In Wake of Drought, Cows Eating Gummy Worms

English: brightly-coloured sprinkles.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Corn crops were decimated by a severe drought last summer, pushing prices to a precipitous high. So farmers have had to get creative about what they feed their cattle. Some common solutions: chocolate bars, rainbow sprinkles, gummy worms, and, yes, cookies.

I hope these cattlemen realize that there’s plenty of corn in gummy worms and rainbow sprinkles.  This a clever stop-gap measure, but certainly not sustainable.

When Corn Costs Soar, Let Cows Eat Cake (Wired Magazine)

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Economic Collapse in Greece Leads to Deforestation

Tens of thousands of trees have disappeared from parks and woodlands this winter across Greece, authorities said, in a worsening problem that has had tragic consequences as the crisis-hit country’s impoverished residents, too broke to pay for electricity or fuel, turn to fireplaces and wood stoves for heat.

Wood was humanity’s primary source of energy for thousands of years, and still is an critical source of energy in “developing” nations. Expect wood, and hence deforestation stories, to regain its importance in the global energy economy. And start planting trees.

Greeks Raid Forests in Search of Wood to Heat Homes

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What is the Agrocollapse?

I stumbled on the term “agrocollapse” in fairly typical fashion.  Collapse is a concept drawing a lot of attention and discussion these days…and just as we’ve built out a lot of words by putting the word “agro” in front of them (agroforestry, agroindustry, etc.), agrocollapse seemed like a compelling and worthwhile concept.

What really set me forward on the concept, however, was when I attended a sustainable agriculture conference in November of 2012.  As is often the case at these events, many familiar faces and old hands were in attendance.  The topic was “How to Feed 9 Billion”.  The agenda was surprisingly tame: soil ecology, improved grazing management, plant breeding, fruit tree production, and the like.  Few of the presenters addressed the really tough questions, like What happens to sustainable ag as fossil fuel depletion continues?  Why aren’t we feeding 100 million people using these techniques now, instead of talking about 9 billion?  How can we really do any of the things we’re talking about on the scale we’re imagining when most of the land is in the hands of the top 1%?  None of these questions were on the agenda.  After all, we wouldn’t want to make people think too hard, and we certainly wouldn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.

The one presenter who did address the issue of land reform was from Latin America; of course, the circumstance would require a latino to feel culturally comfortable with the topic, as land reform has been a powerful revolutionary force in Latin America for at least 100 years.  For him, the topic is not so taboo as it is here in the United States.

As the conference progressed, I began in private conversations to press people about my concerns.  Why aren’t we talking about these things?  After all of our technical achievements over the years, why aren’t we providing for a greater portion of the nation’s food supply?  Do we really believe that we’ll just gradually win, because our way is better, and we will just replace industrial agriculture with sustainable agriculture, the same way one replaces an old pair of shoes with a new pair?  Inevitably, the response that I got was generally the same: sooner or later, the industrial agricultural model is going to collapse.  And be replaced by what?  By us, who barely have the man-power and the land to feed 30 million people?  And what will happen to our movement as the beating heart of our country’s food supply implodes?  Will we even have the fuel to get our products to market?  Are we preparing ourselves for the collapse of the industrial food system, so that our own systems have the resilience to continue during the collapse of the industrial model and beyond?

These questions, I came to realize, are the questions of the agrocollapse.  It is frightening and alarming that the general public is not grappling with the great dilemmas of our time; it is downright Apocalyptic that even the sustainable agriculture community is not able to do so.

My own construction of agrocollapse is multi-faceted: it is a set of scenarios for thinking about the future, a series of data points from the present to improve our understanding, and perhaps most importantly, it is a developing set of strategies for thriving under difficult circumstances.

But it is also a process underway in the real world, one that runs parallel to the slow and step-wise decline of industrial civilization as it slides down the slope of energy descent.  Agrocollapse is not a simultaneous global catastrophe, and it is certainly not something that occurs in isolation from the many other social, economic, political, and natural forces that shape our world.  It is driven by financial collapse, peak oil, climate change, war, and social revolution; therefore, much like climate change and peak oil, it impacts different groups differently at different times.

Some may benefit, at least temporarily, from its effects.  Just as oil companies benefit from price spikes associated with peak production, and hedge funds benefit from rampant speculation and volatility in collapsing financial markets, so too do industrial agricultural producers benefit from high commodity prices resulting from similar phenomena.  Others may be devastated by its effects, like the rancher or pastoralist who is is forced to cull and destock the herd as a result of climate disruption and drought.

