<I am Human, I'm American, and I'm Addicted to Oil... The Oil Drum The Tata Nano Strikes Back--Does Jevons' Paradox Apply to Productivity, Too?>
<DrumBeat: February 4, 2008 DrumBeat DrumBeat: February 6, 2008>

185 comments on DrumBeat: February 5, 2008

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Show without comments | PDF version

Samsara on February 5, 2008 - 10:50am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

We've gotten so far away from the land and the natural rhythm of the seasons that most people have no idea where these traditional customs come from any more.

Worse,
We've gotten so far away from the land and the natural rhythm of the seasons that most people have no idea where FOOD comes from anymore.

The acorn tree syndrome strikes again

http://www.energybulletin.net/39860.html

Actually, I’m not all that surprised. A friend once confessed to me her own early ignorance of nature. It’s in one of my books. She had decided that it was high time she learned how to grow her own food. She planted lots of potatoes. They grew wonderfully. Then suddenly, inexplicably, as she related the story, the plants died. Not a potato had been produced, she sadly told her friends. Surveying the scene of desolation, she tripped over a bulge in the soil. What’s this? It was a potato as big as a softball. She examined the soil more closely. Why, the ground was full of potatoes!

Dylan: Idiot Winds

...
Idiot wind, blowing through the buttons of our coats,
Blowing through the letters that we wrote.
Idiot wind, blowing through the dust upon our shelves,
We're idiots, babe.
It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.
eric blair on February 5, 2008 - 11:58am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

that most people have no idea where FOOD comes from anymore.

On a business trip out west on the taxi's radio the local station was playing the audio from a town meeting were one of the elected officials stated how she did not feel the taking of farmland for development was a non-issue because she could just go to a different grocery store.

Oh and in other news - Nixon Food Dude dead.
http://leftinaboite.blogspot.com/2008/02/earl-butz-has-died-at-98.html

In his time heading the Department of Agriculture, Butz revolutionized federal agricultural policy and reengineered many New Deal era farm support programs. His mantra to farmers was "get big or get out," and he urged farmers to plant commodity crops like corn "from fencerow to fencerow." These policy shifts coincided with the rise of major agribusiness corporations, and the declining financial stability of the small family farm.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.
CrystalRadio on February 5, 2008 - 3:18pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Hi Eric, I don't think that elected official would have impressed Wendell Berry either. I came across his 'The Unsettling of America' the other day, talk about being ahead of that oft mentioned curve. The book was published in 1977, before, I am guessing, half of those posting here were born (no criticism of youth intended here, I merely used that as a point of reference, if any criticism then just of self for not having come across him sooner). Very interesting what he has to say about Butz's 'revolution' and the destruction of not only agriculture but community. Good stuff.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

185 comments on DrumBeat: February 5, 2008

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Show without comments | PDF version