"You're introducing new species into an ecosystem with no knowledge of which endemic species it will empower and what species it will disable. You are introducing foreign genes into the local ecosystem without knowing how it will proliferate. Nature doesn't care if you're introducing it to "increase biodiversity" or for "impure purposes" - all it sees are genes and vectors. What you are committing is a sin on par with what Monsanto does with GM crops.
You have no way of predicting whether your introduced species will be a cane toad or a mulberry tree - to claim that you have the wisdom to predict what Nature does in her infinite grace is arrogance beyond words. The folly of man has again and again lead mankind down the path to hell paved with good intentions. It is not your place to decide the will of Nature.
Perhaps it is a difference in personal philosophy - I would adhere to primum non nocere. Perhaps you would dare to risk it?
Oh, and I have no wish to cut any throats - I do believe that ultimately we are on the same team."
Yes, I think so too, it was a rather hasty accusation about sinfulness and Monsanto, but it's OK.
I am with you anyway, that extreme care, observation, slow understanding is necessary with any new things. Plants, animals, fungi - for all of them. So we take much precaution and care. First, we use seeds prepared slowly, generation by generation, by nature, rather than GMO operations creating new artificial plants in a microsecond using a gene gun.
Then, the intentions are not immaterial, because our intentions shape our decisions and actions. Therefore we grow our new plants isolated, inside greenhouses, carefully observed. We want to make the environment beautiful, pleasant and useful for people, animals and the Earth, so we don't want to hurt people's feelings. Besides, the little animals, insects and birds sometimes need a little time to get used to the new plants.
A careful, thoughtful observer can easily account for every seed a small plant produces. Either by nipping the flowers before they seed, collecting them as they become viable, or covering them to prevent wind-transmissions. If the plant proves useful, brings people joy or makes life easier, then we keep it. Otherwise, it falls off the edge of memory as greater things take its place.
We can indeed develop an understanding and a model of the future which predicts a new species' role in the ecosystem. Much knowledge comes from close observation of plants growing together, interacting with people, soils, animals and each other. And it comes faster and faster when animated by a purpose - a clear image of what ultimately we would like to create together. A clear, united image by which we are all inspired. An image of magnificent existence!
I don't pretend to complete, perfect knowledge. But this knowledge can be gained! This knowledge must be gained! We are the people of the Earth! There is nobody else to do this. We are the ones who live here. We are the ones who tenderly she nurtures, who gently she caresses with the rustle of leaves, the song of birds, and the whistle of the wind. It is our purpose to discover and understand how all her magnificent elements interact, and arrange them best together. To remember our primordial emergence.
Together - people and the Earth! We create this planet. All the living things which produce scents, ethers, fruits, fragrances, radiant with life-force, and we people, the summit of nature's consciousness, arranging everything to make our habitat perfect. By mastering our own home, we become masters of the universe. This is no more than an aspiration, for now. A wispy possibility. Yet there is a collective forming around the planet, united and empowered by each other's dedication to improvement. It is around the Ringing Cedars of Russia fiction series, and the whimsical fairytale stories set forth therein. Though they seem fantastical, these stories are proving to be more effective, rational, and carefully thought-out than any other plan of development I've ever encountered.
The core image is people living on family homes, creating gardens for their children and grandchildren to live on forever. It is profound in its simplicity and consequences. Many of the ills of modern society are alleviated and ultimately avoided by this elementary measure of creating a home among the living environment of nature.
And to nature, this is the highest honour and the most sincere gratitude. We turn to her and say with grace, "You are perfect, in all Your creations! We do not need to cut your young trees, to dig your buried stones and shape them into strange, new appearances for our convenience."
"Everything was perfect from the moment it appeared. We have everything we need here with you! You have made it all perfect from the start! Thank you for your perfection! Thank you!"
I feel sure that each person, each animal and plant is very important, that each of us has an indispensable role in nature. Yet many people have forgotten this.
What about blackberries? A delicious fruit, loved in many countries of the world, yet widely hated here in Australia. Why? And what about farmer's friend (bidens pilosa)? Fire weed (Senecio madagascariensis)? Oxalis? Lantana? Scotch thistles? Foxgloves? Willows? Celtus?
