Invest in a Regenerative Future
I love the weekends because they host some of the best farmers market! So as we launch off to play here is some food for though…
Its pretty difficult to ignore the fact that we are at a critical point in time. Every headline reads of climate change, chronic disease epidemic, political unrest, inequality, food shortages and the like. We are at the edge, no longer able to ignore the reality that we were told was off far in the future. There is unrest but we are not powerless. There is a way to heal the crisis in health, to alleviate illness. There is a way to heal the planet, the food system, and economic disparities. We can cultivate a better world but it is the responsibility of each individual, especially those of us privilege enough to have access to a computer and some resources to invest each dollar we have into change. We cannot wait for politicians to make change, we are the people and the people are the future.
Where do we start?
The soil. “We are dust and to dust we shall return”. Everything that sustains life is impacted by the soil. Much of our food today lacks necessary vitamins and minerals because the soil in which we grow it is also depleted due to modern agricultural practices. You need to eat nearly 10 X as much kale today as you would have 100 years ago to acquire the same nutrients. This leaves us as over fed and under nourished. We have cravings not because we don’t have enough food but because of a lack of vital nutrients contained with in them. Our society has thrown out quality for quantity and convenience. The solution is not sustainability either (why would you want to sustain depletion?), the answer is Regeneration!
How do we contribute to regenerative farming and health?
Invest in your local farmers. It may not be convenient but seek out farmers for both animals and produce that are practicing regenerative agriculture. How do you know? Talk to them, going to farmers markets is not just about finding food that best nourishes the body, it is about nourishing the community of farmers. When you buy direct from them you are investing in their lively hood. We can romanticize being a farmer, but the honest truth is that it is hard fucking work.
If you cannot make it to farmers markets, local food coops often have produce and products labeled as “local”. Online resources such as localharvest.org can also connect you to a database of local farms that provide information on how they grow their food and access to CSA (community supported agriculture) which are often a weekly box of vegetable delivered to a drop off point near you.
The economy is driven by the consumer. Its your job to become conscious about how you spend your money. Money is energy. You exchange your life energy for money and you get to choose then where that energy can go back in. Your life energy can infuse life energy into the earth, into the farmer, into the artist. Or it can be exchange by going into big agriculture, the pharmaceutical industry, and big business.
No one is perfect, but every dollar counts. And remember little by little, a little becomes a lot!