The Reiki Cafe 

Just read an article in the local paper concerning the loss of healthy soil for agriculture. The data came from a well respected research professor. Ultimately, it will not matter what political party is in office, who won the World Series, who is bombing who or the price of fuel if there is no food to eat. From time to time a story will hit the headlines & expose the toxic chemicals in our food, the pollution of soil, water & air, etc. But very quickly the story will be lost to the deeper sections of the paper, no longer the focus of the headlines. "Earth has lost nearly a third of its arable land in the last 50 years". Think about it... as old as this planet is, a third lost in 50 years!! 17% of the topsoil is lost every year. New ways of sustainable agriculture are needed now. Remember this issue and make it known to as many people as you can, especially politicians. This issue deserves more attention than it is getting.

peace & joy,
holobon

holobon,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- another aspect of this matter is that the USA, for example, produces more food than it can consume (or so it is said) - some farmers can get so much production from an acre that they cannot sell it all at a profit - thus goverment subsidies from Uncle Sam - even cases where farmers are paid not grow more than a certain amount of a crop - or not grow it at all for a given year

- but with all this surplus we export (for sale or food relief, etc) we still have people in this country who cannot get three decent meals a day (or two - or even one)

- this is, of course, one of the ironies of our society - we give food away to other countries where famine is high yet there is little distributed for our poor

- why?? Perhaps becasue there is no profit (money or political or otherwise) in doing so??

- another irony is that it is farmers (as well as the logging and mining industries) that are eating up the rain forest and other ecological necessities if life, including human life, is to be extended on this planet beyond a few hundred more generations

- and birth control remains a major issue - afterall, how are people going to feed so many?? We will not only be razing all the forests for farming but extincting thousands of species of other life in the doing

- whew!!

- so, having said that maybe I can go out and look for a new car - maybe one of those big horse-power, tank-sized SUVs - I mean someone has to use up the fossil fuel so why not me??

- get it while you can, right???

bagl

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

Hi Holobon,
It is so sad to think that our children may not have enough food. I read that the soil we do have does have enough nutrients in it anymore to sustain. Our lands have been over farmed, over processed so that there is no time for them to roll over and regain their nutrients.

Sylvia Brown has made a prediction that in the no so distant future we will be living in domed cities and our food wil be grown in domed areas. Hydroponics is also a way of farming that has not been given its due.

As we kill our mother earth so do we kill ourselves.

Hugs,
Tracey

Dear Firekeeper,
What issue is ever simple? All these little threads weave the larger web. We Americans are so used to going to a supermarket & picking out what we want with no connection to the process that put the bounty there. Each time I see a news story in which an immigrant remarks on how much is in our groceries compared to where they came from....well, I appreciate that reminder of how much I take for granted.
Im not a doomsayer but gee, I can remember these issues being raised when I was in grade school...why arent we making progress? We can send a gizmo to Pluto but.....

peace & joy,
holobon

Dear Dakota,
Sometimes I wonder if the "powers that be" are so convinced that they will find another planet that can sustain human life that dealing with earth's vanishing resources isnt needed....they will be on the first rocket out of blighted Earth to the New Land! God forbid, a planet of politicians & the rich & famous! Hmmm, the meek shall inherit the earth?

peace & joy,
holobon

holobon,

Hi,

You said, in part, "We can send a gizmo to Pluto but....."

So, it seems to me that everyone's preoccupation with themselves, their careers, acquisition of wealth, etc, etc suggests that perhaps there is no gene for Compassion; that it must be learned.

Not doing so well, are we.

And, accordng to a list of "funnies" I received via E-mail from my bother, god\dess must like selfish people because s\he made so many of them. I am not much on pure creationism. Yet if one goes with 'intelligent design' how come there are so many stupid and selfish people around? Nothing intelligent about that.

LOL

No, I will go with the idea that the process of Natural Selection has been the operating factor in our getting ourselves into the state we are in. How?? Selfish people naturally select those who will abide or even abet the selfishness, andsoforth.

