Saturday, May 17, 2008

Old Hippy Speaks

I had this idea that maybe it's about time I said what I think. Maybe I have been playing Mr Reasonable for a bit too long. So have I got the balls, that's the question, and will it do any good, and does it matter anyway? These, and other deep philosophical questions will be explored in depth in due course.

Forty years ago we knew this crazy consumerist society was a load of shit, going nowhere. We worked out that happiness was not linked to materialism. And we worked out that plundering the planet for short term greed would be a disaster sooner rather than later. So now here we are again, and no fucker listened, and guess what, they're still not listening. You educated twats, you power hungry idiots, you thick suckers, you cannot keep taking from a finite supply - it will run out!

Today I listened to this total arsehole trying to explain that the only way to feed the ever expanding population of human beings was to mechanise and industrialise global agriculture. Jeez, There is so much land being under-utilised and so many people doing pointless jobs - why doesn't anyone put two and two together and start encouraging people to use the land correctly to grow good food as it is meant to be grown. Have you any idea how much food you can grow on a small patch of land if you do it properly - I can tell you, it's a lot! And I'll tell you why no-one is encouraging it, it's simple - there is no way they can make obscene profits from local living, but guess what, they can from huge great enterprises, where they can steal cheap labour and keep land ownership in the hands of the few.

'Oh, I don't want to grow food, I don't want to get my hands dirty, I want to earn obscene amounts of money doing stuff that absolutely doesn't need doing - and I want to buy fast cars and fancy watches, and suits made by poncy designers'.

Oh Please Guys! it's getting near time when you have to grow up and get real!

12 comments:

  1. Not only agriculture, but also natural resources will be spent/destroyed if there is no commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

    Huge companies have this Corporate Social Resposibility new concept, involving local initiatives where governments can't take part or refuse to take actions.

    Is this enough? Obviously not. We still pollute, infect, burn, corrupt, poison, exterminate, kill, exhaust... etc.

    There is that thing called Sustainable Development, a pattern to allow the environment to function properly indefinitely, but will we ever see that working?

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  2. Whenever an old hippy speaks... I listen... at least until the acid flashbacks take over.

    Seriously... good points. I agree.

    /me waves at Leni! Good points too!

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  3. Thanks Kindness!
    Maybe a bit serious this time but, Urgh! to be honest, I couldn't find the joke. This is not a funny subject at all!

    *Leni waves back* :))

    PS.-Hey old hippy! stop eating hallucinogenic mushrooms! lol

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  4. Hey, don't worry. It's gonna get very bad for a very long time, but for the ones that make it through it's gonna be a whole lot better. And those "one's" will be the one's who know how to put a potato in the fucking ground.
    Blimey, cornered into a serious comment. What is this World coming to!!!

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  5. We've committed to local living with our own vegetable gardening endeavours. So far - in the last three years - we have produced four peas (very tasty) some small potatoes and some ornamental squashes ( we thought they were going to be butternut ) and although we grow slugs that could win prizes in any slug show they just aren't as appetising as the vegetables other people seem to produce.

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  6. Right on. Not taking the piss either. And not an old hippy.

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  7. I have a cabbage plant growing in a kiddy cup in my window. Does that count?

    I have so been meaning to garden. Nothing like fresh veggies and whatnot to make you feel resourceful.

    Dang this apartment complex and their rules!! I should so move out into the woods and garden ol' school.

    Love your post. :) Miss you!

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  8. And on top of that it's bloody H&S - You will not believe this, but it's perfectly true, we have a vegetable plot at school for the 'gardening' club (you would not believe the number of children that didn't know that vegetables were GROWN)but the children are not allowed to eat the vegetables. As they are 'home grown' they do not conform to H&S legislation stating what can be fed to school children in state schools - after all as government employees we might be accused of mass poisoning by vegetables!

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  9. Leni - I agree 100% with you. Sustainable development is a great phrase - surely we can do that now. It's just comman sense isn't it.

    Kindness - How do I know which are the flashbacks and which the reality. Jeez, maybe I should have held back a bit on all them drugs!

    Leni - I haven't touched any hallucinagenic drugs since my son's wedding last year, so give me a break ok!

    Henry - Ha, so I trapped you into being serious - so sorry! When I started this blog I had the noble ambition of never being serious. Alas I was unable to fulfil my anbitions. I once heard that Peter Cook alone was the only person ever never to have made a serious point in his life. I so hope its true, but I doubt it.

    Glenatron - I am working on the possibility of writing a book on the psychology of vegetable growing. Over the last few years I have been designing a garden to minimise Pychological setbacks, which inevitably lead to the 'fuck this!' situation I am sure you are familiar with. An important part of vegetable growing is keeping your spirits up, and a big part of that is in the design of your plot.

    Richard - We used to call you guys 'straights' in the 60s. Now I call you a fellow human being. Thanks for your support anyway.

    Sweet Awa, of course your cabbage counts. How the hell did it end up with all these people living without any land - it just is plain wrong!

    Ziggi - don't get me started on health and bloody safety. Grrrrrrrr! It surely can't be long before we just collectively tell all those meddlars to piss off out of our faces. One day soon we must take back our responsibilities. Now you've made me angry!!!!

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  10. I seem to remember George Monbiot saying something quite similar in a recent column.

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  11. I still think that turning people into food pellets is the answer..like soylent green..c'mon it's got it all..
    recycling, population control and most of all finding a cheap source of foor for feeding the rich, it all dovetails quite nicely.

    Darling, fancy a bit of Chinese tonight?

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  12. I've a horrible feeling that one day in the future our country will be famous only for the unbelievable number of brain dead tits and pricks it produced.

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