Farmers Occupy Wall Street

My choices are now predicated on 2 beliefs:
1. The planet can no longer sustain a consumptive lifestyle that has been perpetrated during the industrial era, advertising agencies, and the notion of a continuously, and forever, growing economy with disregard for the finite nature of natural resources, on which that growing economy is based.
2. We can mimic nature, because we are part of it. By doing so, we can design a new “old” way of living that will sustain itself and be healthier and everlasting.
In these beliefs I have, of course, been influenced by many great thinkers who have written on many subjects stemming from these core ideas. There are also many writers and thinkers who have used their art or science to demonstrate what is wrong. There are many who are demonstrating how we can try to put things right.

To join people who are demonstrating publicly, in the streets, I journeyed to New York City on Sunday, December 11, 2011, with my friend, Jennifer, to be part of "Farmers' March Occupy Wall Street". This rally of several hundred people gathered at La Plaza Cultural at 9th Street and Avenue B, a lovely community garden space in a Lower East Side area with a lot of visible gardens on many blocks. After 2 hours of speeches by prominent activists in the national farming and Permaculture movements, we formed into a broad column to walk to Zuccoti Park at Wall Street.

Speakers at the event included Karen Washington, Founder of City Farms Market and board member at NYC based organization, Just Food; Jim Gerritsen, a Maine organic farmer and lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against Monsanto and was named one of 25 World Visionaries by Utne Reader in 2011; Severine von Tscharner Fleming, food advocate and producer of the film "Green Horns" profiling young farmer entrepreneurs; Jalal Sabur, Founding member of the Freedom Food Alliance, an alliance of black urban comunities with black rural farmers; Mike Callicrate, Colorado rancher, entrepreneur and rural political activist; Andrew Faust, Permaculture expert and educator.

What struck me vividly was the cross section of generations at this event - the aging baby boomers and older generations, and many young people from all walks of life. The younger people will have to carry the torch for food security and social justice now. It won't be an easy task but I am confident, after seeing the vitality and enthusiasm of those present at this event, that it will happen.