(no subject)
My first issue of Small Farmer's Journal came! John Coffer was featured on the front cover about a dozen years ago or so, haying with Brownie and Lizzie, two of his horses. I've met Lizzie, but unfortunately Brownie, the horse that traveled America, is gone. Homeboy, John's youngest horse, is a show stealer.
Anyhow, I suppose it's the season for getting all kinds of things in the mail. I recieved John Zerzan's Running on Emptiness in the mail today as well.
Extremely radical and not sure what to make out of it yet. Not surprisingly, my Cultural Ecology prof wrote the introduction. They've labeled themselves anarcho-primitivists, which means they think that we should basically go back to being hunter-gatherers. The only problem I have with that is pretty obvious, by this point in time: no farming. They maintain that the agricultural revolution, which began approximately 10,000 years ago, has led to the situation we're in now. That's an oversimplified approach, but that's what it boils down to. Agriculture introduced class stratification, urban developments, and the new tendency to attempt the domination of nature, according to these people. I think that's true to an extent, but I don't think it has to be the way it is today. Agriculture mearly created a food surplus and allowed humans the time they would have been spending hunting and gathering for other pursuits. And I guess with 10,000 years, where we are today is the result of all that free time spent developing trade, written languages, etc. The unfortunate thing of it all is that as with everything (including the seemingly benign occupation of farming), people have a bad habit of perverting things. Thanks, agribusiness. I hope we can keep agriculture, but fix distribution problems and eliminate destructive and unsustainable perversions of agriculture...and bring back horticulture.
The book is mostly just about Zerzan's personal philosophy, chockfull of references and allusions to all types of world philosophies, both ancient and modern. He goes into how we should just destroy the world of stuff we're chained to right now; he's very serious about actually ripping up roads, destroying office complexes, abandoning automobiles entirely and all other forms of long distance transportation. He's not advocating terrorism; he's advocating an ideally voluntarily and simplisitic approach. Voluntary submission to nature, after 10,000 years of trying to conquer it and miserably failing ourselves and the Earth. So, it's interesting. Lots of food for thought, and it's challenging.
Farming is still cool, though.
Anyhow, I suppose it's the season for getting all kinds of things in the mail. I recieved John Zerzan's Running on Emptiness in the mail today as well.
Extremely radical and not sure what to make out of it yet. Not surprisingly, my Cultural Ecology prof wrote the introduction. They've labeled themselves anarcho-primitivists, which means they think that we should basically go back to being hunter-gatherers. The only problem I have with that is pretty obvious, by this point in time: no farming. They maintain that the agricultural revolution, which began approximately 10,000 years ago, has led to the situation we're in now. That's an oversimplified approach, but that's what it boils down to. Agriculture introduced class stratification, urban developments, and the new tendency to attempt the domination of nature, according to these people. I think that's true to an extent, but I don't think it has to be the way it is today. Agriculture mearly created a food surplus and allowed humans the time they would have been spending hunting and gathering for other pursuits. And I guess with 10,000 years, where we are today is the result of all that free time spent developing trade, written languages, etc. The unfortunate thing of it all is that as with everything (including the seemingly benign occupation of farming), people have a bad habit of perverting things. Thanks, agribusiness. I hope we can keep agriculture, but fix distribution problems and eliminate destructive and unsustainable perversions of agriculture...and bring back horticulture.
The book is mostly just about Zerzan's personal philosophy, chockfull of references and allusions to all types of world philosophies, both ancient and modern. He goes into how we should just destroy the world of stuff we're chained to right now; he's very serious about actually ripping up roads, destroying office complexes, abandoning automobiles entirely and all other forms of long distance transportation. He's not advocating terrorism; he's advocating an ideally voluntarily and simplisitic approach. Voluntary submission to nature, after 10,000 years of trying to conquer it and miserably failing ourselves and the Earth. So, it's interesting. Lots of food for thought, and it's challenging.
Farming is still cool, though.