Not Just About Peak Oil
Thank you for Hayley Wood's interesting look at various "intentional communities" here in Western Mass. ["Where We Ought to be," June 19, 2008]. The article implied, however,?that Peak Oil and concern about global calamity were the main impetus for us at Laughing Dog Farm to hand-grow organic food and seek sane and meaningful community around us.
In fact, this vision of land-based?community and "neighborhood food?security" makes total sense, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of politics, climate change or history. Practicing ecological, permacultural stewardship of our precious land requires?attention, love?and intensive hand labor. I've?long observed too many subsistence farmers teetering one broken?leg (or mental breakdown) away from oblivion. This is another reason to keep reworking that old, elusive?goal of intentional community whether the "shit hits the fan" or not. Either way, farm-based micro-communities serve to train and energize the skilled backyard food growers we'll need in the future.
Today we understand?that "community" exists simultaneously in many forms—on the land, in our kitchens, within our families and political associations and in the Internet and world. Hopefully we've evolved and learned from the idealistic early efforts of Ray Mungo, Renaissance Commune, etc., gleaning, refining and integrating the values of collectivism and smudging out the?misguided. You don't have to be a hippie farmer?or food fanatic to understand and practice community building. You can do it in your own back yard!
Daniel Botkin
via email
Who Lied?
Carl Doerner of Conway needs a reality check [Letters, June 19, 2008]: the Bush administration did not lie to the world about WMDs. John Kerry, however, lied when he accused American soldiers of "going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children." Once upon a time, Republicans and Democrats (Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John Kerry and others) believed Saddam was a threat, that he had WMDs, and that he should be removed from power. It made sense to rid the world of the Hussein regime after thousands died on September 11, 2001, but confronting evil never makes sense to most liberals.
Doerner thinks this "country desperately needs a cleansing," which means he wants the Bush administration thrown out of office. Reality check: if Bush and Cheney really were guilty of war crimes, then Nancy Pelosi would have pursued impeachment. Of course, we'll still hear from Dennis Kucinich and his fan club as they clamor for impeachment. Republicans aren't guilty for going to war; it's the Democrats who are guilty of sending the troops to war, then calling the war a fraud and the president a liar.
Tim Grant
Bernardston
