Awareness is not enough!

Here at the farm:

– We produce food: meat, vegetables, nuts and fruit
– We produce milk products: yoghurt, cream, cheese, butter and ghee
– We plant trees, bushes, plants, flowers and whatever we can get our hands on
– We run animal systems holistically to promote carbon sequestering and better soil health
– We promote and care for different animal and plant species to create biodiversity
– We save seed
– We make gas from cow manure
– We harvest water
– We make compost and soil
– We use wood fired stoves for backup cooking
– We work towards closing the input / output cycle
– We are nearing zero waste
– We buy our clothes primarily from opp shops
– We try to use a car only if we have a number of things to do
– We drive older cars that we bought second hand
– We offer skills, knowledge and services for free or by donation
– We build and maintain buildings from primarily second hand or locally sourced natural materials
– We train people to become more self sufficient and empowered…

And this is not enough. 

The world is burning and flooding, windblown and frozen, drying and melting. When will humanity understand that we all need to stop? We need to stop buying stuff, driving places, flying places, going on holidays. We need to stop thinking our community is online, that we can’t change anything, that we are powerless. 

We need to start acting NOW! Forget about the government or the powers that be, forget about others needing to do it too… Just DO IT YOURSELF! Set an example, plant trees, plant plants, plant food, look after animals holistically so they can repair the soil… And if you can’t do it yourself, support the people who can! 

STOP SHOPPING! Go to local markets and support your local growers. Forget about the latest iPhone, the bigger car, the larger house, the better lawnmower (get a goat!). We all feel so powerless and dissatisfied, but we do not know what to do about it. 

As long as we buy stuff, as long as we drive places, as long as we buy from large stores, as long as we do an internet search or pay for our cellphone access, we are supporting a system that is destroying the planet. This cannot go on! Any “industry” is not sustainable! Industry is to make money, and anything focused on making money is not sustainable.

I feel powerless, despite all that we do. I feel powerless because the majority of the population feels powerless. We can change this, we can empower ourselves and each other to make a change to and on this planet. We cannot allow our planet to be destroyed, to be taken away by people who think that we can move to another planet should this one die… NO! Humans are connected to this planet, this is our HOME! There is no other option! If we cannot learn to live sustainably on this planet, how can we think we can possibly live sustainably on another?

This earth is so bountiful, it gives us so much. We are all interconnected, our planet, the plants, the animals, humans…. Extinction of one species will change the balance of everything, like a ripple. Earth and all its creatures are crying for help, begging to be nourished and sustained, instead of being raped, pillaged and destroyed. Why is it that research shows that humans are happier in natural environments, that depression can be cured by nature? It is because that is our natural state, the state we are supposed to be in. Surrounded by natural things, not manmade things, this is our natural state of being, this is how we live in harmony.

We need to return to small local community based living, the way things used to be before we went onto this ridiculous industrial rollercoaster. We need to band together in our small communities and support one another, build local trade (proper trade, swapping, local money instead of national and international currency) and support local people making things locally. The only sustainable way to live on this planet is to return to small, local communities. Share and swap. 

Harming nature is the ultimate in self harm, as we are destroying future generations. We must return to loving ourselves enough to enable us to love nature again.

Make no mistake, nature will survive! She will come back and flourish again in several thousands of years. It is humanity that won’t survive a sick planet. So for the sake of us, our children, our grandchildren and many generations to come, WE NEED TO STOP!

Awareness is not enough!!

Author: Zaia Kendall

Zaia grew up in a family of musicians in Holland, and has a background in top sport (snow skiing) and web development and design. She co-founded the PRI Luganville and PRI Sunshine Coast Inc (now PermEco Inc.) with Tom, and runs the “invisible structures”, like finances, business administration, website design and maintenance, writes articles and records and edits videos. She assists Tom in running the Kendall Permaculture Farm and supervising other volunteers. She is an active member of several musical projects and bands, involved in community music and runs percussion and marimba workshops, is the percussion leader for the Woodford Folk Festival People’s Orchestra and composes as well as plays music. She is passionate about community music and loves seeing people discover that they can play!