Reasons for Hope
So many doing so much
Below are reasons for hope shared by The Fiertzeside readership in response to issues raised in regular weekly posts. As I have planned to write in a series of themes, I organised the shares around topics I have or intend to write about.
Food Security and Food Sovereignty
shared the stories of allotment grower, Carly Burd who feeds a small community and Middle Ground Growers who are raising funds for a community owned ecofarm. shared an organisation based in her locale, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association or MOFGA as it’s affectionately named. You can read all about it HERE. commented on Toby Hemenway’s response to misinterpretations of permaculture’s concept of surplus. The podcast discussion can be found HERE. shared his friends’ exciting project in Thailand: PunPunTrees
shared the story of Jadav Payang who grew a forest:From saplings to aging residence @Tara Penry’s contemplative post on tree stumps is a wonderful read.
gifted us this gem of fools and dreamers which I can’t recommend enough:and Bee also added the role of psychedelics to the development of human consciousness:
If you are active on Instagram,
recommends tree whisperer, Kara Daniels. If the idea of whispering with trees appeals, here’s how to do it.The series touched on the rights of plant-life in addition to animals, which inspired
to recommend the work of the Rights of Nature movement, to which I added an article on Ecuador’s constitution which has incorporated the rights of nature. Julie also recommended a visit to the Green Belt Movement in Kenya prior to the post on Wangari Maathi’s legacy, and also shared these permaculture stories. mentioned the photographic evidence from Chernobyl to recover from disaster. This story explains nature's resilience. recommended ’s most recent post. Sue is a morning person who creates over breakfast and shares her process and beautiful art over at . One recent post is an exhibition of her wonderful neighbourhood trees, celebrates her brief residency at a local book store and if you love her tiny sketches as much as I do, then you’ll appreciate her gift of a printed ebook of her tiny tree portraits.A sadder tale shared by
on the grief suffered when beloved trees are felled from The Guardian.This beautiful newsletter post (by
) was shared by as part of the Postcards 2024 event. It reiterates a lot of what was covered during this tree series and added icing to the cake.Thinking a New Way to Be
shared a wonderful article about co-operative apartment complexes in New York City from the 19th and early 20th centuries which you’ll find here. And on the subject of co-operatives, mourned the loss of a co-op supermarket and small local indie producers. The co-operative supermarket story can be found here. added to a list of a number of writers who are doing commons thinking by recommending an essay on shifting our perspective from international and national to what is right in front of us. ’s post can be found here. recommended the cultural historian, Thomas Berry. If you delve into his work, she suggests starting with The Great Work before reading Dream of the Earth. The themes echo those we’ve been discussing. By chance I stumbled across a short course offered by Yale for free (unless you want certification): The Worldview of Thomas Berry: The Flourishing of the Earth Community.Participatory democracy was a popular topic, in which more examples were asked for, which will appear in a future series. In the meantime, here is one from Japan. Also on community action in Japan,
shared the Japanese Times’ wonderful collection of different community currencies and slow-living projects in Japan: Japanese communities are creating currencies to educate and empower citizens.Contains Strong Language: A Guide to Talking About Racism was particularly appreciated by
for its educational application:
Waste
Ever wondered what happens to all that skin and pulp from fruit used for juices and smoothies?
shared a very inspired way to use industrial food waste.Natural Building
In response to a comment from
, I shared a link to a natural build project in Cantabria, Spain.As with all the community pages, I will update this page at the end of every series to ensure a permanent archive. If you recommended something, and don’t see it here, please give me a nudge!
What a treasure trove! This one’s a keeper! Thank you.
Wow! Forest Man: What a story! I wrote about a reclamation on a much, much smaller scale - just a tiny hopeful story with a big, extravagant style, called "Stumps": https://open.substack.com/pub/enchantedinamerica/p/stumps?r=1mk0zn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web .