Kiss the earth and love it with an unceasing, consuming love.
Feodore Dostoyevsky
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He who owns the earth owns the world. That may seem like a redundancy. But think about food. Or rather think about cities and towns with buildings, schools, institutions, where business is conducted every day, stocks are bought and sold, deals are made, manufacturing takes place, technicians and scientists are at work designing and testing things, students are studying and leaning new skills and new ideas, committees are meeting and discussing issues, pilots are flying planes ad drivers are driving buses, artists are painting, singers are singing, street sweepers are cleaning the streets and lawnmowers are mowing the lawns, politicians are arguing and ball players are playing ball.
Think about all or some of those things and then think about food. None of those things could happen if there was no food. If we did not eat we would die. We take food for granted. It's our natural right to have lunch. We don't question it. Where does it come from? From the supermarket, the cafeteria, the kitchen, the fridge.
Everything in our lives that we use, the metal. wood and stone we build with, the paper that we use to sue people with, the water we drink and waste on our fancy cars, the asphalt we drive them on too fast, the potatoes, carrots, beef and eggs, apples and chestnuts and the garbage we make from them all come from the earth, the ground, the dirt.
Imagine what life would be like if there were no miners, fishers, farmers or ranchers. Imagine what it would be like if we had to forage and hunt in order to survive. How much of the other stuff listed above would get done?
Or imagine a cartel of excellent hunters and gatherers who have more than they need and are willing to let us have some of what they have pulled out of the forest and seas and hoarded. For a price, of course. And since they have a monopoly on fruit and meat it's going to be a steep one.
Imagine building more highways over more potential farm land until there isn't enough earth left to grow what we need. No problem. Another country will be glad to clear as much arable land as is necessary to feed the world's hungry and busy populations. And if they don't have enough within their own borders they will take the profits from selling us our food to buy up some of our land in order to keep producing. Of course, they may have to tear up a few highways and level a few buildings to keep fulfilling the needs of a growing world population. Those who can afford it, that is.
Then when they own all the crops and fuel the earth can produce what do they own?
They own the world.
DB - The Vagabond
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Weekend Contest
Below are the name of three fictitious law firms. Read them carefully and then come up with your own example. You may enter more than once but the decision of the irascible judge is final.
Chase & Sewer
Huchlein & Sincker
Locke, Stock & Beryl
Good luck
DB
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7 comments:
Interesting post. Were you speaking of a particular country, db, a particular "county" you felt "owned the world"? just curious.
dana, i sent you the name of my ficticious law firm. that was fun! krissy :)
Food is a resource that is taken for granted, especially here in America where we waste more food than many other modern nations consume.
Business finaciers take advantage and for granted that farmers so love what the do, that they will till the earth and rasie the animals for little return on their investment. Or that these mega farms will continue to produce healthy livestock and enough grains for us to eat.
This is not so. Wasn't there a recent warning if not shortage, on corn. Corn!! Can you picture that, here in America where as I child I was told our farms alone could feed the world.
It seems that profit is driving the harmonic relationship that tillers of the soil once had with the earth and it will be to man's detriment... science can supplement nature... not replace it. I think that if things continue to operate out of balance, then there will be a problem
There is a move afoot up here to get people to start growing some of their own food. Even in this big city people can have up to three chickens in a back yard coop. Once people start realizing where their food comes from, they learn to be more selective, learn to make better choices for themselves and to expand their diet to eat foods they might never have tried before. Food also is a very political issue. Some countries have a lot of it and some countries have very little. It bothers me to no end to see the marketing boards up here destroy food rather than have to sell it for a lower price. Keeps the price artificially high.
Thank you all. Pacifica New York City has a lot of flat roofs. People put down soil and grow things, tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers grow well there. There are vacant plots where a neighborhood will set up a garden and there are cultivated back yards.
detroit has between 40-50 square miles of vacant land in the 139 square mile city- recently urban farming has been featured in the news, and it's refreshing to see people working with their hands, reclaiming the vacant burned out lots and planting garden after garden, where people can take what they need freely and the rest is donated to the shelters/ soup kitchens.
my law firm ; douche', baggery and shillz
xxalainaxx
Makes you appreciate the country and the midwest, the breadbasket.
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