Shameless Self-Promotion
Sharon February 7th, 2008
I was thrilled to see the idea of 50-100 million farmers percolating down into the mainstream in this article:
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/view/columns/4720535.html//
“Without some miraculous new energy source, muscle power could soon again be a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels for growing food. Blunt economic pragmatism seems set to out-shout nostalgia in the call to put more farmers on the land.
Just how many more farmers would it take to cure farming’s fossil fuel habit? Lots, according to farmer and writer Sharon Astyk and “Oil Depletion Protocol” author Richard Heinberg, both leading activists for facing up to life after world oil production peaks.They estimate that without cheap fossil fuels, we would need 50 million new farmers. That’s one farmer for every two households in theUnited States, 25 times more than there are now.
This isn’t a move-to-the-boonies-or-starve ultimatum. In fact, many people are ideally positioned to become farmers right where they are- it’s the silver lining to suburban sprawl.”
It isn’t just the idea of millions of new farmers, either - in the past few weeks I’ve been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and an AP reporter about life changes due to climate change and peak oil. Although this is still a part of a “weird” subculture, that’s the first step to ideas being accepted - getting them out there at all.
Meanwhile, as long as I’m engaged in shameless self-promotion, I’ll be giving a free class on the basics of food storage at 3pm on Saturday February 16, at my friend Joy Heckman’s bulk foods shop, The Olde Corner Store, 133 Factory, Gallupville, NY 12073. I’ll include materials on what a month or year’s food supply looks like, how to find local, sustainably produced sources, how to store it, how to cook with storable foods, etc… Everyone is welcome!
BTW, I’m considering offering this class online at some point, if there’s interest, so let me know if you think that would be worthwhile.
Cheers,
Sharon