Whole Earth
I recently read the book “Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life” by Edward O. Wilson. It’s a very thought-provoking book about the rapidly declining biodiversity on planet Earth. In the book, he proposes that the only way to limit future extinctions in a meaningful way is to leave half the planet totally wild, without human intervention. In the other half, our human half, he suggests we concentrate some of our existing activities. Among other things, he suggests we turn to more intense agriculture with more genetically modified crops in an attempt to limit the amount of land we have to damage with our agriculture.
I think Mr. Wilson makes a lot of good points in his book, and his observations on extinctions are certainly eye-opening. But at the end of the book when he proposed his solution, I found myself imagining a different one. What if, instead of separating ourselves more completely from the wild and thriving parts of the Earth, we connected ourselves more deeply? What if, instead of further intensifying our agricultural practices, we rewilded them?
“Clearing a forest for agriculture reduces habitat, diminishes carbon capture, and introduces pollutants that are carried downstream to degrade otherwise pure aquatic habitats en route. With the disappearance of any native predator or herbivore species the remainder of the ecosystem is altered, sometimes catastrophically.”
Edward O. Wilson, “Half Earth”
What if we didn’t farm this way at all? Strawberry Moon Farm is one example of a different kind of farm. On our land, where there once were acres of GM corn and soybeans sprayed with chemicals and likely shipped thousands of miles away for processing, now there are tended forests of native plants. These forests are still very young, but when they mature, my calculations show that they will produce more pounds of food annually than the industrial crops ever could. That food will be more nutritious and (in my own humble opinion) more delicious than industrially produced food. It is food that can be consumed locally, without industrial processing. It can be grown organically, and without irrigation.
While the land produces all this great food for people, it also provides habitat for all kinds of wildlife and insects because it is also a forest of native plants. I’m intentionally reintroducing and tending many species of threatened or endangered native plants to help them re-establish their populations. The farm is producing cleaner water and fresher air and sequestering carbon and preventing erosion at the same time and in the same space as producing food. In the few short years since this project began, flood waters soak into the now permeable earth in days rather than weeks. Butterflies and fireflies have returned in full force. Songbirds, bald eagles, hawks, owls, foxes, snakes, tree frogs, toads, two kinds of squirrels, and more thrive on the land. In the process of doing this work, my own personal connection to the land has deepened, providing immense physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits to me as a human.
“It sometimes seems as though the remainder of American native plants and animals are under deliberate assault by everything Humanity can throw at them. Leading the list in our deadly arsenal are the destruction of both wintering and breeding habitats, heavy use of pesticides, shortage of natural insect and plant food, and artificial light pollution causing errors in migratory navigation. Climate change and acidification pose newly recognized, yet game changing risks.”
Edward O. Wilson, “Half Earth”
I propose that it is not humanity itself but our present culture that assaults biodiversity. Prior to colonization, the Americas were not wild as is commonly said. The “wild” land that settlers “found” was actively and successfully stewarded by indigenous humans in a mutually beneficial partnership. The vast forests were skillfully managed and tended in a way that increased biodiversity, plant health, animal health, and human health.
What if, rather than limiting ourselves to living on half the earth, we rejoined the whole earth in harmony, reclaiming our place as caretakers and stewards of the wild places. What if we stopped eating twinkies and rekindled our taste for acorns and nettles and sunroots and wild berries. What if we didn’t cut down the forests, but replanted them? What if we disconnected our televisions and reconnected to the land. And what if we stocked our farms, yards, and communities with these wild native food plants. What might our world look like then?
Yes, I am proposing a big cultural shift, but a beautiful one. Rather than giving up half the planet, adopting a culture of restriction, and accepting our role as agents of destruction to everything good in our world, we could choose to reorient ourselves towards abundance, partnership, and care-taking. I don’t believe our hope for the future necessarily lies in genetically modified crops and more intensive bioidentical agriculture as Mr. Wilson proposes. Our future could be free, wild, and bountiful. We could grow healthy crops that are native to our bioregions and consume those nourishing foods locally. We could embrace our local ecosystems and work to enhance them. Rather than separate ourselves from the healthy part of the world, we could choose to thrive as a part of it.
For more information on agricultural methods that help make the world a better place, look for books and articles on the topics of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Permaculture, Native Plant Agriculture, and Regenerative Agriculture. And check out these other articles from Strawberry Moon Farm: