Seeds for Thought: an Ecopsychology Blog

Food Economics

Why did the Polish Parliament adjourn early in late July? To allow members to pray for rain. Yes, at the end of July, during an exceedingly hot and dry summer, the media is filled with stories of impending vegetable shortages and the inevitable rise in prices that will bring.

Apparently, potato growers are particularly hard hit since their crop needs lots of water: the conditions have required increased irrigation... water that the farmers are finding difficult to access.

And "Farming Today" on BBC Radio 4 and Farmers' Weekly magazine both have been highlighting the high cost of energy and its effect on vegetable production and pricing.

Another Andy

A friend of mine sent me this image of one of Andy Goldsworthy's sculptures made in 1987 and I thought it was so exquisite I wanted to share it with you here:

I also recently discovered another web cam, this one featuring a nest of baby eagles in which a classic fratricidal drama was enacted on screen, much to the horror and fascination of audiences worldwide.

country diary

We have a beautiful little community garden about a 5-minute walk away
from our house. It's got trees and water fountains and herbal garden
areas. Wind chimes and bird feeders. Ceramic mosaics made my local
schoolchildren, with pictures of birds and frogs on them. There are
benches all around, many hidden in little nooks, some in a circle
around a feature. Some of the herbs are labeled (oregano, spearmint)
and others speak for themselves when you walk by and their scent
overwhelms, like lavender.

Today I went to the garden and sat and watched and listened and
smelled. A white butterfly busily inspected the different plants. A bee
was pollinating some delicate purple flowers. The pond was covered in
moss. A female blackbird jumped into hiding. A little sparrow fed at
the bird table. A woodpigeon clumsily fluttered up towards a tree where
a scuffle had been recurring. The chimes tinkled. Rustling came from
some undergrowth.

just do it?

This is not really ecopsychological, but a few times recently I have been sulky or in complain mode and then thought never mind that I'll just do something about it.

All little things. I was on a trade union course and the drinks were a coffee machine with nescafe plastic cups and pretend milk. I did complain, bad to find that a trade union venue is well behind your employer on the ethics standpoint. Then I just went to the supermarket, bought some fair trade coffe and organic milk to share and we used the kitchen kettle and undisposable cups.

Climate Change Consultation Response

Wednesday 12 July 2006

Dear Corporate Sustainability Team,

I feel it is impossible to separate the climate change crisis from the UK energy crisis, so I am incorporating my responses to the UK Government Energy Review Consultation into this response.

Although I founded the community group Sustainable Thornbury, a large number of us defined its aims, which are:

o To preserve and further a sustainable and locally-based economy
o To encourage the prudent use of scarce resources
o To reduce the area's ecological footprint
o To promote community engagement and social cohesion
o To promote community self-sufficiency
o To facilitate the adaptation of the community to future energy and climate challenges

The overall goal is to promote the well-being of everyone living and working in the area.

In my opinion as an individual, these aims tie in with the present consultation. In particular, I see the priorities (in order of importance) as being six-fold: food, water, housing, heating, medicine and transport.

Body Knowledge

Is there a theoretical core to ecopsychology? I have been reading Diane Ackerman's chapter on language in her book "Alchemy of Mind" which has some interesting implications for ecopsychology. Ecopsychology purports to explore the relationship between the “human” and the “natural” with particular sensitivity to the dissociations between human culture, language and NATURE as a deeper more primary reality than our meager scientific and artistic descriptions of it. The "deeper" meaning of nature is, however, metaphorical like most language and its depth raises questions.

locating ourselves

Inspired by Amy's post I'm putting some little pictures of our garden up. At the moment we have a raspberry glut, can't eat them fast enough. Plums and apples to follow later hopefully, maybe tomatoes and possibly sweetcorn. Garlic of course. Living in Britain can be depressing if you watch the news. Best to locate myself here, in the river valley, in Yorkshire, The World. Etc. Now.

Living the Good Life

This weekend I drive over the sacred Mount Tamalpais to visit my friend Patricia in Bolinas. The fabled Bolinas that doesn't actually have road signs pointing to it - you have to know how to get there or you just don't get there.

I've mentioned Patricia in the past, in relation to the beautiful wabi sabi tea bowls she made at her ceramics studio. But now I want to talk about her more generally, as a human being within her environment, fully creative and integrated with the natural world around her.

Besides being a potter, or ceramic artist if we're being fancy, Patricia is a weaver and a spinner and a knitter. Here are the new baby goats whose fleece she will be spinning in a year  or two: