In addition to highlighting positive solutions, it is important to keep in mind that people’s situations and perspectives are different. We all have different passions or priorities. One size or one approach does not fit all. Therefore, we need to integrate our green justice and Regeneration messages with the specific issues and concerns that are most important to grassroots constituencies, and then lay out, in everyday language, a strategy that makes people understand that we can actually solve the problems they care about the most, while also solving a host of other pressing problems at the same time. Only by starting from where people are at, and then connecting the dots, can we capture the attention and imagination of a critical mass of the global grassroots and get them to start thinking about how they can participate in our new Movement and new economy.
Objective and subjective conditions for change are different in every country in the world, and to some extent differ as well in the sub-regions and local communities of these 195 countries. Everyday people everywhere, including the most impoverished and vulnerable communities, have their burning issues as well as their secondary issues, and an inherent desire to alleviate and, if possible, solve the problems that are pressing down on them, in many cases threatening their very survival. In the activist community, major focus areas, in most cases reflecting the concerns of everyday people, include inflation and the high cost of living, freedom of choice and Constitutional liberties, climate change, environmental pollution, health, social justice, jobs and economic justice, peace, and democracy. Unfortunately, campaigners, both on the local and national/international levels, often work in isolation from other sectors, each in their own separate silos. This perpetuates tunnel vision in the body politic, parochial or sectarian attitudes, political polarization, and an overall weakness in global civil society.
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Regenerators, young and old, given our current situation, need to operate on the old adage that “the darkest hour is right before the dawn.” Instead of just dwelling on the negative, on the things that divide or frighten us, we need to search out and highlight today’s positive trends, best practices, and solutions. For the OCA and Regeneration International community this means not just focusing on the latest corruption and criminality of the ruling class and the technocrats, not just the delusions and self-destructive behavior of those brainwashed by the Establishment narrative, but on finding, highlighting, and scaling up real life regenerative alternatives.
As we inform ourselves and resist the Great Reset, the Big Pharma power grab, Silicon Valley programming and censorship, the Ukraine war and endless conflict, the reckless science, the pollution of our food, the destruction of the environment and climate, and the mass confusion, fear, and psychosis that has debilitated much of the body politic; we must also search out and highlight the positive trends in grassroots insurgency and creativity. We must seek out, highlight, and participate in the best practices of organic and regenerative food, farming, and land use, as well as the holistic natural health practices, food and dietary changes, and lifestyle transformations that are regenerating people’s health, mental and physical. For a full dose of positive information, go to the internal search engine on the upper right hand side of the OCA homepage and type in the words Regenerative Food and Farming.
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Like most of you, we at OCA and Regeneration International are sick and tired of gloom and doom, false promises, and authoritarian/technocratic schemes. We’ve had enough of the mad science, genetic engineering, war-mongering, fear-mongering, political corruption, corporate greed, cancel culture, and media censorship. We’re tired of political posturing and sectarianism (“my issue or my constituency is more important than your issue or your constituency”). We’re done with name-calling and yelling at one another instead of sitting down and figuring out how we, the 99%, can move forward on real solutions for the U.S. and the world’s most pressing and dangerous crises—while agreeing to disagree on many of the secondary issues that will likely still divide us for the foreseeable future.
I like to call this ecumenical approach '21st Century Populism,' even though the liberal and conservative Establishment want us to believe that grassroots populism is a dirty word, a synonym for intolerance and unlettered ignorance. But as Thomas Frank points out in his 2020 book, The People No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism, nearly everything we hear about populism in the mass media is wrong. For many, "populism" is seen as a frightening thing, a term pundits use to describe the racist statements of politicians such as Donald Trump and European extremists.
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In the context of the ongoing debate on biodynamic agriculture, Italian Senator Elena Cattaneo’s recent intervention has caused quite a stir, as she is ready to reopen the courts of the Inquisition, complete with cliché seventeenth-century accusations of witchcraft, alchemy and esoteric practices.
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Amid predictions of climate change driving up temperatures and causing more extreme heat in the Midwest, a new study led in part by University of Maryland researchers has found that growing one particular perennial grass could cut Midwest warming by 1 degree Celsius.
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The line between soil and dirt is anything but fine. Without knowing it, farmers have been stripping the soil of essential nutrients for generations. But now we know, and modern farmers like those at Singing Frogs Farm are reestablishing how our crops are grown, benefiting the environment, community and local economy.
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DESPERATE TIMES — How bad is California's drought? Bad enough to make farmers turn to tequila. About 40 farmers and distillers gathered last week at an inaugural agave symposium at the University of California, Davis, to explore the prospects of growing agave in California and making alcohol from it.
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I see the possibility of bringing into being a reality that we haven’t known before. I see the potential for a reality beyond colonialism, extractive capitalism, and climate chaos. A potential sourced from an understanding of living systems, not from my projection of what I want to see change in the world.
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For those at the base of the pyramid, the struggle to consume enough edible food just to see another sunrise defines much of their existence. At the top of the pyramid sit those fortunate souls who can afford to cook delicious meals with fresh ingredients, eat at fine restaurants, or even hire a personal chef to tend to their every dietary indulgence.
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We held a side event at UNCCD COP15 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire speaking on how the agave-based agroforestry can regenerate degraded arid and semi-arid landscapes. This strategy combines the growing of agave plants and nitrogen-fixing companion treespecies (such as mesquite), with holistic rotational grazing of livestock. The result is a high-biomass, high forage-yielding system that works well even on degraded, semi-arid lands.
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