3 July ? Yesterday was a lost day, but not completely: went with Tsering, Nati, and Joanna to the Ganges, so I didn’t miss that! I am obsessing on garbage. Today in Rishikesh I saw two garbage men loading waste into a small cart. Bailing water with a teaspoon. Then I thought if all bottled drinks were in glass and there was a market for it (or even plastic, with a re-use) then at least a major pollutant might be eliminated. Yet even in the U.S., in Iowa where my daughter lives, they cancelled the recycling program that was putting mentally challenged adults to work, for some bogus reason. So all the bottles, cans, etc. go into the landfill. The U.S. is not the only model, as Navdanya shows. I liked the “Coke and Pepsi Free Zone sign. [We visited an organic farm called Navdanya, which has a large seed bank and cultivates more than 700 types of rice. That's me picking up garbage at the farm! That's me picking up garbage as one of our morning chores.] Though Gandhi’s name never came up, certainly the idea of sustainable agriculture built on an Indian model is or would be part of his program. The seed bank was awesome, and I think about the future, when GMO products introduce sterility into all plants. Kind of like Ice-9 in Cat’s Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut). I can understand why the Indian government might introduce GMO products for the short term alleviation of the food problem, but long term, it is simply not sustainable. I’m sure there must be a science fiction book/movie that deals with saving the earth through a seed bank. Comments are closed.
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Author Rebecca Moore is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is currently Reviews Editor for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions and Co-Director of The Jonestown Institute. Archives
December 2021
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