Friday, June 6, 2008

Decentralising sustainability is becoming more attractive as most organisations ignore warnings of increased food shortages.

For much of the 20 century many people lived a comfortable life. Many did not live as comfortably but there were not as many living in desperation and despair as there are now.

Food shortages will only increase and it is becoming obvious that centralising assistance does not solve the core issue. Governments and other organisations looking at the problem have very little capability other than handouts. It is up to the smaller projects on the ground to teach people to go back the old way of life, living directly off the land.

This idea of decentralising and focusing food solutions on individuals and then their immediate communities succeeds because it is started on a manageable level.

The massive deliveries of food aid, whilst essential to prevent major loss of life, can never turn the situation around and teach those people how to sustain themselves.

This sort of turnaround is made by the individuals, community members and volunteers who don’t work as a number in a large organisation, they are left to pursue ideas and develop as individuals even while they help the community to develop.

What is an unquantifiable consequence of this strategy is the people who move on and in turn teach their new community or home community the idea that sustainable living is actually sustainable.