Movement

To celebrate Earth Day, visit a spot that was almost flooded, polluted, or paved over.

By Jennifer Weeks|Posted Friday, April 19, 2013, at 7:47 AM

Storm King Mountain on the banks of the Hudson River in New York

Courtesy of Ahodges7/Wikimedia Commons

The first Earth Day, in 1970, was inspired by anger. The nation was a mess. Four million gallons of oil from a blown offshore well were smearing California beaches. Flames leapt from the surface of Ohio’s Cuyahoga River. Bald eagles, our national symbol, had been winnowed by hunting and chemical pollution to a few hundred breeding pairs in the lower 48 states. It’s no wonder that 20 million people took to the streets.

Today that passion has morphed into guilt. Our lifestyles are driving global climate change, and developing countries want to grow and consume like wealthy nations. Earth Day has become a day for penance—picking up trash, turning off lights—and debating whether the environmental movement has lost its way.

Introspection is healthy within limits. And yes, saving the planet is more complicated now than it seemed 40 years ago. But analysis and what-ifs shouldn’t obscure a simple point: Without an environmental movement, the United States would be a lesser country. As Hemingway wrote in For Whom the Bell Tolls, “The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for.” Many people have lived out those words by saving beautiful spots that otherwise might be paved over, polluted, or flooded today. Here are seven examples to be thankful for, all open for visits year-round and prime destinations to enjoy on Earth Day.

Is Organic Better? Ask a Fruit Fly

When Ria Chhabra, a middle school student near Dallas, heard her parents arguing about the value of organic foods, she was inspired to create a science fair project to try to resolve the debate.

Three years later, Ria’s exploration of fruit flies and organic foods has not only raised some provocative questions about the health benefits of organic eating, it has also earned the 16-year-old top honors in a national science competition, publication in a respected scientific journal and university laboratory privileges normally reserved for graduate students.

Photo Researchers

Courtesy of Ria ChhabraRia Chhabra stands in front of her project.

The research, titled “Organically Grown Food Provides Health Benefits toDrosophila melanogaster,” tracked the effects of organic and conventional dietson the health of fruit flies. By nearly every measure, including fertility, stress resistance and longevity, flies that fed on organic bananas and potatoes fared better than those who dined on conventionally raised produce.

While the results can’t be directly extrapolated to human health, the research nonetheless paves the way for additional studies on the relative health benefits of organic versus conventionally grown foods. Fruit fly models are often used in research because their short life span allows scientists to evaluate a number of basic biological effects over a relatively brief period of time, and the results provide clues for better understanding disease and biological processes in humans.

For her original middle-school science project, Ria evaluated the vitamin C content of organic produce compared with conventionally farmed foods. When she found higher concentrations of thevitamin in organic foods, she decided she wanted to take the experiment further and measure the effects of organic eating on overall health.

She searched the Internet and decided a fruit fly model would be the best way to conduct her experiment. She e-mailed several professors who maintained fly laboratories asking for assistance. To her surprise, Johannes Bauer, an assistant professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, responded to her inquiry.

Seeds of Change: Shifting National Agricultural Policies

“The only way we’re going to… change the most basic attitude of policy-makers… is for you and me to become the policy-makers, taking charge of every aspect of our food system – from farm to fork,” said Jim Hightower, the former agriculture commissioner of Texas.[1]

The need for us to become the policy-makers to create a just and sustainable food supply chain is urgent, because in the hands of the US government it has become increasingly unjust and unsustainable. Over the past 50 years, agricultural policies that once supported small- and mid-sized farmers have been whittled away. As a result, more than 100 family farms go out of business every week.[2] The government has instead turned food production over to agribusiness and allowed large firms to buy up small producers and traders. Currently, in the pork, poultry, beef, and grain markets, the biggest four firms control more than half the market share. Three companies control 90% of the massive global grain trade.

Agribusiness subsidies: lining whose pockets?
People everywhere are stepping up to the plate to force food and agriculture policies to serve us, not multinational corporations. Before looking at some advances and victories, let’s explore ways in which government support has shifted from farmers to some of the world’s biggest corporations.

Sunday Prayer

SOUL AND THE OLD WOMAN

What is the soul? Consciousness.  The more awareness, the
deeper the soul, and when

such essence overflows, you feel a sacredness around.  It's 
so simple to tell one who

puts on a robe and pretends to be a dervish from the real
thing.  We know the taste

of pure water.  Words can sound like a poem but not have
any juice, no flavor to

relish.  How long do you look at pictures on a bathhouse
wall?  Soul is what draws

you away from those pictures to talk with the old woman
who sits outside by the door

in the sun.  She's half blind, but she has what soul loves
to flow into.  She's kind; she weeps.

She makes quick personal decisions, and laughs so easily.

- RUMI -

‘Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation’ by Michael Pollen

Joe Yonan, the Washington Post’s Food and Travel editor reviews Michael Pollen’s latest book ‘Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation:’

Why bother cooking? The reasons to skip it are stacked as high as the microwavable meals in a Costco freezer case. You don’t have time, of course (or you think you don’t); that’s the big one. But you also don’t do it as well as the professionals, so it’s tempting to let them handle it for you. Or at least let them give you a head start in the form of meal-assembly shops, cake mixes, and canned, frozen and pre-chopped ingredients.

Michael Pollan thinks you should bother, and not just as a fashionable exercise in hipsterdom. His latest book, “Cooked,” is a powerful argument for a return to home cooking of the sort that doesn’t begin with an attempt to find the perforated opening.

(Penguin Press) – “Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation” by Michael Pollan