LOL

Cheers (a cherry thingamabob on top),

RC

If they all go to another planet I will happily struggle here!
Tracey

Dear Holobon,
This is why I support a local organic farmer who operates a small farm. She uses practices that sustain the health of the soil. In this small way, we can help. It is the large megafarms that are mis-using the soil. It may be a thimble full in the ocean, but it is what I can do.
Peace,
Feather

Dear RC,
As a child, we were taught that we descended from Adam & Eve and I remember the confusion when first confronted with Darwinism, wondering why apes were still around & not in various stages of evolutionary development :)
Later when I read that apes could be taught sign language & communicate emotions the realization hit me like a ton of bricks that we know very little about the world we live in & the life forms that inhabit it. And we are the most highly evolved of species? Yikes!
Now, after 54 years on this planet, I think that it is quite likey that we descended from animals...we do indeed behave like them much of the time and only rarely like benevolent Gods or spiritual entities.

peace & joy,
holobon

Dear Feather,
Good for you. Have seen locals trying to make it with produce stands to no avail....the chain grocery & WalMart Superstore are too convenient...when I grew up we had local farm produce available almost year round including a cider mill. I took it for granted!

peace & joy,
holobon

holobon,

Hi,

It is quite unlikely that any person will actually be witness to the "evolution" of the more complex species, mammals in particular and especially the apes as the process normally takes thousands of years and none of us live that long (duh). LOL

We have, however, seen evolution (and adaptation) in other species. Insects become resistent to insecticides; plants become resistent to folicides; giraffes develop lips and tongues that are tougher so they can continue to browse the thorny trees they love; trees which have, also in a very short time, evolved longer thorns with more unpleasant substances on them (to which the giraffes have remarkably adapted in just a few years; this has recently been documented by some folks studying the the process (which is evolution in action).

Yes, chimps learn sign and seem to communicate some pretty complex stuff. But I am not sure they are yet having existential crises (at least not that they have communicated or we understood).

Cheers,

RC

Dear RC,
Uh, yeah...Id have to agree that there seem to be no human witnesses to our evolution... ( except perhaps the Abobominal Snowman & the like) but, hey if chimps can use sign language, why not ask them?! Could be they know better than to "talk" since we tend to put them in cages & experiment on them.....
Hmmmm, where is Roddy McDowall when you need him?

peace & joy,
holobon

holobon,

Hi,

I wonder how one asks a chimpanzee if s\he has wondered about the meaning of life? We may be able to 'create' sign language gestures to ask this but would also need to teach signs with which they would then respond at an abstreact level (if they even grasp the matter at all). Or, if the chimps developed their own 'signs' it would be up to us to try to decipher them (not likely an easy task if the sign was for a concept such as anomie) LOL

What I do not recall is whether the chimps who have learned sign have taught it to their off-spring or whether the chimps have begun to use signs among themselves or developed a few of their own signs. But I suppose such information could be found on-line or through contact with the Yerkes Center in Atlanta, for example.

Cheers,

RC

Otoharo!

I grew up on a farm and practice methods of enriching the soil of my garden. When it came time to sell our farm, I tried to talk my father in letting me have the 30 acres that amounted to my share, but he had adapted to the point of view that farms must now be humungus, and insisted on selling to our neighbor.

I do not have an answer, except that the natural process is bringing us to our next universe wide event, the big shift. What I know about that is that our population will be desimated, only about 2% will survive. Thus there will be land for growing our food.

finality

Just saw an article about a new book by Frances Moore Lappe (remember Diet for a Small Planet?)...the book is called Democracy's Edge. In the article the Lappe was writing about her book, she talks about how, in order to save the planet, people are going to have to learn to split from the "tribe", take a stand even though they are afraid and speak the Truth. It sounds like a fascinating book. It is exactly what I see the small organic farmer doing.(with great challenge, I might add.) Lappe explains how we are hard wired to want to fit in with the tribe (in primitive times, it was critical to survival), but now we need to see that the feeling of fear means we are on the edge of personal growth, not in danger of being eaten by a wild animal. An interesting concept. I think I will see if the book is in our library.
Peace,
Feather

Dear Feather,
Sounds like it might be an interesting read...if you find it in your library, please share your impressions.
Tribal ties are hard to break & society does not encourage it. A Reiki person once told me that the time of the "Lone Wolf" is over. If you do not accept the group think, the group gets nervous. We forget that historically social change often is the result of a radical idea, thought or concept. :)

peace & joy,
holobon