Excerpt from an Autobiography

My Life My Trees

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I must have met Richard St. Barbe Baker (1889-1982) only a year or two before his death. I was in Ottawa staying at the same place where he was billeted. Baker was as crotchety then as my father is now, and I will be, if I am lucky, a few decades from now. It is a great pleasure now to read his autobiography, which is informal, light reading. We forget that the First World War, and even the Second World War, were not as mechanized as the wars we suffer from now. Richard St. Barbe Baker was a horse expert as well as a tree expert.

     This is part IV of the first chapter of the autobiography of Baha'i environmentalist Richard St. Barbe Baker (1889-1982), called "My Life, My Trees." Here he tells the story of his time fighting in the First World War. The first part of this series of excerpts is in the Badi' Blog entry for Jan 12, 2010.

The second chapter tells of how he paid his way through school in the aftermath of that conflict. That in a future Badi' Blog posting.

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from chapter One of "My Life, My Trees," by Richard St. Barbe Baker

Having earned enough to return to England I was studying Divinity at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, at the outbreak of World War I. While at Emmanuel College, Saskatchewan, taking arts and sciences, I had devoted myself to Christian work in the North-West and in the building up of congregations of isolated settlers around the central schools of Mission Churches. I felt that before accepting ordination I should gain wider experience and perhaps complete my studies at Cambridge where generations of my forebears had taken their degrees or had become Fellows of their colleges.

Into the peace and seclusion of Ridley Hall came the threat of war. I had taken to heart the Sermon on the Mount and sought the guidance of my tutor, for whom I had the greatest possible admiration. If the teachings of Jesus meant anything and if we were to take up His Cross and follow Him, it would mean throwing up my cavalry training in King Edward's Horse -- the King's Overseas Dominions' Regiment -- and becoming a conscientious objector to war with all the deprivation it would entail.

My tutor, however, explained that the Sermon on the Mount was a counsel of perfection and obviously we could hardly expect to be able to live up to it yet. Besides, Jesus Himself fought the money-changers in the Temple and would wish His followers to steel themselves for the fight against evil. He said: "I came not to bring peace but a sword." Somewhat bewildered this young divinity student decided to go to the summer camp with his regiment. Two weeks later war came, and in response to an appeal I volunteered for immediate service overseas. That was towards the end of the summer in August, 1914.

I had joined up as a trooper in King Edward's Horse, but it was with the guns that I saw most of my service in France, for just as I had made up my mind that the best way to die was in a cavalry charge, I was promoted and given a commission in the Royal Horse and Field Artillery.

I had expected to be drafted to France the next day but instead I was posted to a reserve battery in Ireland. Here I had six hundred horses, two guns and eight hundred wild Irish Reservists to be

p. 23

equipped and trained for overseas service and taught to ride horses. It was sheer fun for me, for I was in my element. I taught my men to ride in the hunting field with the Muskerry and Duhallow, the nearest packs to my station at Ballincollig. For the moment it was all so enjoyable that we almost forgot the war but the time soon came for me to leave. After passing out eight hundred drivers for France I followed. I was the first temporary officer in the 1st Divisional Artillery of the old Army, for I relieved the first officer casualty in 115 Battery, 25th Brigade.

My battery commander was Ronnie Carrington whose name was a byword as a gunner with the highest possible reputation. When other guns in the first division were rationed to twenty-five rounds per battery per day, he was allowed three thousand rounds on account of his phenomenal marksmanship.

115 was a poker-playing battery but having learnt my lesson on my way to Canada I would excuse myself from 'joining in' and go out into the gun line to spot the flashes from German guns as they were being fired behind their lines. I recorded the angle of these from the gun line so that the air force observers could fly over the next day and give us the range. My services were recognized by the authorities and in due course a Military Cross arrived for me, but Ronnie Carrington did not approve of decorations and said:

"Baker, you don't want to have ribbons all over your bosom, do you? You're out here to kill Germans -- that's our job, isn't it?"

And he sent the Cross back to the Brigade Headquarters. When General Fanshawe wrote to the Major inviting me to be his A.D.C., Ronnie, handing the letter to me, impatiently exclaimed:

"You don't want to go and polish the General's buttons for him, do you? Aren't you here to kill Germans?"

So I stayed with my battery while Teddy Schriber, who accepted, was soon promoted rapidly to Brigadier, and later Major-General. I was fond of General Fanshawe, known to us as "Fanny". He, too, was a crack gunner and keenly interested in what was happening at the Front. Twice a week he would come to my forward observation post and ask me if there was anything new. He had a weakness for strawberries and cream and I used to send my batman to the midnight market at Bethune to secure these delicacies and bring them to me by dawn, when a visit from Fanny

p. 24

was expected. On one of these exciting mornings I happened to mention that a slit in the Church spire of La Bassee would get light and then dark again. My telescope was focused on this slit and the General kept watch. A few minutes later he exclaimed excitedly:

"You're right, Baker, there's obviously an observation post there. Get your guns on to it."

