BIOPHILE 16 — JUNE/JULY 2007 R25 - Biophile Magazine

Confuciuspoor; crime in the streets, and living inconstant fear. We have driven ourselvesto the very brink of self-destruction forus to realise that it doesn’t have to bethis way.Watering Cans, Findhorn“This is the work for politicalavtivists who want to live theirsolutions. If we are to survive wewill do so learning the ecstacy ofcommunity. We do have to gettogether.”Patch AdamsNow the ramifications of an everincreasingand ever-more consumingglobal population can no longer bedenied or disguised by the corporatepoliticalsystems, whose wisdom isclearly inversely proportional to theiraccumulated material wealth. However,despite the fact that our dire situation isbecoming widely acknowledged- evenby the corporate-controlled media- itseems that the vast majority of peoplestill remain unaware of the sacrificesand the immense changes in lifestylethat are necessary to insure our survival.And there are probably fewer stillwho are willing to make those changes.At a time where the fate of our speciesrests upon the choices of a singlegeneration, the strong (perhaps weakerin “alternative” circles) attachments toconvenience are stubbornly maintainedthrough refined forms of justification,avoidance, denial and suppression. Nodoubt the sky-rocketing mental stresslevels are multiplied by the fact thatdeep down we all know that the currentWestern lifestyle of over-inflated consumptionand social inequity is unsustainableand unjust and will sooner orlater come to an end.Independent media and publications,like Biophile, are in fact placing ahuge burden on us because they’re providingus with true and vital informationthat, for those of us with integrityand who genuinely care, requires us toACT upon. Nevertheless, in reality, itremains to be seen that the actions andthe “sacrifices” that lead to less extravagantand wasteful living actually alsolead to a more fulfilling, balanced andconscious lifestyle.Weeding, Findhorn“To know what is right and not todo it is the worst cowardice.”Fossil fuel-dependence underpinsour modern “developing” society. Justin terms of our food supply, fossil fuelsand petrochemicals are key to massscalefood production, harvesting,transportation, and the energy requiredto cook it. Peak oil advocates say thatwhen (within the next 5 years) the dwindlingremains of the Earth’s oil reservewill cause its extraction to become unviable,the suburbs will become the slumsof the future. But what of the cities andtowns themselves?Urban areas now hold more than halfthe world’s population. For all the jobs,facilities and entertainment they provide,these high-density residential andindustrial zones are essentially extremeconcentrations of consumption; specificallyfood, energy and water.Moreover, there is little of life-supportingvalue that is produced there,not to mention the complete spectrumof pollution. Common sense and abasic understanding of natural systemsdictate that one farmer producing foodfor 10,000 people- even (compromised)organically- is unnaturally disproportionate.The combination of being so dependenton institutions and distant farms tomeet our basic needs, leads, not onlyto disempowerment, but also to a veryfragile and vulnerable situation. Thenthrow in the fact that the very system,to which so many are inextricably tied,is in and of itself not only ecologicallydestructive, but also completely unsustainablefor future generations,Biophile Issue 1621