SYSTEMS: PART TWO

How the Results of Our Seemingly Trivial Everyday Decisions

Powerfully Affect Multiple and Far Reaching Systems

Made by Biodiverse for LifeVisit our website at biodiverseforlife.org

Contains simple animations. Run as a slide show.

How do we begin to make make more informed choices?

Previously…… Systems: Part One.

Overview of systems and subsystems, human dependence on biodiverse natural systems, current human-made systemscompared to natural systems, the need to create better human-made systems… .

Systems: Part Two.

• The power of individuals daily choices. • One good individual choice, in even one area, positively impacts at least 10 other problem areas.

• One bad individual choice, in even one area, negatively impacts at least 10 other problem areas.

• Understanding how different systems are connected to each other, gives us the power to choose actions that will positively affect society and nature, and truly enrich our lives.

• What can I do, right now, to get started?

Coming soon….. Systems: Part Three.

What might better human-made systems look like?

Overview

Every biological creature is dependenton a diverse web of other biological creatures and the healthy natural

systems that support them.

Because we are also biological creatures, we are also dependent

on this web.

Our everyday, individual, choices are very important.

Therefore, developing compassion and responsibility toward ALL life, and ALL natural systems,

are the two most important actions we can take to ensure our own survival.

Our choices about what food we eat are especially important.

???

Power of Ten : One good food decisions positively affects at least TEN other systems!

Choose to eat a meal of vegetables that you have grown

organically and sustainably.

No oil, energy, or packaging pollutionto bring it to your home

Use of kitchen and yard biomass for garden compost

No oil, energy, or packaging pollution to take it from your home

Reduces landfill mass and toxic outputs

Increases biodiversity, making balanced,healthy dirt for plants. Provides habitat and food for dirt creatures and for the creatures that eat them, and for the creatures that eat them,…..

Good mental health from experiencing wonderment in a complex, healthy, and alivenatural environment

Great physical exercise,better than the gym

Stimulates new learningand skill acquisition

Not going to the gym saves oil/energy used to get there and back. And if fewer people used gyms to get exercise, also saves the energy and resources to build and run them.

Knowledge sharing and community

Health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables

Greatly reduced healthcare costs

Less government spending

Healthier air

Healthier water

Healthier land

These are only some of the connections.Can you think of others? Are there ANY negative effects?

Power of Ten : One good food decisions positively affects at least TEN other systems!

Choose to eat a meal of vegetables that you have grown

organically and sustainably.

Better Lives !

Better Physical and Mental Health

Better Planet

Power of Ten : One bad food decisions negatively affects at least ten other systems

Choose to eat a meal of industrial/factory farm produced foods

and/or highly processed foods from a restaurant or grocery store.

Factory meat, eggs, ordairy products

Monoculture corn, soy, etc.

Chemical fertilizer

Soil degradation andloss of biodiversity

Monopolistic consolidation ofindustrial power and money

Political corruption and unnecessary subsidies

Decreased health of humans

Decreased health of animals

Increased use of antibiotics and hormones

Cruel living conditions for animals.Would you like to take a tour?With your children?(Industrial meat/dairy won’t let you.)

Guilt, conscious or subconscious.

Decreased humanmental health

Increased health care costs

Loss of knowledge/concern about the source and composition of what we eat

Highly processed nutritionally deficient ‘food’ substances

Increased likelihood of financial considerations controllingwhat is acceptable as a ‘food substance’.

Loss of genetic diversityplant and animal

Compensating, defensive loss of compassion for others(animals and humans)

Very high oil/energy use for synthetic pesticides, herbicides, transportation, processing, and packaging

Increased risk of antibiotic resistance

Air, and water degradation

These are only some of the connections.Can you think of others? Are there ANY positive effects?

Power of Ten : One bad food decisions negatively affects at least TEN other systems!

Destruction of Life !

Destruction of Physical and Mental Health

Destruction of the Planet

Choose to eat a meal of industrial/factory farm produced foods

and/or highly processed foods from a restaurant or grocery store.

For some types of decisions, choosing not to dosomething harmful, simply results in no harm done.

But no benefits either. And visa versa.

However, for most of our consumption decisions, making a good choice,

in addition to benefiting multiple other systems, also prevents

the multiple negative effects of a bad choice.