I must admit I felt a bit squeamish about shelling a church and suggested that he should get the heavies on to it. This he did and for two days the heavies kept up fire without hitting the object. The church was just on the other side of the hill and in a fairly safe position. As I was watching at dawn on the third morning there was a terrific explosion and when the rubble and dust cleared from the air the church spire had gone. I told the General this when he came round a few minutes later, and he said:

"What about a spot of leave, Baker? There's going to be a big push soon so I won't suggest more than four days. How about it?"

Of course I accepted. In London I was invited to a tea-party by some friends all anxious for the latest news from the Front. One old lady who confronted me said:

"Isn't it terrible that those Germans are firing at churches behind our lines?"

I kept very quiet.

On my return to France I was posted to the 39th brigade under the command of Colonel Wardrop -- the famous authority on pig-sticking, who had written a book on the subject which had become a classic. The Corps horse show was in the offing and he asked me if I was going to enter. I regretted that I had not a horse fit to enter, and so he very generously invited me to ride his chestnut, a fine upstanding charger. As good fortune would have it I won the Corps Cup on his horse. After this I was given the very responsible job of building a fighting post for the Colonel in preparation for the big push.

In the middle of this job the Germans sent over forty heavy shells in five minutes and twenty-seven of us were buried beneath bricks and mortar and sandbags. The corpses were extracted from the debris and laid in an improvised mortuary. The corporal in

p. 25

charge of the burial party was collecting the identity discs -- ripping them off the necks of the corpses. But my identity badge was chained on to my wrist; this had been done during my recent four days' leave. The Corporal gave it a tug and tried to break the steel chain without success. The wrist started bleeding whereupon he called the sergeant and reported:

"This corpse is bleeding."

The sergeant said, "Put it on that old Ford," referring to the van that had brought up the burial tools.

This 'corpse' woke up three and a half days later in the Duchess of Westminster Hospital at Le Touquet, Paris Plage!

Although my body was badly hurt and many bones were broken, I do not remember feeling any pain. It seemed that I myself was outside my body, quite detached from it, watching it with interest yet unconcern. That must have lasted for about three days.

I was haunted by the thought of having taken life. In the fury of the war and in retaliating for the loss of so many of my comrades, quite apart from the destruction by my guns I had taken a heavy toll of German officers from the sniper's post where I would claim my daily turn. In my war madness I used to carve a notch for each 'heart-shot' on an old bow I had found in a shelled chateau, and with glowing pride I had filled it from tip to tip.

A soldier's tribute to his King, Displayed in every ruddy ring.

In hospital from each notch the eyes of those officers I had killed seemed to look sadly out at me. Their ghostly spectres haunted me, I could not sleep, and my heart came near breaking with regret.

Then about four o'clock one morning I thought I saw my former Major, Bob Herman of Cavalry, who had been killed by a stray bullet a few days before, come into my room and stand looking at me from the bottom of my bed. This vision saved my sanity. In order to comfort others I tried to record this impression in the words of a young officer who has been killed and appears to his mother. She has just had news of his death and is

p. 27

going round her room examining his `souvenirs' little bits of twisted bullet and fragments of shell he had brought her when on leave from the front. Her heart is seared with grief until he enters her room.

Mother I've come for one brief moment I must not tarry longer.

Promoted I have been

No longer Earth-bound sorrowing

I pass from sphere to sphere

Carrying new messages of love.

No longer hate I now;

Eyes that once were filled with feud

Now shine bright with gratitude.

Yonder I go to join my comrades.

Regret not the past

Live in the present

Crowd each hour with gladness,

Out of the sorrow, out of the sadness

Spring a new world into birth,

Soon strife shall surely cease

And earth with settled peace, break into song.

He then vanishes as silently as he has come. A great weight is lifted from his mother as she begins to realize the meaning of life after death. And so it was with me. Instead of those Germans being my enemies they became the shining ones, over-flowing with gratitude for their promotion into heavenly places.

Slowly consciousness returned and I began to recover, though I still suffered both mental as well as bodily agony as if I were thawing out after having been frozen. Strangely enough it is not the freezing that hurts; it is the thawing out which is excruciating. I wanted to die but with great skill I was dragged back to life and eventually I returned to the Front, only to be smashed up again.