The pace of agrocollapse, and collapse in general, will be tempered by global connectivity and massive investments in maintaining the status quo; many have argued that the former is a vulnerability of the current system, but in fact global connectivity has acted as a buffer against localized collapse.  After a catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, aid poured into the country, unevenly and marred by bungling and corruption, to be sure, but the flow of resources certainly helped to mitigate the worst effects of the disaster.  The case is similar around the world: a desert community imports fossil fuels to run electric pumps during years of drought (Phoenix), refugees of seasonal floods are provided with tents, food, and medicine (Staten Island).  Manufactured goods, energy, and human resources move around the world at amazing speeds and with incredible efficiency; thus the pace of collapse is slow and uneven, straining our resources, which spurs our descent, but never quite resulting in immediate and global Armageddon.

The questions of the agrocollapse will be the main theme of this blog moving forward.  If we think, and plan, and prepare, perhaps we will preserve the vital elements of permaculture, and some critical manufactured technologies, so that our children and grandchildren will inherit a world that is livable and comfortable, and their society will be one that is aware of our history and the greatest elements of our cultural legacy.  This is our task.

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Agroblogger Lives Again

Agroblogger.com was a site I created in 2005.  It was a time when it seemed there was some hope that humans would make some proactive changes towards a more just and sustainable society; true, the Bush administration was waging imperial wars with impunity, but high speed Internet was still a relatively new phenomenon, blogs were springing up across the webspace at breathtaking speed, and there seemed to be significant momentum towards real action on global climate change.  In the United States at least, there still seemed to be some semblance of the rule of law and democracy.

In retrospect, this was mostly an illusion, since completely shattered by the spotlight of a globally connected citizen media, which has illuminated decades of corruption, brutality, and larceny on the part of power elites.  Concurrently, we have collectively led ourselves down a dark and difficult path, addicted to an energy source and cultural lifestyle that maintains our standard of living while it destroys the biosphere that sustains us.

At the present moment, various historical forces are converging in a crisis of civilization.  Thoughtful observers and intellectuals, all with different backgrounds and expertise, recognize the nature of our predicament.  The future stinks of entropy and decay, driven by financial corruption, peak resources, and environmental collapse.  An inexplicable cultural malaise exacerbates our predicament, as large swaths of the population withdraw into varying combinations of grief: denial, bargaining, anger, depression.  This cultural sickness is particularly insidious and alarming; it prevents us from addressing our circumstances using the tools of science, engineering, and social discourse.

Clearly, proactive social and political reform is not on the menu for 21st century humanity.  So we will adapt, just as the proto-humans of Africa adapted to the warming and drying climate of Africa, just as their Cro Magnon offspring adapted to the Ice Age of Paleolithic Europe.

But adaptation will require thoughtful observation.  And we must try not to lose too much along the way.  Preserving our cultural and technological heritage for future generations is a noble and worthy task.  The stakes are high.  Determination and hard work will not be enough to succeed.  Much will depend on the nature and rapidity of our descent.  Hopefully, good luck won’t be in short supply.

I used this space as a writing platform for about six years.  Previous posts, dating to January 2010, are still available.  The most worthwhile posts are probably the ones about Bolivia, though they are likely to appeal to a limited audience.  I also wrote a great deal about open source appropriate technology (OSAT), at a time when this concept was mostly just a good and interesting idea.  Now, with 3-D printing going mainstream, our community discussions about OSAT seem prescient and timely, though the trend was fairly easy to predict.

Sometime in 2011 or 2012, I let the domain name expire.  It was quickly picked up by an agriculturally-minded blogger somewhere in East Asia.  The domain name became available again just at a time when I felt I needed it back.  So I rebuilt the old site.  Other Agrobloggers exist elsewhere on the Internet, notably on Twitter.  For what little it’s worth, I’m fairly certain that I was the first.

In the world of blogs, this one has been around for a long time.  Most don’t make it past the six month mark, as the dabblers quickly lose interest and the serious writers get subsumed by larger online publications.  Moving forward, however, the tone and focus of this blog is likely to be very different than in the past.  I am primarily concerned with the concept of agrocollapse (expect more on this topic shortly).  Other older themes, insofar as they relate to agrocollapse, are sure to surface: open source appropriate tech, 3-D printing, and gardening.  And any trips I make to Bolivia, which are likely in the cards in the not-too-distant future, will certainly be reflected in my writings and observations.  Agrocollapse.  A dark theme in a world that has grown darker, and diminished.  But my message is actually one of action and hope, grounded in the knowledge that the children of the world need us to preserve the legacy of civilization.

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A Vicious Hangover

On the eve of Obama’s first State of the Union address, the left is waking up from its mass psychological hysteria, only to find that too many hits on the Obamamania crack pipe have left the country penniless, warring, and demoralized.  A vicious hangover indeed.  In a recent article, Pscyhologist Bruce Levine disccuses the causes and consequences of a population that has been kicked in the teeth one time too many.

