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Anthony Anderson

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Replanting Paradise is the Answer

Posted: 07/21/11 05:31 PM ET

Our food crises, both of quality and quantity.
The insanity of the health care issue.
The energy shortages and climbing prices.
Environmental destruction.
The disconnect from ourselves and our communities...

All these issues can quite possibly be solved by large-scale edible reforestation projects.
This may sound to be a very bold statement, but of any solution brought forth, the adoption of permaculture principles and widespread organic gardening might alleviate MANY of our challenges.
We can plant edible "food forests" across the cities, suburbs, and former monocropped fields.
Massive stands of fruit and nut trees can feed our communities and our planet. We can replant paradise on Earth NOW. There is no better time to co-create a paradise planet through the construction of eco-villages and the planting of food forests.

Imagine walking through your own forest garden. Your grandchildren run past raspberry bushes and underneath a pear tree overflowing with fruit. That tree has been feeding your family for the past 30 years. Birds and insects fly about, and the food is completely abundant and free for the picking. The idea of not having food and even being sick is unheard of.

Imagine vast swaths of food forests covering lands that were once fields filled of GMO corn. The forests could be covering up the grass lawns that once dominated suburbia. Underneath the canopy, berries and vines fill in the understory. These food forests are living, breathing grocery stores, and they are right outside our door.

The fabled masters of the arts spend decades working on sculptures of rock and paintings. But what if one were to create a living masterpiece that then co-creates itself? One that grows and evolves while feeding its inhabitants? Could that be considered much more sacred and beautiful?

The fabled explorers of the world searched for Shambhala in the hope to find paradise again. Sadly it never occurred for them to just replant what was once lost and get on with LIVING.

We must replant paradise. We have seen where this current path is headed, and we can easily choose a better ending.

We can choose it first on the personal level. Then the level of the family, then the community, then the country and then the level of the entire planet.

A paradise planet can be ours if we simply want to co-create it. Replant Paradise. Do it now.

 

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02:42 AM on 07/22/2011
Jah love.

Anthony, what you describe is what Zion looks like. It's Eden before we polluted it. Any idea about how we can make this dream come true. At this time I am facing a serious food shortage. As a raw vegan I can't eat meat and cooked stuff and so I don't benefit from foodbanks and stuff. As an unemployed person I receive foodstamps that are not enough (I buy organic produce and nuts).My purchases only last about 12 days. I feel like I have to stand on the corner and beg but the places to do that are far and I don't have the fare for transportation. New York City is a hard place to live and believe it or not it is probably one of the most generous in terms of social services.
Can you start some kind of group so we can build this movement please. Let's organize and get sponsorship from groups like PETA and take out ads on Times Square and give people hope that this dream as you describe it can come true. I felt so alive reading it with my hungry belly.
Thanks again.
10:51 PM on 07/21/2011
I hear you. Right now I'm imagining office buildings with planter boxes filled with salad greens that employees seed, care for and harvest themselves. If people knew how flavorful a fresh salad with mustard greens, dill, basil, and chard was they wouldn't think twice about starting a garden. Seed by seed people will get it done!
07:33 PM on 07/21/2011
Just received an email regarding this article. Absolutely in agreement. One of the last great hopes of our Mother Earth and the people of today is to return to a more natural source of food and sense of community and family. The sort of living where grandmothers, grandfathers see their grandchildren daily. Where food is pure, clean, fresh, organic, without chemicals, genetic modification, pesticides, toxins. Where animals are raised with loving kindness, never experiencing the horrors and atrocities of factory farms and laboratories. Where communities respect the land, each other, and the sanctity of their planet and its resources. This is idyllic, no doubt. But, its likely to be the last remaining hope of a planet in crisis. Either we continue to poison our one and only nest, or we choose a lovelier, freer and more beautiful path. The one our original maker intended for us. It's up to us, and no one else.