Plans A and B in paradise
I am sitting on the veranda that surrounds the dining area here, feeling the peace of the air, the rolling landscape, the pond with the windmill. Murals of a jungle paradise are painted on the walls where the food is served – vines, flowers, animals and if you look, a small person as much a part of the landscape as the colorful birds. The columns holding up the tiled roof are wound with bright mosaics of vines and flowers. Paradise.
But wait. The water catchment pond where the windmill lazily turns is half empty. Yesterday we had a brief thundershower, but not enough. It’s been dry here for far too long. The rains usually begin in august. Now it is October. And its hot. The pond reminds me that this exquisite retreat center that has awakened the hearts of probably thousands of Brazilians depends on the rains. The climate. Has enough of the rainforest been taken down to affect the weather here, far, far away? Amalia da Souza who works with Global Greengrants is here again (we shared a room last time I was here) and she confirms that the American appetite for biofuels (enabled by a deal between Lula, formerly the champion of the workers, and Bush) is turning so much cattle land into crop land that cattle ranching (for McDonald’s burgers) is encroaching further into the jungle. No, she said, it is not anywhere near a tipping point, but the destruction continues.
Susan Andrews, the visionary and source for this whole center, told me as we talked about the underpinnings of the global economy, that she and her staff are thinking about Plan A and Plan B. Plan A is that everything continues more or less working over the long haul. It simply acknowledges that no matter how bad the signs and signals of ecological or economic collapse, both nature and financial markets are far more elastic than we can imagine. In Plan A, people from all over Brazil still drive and fly, still have disposable income, still come here for restoration and spiritual education. The rains still come, the students still come, everything works. But they are now developing Plan B. In Plan B oil production diminishes year by year, disrupting the basics of the industrial way of life. With transportation more expensive, people’s livelihoods and lifestyles become more local and possibly more difficult, time consuming and closer to the bone. Global financial institutions and money flow is disrupted. In that scenario, this center might be less a retreat for city dwellers and more of a survival unit for the people in this area. I can look around and see that here as well. The dormitories become living quarters. Some of the meeting rooms become production factories for necessities – cloth, rope, clothes, building materials, etc.
When I met Susan at the airport just two days ago, she was returning from Fortaleza where there is a VisaoFuturo center and also where Neem trees grow. The Neem tree is knows for its many uses, including medicines. Vandana Shiva has taught us all a great deal about this tree as it is crucial to village life in India yet it is being patented (not sure the status of this fight). Susan is increasing the production here of Aryuvedic medicines, as this treatment system is part of her teaching. Growing the Neem tree works in both Plans A (this becomes an Aryuvedic teaching, treatment and medicine center) and Plan B, these medicines are used to treat those who live here.
While my friends and I don’t talk that much about it, I do think about plans A and B for where I live, Whidbey Island. Plan A would be business as usual – a growing tourist and commuter economy, a shrinking agricultural economy, land prices increasing as more and more people with wealth buy up retirement and second properties, young people moving off ‘the rock’ to seek their fortunes elsewhere because housing gets ever more expensive, a place known for the arts where artists can little afford to live… you know, the development story everywhere. In the midst of that, people like me will create home based businesses using their minds and their technology to create value for others scattered around the world. The arts will flourish because every other person sings or acts or dances or writes poetry. In Plan A, all the relocalization efforts we engage in will, of themselves, add value. More gardening means more fresh food means more health. More local currency and local businesses and local exchanges will weave tighter the bonds of community. More bicycles and solar electricity and heating and wind power will mean more health and self sufficiency. More catching water from roofs in cisterns to water gardens will mean protection for limited island water supplies. None of our efforts will be wasted and life for those who pay attention to these shifts to “less, local and love” will simply have more wonderful lives. Plan B will for a while look like Plan A, but eventually be necessary, not just nice.
And that is it for today. My lecture went famously this morning. I am now officially half Brazilian as everyone has welcomed me into this softer more loving culture with open arms.
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