Completely Satisfactory

I went out last night to Gavin's going away party. It was a gesture; I really like Gavin, don't really know how to make that meaningful, so I thought I'd show up so he knew I was thinking about him and was glad he was coming back. I had basically given up on conversation; I believed that at this point all my friends were capable of talking about was sports, internet memes, and... was there anything else on that list?

I ended up on a discussion of peak oil, post peak oil bioagricultural and social scenarios, soft vs hard apocolypse, satanism, paganism, and how to self-identify in a religion, reindeer herding, ornamental vs edible landscaping in a modern-day setting, etc. Lots of people contributed. One particular friend is doing a project called

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Ack

So so so tired.

Oh wait. No sleep. Duh.

Particularly aware of the world going to hell in a handbasket today. I should watch the willie smits talk on ted again.

Then run away and join him.

There are just so many bad things happening to the world that no one knows about, and that so few people care about or understand. Is this what expertise is supposed to be? In my mind tonight is: peat mining, mountaintop mining, percentage of biomass in predators in ocean and by extension (?) land environments, nature 'preserves' vs 'managed' environments, consumerism trumping food security and the whole food-as-%-of-total-expenditure change over time, zero-mile-diet as a trend, complete and total devastation of local and sustainable agricultural knowledge in all areas of the entire world, difficulty of managing viable ecologies in times of scarcity and the whole long-vs-short term sustainability issue, earthbound fucking organics, dilettantes, SLACKTIVISM, the replacement of a connection to nature with pictures of kittens on the internet, people who won't eat food that has been in the dirt vs people studying insects as a viable protein source in a highly efficient permaculture system, SLACKTIVISM, how when I'm upset about anything else Angus can hold me when I cry and tell me it's okay but about this topic I don't believe him, the exclusion of disposable consumer electronics from buy-local save-the-environment mentalities, subsidies and agricultural-cultural warfare, deliberate disinformation, pig farmers, mcdonalds potato fields, ethnic divides limiting urban permacultural knowledge transmission, community gardens, rhododendrons, culture of scarcity in the midst of plenty, the dopamine boost from 50% returns vs 100% returns...

Oh my god. Let's try some good things. That list got very long very fast, and finding explanatory links was quickly discouraging. I can think about good things, right?

Hands in the soil. Warm. February spring smell when the light is yellow. Leaves on the ground under the trees. Bamboo through sidewalks. Neighbors in tall buildings. Farmer's markets. Curly carrots in stores in England. People with small stashes of knowledge. My mom's first garden. Mimi's first potted plant. The Richmond fruit tree project. Kent Mullinix quoting Wendell Berry. Cherry petals. Sedum deserts instead of concrete. Increasing infrastructure. Vaccinium ovatum on the living wall outside whole foods. A land that is so generous it speaks to Gavin even though he has no training. Our human ability to intuit environmental health. The smell of rain on concrete. Cottonwood trees. Winlaw. Farmschool. People who want to be pig farmers. Courage to use the word farmer. Preserved knowledge. John Seymour's books. John Seymour. Wendell Berry. Gregoire. People who live this way. An accepting vacuum of knowledge where it is least expected.

Here is the Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Berry, and I will sleep:

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
( Read more... )

PS Slacktivism is getting more offensive every day.