In the summer of 1917 I was stationed at Swaythling Remount Depot, near Southampton, and used to receive horses from conditioning depots to take on to France. I made fifty-eight crossings of the English Channel and conducted eighteen thousand horses, sometimes as many as four hundred and fifty on a boat, taking them to Le Havre, Dieppe and sometimes in a smaller boat to Rouen. I used to look forward to those summer days on the boat, going up the Seine and being greeted by children lined up along the banks to see the horseboat pass on its way to the Front. It was generally peaceful once we crossed the Channel. Unfortunately, once as we were entering the mouth of the Seine and just as our escort had given his farewell toot and swung round to go out to sea again, she struck a mine, was split in the middle and sank at our stern.

In those Channel crossings I generally contrived to have a blood mare on the top deck just outside my cabin, in case our ship was torpedoed. A horse as a swimming companion in the water is better than a lifebelt, for besides being a friend in distress a clever horse has the instinct to swim towards the nearest land. I would choose a horse with a mane that I could hold on to. When swimming with a horse it is important to keep one's legs as near the surface of the water as possible and away from the horse's feet. Once, when returning empty, we struck a mine in mid-Channel and the Laskar stokers went on strike, so I ordered my Remount Conducting Party to carry on. They brought the ship into Southampton and I got a D.C.M. for my sergeant.

Soon I had become so fit on this light duty that I was posted to the Remount Depot at Dieppe and used to take horses up the line from there. This was done under cover of night and we usually managed to hand over before dawn and get the horses dispersed to their units before the German planes were up. However, on one of these trips to the Front, a dive-bomber dropped a string on the train which was blown up just as we were shunting back -- that was the last time I was smashed up and after the wounds had healed I was fortunate enough to be invited to stay at Lennel, Coldstream, as a guest of Lady Clementine Waring. It was a beautifully wooded property and I was able to help the woodman and fend for the other officers who had suffered loss of limb.

I was finally invalided out in April 1918. I am deeply appreciative of the skill of the doctors and devoted care of the nurses and sometimes wish that I could arrange a grand reunion of all those to whom I am indebted for my life.

p. 28

During my convalescence it began to dawn upon me that we were losing more lives through ignorance of health in our great cities than on all Fronts. With Percy Alden of the British Institute of Social Service, I devoted myself to work for the Government, calling upon captains of industry to enlist their help and generally paving the way for the Ministry of Health. It was my earnest endeavour to see that the wonderful war-time sacrifice should not be wasted and that out of it should come a new and saner order of things leading to a lasting peace. As soon as the Ministry of Health came into being I returned to my forestry work at Cambridge.

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Why Suffer?

Suffering as Pruning

By John Taylor; 2011 May 09, Jamal 12, 168 BE

 

 

"Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardeners is that one which, when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit. ... The more a man is chastened, the greater is the harvest of spiritual virtues shown forth by him." (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 50)

 

This was our morning reading today, and 11 year-old Thomas asked what it meant. I recalled a recent meeting with Cornelius, a farmer who has been attending our firesides and my Philosopher's Cafe in Wainfleet.

 

 

 

I asked Cor to look at our overgrown grape vine, which has spread all over the tall, eastern trellis of our deck, and even up into the eavestrough and the roof. Its fruits last year were small and so tart and strong in taste that they were inedible. As Cor hacked away at the vines, he dramatized the effect of pruning on the plant. He said,

 

"If you do it right, and chop off enough branches at the right places, the plant says to itself, `Oh my God, this is terrible. I may die from this.' So instead of expending energy to grow more branches and leaves, it decides to produce fruit as fast as it can. It does that so that if, as it thinks is happening, it soon dies, at least its genes will have a chance to live on through some of the fruits that it produces right away."

 

Thomas was unimpressed. For him, the purpose of these grapes is to attract the raccoons, which come in the dead of night every year to eat, often hanging upside down on our clothesline, as we photograph them and the dog works itself into a fit of mad barking. "If there are fewer grapes," Thomas worried, "People are liable to eat them first, and we will have less fun." Less fun, I would add, at three A.M. on a school night.

 

 

 

 

It depends on who is benefiting. Human suffering is terrible and pointless from the point of view of our good here and now, but it moves us to bear the fruit of a love that transcends what can be appreciated at the present moment. And that divine love is the whole point of life.

The Baha’i Position on Agriculture

Quotes on Agriculture from the Baha'i Writings in Chronological Order

By John Taylor; 2010 Nov 10, Qudrat 07, 167 BE

The LSA of the Baha'is of Haldimand asked me to prepare a couple of pages on the Baha'i position on agriculture for a talk by a non-Baha'i on a local agricultural initiative that is being given tonight. Unfortunately for the last month I have suffered from the worst cold or flu or whatever it is that I remember having for decades. I was going to have my daughter read the following quotes at the meeting, but she is coughing now too, and it would probably be unwise for either of us to attend. This is all I found on this subject. It seems pretty sparse, so please let me know if there any other quotes that I am missing about farmers coming first.

