The Big question - where do we start?

Through my teaching and lecture engagements in Europe I meet the most interesting people from all walks of life – educators, politicians, scientists, farmers and just ordinary people. It strikes me that most of them agree that our present way of life is not sustainable and we have to change, but not many have any idea where to start.

Energy is the big topic in many conversations; the environment is further back, although climate change is something that cannot be ignored. Europe had its own environmental disasters in the last 3 months – floods, fires, shortage of water and a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in England. This outbreak also shows how dangerous bio-technology can be, things do escape from laboratories. There is also more and more evidence that bird flu in Germany may have started in a bio-tech research station on an island.

But it’s no good to complain about darkness, it’s better to light a candle and start with ourselves and see where we can live a more sustainable way of life. Becoming more aware of our own eco-footprint is a good beginning.

Permaculture-Permanent-Agri-Culture

The permaculture education programme that has been available for over 30 years seems to become more popular and effective, at least in Europe. People can see we have stressed life-supporting systems to the limit or are already in “overshoot” mode, gone above carrying capacity where Nature cannot repair the damage human impact has caused.

There are many ways a person can start to reduce their ecological footprint. First one has to become aware how our economic system works – what is sustainability? Understanding life cycles, studying ecological systems, understanding that in Nature waste does not exist, which resources are renewable and which are not.

There is a list of “101 Things you can do to reduce your ecological footprint” at www.rainbowvalleyfarm.co.nz