“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” —Richard Buckminster Fuller
Mission
Facilitate access and participation in digital infrastructures that economically empower small farms and communities to achieve economic freedom in their transition towards human-scaled symbiotic sustainable regenerative food systems and localized food sovereignty.
Motivation
Conventional agricultural and food supply chain systems are a major contributor to greenhouse gases (GHG). According to an analysis of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) it is estimated that 31 per cent of human-caused GHG emissions, are directly related to the world’s agriculture and food production and supply systems.1
It is clear that something is going very wrong with how we live and how our lifestyles affect the planet, the lives of people thousands of kilometres away and our relationships with each other and the community. We would rather live a life today than grant our children and the next seven generations a chance of a life of their own to fulfill their needs and quality of life. Rational and conventional top down government-led decision-making processes are normally used to prevent or solve interrelated problems or to facilitate and support change. As experience has shown, this often leads to resistance, alienation and apathy, subsequently resulting in a lack of real sustainable change. Changing the way we do “business” and becoming human again2 is of paramount importance.
Pathway – from sustainable towards symbiotic regeneration
A variety of sustainable ecological agriculture practices3 sequester carbon from the atmosphere4 and have the potential to reverse climate change instead of contributing to it. Protecting and regenerating soil on our 4 billion acres of cultivated farmland, 8 billion acres of pasture land, and 10 billion acres of forest land, is a major factor and essential to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius and stop the loss of biodiversity.
A sustainable interdependent and resilient community or lifestyle is something which cannot be attained overnight or by applying a conventional blue-print for action.
Although there are very few “universal” principles of sustainability, there are diverse pathways which lead us from the basic principles to the implementation of a sustainable interdependent, and resilient community or lifestyle. Whichever pathway is chosen it is to be founded on the basic principles of human dignity, interdependence and the particular care of the needs of future generations. This pathway begins at the confluence of spiritual and economic development. Guiding us along the way are interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars of social networks, culture and governance. The pathway chosen must be supportable, equitable and viable for all stakeholders. To achieve a balanced sustainable and resilient lifestyle, community identity, dialogue, critical discourse and participatory democracy in decision-making processes are vital for success.
Symbiotic and regenerative sustainability as well as the localization of food production and supply chain systems offer one of the greatest opportunities to help address human, community and climate health, along with the financial well-being of communities and farmers.