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A Farm of My Own:  The Land  |
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Fiddlehead Farm
True Blue Farmgirl
4562 Posts
Diane
Waupaca
WI
USA
4562 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 12 2013 : 04:43:00 AM
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I found this today, it is from a British Magazine.
Demands to “make poverty history”, and the responses from those in power, revolve around money: less debt, freer and fairer trade, more aid. Rarely will you hear someone with access to a microphone mouth the word “land”.
That is because economists define wealth and justice in terms of access to the market. Politicians echo the economists because the more dependent that people become upon the market, the more securely they can be roped into the fiscal and political hierarchy. Access to land is not simply a threat to landowning élites — it is a threat to the religion of unlimited economic growth and the power structure that depends upon it.
The market (however attractive it may appear) is built on promises: the only source of wealth is the earth. Anyone who has land has access to energy, water, nourishment, shelter, healing, wisdom, ancestors and a grave. Ivan Illich spoke of "a society of convivial tools that allows men to achieve purposes with energy fully under their control". The ultimate convivial tool, the mother of all the others, is the earth.
Yet the earth is more than a tool cupboard, for although the earth gives, it dictates its terms; and its terms alter from place to place. So it is that agriculture begets human culture; and cultural diversity, like biological diversity, flowers in obedience to the conditions that the earth imposes. The first and inevitable effect of the global market is to uproot and destroy land-based human cultures. The final and inevitable achievement of a rootless global market will be to destroy itself.
In a shrunken world, taxed to keep the wheels of industry accelerating, land and its resources are increasingly contested. Six billion people compete to acquire land for a variety of conflicting uses: land for food, for water, for energy, for timber, for carbon sinks, for housing, for wildlife, for recreation, for investment. The politics of land — who owns it, who controls it and who has access to it — is more important than ever, though you might not think so from a superficial reading of government policy and the media. The purpose of this magazine is to focus attention back onto the politics of land.
Rome fell; the Soviet Empire collapsed; the stars and stripes are fading in the west. Nothing is forever in history, except geography. Capitalism is a confidence trick, a dazzling edifice built on paper promises. It may stand longer than some of us anticipate, but when it crumbles, the land will remain.
http://studiodiphotosite.shutterfly.com/
farmgirl sister #922
I am trying to be the person my dogs think I am.
I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
- E. B. White |
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Bear5
True Blue Farmgirl
13055 Posts
Louisiana/Texas
USA
13055 Posts |
Posted - Apr 12 2013 : 07:19:39 AM
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Thanks for sharing.
Marly
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up- that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had." Elisabeth Kurler-Ross |
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KD Earthwork
True Blue Farmgirl
210 Posts
Katie
Gualala
Calif.
USA
210 Posts |
Posted - Apr 14 2013 : 1:50:41 PM
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We have built a self sufficient homestead in response to the things you mention. But even as we get out of debt, are almost mortgage free, there are still so many ways we are looped in. Property taxes and insurances are some of the ways. I think we just have to try to live as positive a world as we can envision. Trying to live our ideals and be good, kind, generous and community minded. Believe there is much more than what we hear and see out there.
http://www.rosemancreekranch.com |
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coaloha
True Blue Farmgirl
502 Posts
Pam
USA
502 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2013 : 9:46:58 PM
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Diane,
I enjoyed reading this quote. Such a good explanation of what seems true to me...the land really is the foundation of everything. Thanks for sharing.
Pam
Farmgirl #1075 |
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EllaRow
True Blue Farmgirl
64 Posts
Chantelle
Nevis
MN
USA
64 Posts |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Aug 02 2013 : 4:14:48 PM
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That was awesome, Diane! I can't believe I missed it back when you originally posted it! Thank you so much for sharing! - Nini
P.S. - Reading the ancient Greek and Roman writers are a real eye opener. It's very true: history DOES repeat itself! This past year we focused on ancient Roman studies in homeschool using a program which leads us to read through many of the Great Books written during that period. The writing and insights were amazing; I cannot tell you how many times I gasped and took pause as I read the comments and observations. Many of their insights still hold true today. I wish everyone would read the Great Books of the past - perhaps if we did, and if we applied what we learn from the past, we would harness the wisdom and truly change the world for the better!
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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A Farm of My Own: The Land |
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The Land