These decisions can be neutral in the other direction.

For example, if I choose not to gossip about my neighbor.

And visa versa.

There are too many humans on the planet.

We must work to reduce our populationwhile rapidly decreasing our infantile ideas about

the right to infinite consumption and the ‘do it for me’/’tell me what to do’ way of life.

We need to grow up.

We need a healthy, biodiverse planet for our own physical and mental well-being.

Experts who say we must use methods that destroy the Earth to feed its people, are, at best, not very logical,

and definitely not seeing the ‘elephant’.

We need to grow up.

Most of the current systems of human design discourage true “growing up”.

We can do much better !!!

Each of us, must learn how our most basic everyday decisions travel through multiple subsystems.

How do we begin to design a better, reality-based, system?

Each of us, must understand the true, global costsor benefits of these decisions.

Each of us, must become aware, through our own experiences, that a reality based system is,

perhaps surprisingly, a more humanly satisfying and fulfilling system!

Where do I begin?

Ask simple questions : Where and How?

Read two books.

Talk to a friend.

Make better food decisions.

• Where did this come from, where will it go?• How was it made, how was it grown?• How does this affect our natural systems?

“ Plant a garden, grow at least some of your own food.”

Mohandas Gandhi, Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan…

Some of the Benefits of Growing Some of Your Own Food:

• Better nutrition

• Insights into interconnected systems and cycles

• Insight, appreciation, and acceptance of all stages of natural life cycles

• Compassion and appreciation of all life

• Humility and wonderment

• Personal empowerment

• Increased sense of community

• Exercise

• Hedonistic Pleasure !

To grow food?

KEEP IT SIMPLE !

Start with a variety of season-appropriate cut-and-come

greens and herbs.

Both are packed with nutrition and easy to grow!

Some are perennial and some will do fine without full sun!

Learn how to compost your kitchen and yard waste.

To grow food? KEEP IT SIMPLE !

The best way to build healthy dirt, is like the best way to nourish healthy bodies:

Use ingredients with the least assembled additives.

Learn the difference between ‘organic’ products and additives (not necessary)verses organic matter and sustainable practices (for healthiest dirt and happiest planet!).

The best way to grow healthy plants is to have healthy dirt.Healthy dirt needs LOTS of organic matter.

(Organic Matter: mixture of leaves, compost, composted manure, mushroom compost, shredded native hardwood mulch, etc.)

If you couldn’t easily pick it up off the ground, in a walk through the woods,You probably don’t need to add it to your dirt!

Chemicals or additives, even those from natural sources (‘organic’ products) are not needed. Like vitamins, they are a poor substitute for a healthy approach to ‘life’.

To grow food?

KEEP IT SIMPLE !

If someone is trying to SELL you something, ‘MicroLife’,courses, books, soil testing, ‘organic’ products, complex planting schedules, signs, …….

If a person, organization, or book is making you feel more anxious about your ability to let a seed grow….

Be careful! Marketers induce anxiety to separate you from your money, for things you don’t need.

(Think: bottled water.)

Be careful! Marketing is usually used for things you don’t need.(Think: sodas versus carrots.)

Remember: Physical Work = Money

Start small.Start with greens and herbs.(Also grow some habitat plants native to your region for the native wildlife!) The more you do for yourself, the less money you need to spend.

If you want or need a larger scale garden right away, then it can make sense to pay for help to construct it.

But if your goal is just to organically grow some of your own food, you can get started quickly, at a low cost, and in a small spaceby doing it yourself.

You may already have a space that just needs more organic matter!

Actively seek out information about the systems your actions impact!

Make better choices!

For More Information:

Books:Suggested Reading for Understanding Interconnections

Easy Composting:Simple, 2 Bin, No Turn, Composting (PDF)

Simple Food Gardening:Simple Food Gardening (PowerPoint Presentation)

Prototype for a Low Cost, Quick Start Home Food Garden (PDF)Quick Start Guide to Growing Food (PDF)

Summer Greens for the South:Heat Loving Food Plants (PowerPoint Presentation)

Ask Questions / Share Information:Houston Sustainable Food Gardeners at http://hsfg.forummotion.com/

Made by Biodiverse for Life at http://biodiverseforlife.org/

Coming soon….

Systems: Part Three.

What might better human-made systems look like?