I know a use for each of those plants. They occupy land that was previously bare. All of them retain water in the topsoil and encourage microbial growth that increases fertility and water retention, reducing run off that silts up rivers and floods settled areas ever-increasingly each year. They clean the air. They provide habitat for animals and insects. Thistles yield a nut similar to a chestnut, a medicinal root, and strong fibre for rope and fabric. Bees love lantana and it also has a small black berry which is sweet and tastes creamy. Willows stabilise river banks and prevent soil erosion.
Take fire weed for a further example, a delightful yellow meadow flower from Madagascar. It is hated in Australia to the point that one can be fined and imprisoned for neglecting to kill it on one's property. The reason for this policy is that cows do not like to eat fireweed, and its presence therefore reduces the fodder productivity of paddocks.
The current approach to introduced species is to handicap them with poison and labour. But this approach has not worked. Many hours are occupied. The soil is depleted of microbes. The introduced species remain. And we are left with an economy based on slaughter, live export, an asthmatic Hunter Valley, oversized machinery and an overweight ore baron boasting to be our most wealthy citizen. It is not pleasant.
The policy is motivated by impure thoughts. Sending cattle to slaughter is not a cheerful or pleasant way to earn money - it is an impure, dirty, polluting activity that causes toxic runoff into our rivers and oceans, degradation of meadows and fields, and has historically motivated the most awful, cruel invasion of the Australian and American continents, under guise of opening new grazing land. It would really be much better to cultivate plants among the fireweed which could yield useful and valuable products such as medicinal herbs, pine nut oil, linen fabric, berry wine and delicious, luscious fruits and vegetables for the enjoyment and economic advantage of our people and country.
I am going to Russia in a fortnight, and in my preliminary research I discovered that our largest export there is live cattle. The prospect of a live cattle ship ride from Australia to Russia is disturbing. It is inappropriate that our national legislation would support such a horrific procedure and we should think and act expeditiously to calmly and rationally portray the significant advantage in developing less polluting, more kind and pleasant industries to bring wealth and prosperity into our country.
Better is to stop, watch, observe, and take some effort to develop a pleasant image of how we would like to live.
Honestly, I do not want to live in a dry, fire-prone scrub of eucalyptus, melaleuca, leptospermum, kunzea and similar low-water, high-oil, spiky plants which provide only tiny, extremely bitter berries and seeds.
There is a reason of course that the local people here hunted animals to eat - there was not enough plant food. No rational hungry person bypasses luscious avocado, apple, strawberries, mulberries, dragon fruit, loquat, lychee, cucumber and tomato plants instead to knap an axe-head with rocks, fix it to a wooden haft, locate, clean and sharpen a spear, light a fire by friction, harden the spear in the coals, walk for hours to locate animal, develop significant spirituality and religious practice based on communicating with animals, asking permission to eat them, and ensuring none are hunted to extinction, throw spear (hope to hit), slice throat of sad, injured animal, carry back to camp, light another fire, singe off hair, then enjoy a char-grilled, smoky, piece of animal flesh to eat.
In other parts of the planet, people outstretched their hand, picked an apple, then ate it. Then they went for a swim, looked at a piece of moss for a while, smiled at their friend, and dreamed about a magnificent future for our people and our planet, and beyond, all out into the cosmos. That's more like the place I would like to live.
It's really important that each of us frees our thought for a while and has a real, focused think about how we'd like to live. Once we have a nice idea among us, we can go about materialising it. And yes, it does require action - movement, decisions, change, influence, even a little risk. But then I would like Australia to be a republic as well.
As I mentioned, the movement is already happening even now. There is an image of life in the Ringing Cedars of Russia books upon which people are acting. Therefore the image is materialising. They are supported by the Russian government and the image includes the whole planet Earth. As far as I can see, nothing can stop this movement, so it is worth knowing about.
And I am quite sure it is better to transition to this more equal way of managing our planet, where there is no centre of power. Scientists claim authority, but it was they unfortunately who introduced the cane toads. It is the same with the GMOs now - unnatural seeds yielding unnatural food and unnatural people. The scientists consider their own achievements superior to others' merely for being their own, rather than observing the value of their consequences as part of the human collective. They make a huge effort through marketing and advertising techniques to impress the importance of their work on us from a young age, yet their consequences do not often withstand rational scrutiny.
I appreciate the truth in your image of paving the road to hell with good intentions. Personally I am more interested in the combination of both good and bad to embody the perfection of balance. There is a natural purity that comes from understanding both these energies and putting them both to work improving the world and making it more pleasant for everyone.
