This little adventure is winding down into the final weeks. I imagine that I'll be processing the effects of it on my whole self for awhile. People have been asking me what I have learned, or what I am going to do once the time is up. What will I re-introduce into my life... besides whiskey and wine. Its a good question and I'm not really sure.
As I wrote last time, I've been reading Murry Bookchin and Ursala LaGuin, and I've added Recovering The Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming by Winona LaDuke. Adding this third book has helped connect my mind and heart a little more with my spirit. And it makes me wonder why the Occupy movement is using the term "occupy". The U.S. occupation of other peoples' land and resources usually leads most of us to fight for corporations to get the hell out of places. I know its different and I know that its not the same thing, but.... it kind of is.
As I look at the bowl of food holding my meal, I look into the bowl and muse over where the rice came from, the farmer I just bought that sweet kale from, the distance the beans traveled from poll to bowl, and the co-worker that rung me up, the delivery driver/biker, the rain, sun, soil, sweat... that is in that bowl of nutritional healing of body and spirit. I begin to look at all the elements in my life (the computer I'm using to write these words, the old desk I picked up on the side of a road, the cloths covering my body, etc) and wonder what would happen if they all included the list of ingredients that went into their making.
What if the cell phone I use actually listed the sources of everything in it, how many trees and precious minerals it took to make it work, how much oil, how many sweat shop workers it took to make it, how many hands its passed from its making to my text message moment, how many countries we are occupying to have access to said resources... If we knew all that it really took just by reading the box, would we still want to have it? would we get a new phone every time our contract came up? would we require that things last longer? would we pay more to make sure everyone in the process was treated fairly? Or would we just keep burying our heads and consume just the same? I don't know.
For my fellow health food nutty friends: I just read about the reason for the abundance of Klamath spiralina. You know, that amazing blue-green algae we love so much that we can get from the Klamath lake/river here in Oregon. Seems (according to what I just read in LaDuke's book) that it is from the nitrogen run off from the farms around the river. The algal bloom sucks the dissolved oxygen from the water and suffocates the fish. The fish kill is fairly regular and is something that plagues the river. In the year 2000, its estimated that this was responsible for the death of 300,000 fish. What do I do with this information? I always thought that this algae was just something that naturally grew, not a by-product of the over use of fertilizer in farming in the area. I didn't ask enough questions. Maybe the harvesting of it is a good thing, and less of it is choking out the fish. For sure I need to do more research if this is something I want to include in my diet.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I want my choices to be in favor of NOT occupying the land, water, air, etc in un-respectful ways. I want others to not occupy my life. I want my choices to cause less harm. There is a story in LaDuke's book about a man who's grandfather was headman for the Plaikni people. When he returned from WW II the U.S. government was trying to terminate contracts to the Native folks and give them money for releasing them from government oversight, allowing private enterprises to exploit the land and resources. This man, Edison Chiloguin, refused to cash the checks, "The earth is my mother; I cannot sell my own mother.". He fought the government and in 1980 President Carter signed the Chiloquin Act granting Edison trust deed to the Plaikni Village the 580 acres to keep for traditional cultural purposes, not commercial.
What if we all treated the earth as such, as something that can not be bought or sold? What if everything we took from the land was treated with reverence and thanked for its use? What if we all tried to occupy a little less space and maybe just a little more compassion in this world?
I would settle for a little thanks for all that we have..... for now.
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