This paper was read at the Fifth Biennial Conference of the ASLE (Association for the Study of Literature and Environment) held at Boston University, June 3-7, 2003 by Sadamichi Kato. It was one of the three papers presented at the session H12 “DOWN ON THE FARM” on June 6. The other two were ”Ecocriticism and the Agrarian Vision” by William Ma- jor and “Wendell Berry and the Rhetoric of Economy” by Andrew McMurry. The theme of the conference (“the solid earth! the actual world!”) was taken from Henry Thoreau’s “Ktaadn” in The Maine Woods.
In this paper, Kato examines the leading representative of the second generation of the Natural Farming movementKawaguchi Yoshikazu. He indicates his distinctive approach from Fukuoka in appliance of Natural Farming and analyzes the similarities and differences of Japanese Yoshikazu's and American American agricultural writer Wes Jackson's sustainable agriculture propositions in light of Eastern and Western horizons' dichotomy.
Kato - Body and Earth Are Not Two
PERMACULTURE: A QUIET REVOLUTION
In May 2007, the 8th International Permaculture Convergence (IPC8) was held in Brazil, bringing together visionary activists from 43 countries in the common goal of preparing for, and mitigating, our looming global crisis.
This video, documents this gathering telling the basic principles and visions of permaculture along with PAL's (Permacultura America Latina) projects and living examples. PAL is a 15-year old, non-profit organization supporting grassroots sustainable development initiatives and low impact economic practices in poor and indigenous communities throughout Latin America with seven autonomous institutes (4 in Brazil, 1 in Ecuador, 1 in Peru and 1 in Guatemala) building schools and ecological reference centers.
This documentary is made by 21st Paradigm Films. 21st Paradigm is an independent movie project by Vanessa Schulz who is frustrated with mainstream media's reluctance to air contentious subject matter. The documentaries made by Schulz generally cover ecological subjects with a respect to the intrinsic value of all life.
For more info:
THE NATURAL WAY OF FARMING
In this second book after "One Straw Revolution" Fukuoka gives us a more detailed perspective on dealing with natural farming both theoritically and in practice. In this volume he criticizes modern agriculture harshly with its impacts on earth and human communities. He unfolds the illusions of agricultural science which relies on an inductive methodology and thus misses the whole picture and a holistic perspective. He then describes his "do-nothing farming" method more precisely giving examples of his long-lasting farming journey with nature. Although Fukuoka repeatedly mentions that natural farming can only be learned through observing nature itself, granting it as the true mentor he nevertheless proposes some techniques and methods to use. But more importantly, mentioning the nature as the true mentor, he teaches us how to be true students of nature and how to ask our questions to recieve the answers.We encourage you to support the generous people who made those documents available for us; you can buy the book online at Amazon:
The Natural Way of Farming: The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy
For those who can't afford to buy the book we share with you a download link found on the internet:
http://rapidshare.com/files/195349841/NWOF.rar
THE ONE STRAW REVOLUTION
Masanobu Fukuoka was a Japanese farmer who developed what many consider to be a revolutionary method of sustainable agriculture. He called this "Natural Farming" although today it is generally referred as "Fukuoka Farming". He developed a holistic approach of farming on the idea that cultivation is not necessiraly made by people but the nature itself. The farmer's sole activity is reduced to assisting nature growing its own scions. He also called this "do-nothing farming" referring to Taoist wu-wei principle of letting things to flow in their natural recourse. The essence of Fukuoka's method is to reproduce natural conditions as closely as possible: no tilling, no fertilizers, no pesticides, no weeding and no pruning. You can get more info on natural farming at Fukuoka Farming Website.In his first book, The One-Straw Revolution, Fukuoka narrates lyrically how he decided to quit his carrer as a microbiologist returning to his family orchard to start his natural farming journey. He explains the basic principles of natural farming and describes his methods along with underlying philosophy in a pure and clear literary proficiency reminding of Zen stories.
We encourage you to support the generous people who made those documents available for us; you can buy the book online at Amazon:
The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics)
For those who can't afford to buy the book we share with you a download link found on the internet:
PERMACULTURE DESIGN IN AN ECOVILLAGE
This is an essay by Tora Råberg from Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. It presents guidelines how to approach a local ecosystem, taking into account biological, geological, chemical and hydrological assets in order to obtain a sustainable and self-sufficient farming system conserving and increasing local biodiversity. The guidelines are presented both in general theory based on permaculture principles and with a specific case on a newly started ecovillage in Chozas, northwest Spain.http://rapidshare.com/files/194309612/PDIAE.rar
rssHugger vs TreeHugger
We had known tree-dwellers for a long time; those devoted activists living on top of trees to save the ancient giants from falling prey to lodging industry. They are true lovers of the Ents, deep-rooted & slow-footed eco-spirits in Tolkiens' famous trilogy Lord of the Rings. And we had also heard of the tree huggers of India; Chipko movement was inspiring to many by late 70's, women villagers were surrounding the trees to protect them from deforestration. And lately we have learned much from TreeHugger; a web site advocating green politics and guiding people on how to go green. But rssHugger is totally new to us (as we are totally new in blogosphere). We came across it on http://blogger-tricks.blogspot.com/ searching for effective ways to get our blog known by many. We were delighted to discover that Blogger-tricks was also published by fellow environmentalist Peter@Environman (See his other blog: http://enviromansays.blogspot.com/).
Collin LaHay, an experienced entrepreneur, search engine optimizer, and internet marketer, developed rssHugger to bring bloggers and readers together and provide blog owners with a unique easy-to-use way to promote their blogs by sending them traffic, building backlinks for search engine optimization, as well as attracting new rss subscribers if the content is interesting to the reader.
Compared to alikes such as Technorati and Digg, rssHugger is slow-footed yet but who might know it won't be a deep-rooted giant spirit in time. We promote it here to let that tree grow high (and we dwell on one of it's branches; why cut a branch you sit on:)). Besides, we loved its name reminding us treehuggers and tree-dwellers.
A tree house. A free house. A secret you and me house.
A high up in the leafy branches.
A happy as can be house.
A street house. A neat house.
A be sure to wipe your feet house,
is not the kind of house for me.
Let's go and live in a treehouse.
(Poem from Do or Die Issue 7)
PRACTICAL STRAW BALE BUILDING
Practical Straw Bale Building by Murray Hollis describes the best of current practices and introduces new ideas in a practical step-by-step approach, supported by technical data and analysis. Starting from how straw bales are made, it describes the building of both in-fill and load-bearing walls, discusses the properties of materials used to plaster the walls, and details how particular features are incorporated, such as windows, doors, arches, plumbing and electrical. It especially describes new methods that enable the construction of straighter, thinner and easier-to-plaster walls. The book provides a wealth of information and ideas for immediate practical application and as a basis for further development of straw bale building methods.We encourage you to support the generous people who had made those documents available for us; you can buy the book online at Amazon:
Practical Straw Bale Building
For those who can't afford to buy the book we share with you a download link found on the internet:
http://rapidshare.com/files/193825257/PSBR.rar
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