07-10-2008, 06:23 AM
A few thoughts.
Having my nose stuck out there reading the wind, with fuel and food prices climbing, one thing is clear--we're witnessing a revival of the "back to the land" alternative movement. Of course this has happened before, and a few martyrs have hung in there through the whole thing--but I'm going to suggest at this time things are, and are going to be different. Why?
The first "back to the land" movement in the 60's was in most ways a ideolgical movement, engendered by various books and ideas, and capitalising on popular ideas like the "wisdom of ancient cultures," "naturalism" in various forms, and a heavy dose of pure adolecent rebellion, not cutting hair, smoking weed, and humping in the brush. Of course, it failed, and was doomed to fail. The "boomers" got good jobs, mostly, and Moon Unit decided she'd rather raise her kids in a nice house, would prefer that her "guy" married her, took showers, and went to work, and the gig was up. That's been the case till very recently for the simple reason that principles(especially fictious ones) have a very hard time competing with comfortable suburban lives, jet-setting around the world, mini-vans full of kids and dogs, watching movies on the big screen at home, and the rest.
This "back to the land" movement will be very different. It will be based on the pure nuts of the fact that it is very near difficult to get ahead if you're young, or near impossible to retire with the economy going where it is going, and where it is likely to continue to head. People are struggling, and after putting in a few years pounding away at a job in the manner you were taught, and finding one's net worth to be less than one started with, people in very real and very personal ways are indeed asking, "Damn, there MUST be some other way."
However, there is a problem. So much of the "other way" and "other way" creeds and techniques that are attempting to be patched in are coming straight out of the first go around, cut and paste with very little thought about how functional, effective, or sensible such things really were. Because we're moving from "alternative" lifestyles that were mostly recreational to "alternative" lifestyles demanded of by financial necessity and maybe even pure survival, a much much more critical eye must be turned to the actually effectuality of ones efforts. This is no small task. There are a lot of people out there who simple WANT to do SOMETHING, and there is a whole industry rising filling that need. I think much of it is simply exploitative, and taking advantage of people who are desperate to be moving "in the right direction" and will jump at all sorts of ideas, and pay good money to invest in systems and schemes--and it's anybodies guess weather or not in actuality one has moved in a good direction or no.
As well, among the "alternative" crowd is often a very very defensive stance towards any sort of criticism, constructive or no, obviously rooted again in basic adolescent rebellion. "Don't be negative!" Don't ask questions about whether organic gardening makes any sense, or question, GMO's, invasive species, solar wind, et al., make any sense. Often one and ones criticisms will be rejected immediately. We have to get beyond this sort of BS. This time around, as far as I can see it, many of us are playing for keeps, and investing time and money in a kind of living that, needs to work out, and neither that time or money is going to be replaceable.
Hawaii is and is going to remain, and grow, as far as I can see, an incubator for such lifestyles. I'm here because it is a near ideal place for such kinds of living and values to flourish. Certainly, many people are interested, and a voice needs to be heard to offer mature, intelligent, rigorous guidance or we could easily end up with a real mess that serves no one.
Having my nose stuck out there reading the wind, with fuel and food prices climbing, one thing is clear--we're witnessing a revival of the "back to the land" alternative movement. Of course this has happened before, and a few martyrs have hung in there through the whole thing--but I'm going to suggest at this time things are, and are going to be different. Why?
The first "back to the land" movement in the 60's was in most ways a ideolgical movement, engendered by various books and ideas, and capitalising on popular ideas like the "wisdom of ancient cultures," "naturalism" in various forms, and a heavy dose of pure adolecent rebellion, not cutting hair, smoking weed, and humping in the brush. Of course, it failed, and was doomed to fail. The "boomers" got good jobs, mostly, and Moon Unit decided she'd rather raise her kids in a nice house, would prefer that her "guy" married her, took showers, and went to work, and the gig was up. That's been the case till very recently for the simple reason that principles(especially fictious ones) have a very hard time competing with comfortable suburban lives, jet-setting around the world, mini-vans full of kids and dogs, watching movies on the big screen at home, and the rest.
This "back to the land" movement will be very different. It will be based on the pure nuts of the fact that it is very near difficult to get ahead if you're young, or near impossible to retire with the economy going where it is going, and where it is likely to continue to head. People are struggling, and after putting in a few years pounding away at a job in the manner you were taught, and finding one's net worth to be less than one started with, people in very real and very personal ways are indeed asking, "Damn, there MUST be some other way."
However, there is a problem. So much of the "other way" and "other way" creeds and techniques that are attempting to be patched in are coming straight out of the first go around, cut and paste with very little thought about how functional, effective, or sensible such things really were. Because we're moving from "alternative" lifestyles that were mostly recreational to "alternative" lifestyles demanded of by financial necessity and maybe even pure survival, a much much more critical eye must be turned to the actually effectuality of ones efforts. This is no small task. There are a lot of people out there who simple WANT to do SOMETHING, and there is a whole industry rising filling that need. I think much of it is simply exploitative, and taking advantage of people who are desperate to be moving "in the right direction" and will jump at all sorts of ideas, and pay good money to invest in systems and schemes--and it's anybodies guess weather or not in actuality one has moved in a good direction or no.
As well, among the "alternative" crowd is often a very very defensive stance towards any sort of criticism, constructive or no, obviously rooted again in basic adolescent rebellion. "Don't be negative!" Don't ask questions about whether organic gardening makes any sense, or question, GMO's, invasive species, solar wind, et al., make any sense. Often one and ones criticisms will be rejected immediately. We have to get beyond this sort of BS. This time around, as far as I can see it, many of us are playing for keeps, and investing time and money in a kind of living that, needs to work out, and neither that time or money is going to be replaceable.
Hawaii is and is going to remain, and grow, as far as I can see, an incubator for such lifestyles. I'm here because it is a near ideal place for such kinds of living and values to flourish. Certainly, many people are interested, and a voice needs to be heard to offer mature, intelligent, rigorous guidance or we could easily end up with a real mess that serves no one.
