A Throw-away Society – What are we Throwing Away?

Joel F. Salatin (born February 24, 1957) is an American farmer, lecturer, and author whose books include Folks, This Ain’t Normal; You Can Farm; and Salad Bar Beef. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Salatin

By becoming consumers, we have given up so many of our human qualities.  We are disengaging from life and from nature and becoming the things we buy.

Rather than farming our own land, and growing fruit and vegetables on it, most of us landscape it or have someone else do it for us.  In so doing, we give up working outside in nature, in the fresh air, to  produce our food.  Then rather than cooking or baking meals with what we have grown ourselves, most of us now buy packaged food produced by big corporations and we microwave it and discard all the waste in the garbage, which ends up on Mother Nature’s lap. The real nutritional value of the food we eat is questionable.

“To cultivate a garden is. . . to go hand in hand with Nature in some of her most beautiful processes…”  Christian Bovee

Rather than using our hands and creativity to sew, paint, draw and build, most of us let others do it for us.  We buy manufactured goods and toss out the packaging and the goods eventually break and we toss them out too. (see https://businessintegrity.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/throwaway-living)

Rather than walk or run, most of us sit and watch. Rather than engage with life, most of us watch it on television or the internet or on our cell phones or tablets.

Rather than inviting friends over for a meal we have made from scratch, we squeeze a lunch or dinner date into our busy schedule and meet at a restaurant.  Rather than write a letter or card in our own handwriting, we email or text or tweet a quick note.

Like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, we seem to preoccupied with being busy.  “I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!”

By giving up so many of our human qualities and becoming consumers, we shift away from being physically active and engaging in life and settle for what’s mass-produced and manufactured and digital.

“If there is one thing clear about the centuries dominated by the factory and the wheel, it is that although the machine can make everything from a spoon to a landing-craft, a natural joy in earthly living is something it never has and never will be able to manufacture.”  Henry Beston

We work at jobs or own businesses to earn the money to live lives that are increasingly more detached from one another and from nature.  As we do, we throw away a healthy natural lifestyle and attract disease.  The increase is showing up in statistics and mother nature, who is unable to digest our air, water and land garbage, and she recycles it back to us.

We’re on a downward spiral.  It’s time for each of us to stop and sort through what we’ve thrown away and what we’ve embraced and to reclaim what really matters to us as people and collectively as a society.  Our health and well-being and the health and well-being of Mother Earth and all of her inhabitants depends upon it.

 

This is part of the Blog series, A Throw-away Society https://businessintegrity.wordpress.com/blogs-2/a-throwaway-society/