Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Cultivating an Ecological Conscience

Rethinking Food

The current era of industrial food systems based on cheap energy is rapidly drawing to a close, according to Kirschenmann's observations, and will need to be replaced with ones based on more human labor and less on excessive consumption of water and fuel.

"Farmers' markets, community-supported agriculture operations, school gardens, urban agriculture, biointensive agriculture, perennial polyculture, and other initiatives already are growing at a rapid rate and enabling many people to engage in the pleasure of consuming and producing food with superior attributes. While all of these nonindustrial approaches still amount to only a tiny part of our food system, they are creating a new food culture that may become more significant as energy and ecological costs continue to rise."

Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher by Frederick L. Kirschenmann
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