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"O CHILDREN OF MEN! Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created. Since We have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest. Such is My counsel to you, O concourse of light! Heed ye this counsel that ye may obtain the fruit of holiness from the tree of wondrous glory." (Baha'u'llah, Arabic Hidden Words, 68)

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"Whoso cleaveth to justice, can, under no circumstances, transgress the limits of moderation. He discerneth the truth in all things, through the guidance of Him Who is the All-Seeing. The civilization, so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men. Thus warneth you He Who is the All-Knowing. If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, p. 342-343)

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"Every man of discernment, while walking upon the earth, feeleth indeed abashed, inasmuch as he is fully aware that the thing which is the source of his prosperity, his wealth, his might, his exaltation, his advancement, and power is, as ordained by God, the very earth which is trodden beneath the feet of all men. (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 44)

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Abdu'l-Baha on the tillage of soil being fundamental, in a talk given in New York City on the first of July, 1912.

"Difference of capacity in human individuals is fundamental. It is impossible for all to be alike, all to be equal, all to be wise. Baha'u'llah has revealed principles and laws which will accomplish the adjustment of varying human capacities. He has said that whatsoever is possible of accomplishment in human government will be effected through these principles.

When the laws He has instituted are carried out, there will be no millionaires possible in the community and likewise no extremely poor. This will be effected and regulated by adjusting the different degrees of human capacity. The fundamental basis of the community is agriculture, tillage of the soil. All must be producers. Each person in the community whose need is equal to his individual producing capacity shall be exempt from taxation. But if his income is greater than his needs, he must pay a tax until an adjustment is effected.

That is to say, a man's capacity for production and his needs will be equalized and reconciled through taxation. If his production exceeds, he will pay a tax; if his necessities exceed his production, he shall receive an amount sufficient to equalize or adjust. Therefore, taxation will be proportionate to capacity and production, and there will be no poor in the community."

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 217)

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"The question of economics must commence with the farmer and then be extended to the other classes inasmuch as the number of farmers is greater than all other classes, many many times greater. Therefore, it is fitting that the economic problem be first solved with the farmer, for the farmer is the first active agent in the body politic. In brief, from among the wise men in every village a board should be organized and the affairs of that village should be under the control of that board." ('Abdu'l-Baha: Extract from a Tablet to an individual believer, October 4, 1912, translation corrected in the World Centre, December 1985 Compilations, Lights of Guidance, #1858, p. 547)

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The Farmer Comes First

Baha’i Principles Series

The Farmer Comes First

Baha’i teachings place agriculture first. This month Dr. Reza Kazemi will discuss the Dunnville Community Farm, a local initiative to make organic vegetables available to Dunnville residents year round. He will show how we can all get involved in this sustainable agriculture initiative.

Featured Speaker: Dr. Reza Kazemi

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 8 PM Garfield Disher Room, Dunnville Branch, Haldimand Public Library

The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Haldimand’s local media representative, Betty Frost, wrote the following letter to the editor about our monthly public meeting.

To the Editor

We are very pleased to let you know that Dr. Reza Kazemi will be speaking at our next meeting - Wednesday, November 10^th at 8:00 p.m. in the Garfield Disher Room of Dunnville’s Library.

It will come as no surprise that he will be talking about the wonderful work he and his compatriots are doing to create a world where all people have access to nutritious, environmentally sustainable and fairly traded food. As one step in achieving this goal, a farm has been established with the mission of producing such food. Many people are already enjoying fresh vegetables and fruit on a regular basis from its produce.

The goal is not only to produce food but to promote pathways to maintaining a healthy and vibrant body, mind and spirit.

The Haldimand Baha’i community is happy to sponsor this talk as it conforms to teachings in the Baha’i Faith that "Special regard must be paid to agriculture". The Founder of the Faith characterized it as an activity which is "conducive to the advancement of mankind and to the reconstruction of the world." It has also been asserted that "The fundamental basis of the community is agriculture", and that should an individual "become proficient in this field, he will become a means of providing for the comfort of untold numbers of people."

It is especially gratifying to see some of the spiritual goals set forth in Dr. Kazemi’s "dream" - to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person; and to promote justice, equity and compassion in human relations. We could not be more ‘in sync" with such ideals.

We are eagerly looking forward to hearing his presentation and hope that many of you will join us.

