"The freedom of our time starts with our seed and with our food." (Vandana Shiva).
I really do think that if you involve yourself in people and activities that you believe in, your passion for that belief will deepen. You develop a better understanding of your love, by spending time with it you get to know it, get to appreciate it with all of your life force. Your passion may change, but it doesn't just flip, it rolls around into a better groove where you feel better suited, well placed. This is why I don't wish to put a name on 'my passion'. Naturally, I wish to say I love the earth, I like good food, I see the importance in community, I find deep respect for great leaders, I enjoy being creative, I like feeling peaceful and completely inspired all at once. At the moment this is my passion, these many things combined create meaning in my life, in my future and in my perception of the world...
So, two Saturdays ago was Seedy Saturday in Victoria. I went. And I discovered a team called the Youth Food Action Team supported by Aaren Topley on behalf of the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiative Roundtable. A group of awesome people sharing adventures through food. What better thing to stumble upon, this lovely Saturday morning?! Of course, I signed up to be a part of the team after hearing about the uber fun and so connected to me kind of activities that they do. They do things like go to local farms to learn methods and philosophies on organic growing, they volunteer to make community dinners with healthy food, etc., you get the idea. Anyway, my first adventure with them was at UVIC, listening with a scrolling pen, to the mighty Vandana Shiva!
Vandana shiva is a human being that is working on various food related topics to ultimately protect and help the well being of the planet and the creatures within it.
http://vandanashiva.org"We protect the biodiversity of the planet by defending of the freedom of the seed to evolve in integrity, self-organisation, and diversity."
While I listened to her speak, I realized the importance of what she was saying more and more. In my life I hear so many clashing and even contradicting opinions on food security. Hers is what I believe in. Being part of the global movement for seed freedom, she speaks of powerful things that go on in the world as well as the frightening truth of the everyday information that sure we know of, but do we know the true impact that they inflict? Well, let's explore...
Vandana Shiva says that industrial farming is the single biggest problem on the planet.
Let that sink in...
Wait a minute? Isn't industrial farming what keeps us all alive? How could this planet possibly support food for 7 billion people without mono crops? In actual fact, even though industrial farming practices look as though they produce more food, can feed more people, etc. they actually do the opposite. While these agricultural practices have destroyed 75% of the soil, organic farming continues to build soil. Chemical agriculture is a thirsty system and intense irrigation is needed. In a bad year for farmers, a normally high yielding crop will be a zero yielding crop. An actual decrease in nutritional content is seen, as well as taste and shapes. Increase in vitamin deficiencies are due to this so called needed farming system.
"Negative productivity is said to be the food that is feeding the world."(Vandana Shiva).
Fact: 14 billion people could be fed through biodiverse farming.
Ok, cool... What's biodiverse farming? It's not only the answer to protecting the environment, it's also the answer to global food insecurity. As described in it's name, it is the opposite of a mono crop, mono meaning one, diverse meaning to have variety. To have various different species of plants together is biodiverse farming. Perhaps you will have plants that help each other in the same crop. They will manage each other's pests, the many organisms in the soil will control pests as well as provide an abundance of nutrients. Organic, biodiverse crops essentially support more diversity and in return, work in a natural way. These are basic concepts that should be logical to most people. It is repeating what nature has already set out for us. It is the most simple, most logical, most rewarding system for farming. In all, the more biodiversity in a crop means the more production as well as nutrition. Face the facts, they will guide you in the right direction...
Then there's the seedy political situation.
"Food and politics have never crossed paths so dangerously before." (Vandana Shiva).
Ownership is the deal here. But what's the deal with ownership anyways? In the seed world, we can see that the poor little seeds are being abused. They are being abducted and put something called a patent on them. Monsanto takes seeds, genetically modifies them and then sells them with the additional fee of royalties. As Vandana Shiva explains, 300,000 Indian farmers committed suicide because of being pushed into debt from royalties from patents on the seeds they are buying. Guess what? Monsanto lives almost everywhere. Seed is not an Invention, it is an Evolution and should be treated exactly be these terms.
So there is the gift of knowledge from nature, to Shiva to me to you. Continue to care, keep learning and educating, feel out your integrity and explore it with an open heart,
Thank you deeply,
<3 Eden