it is Industrial Agriculture
If like me you've been watching the heart rending images of the earthquake victims in Haiti, you might be wondering why life suddenly seems to have come to a grinding halt there? Yes there's been devastation, but why are the Islanders unable to quickly respond to it? It's all about society's lack of resilience. Over the last 200 years, Haiti has been swallowed into the Developed Nations food and energy machine, so if disaster strikes, there's little to do, but sit around and wait for help. To me, global inter-dependency based on Industrial Agriculture is the greatest human disaster of our time. We would all do well to heed the synchronistic warnings...

Reading the hidden messages
One of the early images of the disaster relief that so rendered my heart, was that of an American soldier throwing pre-packed "MREs" (Meals Ready to Eat), unceremoniously out of the back of a helicopter to an increasingly desperate throng who were forced to scrabble over one another to get to the food.

On the one hand, we might feel a degree of relief that at least some food is getting through. However, if I've learned one thing in my awakened life, it is that EVERY circumstance has a hidden code, a deeper meaning and I ALWAYS look for that, because in a world so distorted as ours, we have to read between the lines and look through the pictures if we are to get to the truth.

"Convenience Food"
The "Meals Ready to Eat" are of course totally symbolic and synchronistic of so called 'Developed Nation' food policy - why grow it yourself when you can buy it pre-packed from a 'convenience store'? Did you know, that only thirty years ago, Haiti was self-sufficient in its staple diet of rice? That was until in the mid-90s, the IMF (Internationally Monetary Fund) forced it to allow cheaper imports, the US then dumped its subsidised surplus on the country putting local farmers immediately out of business. Haiti now has to import the bulk of its rice. Tens of thousands of rice farmers were forced to move to the slums of Port-au-Prince. Ironically, these were the ones who either died in the earthquake, or are now sitting around desperately waiting for the next delivery of MREs.

Society has stripped away local resilience. It's taken away the grow local, eat local heritage of our farming roots and replanted it with intensive farming. Now, large corporate agri businesses plant zillions of acres of land and intensively farm the soils with fast growing, single strain, GM crops which denude the top-soils of vital nutrients. They then harvest in bulk, export over thousands of miles and undercut any local market until it is driven mercilessly out of business. This is exactly what happened in Haiti. Haiti was a disaster waiting to happen and instead of blaming Mother Earth, God or anyone else for that matter, there is only one culprit - corporate greed.

Cuba - the close mirror
Interestingly, Haiti has a close neighbour and a very close mirror - Cuba. Of course Cuba overcame American intervention with its popular revolution of 1953-59. It has 'suffered' an American economic blockade ever since - fortunately! For a while of course, it relied heavily on Soviet support, but when the Soviet Union fell apart in the 1990's, Cuba was left completely alone to deal with its own energy and food requirements. What was the result? It is now a totally resilient and self-sufficient country. In fact, according to the "Living Planet" report of 2006, it is the ONLY country to achieve sustainable development: improving the quality of human life whilst living within the carrying capacity of the environment.

Although 'Developed Nations' might consider Cuba to be a third world country (perhaps because of the lack of convenience consumerism), you have to look past the illusion to get to the real truth. In Cuba, no one goes without food; most incomes are not taxed; most people own their own homes or pay little rent; utility and energy bills, transport and medicine costs are merely symbolic; the opera, cinema and theatre are cheap for all. High quality healthcare and education are free for all.

Whilst Haiti's infant mortality rate is around 80 per 1,000, Cuba's is only 5.8; whilst nearly half Haitian adults are illiterate, the figure in Cuba is around 3%. And while 800 Haitians died in the hurricanes that devastated both islands last year, Cuba lost just four people. Cuba's self-sufficiency has led to far greater resilience and for most, better quality of life too.

Industrial Agriculture - thin ice waiting to break
It is clear, that through the events of Haiti, we are being given a powerful warning. It is non-sensical for people to depend on food being shipped thousands of miles to deliver their 'daily-bread'. It is non-sensical to put local farmers out of business or even pay them not to plant crops (as they do in the European Union). It is non-sensical to plant with GM crops that have been purposefully modified to stop the plant germinating itself, thereby making farmers totally dependent on agro businesses for their seed. It is non-sensical to intensively farm with single strain crops which denude top soils and destroy local biodiversity and sustainability.

All of these actions are of a much lower harmony than the consciousness of Mother Earth who truly sustains us. And since EVERYTHING is influenced and formed from this energy, NOTHING can ultimately withstand underlying shifts in consciousness. The earthquake in Haiti was surely symbolic of that. We were being informed, in no uncertain terms, that Industrial Agriculture, which currently 'sustains' most of the world's population, is thin ice waiting to break. It is a lower energetic harmony which takes the resilience out of farming, out of the earth and out of humanity. It makes us increasingly dependent and addicted to 'the system'.

It is a system which depends on ever increasing money supply and huge quantities of cheap oil. As we now enter a new period of 'resource rarification', that supply chain is becoming increasingly stretched - just look how long it took to get resources to Haiti for example. It is highly likely that in the years ahead of us, that chain is going to fracture just as it did during the credit crunch and the many previous oil crises. Then it won't be just the victims of earthquakes that will be dependent on "Meals Ready to Eat". It will be all those dependent on the now empty and very inconvenient global chain-stores.

Think local, act local
So what can awakened souls do about all this? How can we few, change the system and do it quickly? How can we help not only ourselves, but all those walking on perilously thin ice? It is my view that too many people are addicted to "Convenience Meal Mentality" to change the system of Industrial Agriculture by choice. Even if people are able to see the fragility and inherent dangers, they're mostly too engaged in their own dramas and currently cosy convenience, to really do something about it. The system has to fracture and break, just as it did for the Cubans, before people are ready to sit up and take notice.

To me, Industrial Agriculture is a global disaster waiting to happen. It WILL come toppling down at some point because it is inherently unsustainable. Personally, I would rather not wait for that to happen before I do something about it. I would rather build some local resilience. The key is to realign ourselves with the natural ecosystems of Mother Earth and the return to a higher energetic harmony. It's about going within, attuning to our soul and letting decision making come from there instead of from the craziness of society. When I do that, my soul tells me very clearly to think local and act local; to support local, organic farmers even if it costs a little more. It tells me to avoid fast grown and nutrient denuded GM crops; to focus on bio-diversity and where I can, grow my own.

What does your soul tell you? What does it say about increasing your own local resilience? What does it say about becoming less dependent on 'the system' and more involved in local community organisations? If you've not considered these things yet, then let the mirror of Haiti be a powerful incentive!

Chris