FROM THE GROUND UP

Scanning social media as the emergence of yet another in a long line of diseases stemming from animal mistreatment swept through the population, while also reading stories about The Amazon being burned to produce more for a world that already produces enough but just fails to allocate it well, followed by watching as both the west coast of the United States, and portions Australia burned uncontrollably, caused us great distress.

Then while we sat at home in quarantine we witness multiple legislation and government actions in our own country and around the world hell bent on increasing already deadly inequalities for marginalized communities. Finally news broke of yet another person dead from out of control police brutality. Now it seemed the whole world was burning. So we took our stimulus checks and bought some land.

The plan was to build a small self sufficient homestead and hide from the mess. The more we thought about it, the less that seemed like a great idea. We decided we needed to do something more, but what? We where trying to be conscientious of our footprint, cooked plant based, recycled, reused and abstained from what we could but it just never seemed like enough. I am disabled, and we are poor, but we have food and his job was stable if limiting. We could build a place back in the woods and hide, it was tempting, but in the long run that doesn't make for a better world, It doesn't help anyone learn how to better take care of them selves so they can better take care of others, and it doesn't empower people to and make good trouble when they must.

So the plan evolved, what if we instead invite people who need a place to rest even if just for a while where they are valued and can feel needed, disabled people, diverse people, people who wish to learn, or people who wish to recover, because saving humans is worth nothing if we don't care for the humans we save. And in the end that is what is is about. The earth will survive with out us, when all is said and done this is not about saving the earth it is about saving people.

Preserving the earth and ocean so we can survive, is inherently intertwined with social justice.

Discussing reducing fossil fuel consumption with out addressing pipelines destroying the lands of First peoples already on the verge of complete annihilation is suspect. Talking about closing coal mines with out having plans to support the families of miners who are already suffering extreme poverty is elitist.

We can not talk about food forests and not address food deserts. No discussion about plant based diets is complete with out addressing racist and classist government policies that tell groups of people who are literally getting sick and dying to keep eating the same or even eat more of the food that is killing them.

There is no discussion about the evils of animal agriculture that can ignore slaughterhouse workers being forced via threat of homelessness, starvation or deportation to work in unsanitary and inhumane conditions, for a non-living wage, during a global pandemic while their bosses take bets on who will die first.

Discussions on how to recycle plastic held on a cell phone built from materials mined my literal slaves that will, after upgrading to the newest model because of aggressive designed obsolescence, be 'recycled' by impoverished children in some developing nation because our own country refuses to invest in appropriate recycling programs because 'it costs to much' is a disservice to the cause.

Only demanding now that we are uncomfortable that our country have universal health care and reasonable social safety nets when trans youth are forced to join the military and risk their lives just for the hope of gender affirming health care, and children starve because their parents can not afford both child care and a job is at best selfish and worst malicious.

Complaining that humans are using more than they need while also effectively restricting a woman's right to her own bodily autonomy, and refusing effective sexual education in schools is counter-intuitive.

People who have the things they need have more time and energy to look out at the world and make changes. It is cruel to tell a single parent with 2 jobs that they also must try and reduce the packaging or cook from scratch and to 'eat more veggies', especially when shopping choices are the corner-store of the local fast food place.

People who are desperately trying to just survive don't have the energy or the resource to try and save the planet as well. It is illegal in many places to even try and grow your own food outside, even if you are lucky enough to own your house, if you rent its even worse. But many people are just to burned out to fight, they are sick, over worked, and just plain exhausted.

Turns out a system predicated on using people up for the cheapest wage possible isn't great for the planet either. What is good for people is also good for the planet, but we have to get that information out to anyone who will hear it.

So we will be building accessible living spaces, and green houses, and garden beds, a food forest, and flower field. There will be a food bank garden and a food desert delivery plan. We will be studying and disseminating ways to increase self sufficiency not only in spaces like ours but in apartments and city flats.

The idea is doing what you can where you are at, because every little bit adds up, anything you fix or reuse is something you don't have to replace. Anything you can make yourself, or discover you don't need at all represents resources freed to care for others, or that never get pulled from the planet in the first place. The plastic we can make into other things never makes it into the ocean, the paper we can make into crafts or compost never goes to the landfill.

Re-using the things around you to grow a bit of your own food means that food doesn't have to be shipped across the country or the world. Learning how to use foods that are less expensive both to you and the planet is also good for your health.

We will working to enticing local pollinators to settle back on the land, bunnies re-settle the fields, deer to again wander through the woods. People who are interested in what we are doing will be invited to join us, even if its just for a season to come and find just a bit of peace before stepping out into the world with hopefully a bit of useful education and renewed energy to preserve it for future generations.