A Subversive Plot: How to Grow a Revolution in Your Own Backyard – by Roger Doiron
How to grow a revolution in your own backyard? Grow your own food. Join a fast growing number of Americans who are taking back control over their food and what they do with their yards. Transform your unproductive, chore-creating yard into a productive, food-creating yard. You’ll be amazed by what follows. Transforming your yard might just transform your life.
Why grow your own garden? Gardens grow good food and healthy people. Best of all, you know where the food came from and there’s no reward like eating something you grew yourself. Gardening is also a good hobby and family activity. They say food brings people together and it’s true. It feels good eating food you grew together and it’s a form of power. By growing your own food, you take power back into your hands and stop relying on someone else you don’t know, who’s bottom line is profit, not safety and health. When you take back your right to grow food, you take back a little bit of your personal sovereignty and power over your own body and health, not to mention the money you’ll save on groceries.
The world has been changing from primarily rural to primarily urban. This means more and more people are relying on someone else, a company or corporation to grow their food. This becomes problematic as we find that our current growers and corporations we get our food from are not doing a good job, to put it mildly.
There is a call to redefine our living spaces, redefine what yards are used for, make them productive, as well as redefine what good food is and pay attention to whether or not what we’re eating is actually food! All you have to do is grow a garden, share your success with family, friends and neighbors and watch as more and more people join the movement you helped spread.
Roger Doiron is founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International. Visit his site at www.kitchengardeners.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezuz_-eZTMI
Sustainable Building: Straw-bale Eco-Architecture
Featured on Planet Green and “The World’s Greenest Homes” TV show, Kevin Edwards’ 3000 square foot straw-bale constructed home is beautiful, green, more affordable than traditionally built homes, and packed with amazing eco-features. Located in Scottsdale, AZ, this modern straw-bale house includes a saltwater swimming pool, recycled windows, ceiling accents made from recycling the delivery pallets from the work-site, a cooling tower inspired by Middle Eastern architecture, custom energy efficient refrigerator, and a re-circulating pump for instant hot water creation.
This straw-bale construction is straw bales encapsulated with metal lathing and then covered with stucco. The huge cooling tower uses a mister at the top with gravity pushing the mist down and providing what Kevin says is fifteen degrees of cooling! Kevin also incorporated the natural texture of the straw into the ceilings of the children’s rooms to create a noise-dampening affect.
Most popular in the Southwestern United States, straw-bale homes are built from the byproduct of the cereal grain industry (not to be confused with hay) and offer outstanding temperature and noise insulation, fire and termite resistance, and structural durability. They are also inexpensive to build with bale costs for a 3,000 square-foot home like Kevin’s running about $10,000. If you are willing to live simply and use recycled materials, beautiful straw-bale homes can be built in their entirety for well under $50,000. The total cost of Kevin’s home was not disclosed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl1-5dexnD0
Thrive: A Wake Up Call
Thrive is a newly released, visual stunning transformational movie about the state of affairs on our planet and some suggestions for solutions and new ways of thinking about the way that we live our lives.
The movie is written and produced by Foster and his wife, Kimberly, Gamble. Foster is the great-great-grandson of James Gamble, co-founder of Proctor and Gamble. He, alongside his wife, follows his life long calling toward a unified understanding of universal energy through the study of spirit, consciousness, the geometry of space and how we can work with it to create boundless abundance. Thrive is their offering to the world, a wake up call to all who sleep, and a message of hope to those who aren’t.
The movie begins with some explanation of sacred geometry, specifically the vector equilibrium and the torus, which are the masculine and feminine versions of the same energy. The torus field flows around the structure provided by the vector equilibrium and the 64 grid tetrahedron. Special guest Nassim Haramein helps to explain about these geometries and the implications that they have on free energy and working with the fabric of space with technologies such as space travel and replication.
The film continues on to speak about crop circles and their possible origins and the specific phenomena that are found within the crop circles, such as elevated electromagnetic radiation and small magnetic particles within the circles that aren’t found anywhere else in the fields. One of the more amazing pieces to take from this section is the explanation of a one of the crop circles in particular. In 1972, Carl Sagan and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) created a binary code message and sent it to space on a radio signal. This message contained a number of bits of information about humans and Earth, such as where we are located in the solar system, information on our DNA, that we are carbon based. Years later, a crop circle showed up next to the particular SETI satellite from which the message was sent. The crop circle looked very much like the binary message sent in ‘72 with a few particular changes. Instead of carbon-based, this message relayed a silicon-based life form with 3 strands of DNA that lived on a planet that has 4 moons! One day later, another formation was found a few hundred feet away with the face of what most people would say is an E.T.
About a half of the way through, the movie takes a turn into the state of affairs here on Planet Earth. I understand the necessity of waking people up to the ways that we are being manipulated and having our power and freedoms taken from us. There are many places that one can go to find out more information on these topics. Because I want to focus more on the solutions and ways that we can create the world that we want to live in, you will have to watch the movie in order to learn more about the things that the “powers that be” are doing in order to hold back our progress.
The end of the movie brings it full circle to talk more about solutions and specific ways that we can get the ball rolling to create a more beautiful future for us and our children. It also speaks to their website, which is to be a portal for those wanting to confirm facts or take action. There is also a large resource of information on the specific of what they speak about in the movie.
