The Problems of Comercial Agriculture. Congress must support more organic and regenerative agriculture and animal husbandry

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I used to work on some farms in the Great Northwest in the spring back in the late 70s and early eighties. The Farms almost all did the chemical style of agriculture back then. Oregon and Washington were always beautiful and green back then. Always cool and moist in the spring. Now in the early 2020s, the temperatures reach one hundred degrees or more in many springs and summers. I do believe it is going to take some very serious improvements to the way we utilize water in North America to reverse Global warming.


In the early 80s, I got an invitation to a conference at Whidbey Island. It is in the Straits of Juan De Fuca area of Puget Sound. I have no idea how they got my address, but I was going up to that part of the country anyway that spring.


There was an Aussie named Bill Mollison there. He was the founder of the Permaculture style  of agriculture in the western world. He said that he had learned much from the Aboriginal People of Tasmania.


He talked about the interrelationships of plants and nature, and how we interact with our environment. We all went for a nature walk one afternoon at the conference. He talked about designing orchards to channel the prevailing winds in the summer. He explained some of the interactions between animals and plants in integrated farms.


That introduced me to a new way of looking at agriculture. One of the things Bill said is “One of the most important things you can do in learning Permaculture, is learning to be observant.” Everything has multiple uses and purposes. Then Bill said, “If you can’t find at least three uses for anything, you are probably not looking very hard.”

 

As we have seen with the recent disasters in California and the west coast, with atmospheric river events and then long hot drought we have a lack of water control systems. There is no lack of fresh water. It just falls from the sky. Sometimes too little and sometimes too much. The days of nice gentle rains and long warm summers are less and less. The warming ocean temperatures will only make this much worse. Restoring the soils and refilling the water tables must be considered a priority. Allowing massive amounts of water just run off to the oceans is insane. One estimate is that as much as  32 trillion gallons dropped in the atmospheric river event starting just after this Christmas and continuing into mid-January. 

We must stop subsidizing fossil fuel corporations and move as quickly as possible. Investing into restoring the natural water and soil cycles that made our planet inhabitable for healthy ecosystems. Subsidizing and promoting more organic and regenerative agriculture and animal husbandry must be promoted in congress.

 

 

Location: Puget Sound, Washington, USA

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