After all there are some things that all people like, and it is very important that we discover what precisely those things are. Water, plants, flowers, pollen, bees, honey, soft fur, large trees, mulberries, the caress of a loved one, a warm clean place to sleep, plenty of delicious food ...
You have no way of predicting whether your introduced species will be a cane toad or a mulberry tree - to claim that you have the wisdom to predict what Nature does in her infinite grace is arrogance beyond words. The folly of man has again and again lead mankind down the path to hell paved with good intentions. It is not your place to decide the will of Nature.
Perhaps it is a difference in personal philosophy - I would adhere to primum non nocere. Perhaps you would dare to risk it?
Oh, and I have no wish to cut any throats - I do believe that ultimately we are on the same team."
Yes, I think so too, it was a rather hasty accusation about sinfulness and Monsanto, but it's OK.
I am with you anyway, that extreme care, observation, slow understanding is necessary with any new things. Plants, animals, fungi - for all of them. So we take much precaution and care. First, we use seeds prepared slowly, generation by generation, by nature, rather than GMO operations creating new artificial plants in a microsecond using a gene gun.
Then, the intentions are not immaterial, because our intentions shape our decisions and actions. Therefore we grow our new plants isolated, inside greenhouses, carefully observed. We want to make the environment beautiful, pleasant and useful for people, animals and the Earth, so we don't want to hurt people's feelings. Besides, the little animals, insects and birds sometimes need a little time to get used to the new plants.
A careful, thoughtful observer can easily account for every seed a small plant produces. Either by nipping the flowers before they seed, collecting them as they become viable, or covering them to prevent wind-transmissions. If the plant proves useful, brings people joy or makes life easier, then we keep it. Otherwise, it falls off the edge of memory as greater things take its place.
We can indeed develop an understanding and a model of the future which predicts a new species' role in the ecosystem. Much knowledge comes from close observation of plants growing together, interacting with people, soils, animals and each other. And it comes faster and faster when animated by a purpose - a clear image of what ultimately we would like to create together. A clear, united image by which we are all inspired. An image of magnificent existence!
I don't pretend to complete, perfect knowledge. But this knowledge can be gained! This knowledge must be gained! We are the people of the Earth! There is nobody else to do this. We are the ones who live here. We are the ones who tenderly she nurtures, who gently she caresses with the rustle of leaves, the song of birds, and the whistle of the wind. It is our purpose to discover and understand how all her magnificent elements interact, and arrange them best together. To remember our primordial emergence.
Together - people and the Earth! We create this planet. All the living things which produce scents, ethers, fruits, fragrances, radiant with life-force, and we people, the summit of nature's consciousness, arranging everything to make our habitat perfect. By mastering our own home, we become masters of the universe. This is no more than an aspiration, for now. A wispy possibility. Yet there is a collective forming around the planet, united and empowered by each other's dedication to improvement. It is around the Ringing Cedars of Russia fiction series, and the whimsical fairytale stories set forth therein. Though they seem fantastical, these stories are proving to be more effective, rational, and carefully thought-out than any other plan of development I've ever encountered.
The core image is people living on family homes, creating gardens for their children and grandchildren to live on forever. It is profound in its simplicity and consequences. Many of the ills of modern society are alleviated and ultimately avoided by this elementary measure of creating a home among the living environment of nature.
And to nature, this is the highest honour and the most sincere gratitude. We turn to her and say with grace, "You are perfect, in all Your creations! We do not need to cut your young trees, to dig your buried stones and shape them into strange, new appearances for our convenience."
"Everything was perfect from the moment it appeared. We have everything we need here with you! You have made it all perfect from the start! Thank you for your perfection! Thank you!"
I feel sure that each person, each animal and plant is very important, that each of us has an indispensable role in nature. Yet many people have forgotten this.
What about blackberries? A delicious fruit, loved in many countries of the world, yet widely hated here in Australia. Why? And what about farmer's friend (bidens pilosa)? Fire weed (Senecio madagascariensis)? Oxalis? Lantana? Scotch thistles? Foxgloves? Willows? Celtus?
I know a use for each of those plants. They occupy land that was previously bare. All of them retain water in the topsoil and encourage microbial growth that increases fertility and water retention, reducing run off that silts up rivers and floods settled areas ever-increasingly each year. They clean the air. They provide habitat for animals and insects. Thistles yield a nut similar to a chestnut, a medicinal root, and strong fibre for rope and fabric. Bees love lantana and it also has a small black berry which is sweet and tastes creamy. Willows stabilise river banks and prevent soil erosion.