Michael Moore is the perfect poster boy for the crack addicted leftist wonk.  To make this point, first have a look at my pre-election blog post about Moore, written about 14 months ago.  And now, in a recent interview on DemocracyNow!, Moore says:

  “…the Democrats are essentially a bunch of wimps. They don’t have the guts. They don’t have the courage of their own convictions. They’re disgusting. I’m embarrassed. I want really nothing to do with them.”

Really?  Just 14 or so months after Moore implored us to vote for Obama, now he finds Obama and his party “disgusting”?  How is anybody supposed to take this guy seriously?

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The Haitian Scramble

Less than 24 hours after the announcement of a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, the global fundraising machine has begun turning it’s wheels.  Those companies and NGO’s in the business of disaster are licking their chops to make Haiti the next massive disaster-relief Ponzi scheme for the rich.

Haiti’s democratic revolution, inspired the by ideals of Republicanism in France and the United States, saw black slaves revolting against their French slavemasters; since then,  successive US governments have attacked, embargoed, sanctioned, sabotaged, and meddled in Haitian politics for over two centuries.  This international skullduggery was motivated partly by racism and partly by a desire to preserve the ideological fabric of a democratic slave society.

Even today, US policy towards Haiti is no different from the imperial mindset of the 19th century.  Naomi Klein’s book the Shock Doctrine could not be more relevant, and a fascinating discussion on the C-Realm Podcast this week touches on this theme as well.  But the question Klein’s book does not answer is this: How many times can a society be shocked and neo-liberally restructured before despairing helplessness and total genocide commence?  Perhaps with Haiti, we are about to find out.

That said, and notwithstanding the utter grimness of the situation, there is still much we can do.  Donate to good organizations that are small, on the ground, have local liasons, and represent your ethics.  I donated to Architecture for Humanity, a small open source architecture NGO that has been doing phenomenal work for many years now.  And pray for the families so that their suffering is eased.

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The Radical Permaculturalist

Permaculture is a design science. It can be studied, and thus internalized. When done so successfully, our thinking is transformed. The world is a garden, with potentially infinite yields. This is the basis for radical changes in human behavior.

Radicalism is distasteful to the thoughtful amongst us? It is because it now requires redefinition. Radical is now embodied in the most simple of gestures; in what appeals most forcefully to the Divine within us: our sense of justice, beauty, humility, intuition, aesthetics, and love. These are, and have always been, the tools of personal transformation.

And so, they are radical. In a world of mass production, rampant consumerism, crushing poverty and delusional ideology, the simplest of gestures are the most radical.

The seed is a fitting metaphor. Put it in soil, water it, give it light, nurture it, and it will grow. It is constrained by natural law, limited by the resources of sunlight, water, and soil nutrients; yet it yields measurable returns, producing more seeds, and the fruit in which they are encased. The human nurtures the seed, so that in turn the seed will nurture the human.

There is reciprocity, and there are limitations; in the care of a thoughtful gardener, the seed resists commodification. It is antithetical to the designs of the derivative traders, who require infinite growth, limitless profits, and endless commodification.

The permaculturalist does not reject the law of diminishing returns. Instead, this law is embraced, and then sidestepped. A tomato reaches its optimal rate of return, then drops off because of pressure from garden snails. The farmer reaches for his gun, the permacultarist reaches for his ducks. The ducks eat the snails, and the humans, the ducks, and the tomatoes thrive. Limitations are removed through synergy and imagination, not through the brute force of poisons and machines.

The measuring stick for all of this can be seen in the light of a child’s eyes. Thus it is void of ideology and fanaticism. That which strengthens the light is good. By definition, it is radical. That which dims the light threatens our existence.

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Permaculture the Schools

The clock is still ticking, and collapse continues unabated. Most are oblivious to the true nature of the progression, what it means, why it’s happening, and most importantly, what we should do about it.

But the answer is simple, and it’s right in front of us. It’s so simple, in fact, that most people will not accept it. The answer is this: we must turn our schools into organic farms; as many of them as we can, in the shortest possible time.

By doing so, we have the potential to address, if not outright solve, almost every pressing social issue of our age. In a short time, every community in the country will reduce its carbon footprint dramatically. Education will be reborn and reinvented, with children learning and applying hands-on skills that respond to their physical, emotional, and intellectual needs. Every discipline is welcome and included: woodworking, mathematics, chemistry, biology, engineering, art, and architecture. All of it is applied to real world problems that our communities must address in a responsible and proactive manner.

Issues of animal cruelty, environmental destruction, and good nutrition will be placed into a context of critical thinking and careful reflection. Standardized tests will be exposed as a fraud, the product of a cruel and twisted logic on the part of politicians and planners.

Children will become ambassadors for the cause of local food. They will take the seed that we plant, they will water and nurture it and make it grow. They will open the eyes of the ones they love, millions of people across the country, to the promise and the possibility of a national renewal. Our children will show us the way in a leaderless and silent revolution.

