I found this article about how differences in political mindsets may actually be something inborn; so, for example, if someone denies the science behind global climate change (a familiar political platform of conservative republicans) it may be genetic. Isn't this a few steps from saying certain ethnic groups have genetic defects in the area of intelligence? Of course, science doesn't mean republicans are genetically defective; it simply means republicans are predispositioned to ignore the factual evidence presented by science on certain political issues. The world continues to turn.
On that note, here's a fascinating set of videos on permaculture. If you haven't heard about it yet, permaculture is an alternative way of gardening (not farming) that is very low maintenance but high yield--much higher yields than conventional farms, which in this day and age mean fossil fuel driven farms. Permaculture can be carried out using hand tools, and about 10-11 days of labor a year/per couple of acres of land. Otherwise, according to the gardeners who are practicing it, permaculture requires about a day/week, and that's mostly for harvesting. I've been thinking, as have most of the powers that be (I believe) that the answer to our global pollution/environmental problems is in urbanization (reducing energy expenditures and increasing efficiency as well as land use efficiency by having everyone move to cities--Korea is becoming a case study for this). Following is a fairly convincing case for the move to a rural way of life--at least for a large segment of the human population. And it's interesting to think about all the extra time...what does one do with so much time on one's hands? I can think of so many things....
Here's the video, part 5 of the 5 part series.
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