culture

"development...was, at its core, merely a continuation of colonialism by other means. since two-thirds of the world's nations were defined as 'underdeveloped' this meant that people in most countries needed to look outside their own cultures for economic, agricultural, and educational models."

"nations whose subsistence farmers still form a significant proportion of their overall population, though in recent decades termed 'underdeveloped', may in fact have some advantages in the post-growth world. rather than continuing with ruinous attempts to install fuel-guzzling food and transport systems, these countries should be adopting 'appropriate' or 'intermediate' technology...appropriate technology (at) is typically labor and knowledge intensive rather than capital, resource, and energy intensive. examples include the use of local materials for building, the small-scale generation of power from methane digesters, and the purification of water in households with porous ceramic filters,"

from "the end of growth" by richard heinberg,

colonialism specialized in destroying the traditional cultures it came in to contact with because those cultures gave their members the wherewithal to defy colonial powers...the cultural practices adapted to local conditions provided a reasonably stable way of life...the groups colonialists came across didn't need what the colonizers had so their way of life had to be destroyed for the imperialists to profit...globalization is colonialism disguised with free market propaganda and the missionary urge to "develop" in those poor, backwards souls an appreciation of the wonders of capitalism...as western economies implode and , of necessity, become smaller those that were too remote or too small to be converted may, as heinberg says, be the fortunate ones who haven't lost touch with local ecological realities because they can get strawberries from argentina in winter...they know where they're at and how to make things work...as long as climate change doesn't alter the niche too radically ( and that may be where the idea of "appropriate technology" comes into play)...i started the garden in my back yard as an overflow/control of an anthropology project that i started on campus ( see the garden blog) but it has become something more...aside from something that keeps me occupied it has put me in touch with human endeavor that pre-dates the industrial revolution and mercantile capitalism...adapting to the local conditions through work and thought...choosing the most productive and useful plants to grow in the local environment ( jerusalem artichokes for instance) using those adaptations to the fullest possible extent to be as self-sufficient as possible...in a very small way i am trying to create a culture...and not a minute too soon since i never had one...only consumerism...relentlessly rammed down my throat...i have turned off the tv...picked up some books, seeds, tubers, and gardening tools and tried to reinvent a part of myself that's free from capital and its self-aggrandizing machinations...pretentious? perhaps...but it beats waiting for the hammer to fall and doing nothing more than whistling to scare away the ghouls...no more debt...no more propaganda...you can find me in the garden.