Betty Frost

Haldimand Baha’i Community

My Big Fat Tax

Fat, Climate and Farming

By John Taylor; 2010 July 30, Kalimat 17, 167 BE

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In this posting:


Fat Taxes
No Change in Climate Change
Local Farming Initiative
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Fat Taxes




Consider this news item:




"Leading British doctors will urge the UK government Monday to impose a `fat tax' on junk food and introduce cigarette-style warnings to children about the dangers of poor diets and products high in fat, salt or sugar. [an expert says that] ... the consumption of unhealthy food should be seen to be just as damaging as smoking or binge drinking. `Thirty years ago, it would have been inconceivable to have imagined a ban on smoking in the workplace or in pubs, and yet that is what we have now, are we willing to be just as courageous in respect of obesity? I would suggest that we should be.' The doctors are also demanding a tough government action plan to stop fast-food chains opening outlets near schools, restrict the advertising of products high in fat, salt or sugar, and limit sponsorship of sports events by fast-food companies such as McDonald's." (British docs demand 'fat tax' on junk food http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/07/11/14679421.html)




Also suggested were "fast food free zones" in city planning, and a ban on advertising of garbage foods -- indeed, it occurs to me, why not force them to call a spade a spade on their labels? Why not stick a big warning label on the front: "This food is rated 8 out 10 on the garbage food scale of the World Dietician's Association."


A fat tax would hardly be popular with the public, especially now that the majority in Western nations are obese themselves -- or should I say, ourselves, since I am a good fifty pounds overweight. Few politicians, therefore, would dare touch this issue, urgent as it may be. I must think differently from most fatties, since I look down at my ugly waistline and dream of an economy where sweet and sugary food was expensive and good food was cheap.




No Change in Climate Change




Nor are things going well in the climate change department, also an urgent priority. The obvious policy change would be to impose a carbon tax, but again, any new tax would be unpopular. The U.S. government just effectively rejected any serious action against carbon emissions. In his NY Times column, economist Paul Krugman explains why,




"So it was not the science, the scientists, or the economics that killed action on climate change. What was it? The answer is, the usual suspects: greed and cowardice. If you want to understand opposition to climate action, follow the money. The economy as a whole would not be significantly hurt if we put a price on carbon, but certain industries above all, the coal and oil industries would. And those industries have mounted a huge disinformation campaign to protect their bottom lines."


"Look at the scientists who question the consensus on climate change; look at the organizations pushing fake scandals; look at the think tanks claiming that any effort to limit emissions would cripple the economy. Again and again, you will find that they are on the receiving end of a pipeline of funding that starts with big energy companies, like Exxon Mobil, which has spent tens of millions of dollars promoting climate-change denial, or Koch Industries, which has been sponsoring anti-environmental organizations for two decades. Or look at the politicians who have been most vociferously opposed to climate action. Where do they get much of their campaign money? You already know the answer. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/opinion/26krugman.html?_r=2&th&emc=th)




Krugman rightly points out what the real cause of this dithering is: attachment to ideology. Even when it becomes self-contradictory to the point of absurdity, the rich cling to their shibboleths,




"It has always been funny, in a gallows humor sort of way, to watch conservatives who laud the limitless power and flexibility of markets turn around and insist that the economy would collapse if we were to put a price on carbon. All serious estimates suggest that we could phase in limits on greenhouse gas emissions with at most a small impact on the economy's growth rate."




This is why I think that the next Einstein will not be a physicist but an accountant or game designer. Not even an economist, but a genius with numbers who can make the numbers vivid using charts, displays and incentives.




A Local Farming Initiative




I recently bought a "share" in a cooperative farming effort called "Shared Harvests," pushed largely by a local farmer and a local physician, Reza Kazemi (an Iranian Muslim). It costs twenty five bucks to get a basket full of produce every week. I blanched at the price of what I was getting, but Reza pointed out that the group is called, "Triple Bottom Line for Sustainability Inc.," -- you have to write it all out on every check -- because as consumers we have to be aware when we are paying for something that the money should go to those who produce it, that there are three bottom lines, "financial, environmental and social responsibility and sustainability." I still blanched at what I was getting for what I had paid, but my responsibility self-image rose a little.