Our local economies will be rebuilt on a new model, as schools will require materials, expertise, and technological innovation to rapidly put in place a radical overhaul of the school’s curriculum and landscape. Open source technologies will be developed by the students themselves at breakneck speeds. These technologies will be deployed and converted into viable local business models.

This is not utopian. This is real, and it can happen now. The country is ready for it. This is apolitical and post-ideological. We need to organize and demand it. We need to visit our local schools, ask them if they’ve considered it. We need to put together petitions. We need to knock on doors: city councils, neighborhood associations, teacher’s unions, mayoral offices, school boards, PTA’s, county officials.

We need to get local resources interested in the idea, and apply the principles of slow money towards the development of a capital resource base for making the vision a reality. We need to network with other people who are already working on similar things, including CSA’s, the OSAT community, and the transition community. We need to search out past experiences and research initiatives, and conduct further research, to verify and promote the inherent value of this approach.

We need all of it, and we need it now. If I was a gambling man, I’d be ready to bet the farm that if this happens, it will work. The kids will show us the way.

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Non-Ordinary States and Social Revolution

Anger is an ineffective tool for social transformation. It is useful, but in a limited sense. Anger can rile a population up, and fear can open one’s eyes to a fragile reality. As they increase, anger and fear become counter-productive, destructive. And today American society is governed by anger and fear. And the anger-mongering is transparent, it is nauseating.

Blasting the airwaves and cyberspace with vitriol, half-truths, and shallow analysis, Glenn Beck is now mastering the art of populist demagoguery. And yet, the irony is that Beck, like all of the television ranters and talking heads, is a corporate shill, milking the corporate machine for personal gain. This quote from a recent article in Time magazine:

A microphone, a camera, and a polarizing host are all it takes to get the money moving… Extreme talk, especially as practiced by a genuine talent like Beck, squeezes maximum profit from a relatively small, deeply invested audience, selling essentially the same product in multiple forms.

The “deeply invested” audiences of television propaganda have invested too much, and gone too deep. What is required is a counter-action, a motion of equal and opposite force, one that is void of anger and fear. We too are a relatively small, deeply invested audience. As a counter-balance, our work is based on the silence of action.

In the life and work of Stanislov Grof, non-ordinary states shattered the edifice of psychoanalysis constructed by Freud in the early 20th century. It is the non-ordinary state, in the absence of community and civil society, in the absence of an attachment to and dependence on Nature to provide us with our daily needs, that can now pull away the veil of propaganda and half-truths.

Through the swirling vortex of the mandala, the simple and fundamental truths of the human experience can be apprehended, and subjected to irrefutable rules of evidence: experience, intuition, and natural law. Violence is rejected. Fear is abandoned. Ideology is rendered useless. We are connected, fragments of the imagination of a Single Being. Nature is alive.

Awareness flows from the experience of the non-ordinary state, and from awareness flows action. The tools for active social transformation are all around you. Permaculture. Gandhian Economics. Yoga. Use them wisely.

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The Gaia Response

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Knitting

Yesterday I attended a meeting with the Agriculture Collaborative of the Mid-Region Council of Governments, a local organization in the middle Rio Grande valley of New Mexico.  The topic was global warming.  On hand to present their data were some great scientists from our local community, including climate scientist Dave Gutzler of the University of New Mexico.  As most folks who follow global warming are well aware, the news from the data and the models is not good at all.

 

Knitting

As one of the speakers presented the results of the IPCC report, a CO2 ice core graph, very similar to the one on the left, was included in one of the slides.  I couldn’t help but notice the eerie and not coincidental similarity to fossil fuel use and human population graphs charted over the same period.

KnittingAn alarming map presented by Gutzler showed a Western United States rendered nearly uninhabitable due to prolonged droughty conditions; in essence, a transition to an extremely arid, desert climate throughout the Southwestern United States, and perhaps the West in general.  The climate models predict a dire future, but are we modeling what our future socieites will look like under these conditions?  Will there even be a future society in the face of massive climate disruption?

 

The signs of environmental toxicity are everywhere, from the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

These data raise the question: what is the true nature of this phenomenon?  Has our humanity been reduced to plague status?  Intelligent, with a real sense of beauty, but too voracious, too savage, to be fit for survival?

Nature is alive.  This is one of the most stunning and irrefutable conclusions one arrives at through intimate contact, self-reflection, and observation.  All of these reactions to our misguided petro-adventurism are with meaning and intent, from the concentration of plastic wastes in ocean gyres to the drastic and abrupt alteration of our once stable and habitable climate.  Is the planet preparing for a Great Purging, or are these dramatic realities designed to force a shift in human consciousness?

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