A few weeks ago I watched a movie on Netflix that astounded me. It was called “Think Global, Act Rural”. They go through the beginning of modern pesticides and herbicides and trace it back to after WW2 they had all of these surplus deadly chemicals that they didn’t know what to do with. It began a large-scale battle with nature to try and get it to do what we want. Unfortunately nature is actually quite cooperative with us already if we work with it and not against it.

The most interesting part of the video is an interview with a soil microbiologist. He is so passionate about dirt. There are so many millions of living organisms in dirt and they dig little tunnels that helps water flow through dirt and get soaked into the ground. Unfortunately when we use pesticides it calls all of those little organisms and dirt becomes hard, dead and unsupportive of life. Pretty soon plants are being grown entirely on the chemicals instead of this beautiful biodiverse interconnected relationship where all the different organisms help each other. Dirt should easily break apart and be in lots of little pieces like couscous instead of big hard clumps. That’s how you know if it’s dead or alive.

Then I read this fascinating article about front lawns

http://www.vergepermaculture.ca/blog/2011/05/04/grass-isnt-greener

It’s amazing how one of the most counter-cultural and subversive things you can do is plant a garden instead of a lawn. It goes against the grain of our culture but it can really make a difference the more people that do it. The article goes to show that we are not struggling with overpopulation, we are struggling with selfishness, ignorance, and reputation. Grass is the largest crop in north america. It uses between 30-60% of all our freshwater.

As a christian I still ultimately and completely believe that Jesus is the hope of the world. However while he was on the earth he had compassion on the hungry and fed them and healed them. I believe in supernatural food reproduction and healing, but why not natural as well? If we get rid of pesticides, herbicides and chemical growth enhancers we can stop having those run into our waterways, rivers and even oceans and help heal the planet. If everybody just grew their own food we could send all of our surplus to places that need it the most.

It’s so fascinating to learn more about this and other natural ways that we can make a big difference. I started reading a book called Mycelium running about how mushrooms and their fungal counterparts can help so much in detoxifying waste, oil spills, cancer, and the air. I just read in the news this morning about massive spraying to stop mosquitoes this summer in my city. I wonder if there is a better way like nurturing environments for bugs that eat mosquitoes. Anyways, these are just some of my recent thoughts on the environment and learning how we can make a difference.