Wendell Berry's book
In the Presence of Fear covered many thought provoking topics. Each paragraph in each essay had something worthy of writing about. I found myself agreeing with Wendell more often than disagreeing with him. The essay that hooked me more than the others was "The Idea of a Local Economy". In general I liked his ideas, whether or not those ideas will work, is yet to be known, but it sounds good. I have long been against cooperate power, Berry does a good job of describing this. He writes, "The folly at the root of this foolish economy began with the idea that a cooperation should be regarded legally as "a person."(Berry 21). I would argue that cooperation have more rights than humans. I ask myself how is this possible? I definitely see how that came to be, but it doesn't seem right. As I read through the book, all of the essays seem to share similar characteristics. The idea left in my mind was his vision seems to resemble the Amish community. It also left me feeling a sense to do something for our local community. What could we do for our local community? The vision of a community farm came to mind. People could do some work on a community owned farm; planting, weeding, milking cows, etc., you name it. And in return those who help could receive the fruits of their labor (Groceries) so to speak. I can see this as something that continues to grow, with donations from the local businesses and of course it would have to be governed. But then, I think about the Tragedy of the Commons, and I'm not sure if this idea would work. However, if it were to magically work then it could be very educational for the community and school students, it would also support the idea of sustainable living.
Part Two: After watching Fresh, aquaponics captured my mind. I recently went to Disney World this summer for my son's sixth birthday, and we took a tour on Epcot's Living with the Land Aquaponics Tour Boat Ride. They had every thing you could think of inside the dome shaped green house from dragon fruit trees to simple corn. The tanks were filled with sturgeon, catfish, tilapia, you name it. I never really thought about this exhibit until after watching Fresh. I copied a link at the bottom, I hope it works but if it doesn't I encourage everyone to look it up online they have videos of the full tour, Epcot's Living with the Land.
earth911.com
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=living+with+the+land&view=detail&mid=650022B7BE672C1764D5650022B7BE672C1764D5&FORM=VIRE
I also researched aquaponics for my topic and what I found was that it is a symbiotic relationship between the plants and the fish, they help each other out. I have also been to Epcot and went through Living with the Land and I found it very interesting and I would love to go back again to see it will a different perspective now that I have more knowledge about the subject.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you talked about community farming and how people can work and get the benefits, that's how I think a community center works, like all people participate to build it, and then gets benefits with all the resources coming out of it, such as a recreation center or a library.
ReplyDeleteI looked up the link you provided and it is amazing. I didn't had the opportunity to go to Disney to see this but I would love to go one day and experience it. I think it is golden opportunity to see this in real life. It is amazing how fish and plant need each other. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI have to remind myself if I go to Disney World, I have to go see this. It looks impressive. I interested to know if there are any other aquaponic systems simular to this in scale in existance, and where they are located.
ReplyDelete