One of my readers, Jessie had this to say about the Peter Cundall post;
“He’s my hero too!
I too think the carbon tax is a good thing. And for those that complain about increased prices on things because the tax is applicable need to work out how to do without carbon causing things. Grow/raise your own, reduce reuse recycle and repurpose or do without. During WWII we faced rationing. If this is the environmental war then maybe we should be rationed on un-eco friendly things.”
I totally agree. If this is a war for the survival of all the other creatures of the earth, then we need to minimise our ecological footprint. A war for the environment, not against it.
We need to Dig for Victory to help win this war. One of the largest components of this ecological footprint is the production, harvest, transportation, and storage of food. Instead of covering our arable land with swathes of suburbia, we need to grow more of our food in the urban areas. Yes, this is what we need to do. This will only serve us well in the future. Let me explain.
Pipe dreams of a northern food bowl and the prospect of becoming the food bowl for Asia are just that. Pipe dreams. Without a reliable and healthy river systems, there is no food bowl.
As climate weirding continues unabated due to our lack of action, our monoculture industrial agricultural system will suffer even more hardship. Some current examples are the flooding rain in the UK, and the heatwave and crop losses in the US. Experts are predicting that both of these climate events will limit global food stocks this season.
Additionally, as we reach peak phosphate and peak oil, this system of agriculture will not deliver the surpluses as it has done so in the past.
Urban/Suburban agriculture using organic methods will be the only way to avoid shortages or rationing, and thereby enabling families to put meals on the table.
So, wouldn’t it be the sensible thing to do to begin to learn how to grow your own food, and plant a few fruit trees in your yard, even if only in pots? Logic would have it that it would be prudent to learn these skills sooner, rather than later.
Lets look to the past for similar resource shortages. A good example to model this type of action can be found during World War II.
The Australian War Memorial Encyclopaedia states;
“During 1942 food shortages began to have an impact on the Australian home front. The agricultural industry was struggling with massive labour shortages, a severe and prolonged drought, and major shortfalls in imports of seed stock and fertiliser. There was a growing realisation that unless agriculture became a focus of the war effort, food shortages would be imminent.
Many Australians were already keen home vegetable gardeners, being self-sufficient, with fruit and vegetables and a “chook shed” down the back. Others took to the idea afresh and turned over their whole front and back gardens to vegetable production, often selling excess produce to raise funds for the front. Some people formed neighbourhood gardening groups as a means of feeding their families. Others formed gardening collectives, specifically to raise funds for the war effort.
As the fear of invasion dissipated towards the end of 1943 food production became more of a national priority. Even though improvements were made in the agricultural sector to meet the demands of war, home gardening continued to raise funds and morale, and feed local communities and families, throughout the war.”