by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
When, at times, it is being suggested that we should look at some old ways, technologies and methods in order to live more symbiotic with Mother Nature this is being countered with “do you want us all to go back and live in caves?”
No such thing is ever being suggested when the use of old ways and technologies is being talked about, however, there are times when a nice quiet cave with high-speed Internet sounds rather very nice. Getting away from some of the people I have to deal with day in day out in such a manner would be heaven but...
When we talk about revisiting some of the old ways of doing things this is not Luddite-ism. On the contrary. The past is the past. It is gone and we cannot go back to live in the past and neither is that something that we intend to suggest or promote.
While there are always some folks that would like to go back into the past to live there and live like our ancestors did or have us all go back to the life and times of Grizzly Adams, so to speak, it is not feasible nor even desirable.
While the Amish do live a little “in the past”, when it comes to working the land their way actually is the one that produces fantastic results and the soil on their lands is healthy, due to the old methods used, they also employ modern materials such as stainless steel and modern technologies such as solar panel and wind turbines.
A similar merger can be done, for the benefit of humankind and Mother Earth, with indigenous knowledges, paths and technologies and modern technology and such. It can be a symbiotic relationship for the benefit of all.
It is the application old knowledges and technologies with new is what we are talking about.
Combining ancient knowledge and technologies and skills with modern technology and information flow could just be something that could change things.
Already, as regards to agriculture, the talk is that the old ways of farming, the same that the Amish, for instance, employ, such as the use of farmyard manure and crop rotation could be a weapon against climate change.
Yikes! Government and scientific rocket science strikes again, for they talk, yet again, as if they have just discovered this. Much like the was it cost them $8 Million too “discover” that waste wood from building sites can be burned. Oh my G-d! Who would have thought that?
They also “discovered”, so the press statement said, at the cost of around $17 Million that canals and inland waterways can be used for the transportation of freight. Now what do they think that the canals were built for in Britain? It sure was not for pleasure boating; no one had time for that then. It was a means of carrying freight across the country, from production center to place where it was wanted.
There are many old ways that, combined with modern technologies, could just work out as something that could sort out this environmental mess that we find ourselves in.
© 2010
