CONTROL. That’s the legacy of modern man, in my humble opinion. All of life, especially nature and the planet, are expected to fit into parameters that humans have decided. These haven’t been decided based on what’s best for life on, and of, this earth we depend on, nor are they based on respect for functionality of all of life here. Control is decided, and enacted, based on dollars, power, and ultimately, greed.
Those who are in “control”, in agriculture and livestock, are warriors for “big agriculture” (a.k.a. CAFO’s). It’s the only way we’ll “feed the world”, they say. So, being the questioner that I am, I started digging to find the head of this dragon; when did “big ag” begin? For most of us, it seems as though it’s always been here. Well, based on the age of most people alive today, it’s been for their whole lives on this planet. We’ve never known anything else.
The truth is, the farthest I could chase it, was the mid-1800’s when the first tractor was built. Then came implements, and then wars that used these kinds of machinery. After these wars ended, there were surpluses of chemicals, machinery, and who knows what all, that seemed to work with the “controlling” of the planet. I mean, after all, natural resources are limitless, and there for our taking, right? Humans set about, at a fevered pace, trying to control every square inch of nature, killing what they felt challenged by, and annihilating countless species of game, just because they were there. It breaks my heart to know these things! I feel great shame for these thoughtless actions, and I want to do what I can, to help caring humans learn how to heal the land we must have to survive.
What was this land like before Europeans crossed the ocean and began to try to CONTROL? What species will we never see again, because of selfishness, greed, and base ignorance? How did humanity exist before that, in harmony with all life, and keep the balance? Where did that ancient knowledge and respect for all of life go?
In 1949 Aldo Leopold wrote, “Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see the land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
Wow! LOVE. RESPECT. Two words that have lost their depth, in today’s world, but they’re the keys to building tomorrow. In food. In water. In health. In a balance no one has seen in nearly 200 years.
In the mid-18th century, it was written that herds of buffalo were so huge, one could be crushed in their stampede…the ground rumbling under their feet. It was also written that ducks and geese were so plentiful, at the Falls of Ohio, that one had no need to kill them. They fell over the falls in such number, that they could be picked up plentifully, for one’s meal. The land was fertile, green and filled with all manner of game.
It’s believed that there were 25 -30 MILLION bison roaming the Great Plains, making the ground shake, and filling the air with their dust. By the time the tractor was invented, that number had dropped to about 1,000 bison.
Another most plentiful animal, which I’d knew nothing of, was the American antelope. In less than 100 years, these true invaders of a balanced continent – the pioneers, the cowboys, the folks who were sure they “knew a better way – had shrunk these beautiful animals to an official count of 32!
The natural life here, on the pre-European American continent, was stable, respectful, balanced, and there was an understanding of the value of ALL LIFE, including the soil. Yes, death was part of that, but death is a part of all life. The two words missing, for most of the last two hundred years are love and respect. In our forgetful mad dash to control, we have unbalanced the entire picture.
By Sherrie Ottinger