I got my first "share" of produce last week and was forced to do something with a big batch of kale, which I had only seen in cans before that. I steamed it up and it kept me in meals for a few days. It was good soaked with olive oil. Since I eat two cobs of microwaved corn every day, I held my cob of corn over the kale and soaked it in the extra olive oil. Here are some interesting facts extracted from their newsletter,




"There is a farm income crisis happening in North America. Farmers on average have been earning incomes below the poverty line for 15 of the last 20 years according to the National Farmers Union. The average age of a farmer in Canada is 52.6 and increasing yearly and the family farm is decreasing at a rapid rate. These are troubling facts, endangering the very existence of rural communities that have relied on small family farms for its sustainability and prosperity. It also endangers our food security. ... millions of Canadians including many of us in Dunnville spend long hours and resources caring for our grass instead of growing food; and millions of tons of local food perish due to lack of manpower to harvest it!"

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Agrarian Hillsides Forever

Agriculture as Social Ballast

Hillside Agrarianism


By John Taylor; 2010 May 22, Azamat 05, 167 BE


In imagining hillside housing developments I was influenced by Victor Davis Hanson, a scholar of Greek and small-time farmer. His "The Other Greeks, The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization," (The Free Press, New York, 1995) is one of the most important contributions to classical studies in recent decades.


It has long been recognized that modern ideas of democracy, freedom and equal rights are derived from Greek and Roman civilization. The thesis of "The Other Greeks" is that the greatness of Hellas was in turn a result of their unique form of agrarianism, the first and perhaps most brilliant of its type. Although Hanson's later writings lean toward chauvinism and warmongering, this should not obscure the importance of this apology for the farmer, for conservatism and agrarianism. Hanson cites several ancient sources that I cannot resist repeating here.

He quotes the Roman agronomist Columella, who considered agriculture to be society's Sine Qua Non, "Even if the state should become destitute of its professors, still it would prosper just as in the past. ... yet without its farmers mankind can neither subsist nor be fed." (Hanson, The Other Greeks, pp. 14-15) Hanson also cites (pages 4-5) these other examples of Ancient Greek thought about agriculture:


"When farming goes well, all other arts go well, but when the earth is forced to lie barren, the others almost cease to exist." (Xenophon, Oeconomicus, 5:17)

"The farmers do all the work, no one else." (Aristophanes, Pax 511) (this makes sense when you consider that all our energy comes from our food.)

"The yeomen alone preserve the land." (Euripides, Orestes 920)

"(Agriculture is) the most honest of all the occupations, inasmuch as [their] wealth is not derived from other men (and is a profession that) contributes to the making of manly character." (4th century BCE quasi-Aristotle)


In view of this, it is essential to incorporate farming into the education of every child, and to see to it that almost all citizens are regularly exposed to agricultural land and facilities. The word for this state of affairs is agrarianism. An agrarian society comes about when a large majority of the population is involved, directly or indirectly, in agricultural activity. As Hanson points out, the Greek and Roman civilizations began as agrarian experiments. This experience brought out staid virtues that enabled what we now call democracy and popular government to come about. Agrarianism encouraged a large proportion of the population to value independence and equality and to love freedom. The farmer, and the stirling, conservative qualities of farmers, will surely always be essential elements of a healthy society.

No matter how technically advanced we become, we will still need to involve most if not all members of society in casual gardening, if not full-time farming. One reason for this is that agriculture is as foundational spiritually as it is physically. Office workers today are finding that spending their lunch hours tending a rooftop garden on their office towers reduces stress, banishes depression and brings a fulfilment to their lives that they would not have imagined possible.

The Hillside Housing development, therefore, would incorporate gardening and farming into the design of every household. Every city block, be it rural or urban, has its sun-ward side covered with gardens, greenhouses, vineyards, orchards and crops. This would place agriculture close by and encourage all residents, no matter what their interests, to at least stroll through the garden side as a recreation. The steep slope of the buildings' sunny side incorporates the physical features of the hilly and often mountainous countryside of Greece. By constantly climbing these near-vertical terraces in order to tend vines and other crops grown down the slope of city blocks residents would indulge in rigorous exercise as part of their daily lifestyle.

It is well-established that such an active lifestyle eliminates obesity and discourages sedentary habits that are endemic to modern living. So, even if it becomes possible for robots to do all the work of tending hillside farms, it would be highly desirable not to allow them to do so. Perhaps residents will strike a compromise where humans supervise and do light work while robots do the most unpleasant and repetitive manual labour.

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Eat Real (suggested by Pat Reid)

Wealth in the UCS

Agronomy and a Landed Oligarchy

By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 05, Asma 17, 166 BE

We recently finished a prolonged discussion of the democratic element of the universal civic society (UCS). A UCS refers to the condition of society after the formation of a world government. Today we move on to its material element, that is, how a UCS would handle finance, money and wealth. We saw at the beginning how Aristotle wrote that "under oligarchy there is a property qualification." An oligarchy is an energetic moneyed class ruled by enlightened self-interest. The history of the rise of modern institutions of high finance, banking, credit, bonds and stock markets demonstrates the many potential benefits of a healthy, vigorous oligarchy.

