Sustainable Russia
Regardless of meaningless political banter about the Ukrainian situation, regardless of military comparisons, regardless of endless resource and monetary wars and political sabotage -Sustainable Russia wins hand down in one very meaningful way.
A Sustainable Core
In reality only a few things are at the very core of a sustainable civilization or a sustainable individual. As many would have you believe, fiat money and oil lubricate our (failing) growth paradigm. As many would have you believe, our bodies suffer from a deficiency in prescription pharmaceuticals. But in the end, in reality, there are only a handful of things that form the backbone of a civilization or an individual. I contend that although the scale is different, the core necessities are the same for both: A sustainable source of healthy food and clean water and other resources. But without the basics, food, water, shelter, etc, nothing else really matters.
Maslow
As Maslow theory suggests, our basic needs include food, water and shelter (warmth) and rest. So far America has been blessed in abundance with these basic needs and blessed by a rich natural resource base. Indeed Americans have been lucky. Both the individual and our society has grown strong due to this abundance. We have worked our way up his pyramid past physiological needs, past safety and security, love and belonging and have gained some self-respect and accomplishment. But have we achieved self-actualization?
I’m not sure that we have. I think that maybe while we are being distracted by American Idol, The Voice and the Nightly News we are forgetting about what has made this country great. Forgetting our past. Between watching TV, keeping up with the Kardashians and snacking on our genetically modified foods, we Americans consume 85% of the world’s prescribed pain pills. Seventy percent of us are on some form of medication including SSRI’s and Viagra. Every day 18 women die from prescription drugs. In 2009 the American drug market hit the $300 billion dollar mark. The pharmaceutical market in Russia in 2009 was US$14.58 billion despite their problems with addiction.
According to Maslow, self-actualizing people share the following qualities:
- Truth: honest, reality, beauty, pure, clean and unadulterated completeness
- Goodness: rightness, desirability, uprightness, benevolence, honesty
- Beauty: rightness, form, aliveness, simplicity, richness, wholeness, perfection, completion,
- Wholeness: unity, integration, tendency to oneness, interconnectedness, simplicity, organization, structure, order, not dissociated, synergy
- Dichotomy-transcendence: acceptance, resolution, integration, polarities, opposites, contradictions
- Aliveness: process, not-deadness, spontaneity, self-regulation, full-functioning…
Sustainable Russia
The list goes on. I have emphasized the last bullet point, because I contend that one cannot be a fully functional self-regulating individual or society without self-control and meaningful priorities. In that vein – I present one aspect of America vs Russia:
The above graphic presents some interesting statistics. One could argue that we have more time to watch TV because we are richer or conversely that Russians value their edible landscaping efforts out of necessity.
However, in my visits to Germany (a rich country), I have witnesses the same type of allotment gardening going on. People even travel to spend the weekend there gardening from a small cabin in the center of the garden. This system creates multiple benefits in terms of the feedback they get from their efforts: from the fresh produce comes nutrition (typically non-gmo and pesticide free), being outdoors boosts serotonin and vitamin D levels, and the exercise that comes from working in their food plots tones their muscles and increases flexibility. I would argue that there is a spiritual benefit as well.
Sustainable Feedback
In my studies of zero emissions and permaculture, I have learned an important concept inherent in all systems. The concept is feedback. Feedback can be negative or positive.
The feed back from gardening is beneficial, however, I contend that America, our caring leaders and benevolent corporations have created a positive (ironically named) feedback loop which is leading to our own self-destruction on both the individual and social levels. According to Wikipedia:
Positive feedback tends to cause system instability. When the loop gain is positive and above 1, there will typically be exponential growth, increasing oscillations or divergences from equilibrium.[3] System parameters will typically accelerate towards extreme values, which may damage or destroy the system…
My theory is this: as we consume more pills, more genetically modified food, more herbicides, more pesticides and fill our minds with endless propaganda, we become weaker and we begin to loose our ability to think and act critically at an increasing rate. Thus with weakened minds, bodies and spirits we continue to perpetuate this endless loop. Our minds and bodies become polluted, we can no longer discern what is good or bad or just or holy. We become increasing what we have become: consumers. It matters not what we consume, only that we consume.
Please stay tuned for a more in-depth look into Sustainable Russia and a look at some interesting lessons from Cuba. How is it that the “enemy” as we are told, is more self-sufficient and sustainable in terms of healthy food than us? I’m guessing it starts at the individual level.
Americans Are Waking Up
The good news, more and more Americans are waking up and realizing that the “King” has no clothes….they are eating healthier, planting gardens, getting off medications and learning more about what our grandparents already knew.
Please write to me and tell me how you have broken the cycle.
guy (AT) fullsirclefarms.com