A Sustainable Life …. What does it mean? Part 1
Well it means change, it means changing almost everything about the way we function, it means WAY more employment, it means some increases in costs of goods, and to a lesser degree some services.
The “Sustainable Life” approach involves shifting away from existing methods and in some cases existing industries and adopting new sustainable methods.
But it goes beyond that, it asks us to make our bodies and our minds sustainable. One we do through nutrition and physical activity, and the other we do through mental activity, and in doing so perhaps we create a healthier emotional and spiritual well-being in our society.
To begin with lets’ look at where we are now, the current paradigm; a real-life recent example. Here in Canada we have just agreed in principle to the Trans-Pacific-Partnership (TPP) and the current government, who signed off on the deal, have promised a to pay out $4.3-billion to farmers in wake of TPP deal.
$4.3 Billion to subsidize an industry that is producing excessive amounts of food that is not healthy, is a very disturbing choice. I realize that statement is tantamount to heresy (def; Heresy is any provocative belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs) in some corners of the country, and I understand why. We have been manipulated into believing that cow’s milk is healthy and that is simply untrue. That is not to say it is unhealthy, simply it is not healthy food. Think about it for a moment, we know butter, and ice-cream put on the pounds right? Ok so let’s be clear, cow’s milk does the same, and this is part of our Sustainable Life challenge.
We have so many things to undo.
To continue.
Rather than spend 4.3 billion on propping up an industry that provides a food for our population that is unhealthy, why not transition our farmers to a new way of farming? We live in an era where we have the technological abilities to make our food production and delivery incredibly efficient and healthy.
It begins with this:
My first block in the building blocks of Sustainable Life is to initiate a new farming approach on a scale unseen anywhere in the world, a scale that will create jobs, sustainable jobs, healthy lifestyles, build communities, allow for immigration because frankly we won’t have enough people to fill all the jobs, and make us all happier and healthier.
Biosphere farming: Whether it be in typical rectangular greenhouse, or geodesic domes, or Quonset hut style, we will build them to the point where they are more ubiquitous than a Tim Hortons coffee shop.
We will use geo-thermal heating, solar arrays for primary power, wind power where to do so is non-invasive, typically in the far north, we will grow our food organically, close to our markets, and year round. We will employ thousands and thousands to do this. We will create initiatives to build farm communities where workers and their families can live either right at the farming facility, or in the towns and villages nearby. Our rural communities will thrive on the influx of new workers to their local economies, our cities will be relieved of the stress of growth and we will offer a VERY important alternative lifestyle to those who do not function well in the world of the modern city.
The positives that come from this approach to a Sustainable Life are just the beginning. The long haul truckers we are inundated with on our highways will be reduced dramatically, our food will be fresher, we will not be poisoning our land and water-sheds with toxic pesticides and herbicides, we will use less water, we will not be supporting the likes of Monsanto and their dictatorial approach to controlling how we feed ourselves.
This is something I have had on my mind for decades, and I am finally presenting it now as I feel it is something that really needs to happen before we get so far entrenched in the corporate approach to farming that all our independent farmers are tossed out.
This approach will not work for all our growing needs, but it will work for much of imported vegetable needs, and we will be in control.
The start-up costs are HUGE, and the ROI, (business speak for all the economists out there, Return on Investment) is likely to be decades, but last time I checked we are hoping we will all be here in decades.
We have a current model of farming that is requiring band-aid treatments every year, our food is getting less healthy and requires washing several times to clean it of the pesticides, we have farming practices that rape the land and destroy the eco system in the process. We have mega corporations trying to secure a business model at our expense and in the process limit our freedom of choice. Monsanto sues seed sorters in the USA, these are old time professions where a seed sorter comes to your farm at harvest time and removes seeds from your crop so you have seeds for next year. Monsanto has sued these professionals out of business. There are perhaps 6 left in all of the USA.
It is time to consider the costs of not doing anything, $4.3 billion in this one instance, to prop up an industry that is no longer relevant.
Trudeau spews his message, Real Change…well this is what Real Change looks like… turning our expanding economy model into a Sustainable Life economy.
End of Part 1
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