JHK’s Three-Act Play
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Jason Bradford has been affiliated with Post Carbon Institute since 2004, first as a Fellow and then as a Board Member. After earning his doctorate at Washington University in St Lous, he worked for the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Missouri Botanical Garden, was a Visiting Scholar at U.C. Davis, and co-founded the Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group (ABERG). He bailed out of academia to learn and practice sustainable agriculture, trained at the Ecology Action (aka GrowBiointensive) in Willits, California, and then founded Brookside School Farm. For four years he hosted The Reality Report radio show on KZYX in Mendocino County. In 2009 he moved to Corvallis, Oregon, as one of the founders of Farmland LP, a farmland management fund implementing organic and mixed crop and livestock systems, where he worked until early 2018. He sits on the Economic Development Advisory Board for Corvallis and Benton County, and serves as an advisor for the OregonFlora Project based at Oregon State University. He lives with his family outside of Corvallis on an organic farm.
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Jason Bradford said, “I actually read the IPCC report in 2002 I believe and I saw that there was a problem that it was projecting unlimited economic growth and prosperity at the same time it was projecting famine and drought and torrential rains and floods and heat waves that would make life untenable in certain regions and I started questioning that and I had a lot of blowback from academic colleagues.” LOL.
Unfortunately, this interview was a cursory rehash of what most of your subscribers have already heard over the years. While a reaffirmation of them does our resilient philosophies a “positive stroke”, there was, in my opinion, nothing new in how we can become rural in the future. Having raised five kids on a single income on 3 acres of land, I am well aware of what is takes to make “it’ happen. I have the scars to prove it. The ultimate challenge in becoming rural will not be in new innovative systems and methods, but rather in surmounting the “juvenile-ization” of the coming generations. The “Kardashian/West” surrogate birth approach to real life is alive and well, today, and spawning a real “idio-cracy” revolution at breakneck speed(a recurring JHK theme). A growing number of Facebook bred clones is dwarfing any real push towards a physical connection with our natural environment and the realization that it will require human labor in an energy poor world. Options: well, slavery is one; or an intrinsic revelation that only the competent will survive through simple acumen of thought. By the way, all my kids moved to the city and love eating Dad’s home grown turkey when they come home for the holidays. Guess life is easier in the city!! Bon appetit.
At first it won’t be the “competent” but rather the most ruthlessly quick to react. Its after the mess molders away that competence regenerates, creating once again stratifying complexity. Only occasionally and for short duration (human history discloses) does a competently trustworthy hierarchy reign, then erodes into corruption.
Hi uncletommy,
Hey mate. I too live on rural acreage and produce about half of the food that I consume, plus all electricity, water, firewood etc. which I reckon is not a bad effort. As I was reading your comment though, something you wrote struck me as being a bit odd, and I wanted to just check in with you and see what your take on that story was.
Well it seems to me that there is living on rural acreage, and then there is living on rural acreage, and the difference between the two (!) can mean a lot and little. You say that you raised five kids on a single income on that acreage. If your story was all so good, how come those five kids all moved to the city? Surely one of those kids learned enough skills whilst you lit the fire in them of desire to live in a rural area?
Your story just sounds a bit odd to me, but I see it playing out down here too with other households and have wondered about it.
Chris
Well, Chris; it’s like this. I am fortunate (or unfortunate) to live north of the 53rd parallel on the Canadian foothills of Alberta. We had 5 inches of snow on the 2nd of May(we needed the moisture?) and manage to raise a portion of our food during the 90 frost free days of the year. Thank goodness we live in a Province with ample access to cheap energy that allows us to live a somewhat comfortable existence. As to passing on rural and agricultural values, given that, on average, 1.8% of the Canadian population is actively involved in growing food for the other 98.2%, is it any wonder why my kids would gravitate to the city. As one of my more astute children commented to me, “Why the hell would I want to spend big money to live in the country and live like a peasant?” He has two bee hives on his urban lot (all that is allowed under permit and two at our place). Another child lives in the country in a 4000 sq. ft. home with hot tub, riding lawn mower and a small garden for fresh herbs and a few tomatoes, which she picks green and stores downstairs until ripe.Passing on values by example is a fickle business. The path of least resistance appears to be smoother than the road of good intentions. It’s funny how a month of -30 C weather can refocus one’s attention. Can the world become more rural? Fat chance, in my opinion. Besides, the Walmart is only a five minute drive away and your debit card works fine. Keep up the good work Chris. Somebody needs to keep the dream alive!
Money is now parasitic on society, boy if that idea gets around things may get a little squirrely, ya think?
Glad to see that there are others out there that are still capable of critical thinking Jim. Thank you for bringing this to us.
Keep it up