The good aspects of oligarchy become especially apparent when the wealthy are tied by agronomy (an economy where the majority of the population are involved in farming and gardening) to the land and are rooted in and bounded by a particular locality or region. The existence of borders, language barriers and other artificial cultural divides restricts the overall wealth of oligarchs and, worse, gives one oligarchy unfair advantages over others.

It effectively weaponizes the world economy.

A UCS will do the reverse, it will move the economy to a peace setting, just as the famous prophesy implies: it will forge swords into plowshares by shifting the world economy from a war footing to an agricultural, solar orientation.

Why do agronomy and oligarchy go together so well? Because of the fundamental fact that all physical wealth (as opposed to knowledge and information) comes from the star we call the sun. As a result, the ultimate source of wealth is the happy combination of biology and solar energy that grows our food.

This is true not only physically but also spiritually.

Because farmers and agriculturists are in direct contact with nature and its ways, they learn a special set of virtues. They become stoic realists, conservative in the best sense of the word. When they and their virtues come first, everything else falls together. Oligarchy and agronomy embrace, as depicted in the Psalm, "Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other." (Ps 85:10, WEB) Since it is upon land that the sun shines, a landed oligarchy will tend to spread new wealth around better than any other foundational enterprise. Since the sun shines upon everything gardeners should therefore be placed everywhere on the surface of the earth in order to access the flow of energy in that location.

Thus, an agronomy most efficiently enables a society to approach the ideal state where everyone is, if not a member of the oligarchy, at least has a stake in the commonwealth. This means that the UCS should be so organized that the best chance for ambitious youth to gain wealth in their careers to go into farming or some other agricultural profession involved in exploiting energy from the ultimate renewable energy source, the sun. This would best suit the ecological needs of earth as well as the best in human nature.

The UCS should therefore aim at a modern version of the diversified agronomies that vitalized the most creative times in history, such as Ancient Greece, Babylon and Renaissance Italy. The big question is, then, what adjustments to the economy will make it such that the brightest and most ambitious will always see their best prospects for a better life in exploiting the sun for production? In upcoming essays we will explore how to do this in both urban and rural settings, and how this would affect the rest of the economy in a UCS.

Stacking the Deck for Agrarianism in the College of Light

Freedom in Science and Education, Part II

By John Taylor; 2009 Aug 31, Asma 12, 166 BE

Yesterday, we broached two questions. The first question concerns freedom and the internal workings of the College of Light, the independent world institution charged with the advancement of science and the spread of education. The other asks: what kind of relation would the college of light have with the other wings of the Comenian world government, the political and religious? Let us try, however briefly, to answer these questions today.

The distinguishing mark of governance over the last century is a persistent, systemic failure of policy makers to listen to expert advice. Instead of working with the delicate climate and other environmental systems of this planet, we systematically upset and destroy them. At the same time, science has made tremendous strides in understanding how the delicately balanced ecosystems on our beautiful planet work.

From a democratic point of view, the chief reason for this obliviousness to our basic survival is that world population over the past century has undergone a complete shift from agrarianism, where more than 90 percent of the population work the land, to an urban society. Today, the majority of the world's population live in cities.

The way cities are built means that the surroundings of city dwellers from cradle to grave tend to be completely artificial. They live a lifestyle cut off from the cycles of nature that sustain them and in their professional lives they rarely gain direct experience with agriculture or energy production. As a result, voters simply are too ignorant to care what happens to the natural environment, although they may be vaguely aware that it does keep us alive. This is why some of the worst polluters in the world are democracies. Leaders there have little concern for where food comes from and for what must be done to assure that we continue to eat well and safely.

The formation of a democratic world government would not in itself be sufficient to solve this maladjustment. It might, as we have been arguing here that it would, shift authority from the nationalist state towards a world center and out to the periphery (stronger local governance). That is, power would go to exactly where environmental dislocation is addressed most effectively. However, that in itself is not enough if the electorate, however universal and world-embracing, remains primarily urban. As long as voters know and care little for nature or agriculture, leaders will hardly push their electorate to make the sacrifices that stopping climate change demands.

The College of Light, as imagined by John Amos Comenius, is a democratic and meritocratic entity devoted to research and the spread of useful knowledge. In its operations the College of Light would have to balance the imperious demands of knowledge with the freedom and equality that democracy requires.

First, meritocracy. As we saw last time, knowledge imposes its own power relations by selecting for those who prove their love and devotion to it. Knowledge sets up its own meritocracy that raises those who command it and subordinates the ignorant. It is the duty of the learned to see to it that any inequality that does exist is natural; that is, any inequality that persists is not based on externals such as skin colour or place of birth but solely upon demonstrable knowledge and experience.

