As Chöngyam Rinpoche said:
"Better never to start...
Once you have started better to finish"
The Toward Organic Asia (TOA) meeting at the Social Policy and Ecology Research Institute (SPERI) could yield some great things for young organic farmers in the Mekong. Young farmers will go from Vietnam to Thailand to see Uncle Ti's farm and the Pacanho minority community to see models for sustainable agriculture. SPERI will join the meeting at the Findhorn Ecovillage and take a leading role in capacity building for young farmers in the region within the TOA cooperative framework. Three indigenous youth will come from Myanmar and a group of farmers will come from Laos to the Human Ecology Practice Area (HEPA) for training.
The Organic and conservation movements of the Mekong are in need of more cooperation and real support. The Organic movement is all still very small, vague, and more or less lost on the average person here. Most tragically it is lost on the farmers and sustainable wild collectors who need attention and support.
The Organic and conservation movements of the Mekong are in need of more cooperation and real support. The Organic movement is all still very small, vague, and more or less lost on the average person here. Most tragically it is lost on the farmers and sustainable wild collectors who need attention and support.
The idea behind the TOA is beautiful but sadly the Mekong region has a long long way to go to get such a conservation and sustainable agriculture movement off the ground. TOA was brought forth by the School for Wellbeing to offer a network for sustainability movements in the region so that they can move ahead, but it has a long way to go, and a lot to learn before it can start to get there.
So, those of you in the Mekong, and in the rest of the world for that matter, please keep your eyes wide open for good farming and conservation practices, get to know those farmers, hunters and wild collectors and find out how you can help them directly.
A poem from the Greenhorns:
Progress:
less slavery
less diesel
less hunger+ obesity
less cronyism and chemicals and corporate control
(in the form of a brisk, conversion of our economy towards healthier mix).
more jobs
more rural prosperity, and dancing
more layers on the land
more soil biota
more resilient economies based in places, in buildings, in relationships
more entrepreneurship
more faith in a more functional democracy
it may be hard, but it will not be boring.
less slavery
less diesel
less hunger+ obesity
less cronyism and chemicals and corporate control
(in the form of a brisk, conversion of our economy towards healthier mix).
more jobs
more rural prosperity, and dancing
more layers on the land
more soil biota
more resilient economies based in places, in buildings, in relationships
more entrepreneurship
more faith in a more functional democracy
it may be hard, but it will not be boring.
