AVATAR – A MYTH FOR OUR FUTURE

AVATAR!

Hollywood has brought us yet another opportunity to tune into a possible future…

I loved it deeply, have seen it twice so far (3D was great!) and will see it again, I know.

Reading so many descriptions, reviews, got to give my own…

For me it was at least an offering to the vision of a beautiful future for our own planet – a vision of  community, shared food, simple life in nature.  Ok – that is merely the surface – I am trying to speak of DEEP ECOLOGY, the right relationships that can come with reverence for other Beings – be they trees or animals.  All of this was implied in the world of the Tribal Forest People.

I want to speak right now of our relationship to the meat we eat.  As a cook & nutritionist I have been through many phases of vegetarianism since 1970 when I discovered brown rice & macrobiotics.  I now eat a small amount of local or organic poultry & wild fish, as well as using broth from bones.  Although I do not kill my own meat, I have done so.  years ago I was a communal caretaker of goats, chickens, rabbits, ducks.  We fished and certainly i gutted, descaled & cleaned lots of fish as a child with my grandfather. I believe that we each should be able & willing to do that – to clean the organs, cleave meat from bone, access the animal’s raw biology & flesh.  If we cannot bear to think about that – how can we justify being carnivores – eating such an offering from the life blood & sacrifice of this Being?   And, so – I ask us all to question our inner truth, what do we eat, how do we offer it into our very metabolism, as it becomes part of our own flesh, do we give thanks, do we revere the life that has been lost to save our own?  It is the true spirituality of food, and an opportunity to again – say Grace, give thanks and make the food into love & a blessing to our bodies.  (And I am talking about plants here too, by the way)

So, let’s think about the hunting scenes…using bow & arrow, knife, a more equal challenge between the prey & the hunter…

In the words of Lauren Raine – www.threadsofspiderwoman.blogspot.com

…They even had enough anthropological understanding to include the hunter who prays over the body of the fallen prey, offering thanks for the gift of its meat – this is, indeed, what native peoples universally did in both myth and in practice, recognizing and honoring that the animal has sacrificed its life to sustain the life of the tribe. Most Americans do not equate the hamburger they buy with an animal that has lost its life, let alone do they comprehend a spiritual system that respects the exchange of life force and energy that has taken place. What a wonderful concept to introduce to the young people who watched the movie…

To finish – I invite each of you readers to see this movie as a deeper symbol of more than the politics between conqueror & conquered (European Invaders vs Indians, etc) and other wonderful analogies that can be made about resource extraction, but rather – as a mythology for the spirituality of nature & our place in it, the very Gaian Philosophy of Lovelock & Deep Ecologists such as Joanna Macy!  I will even take it one step further – in the scenes at the Tree of Life - we witnessed a ritual of healing involving the synthesis of an entire community acting & tuning as one – the possibilities of which break open our own limited beliefs in “Self & Other”.  Tune to each other, become true community, unite in compassion & shared life, healing.  Enjoy, live in joy, fly!  I think I got it.

Localization, Relocalization, Futurization

What is localization? Let’s look at the leading localization movement description – by the localization group of WELL in the small town of Willits, CA

 

The WELL Vision:  An enduring local economy that provides health and security for our community.

The Mission of WELL To foster the creation of a local, sustainable economy in the Willits area by partnering with other organizations to watch for opportunities and vulnerabilities, incubate and coordinate projects and facilitate dialogue, action and education within our community.

 

Why Are We Doing This? Willits is a great place to live for many reasons. We have a strong sense of community, creative and dedicated residents, and surrounding natural beauty.

Economic, demographic and environmental trends concern many in our community. Rising fuel costs, climate change, and the importation of most of our essential goods leaves our community vulnerable.

Localizing our economy means that we will produce more of our essentials here in Willits. This behavior models the great American values of self and community reliance. Creating local food and energy systems will tap the vast wealth of knowledge and ingenuity in our area. Benefits include:

Diverse local employment Clean, efficient and more responsible options for food, energy and transportation Securing the future for our families and children Having a stronger connection to each other and the natural beauty around us

Through economic localization we strive to protect and enhance existing qualities of our community and meet the challenges of the future.

 

At foremost issue is the coming decline of petroleum resources and the impact it will have on all of us. The goal is to find creative methods to sustain and empower the local community while moving away from global (imported) resources — in essence, to ‘localize’ our community. WELL is made up of a network of citizens and community organizations that meet regularly to create a common vision, foster education, plan work, and carry out projects.

The simple idea is to remember what we all used to do – before the boats, trains & trucks rolled into town bringing all the supplies of modern life to be purchased by the “consumer”.

What did we do? We used to MAKE things and had local food supply, grain and flour mills, manufacturers & suppliers of conveniences and dry goods…you remember olde time “Main Street” with its shops – each one a distinct and different entity – the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker…not just a children’s poem, but a real community. We even picked our own fruit

from trees that our grandparents planted! I love those stories of possible past and possible future. An emblem of hope in TURBULENT TIMES.

Other groups are helping pioneer the change to a “Post carbon” future with more local evolution of services and goods. The time too begin is now – with oil at over $120/barrel, we can re-apply efforts to discovering old ways, using new low-technologies for energy and transport, and mentoring local “green transition” skills.

Join the pioneers of future and start a localization movement in your town – it can be as simple as plantiing a community garden, publically showing films like “Escape from Suburbia”, promoting energy farms.

Energy Farms are a response to the dominant agricultural model of the so-called “Green Revolution” that turns soil to dust, chemicals to food, and food to fuel.

Using science, proven tools, and evolving methodologies the Energy Farm Initiative seeks to demonstrate systems of agriculture that can sustain both farms and communities in the face of climate change and peak oil. This program weaves threads of the Relocalization vision into a fabric of local currency, local food and biofuel systems, revitalization of local industry, and community cooperation.

 

Ok, so – lots to do!!! In fact, I gotta run – plants to water, bee swarms to manage…see you later,

-anniegreenjeans