This evolutionary process of artificial selection is true in politics, where any measure that conduces to peace is chosen over what leads to war. John Stuart Mill pointed out the utility of freedom in picking out lessons about essentials from out of the vast diversity of experimentation in human groups.

"Government operations tend to be everywhere alike. With individuals and voluntary associations, on the contrary, there are varied experiments, and endless diversity of experience. What the State can usefully do, is to make itself a central depository, and active circulator and diffuser, of the experience resulting from many trials. Its business is to enable each experimentalist to benefit by the experiments of others, instead of tolerating no experiments but its own." (On Liberty, 181)

The need for selection is also evident in religion. The Qur'an, for example, has God applying it to Holy Writ, "Say: `Bring down from God a scripture that is a better guide than these and I will follow it, if what ye say be true!'" (Qur'an 28:49) and it extends it also to entire peoples,

"Thy Lord is self-sufficient, full of Mercy: if it were His will, He could destroy you, and in your place appoint whom He will as your successors, even as He raised you up from the posterity of other people. (Qur'an 6:133, tr. Yusuf)

But in the realm of science and education, the principle of selecting for fitness according to merit surely applies most of all.

At the same time, the College of Light is also democratic in nature. As such, it will make every attempt to adhere to the assumption of equality and the yearning for freedom that are basic to its democratic element. Therefore, the College will see to it that everyone votes in elections of its members in some capacity. In a Marxian sense, everybody is a productive worker, actively supporting herself by her own efforts to learn and adhering to standards in service.

Although they may have to be appointed at first, eventually the membership of the College of Light (whose affiliates extend from the world center right down to a school-room in every family and neighbourhood) would be selected by tradespersons and professionals around the world in a series of planetary elections.

Unfortunately, suffrage may not include everybody at first, since all are not presently qualified tradespersons or professionals. However, the first constitutional priority of this institution is to see to it that as soon as possible every citizen attains the right to vote for the College, virtually without exception. This ambitious goal of a universal franchise could take as long as a generation to implement completely. Every world citizen would have to be trained and apprenticed to an approved trade or profession. While challenging, this commitment by leaders and constituents alike to science and education is a necessary condition for the Universal Civic Society to come into existence. The goal of a UCS is to see to it that learning extends throughout one's life and service to society, through both membership in a family and in some trade or profession.

The next question is how the College might be organized. That requires an answer to questions like:

What kind of expertise should take precedence over others?

What kind of knowledge is most useful?

This is an extremely difficult question. There are thousands of disciplines and trades whose usefulness fluctuates as wildly as the stock market. We should probably leave the choice of what is the most valuable kind of knowledge to philosophers and educators to answer. However, it seems plain that the medical and teaching professions are among the most useful kinds of expertise, since they nurture and protect both body and mind. Even more important are farming, fishing and other agricultural trades, since we depend upon them for our food. If the College of Light bases voting rights on an established hierarchy of utility, it could help reverse the trend from urbanism and turn even cities back to agrarianism. As we mentioned already, a strong democratic base in an agrarian majority will be necessary if we hope to make industry and civilization environmentally sustainable.

Specifically, I have something like this in mind. Let us say that there are twenty members on the College of Light with each major discipline voting in one representative each, except teachers and doctors who get two representatives, and farmers who receive three or four. This slightly disproportion of power, along with other measures, would encourage a greater proportion of young people to go into farming, medicine and teaching before they consider other trades.

The College could speed up the swing back to an agrarian society by starting and regulating a secondary trade of "gardener," who would assist farmers in the same way that nurses assist doctors. This new trade would encourage city dwellers to start gardens and eat locally. It would encourage most city dwellers to participate, if only on a part-time basis, in the branch of agriculture known as "urbiculture." It would also speed the spread of vertical farms and rooftop gardens, which agriculturalists would gain a new right to farm. At the very least, more pervasive gardening within city limits would increase the appreciation of city dwellers for nature and would make democracy friendlier to the environment.

John Taylor


email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/

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from: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Price, p. 51

Caption: Brothers, Isle of Harris. The younger at left uses modern food and has rampant tooth decay. Brother at right uses native food and has excellent teeth. Note narrowed face and arch of younger brother.

JET: I showed this to the kids during our children's class and they both swore the man on the left was the older. They were shocked to hear that their guess was wrong. They started talking, for the first time, about ways to slow their massive intake of sugar.





Caption: Typical rampant tooth decay, modernized Gaelic. Right: typical excellent teeth of primitive Gaelic.

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