Keep our rooted traditions alive

I feel that we, as a society, are at a crossroads between tradition and modernization. We are in danger of losing something very important in the name of progress. Our roots.

It was only 100 years ago that families would live, work and play close to home and carry on their family’s traditions. Traditions that are being replaced by the notion of cheaper methods, ‘improved’ products, and so called globalization.

We used to grow our own food, process it, store it and eat it to nourish our bodies. This process stoked local economies. Now it is cheaper to buy food in a can, usually grown far away on some factory farm and then shipped to us and purchased with money that is in return shipped far away. The cost of this ‘convenience’ and access to out-of-season foods comes at a high price that is all but invisible. The reason it is invisible is because we refuse to see it. Convenience can be its own evil.

There is a movement, actually movement is too grand a term and denotes too much organization, let’s call it a desire among a growing number of people to hang on to the old traditions. Not just from a ‘comfort zone’ perspective but to ward off the dangers that go with placing our health and welfare in the hands of others who don’t give a wit about us beyond our purchasing power.

Growing our own food may not be perceived as financially cheaper than buying cans from Walmart but we know we are not bringing home chemicals, salmonella and non-food additives to our family.

Growing food on a large scale also introduces many other factors that belie its cheapness. Factors such as the high fertilizer requirements of growing corn used in virtually all processed food, beverages and junk food. Devoting so much farm land to Corn and Soybeans, creating a near mono-culture, could be devastating if a disease or bacteria were to wipe it all out. The rise of CAFO’s (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) is polluting and damaging communities and watersheds and introduces more and stronger antibiotics into the meat supply required by over-crowded conditions.

Food today is forced to grow at a rate beyond its ability to properly develop its natural nutritional value. The final product is so bland and anemic that non-food additives (declared by the FDA to be ‘safe’ for consumption, notice I did not say nutritional) are used to make the food palatable. If you have ever tasted a home- grown tomato side-by-side with tomatoes from a can you will notice the difference immediately.

We are becoming a nation of buyers instead of makers and creators. Better life through chemistry is not the answer it once promised.

The art of crafting, the spirit of do-it-yourself and the pride that comes from growing and creating your own is being tossed aside and replaced by a generic sameness that is killing our collective individualism.

I greatly admire those people who are keeping crafting and DIY and individualism alive. These people are attempting to preserve a way of life that cannot be bought during a trip to the store.

The attempt to get people to recycle, reuse, repurpose, whatever you want to call it, is a very difficult undertaking. We have the foreboding sense that we are using up the planets resources at a far greater rate than ever before and the end is looming. Yet, far too many people are not getting it. Buying manufactured goods, using so-called ‘greener’ methods is still enslaving ourselves to a process that continues the destruction of the planet and human traditions. It is also filling our landfills at a ever increasing rate. We need to slow down our desire to have the latest gadget which leads to throwing away last-years still useable products. We need to shun the shiny new product that is at best only slightly more effective or efficient than what we already own. Nowhere is this out-of-control trend more obvious and destructive than the purchase of cell phones and cars.

It comes down to helping ourselves instead of helping the manufacturing process that sends money overseas and uses up our limited supply of resources.

I’m not espousing returning to the dark ages or living in caves. Let’s just keep our rooted traditions alive. Buy and eat locally, learn how to make as many of your own products as possible, and extend the life of what we already own.