I think the author of this essay has done a good job of setting out some of the many reasons why we need to promote regenerative organic agriculture and eliminate the destructive practices and products of the industrialized food system—including disruption of our climate, health, and the ecosystems on which all life depends.
This should no be news to anyone: hundreds of years ago, indigenous people, including the Iroquois Confederacy, believed in living in harmony with other people and nature and planning for seven generations into the future.
Organic Consumers Organization
Regeneration: Global Transformation in Catastrophic Times
4 August 2015—Where profits alone count, there can be no thinking about the rhythms of nature, its phases of decay and regeneration, or the complexity of ecosystems which may be gravely upset by human intervention…. It is not enough to balance, in the medium term, the protection of nature with financial gain, or the preservation of the environment with progress. Halfway measures simply delay the inevitable disaster.
—Pope Francis, Papal Encyclical “Laudato Si,” June 18, 2015
A growing number of climate, food, environment, health and justice advocates are embracing and promoting a world-changing concept: regeneration.
What is regeneration? And why are a so many public figures, including Pope Francis, calling for regeneration or revolution, rather than “halfway measures” such as sustainability or mitigation?
The inconvenient truth of course is that our degenerate “profit-at-any-cost” global economy is killing us. The living Earth—our soils, forests and oceans—and the “rhythms of nature” are unraveling. Greed and selfishness have displaced sharing and cooperation. Land grabs, Empire-building, resource wars, and out-of-control consumerism have become the norm…. Continue…→
What can you do?
- Shop at a farmers’ market or farm stand that has organically-grown produce
- Join the Bethlehem Food Coop
- Join a community garden
- Sign up for a CSA or FarmShare
- Ask restaurants and markets to go organic— and practice what you preach by refusing to buy toxic food
- Grow food in your backyard, pots, or window boxes