Take fire weed for a further example, a delightful yellow meadow flower from Madagascar. It is hated in Australia to the point that one can be fined and imprisoned for neglecting to kill it on one's property. The reason for this policy is that cows do not like to eat fireweed, and its presence therefore reduces the fodder productivity of paddocks.
The current approach to introduced species is to handicap them with poison and labour. But this approach has not worked. Many hours are occupied. The soil is depleted of microbes. The introduced species remain. And we are left with an economy based on slaughter, live export, an asthmatic Hunter Valley, oversized machinery and an overweight ore baron boasting to be our most wealthy citizen. It is not pleasant.
The policy is motivated by impure thoughts. Sending cattle to slaughter is not a cheerful or pleasant way to earn money - it is an impure, dirty, polluting activity that causes toxic runoff into our rivers and oceans, degradation of meadows and fields, and has historically motivated the most awful, cruel invasion of the Australian and American continents, under guise of opening new grazing land. It would really be much better to cultivate plants among the fireweed which could yield useful and valuable products such as medicinal herbs, pine nut oil, linen fabric, berry wine and delicious, luscious fruits and vegetables for the enjoyment and economic advantage of our people and country.
I am going to Russia in a fortnight, and in my preliminary research I discovered that our largest export there is live cattle. The prospect of a live cattle ship ride from Australia to Russia is disturbing. It is inappropriate that our national legislation would support such a horrific procedure and we should think and act expeditiously to calmly and rationally portray the significant advantage in developing less polluting, more kind and pleasant industries to bring wealth and prosperity into our country.
Better is to stop, watch, observe, and take some effort to develop a pleasant image of how we would like to live.
Honestly, I do not want to live in a dry, fire-prone scrub of eucalyptus, melaleuca, leptospermum, kunzea and similar low-water, high-oil, spiky plants which provide only tiny, extremely bitter berries and seeds.
There is a reason of course that the local people here hunted animals to eat - there was not enough plant food. No rational hungry person bypasses luscious avocado, apple, strawberries, mulberries, dragon fruit, loquat, lychee, cucumber and tomato plants instead to knap an axe-head with rocks, fix it to a wooden haft, locate, clean and sharpen a spear, light a fire by friction, harden the spear in the coals, walk for hours to locate animal, develop significant spirituality and religious practice based on communicating with animals, asking permission to eat them, and ensuring none are hunted to extinction, throw spear (hope to hit), slice throat of sad, injured animal, carry back to camp, light another fire, singe off hair, then enjoy a char-grilled, smoky, piece of animal flesh to eat.
In other parts of the planet, people outstretched their hand, picked an apple, then ate it. Then they went for a swim, looked at a piece of moss for a while, smiled at their friend, and dreamed about a magnificent future for our people and our planet, and beyond, all out into the cosmos. That's more like the place I would like to live.
It's really important that each of us frees our thought for a while and has a real, focused think about how we'd like to live. Once we have a nice idea among us, we can go about materialising it. And yes, it does require action - movement, decisions, change, influence, even a little risk. But then I would like Australia to be a republic as well.
As I mentioned, the movement is already happening even now. There is an image of life in the Ringing Cedars of Russia books upon which people are acting. Therefore the image is materialising. They are supported by the Russian government and the image includes the whole planet Earth. As far as I can see, nothing can stop this movement, so it is worth knowing about.
And I am quite sure it is better to transition to this more equal way of managing our planet, where there is no centre of power. Scientists claim authority, but it was they unfortunately who introduced the cane toads. It is the same with the GMOs now - unnatural seeds yielding unnatural food and unnatural people. The scientists consider their own achievements superior to others' merely for being their own, rather than observing the value of their consequences as part of the human collective. They make a huge effort through marketing and advertising techniques to impress the importance of their work on us from a young age, yet their consequences do not often withstand rational scrutiny.
I appreciate the truth in your image of paving the road to hell with good intentions. Personally I am more interested in the combination of both good and bad to embody the perfection of balance. There is a natural purity that comes from understanding both these energies and putting them both to work improving the world and making it more pleasant for everyone.
After all there are some things that all people like, and it is very important that we discover what precisely those things are. Water, plants, flowers, pollen, bees, honey, soft fur, large trees, mulberries, the caress of a loved one, a warm clean place to sleep, plenty of delicious food ...
Maybe that's a start ...