Thrive is a movie that is needed, and right on time. More people than ever are waking up to the new ways of living life. One Community applaudes Foster and Kimberly Gamble for all they have put into making this movie what it is and getting it out to the world in a big way. Thank you.
Solutions for Desertification: Afforestation/Anti-Desertification Video
In many parts of the world, land once ripe for farming is turning into desert and losing life due to the process of desertification; this is the case in the Niger Republic of Africa. Land desertification is causing a great problem for the farmers and villagers who have families and mouths to feed. As this environmental problem grows around the world seriously threatening life, experts step up to find a solution and one man has found a very good one.
Tony Rinaudo figures out a solution to the problem; it’s called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). After years of research and almost giving up, Tony found that the answer to fighting desertification was right at his feet. This anti-desertification process is a natural regeneration of tree stumps that had previously been overlooked because people didn’t see how old tree stumps would help them grow crops. The trees bring back wildlife and the natural ecosystem begins working again, creating life for all and allowing nature to stop desertification. Vast areas have now gone from barren land to lush, green fields and farm land again.
This graphic from EcoGreetings.com shows just how dire the situation is:
Click to open this image’s source in a new window: http://www.eco2greetings.com/News/deforestation.html
Compressed Air Powered Car
In Europe two inventors have made a simple air engine, thus opening a new field for compressed air car technology. These engines allow cars to run on compressed air instead of fuel. The air, super compressed and powerful, pumps the pistons in the car instead of small gas explosions. Pumping air instead of exploding gasoline means these cars have zero emission motors–no pollution, no oil! In addition, current average family cost of fuel is 60 dollars a week and half that for a hybrid car. With the new air engines you will get a whole week of driving for a few dollars! The company, MDI plans to sell this clean fuel vehicle and a compressed air hybrid in Europe for less than 15,000 dollars next year! This isn’t just a possibility for the future, the cars are already up and running! Take a look at the video and see them for yourself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TScHy2dj6Aw
(R)Evolution of the American Dream
That Liberty is a Real Troublemaker
The growth of the Occupy Wall Street movement has given us an excellent opportunity to stop and think about where we are, and where we are going. A common statement right now is “end economic slavery” and yet it seems odd to expect the very people who created this situation, and continue to profit from it, to step up and correct it.
People want the return of the American Dream, but could it be that what we are experiencing is actually the American Dream playing itself out – just not for all Americans? “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” has been operating within a capitalist system in this country from the beginning, and the foundation of a capitalist system is a free-market economy built on competition and survival of the fittest. Many would argue the money saving practices of automation, cheaper overseas labor, downsizing and consolidation, breaking the unions, manipulating monetary and governmental policy, lobbying for the elimination of regulation, etc. etc. costs jobs and negatively affects most Americans, but since when did survival of the fittest ever imply everyone?
Does this mean capitalism is bad? Of course not, it just means it is predictable and may have run its course like communism, socialism, and the host of other governmental and monetary systems from which we have evolved. The efficiency of almost all aspects of manufacturing, transport, communication, and every other element in the production and distribution of goods has improved and will continue to improve leading to fewer jobs. This is not sustainable. And as the population continues to increase, and jobs continue to decrease, it seems reasonable that the only people who can be expected to create a truly fair and long-term sustainable solution are the people most affected.
(R)EVOLUTIONARY THINKING
We have the ability right now to create something different, not “a fix” or an adaptation of the current system, but a new system that can create a sustainable livelihood for people not just here, but anywhere in the world. It should be clear it is not jobs that people want, but the life, comfort, and happiness for themselves and their families that they believe a job can provide. So let’s take what’s available and create that: a comfortable and sustainable lifestyle that incorporates fulfilled living practices so people are happy. The technology exists today to not only create something that is financially viable for almost anyone, but also produces a level of abundance that will actually assist the current system until it is no longer necessary.
The primary expenses of people who are hurting the most in this economy are things that can be almost completely eliminated through sustainable food, energy, and construction practices. A little Google searching and you can see that there are already people around the world that are 100% food self-sustainable, producing their own energy, and building sustainable housing that costs less than 1/20th of the cost of traditional housing in the United States. The food is higher quality, the energy is sufficient to actually supply their needs AND be fed back into the grid for income, and the homes are beautiful and longer lasting than most American homes.
A PARADIGM OF SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS
As one of the most developed and forward thinking countries in the world, let’s create a new paradigm of SUSTAINABLE liberty and freedom by founding it on self-sufficiency. It seems highly unlikely that the people who have created the current situation, and continue to profit from it, are going to decide to change their ways; so rather than invest energy in anger at a system that won’t change, let’s put our energy into demonstrating a system that works/functions properly.
Everything we need already exists to produce our own food, supply our own energy, and build housing that doesn’t leave us with a life of debt; and even small steps in this direction help us individually. But why stop there? Why not really work together and create sustainability for the complete human experience including fulfilled living practices, new education models, recreation, a social architecture of conscious living, kindness and love for each other, and the cultural aspects that make us happiest! As people who feel that much of what is happening in the world right now isn’t ethical or necessary, let’s create what we know IS ethical and necessary and demonstrate a better way by living it.
Click here for “(R)Evolution of the American Dream Part 2: Action List”
Jae Sabol
Founding Member of One Community
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead ~
