#72 - Food For Thought

I've just watched the most amazing BBC documentary, A Farm For The Future. It's available to watch on iPlayer until 14th March and I'd highly recommend it (with thanks to Maddy Harland, editor of Permaculture Magazine, who alerted me to this must-see).

In the documentary, Rebecca Hosking takes a thorough and honest look at our food chain and how the end of cheap, abundant oil will affect what we eat. Her explorations take her to peak oil experts, a Soil Association conference, and permaculture-designed small-holdings.

I found it very accessible because she doesn't set out to preach or convert. In fact, it's a tale of her conversion. She's a very regular woman coming from a family of farmers and yet doesn't cling stubbornly to 'the way things are done'. Instead, she's willing to look anew and investigate her (our) inherited assumptions about how we feed ourselves. She acknowledges with deep respect and gratitude what her family have passed on to her AND is brave and humble enough to explore doing things differently. She doesn't know if alternative ways of managing her land will work but she recognises that the current way is unsustainable and so other options must be found.

As she takes in the alarming facts and statistics about our imported food and fossil-fuel-dependent system, we can see her fear and yet rather than going into denial - as we all so easily could - she keeps her eyes open so that she can find genuine solutions.

Here is a living, breathing example for all of us of how to compassionately challenge the status quo in the area of life most close to our hearts. Whether it be food production, medicine, or our education, housing or transport systems, the message is: Another way is possible. It might take courage and hard work but perhaps what's at stake makes it worth it.

Do Things Differently
1) Inquiry: What's the area you're most passionate about? What other ways are possible there?
2) Action: What's one step you could take to find new solutions for this area? Is it getting together with like-minded people or doing research? Or is there a big project you're just on the verge of starting already? Take a deep breath, gather your courage, and just get started. Let the passionate urgency of Rebecca's work inspire you.
3) Inquiry: Where in your life do you need to swallow your pride, acknowledge that things aren't working, and go back to the drawing board or seek support?

(c) Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2009

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#63 - In The Darkness

This weekend was the darkest time of our year. Daylight was in short supply and it felt like happiness was too. Several of my loved ones are having a hard time at the moment. One friend is struggling with depression, another is recovering from a serious medical condition, a beloved family member hit "rock bottom". Facebook statuses seemed to be full of illness, sadness and ennui. The news as ever was full of doom and gloom and in my coaching work, I listened to clients dealing with deep loneliness, chronic lack of self-belief, frustration, despair and painful self-sabotage. The overwhelming feeling I had was that people are finding life hard right now.

Against this backdrop, a few relatively small challenges in my own life knocked me off balance. I watched a new video on peak oil which reiterated the severity of the challenges ahead with the billions of human lives that will be lost if we don't act with urgency. I heard back from the London Paper that they weren't going to run with my idea for a regular column and then three strangers unsubscribed from my ezine. The little self-doubting voice in my head put the two together and said: "People are suffering and maybe you've got nothing of value to offer them".

We all have crises of belief - whether in ourselves or the world. There are times when it all feels very scary, when life feels like the enemy. Depression has been familiar to me and to many of my loved ones. It is for these reasons that yesterday was so significant. The winter solstice is the darkest we go, the least light we have. It offers us a metaphor for how far we can go into the darkness before things start to turn around.

Because, of course, winter solstice is simultaneously the signal of the returning light. The promise of the dawn. Its message is that in the very darkest darkness, there is a glimmer of hope. It's understandable that early Christians chose this time of year to celebrate the birth of Jesus; this was the time of year already associated with the unconquerable light, a vitality that can never be destroyed, hope resurrecting when it feels like none is left.

Just as light returns to darkness, so acts of kindness bring light when we're feeling down or alone. For me, friends who'd spotted the London Paper 'rejection' sent heart-warming messages of encouragement; some beautiful people have signed up to receive my New Way Resolutions e-course, excited to have that support, and one added a message: "Yay for Corrina. In gratitude for sharing your passion". It's so beautiful when we reach out to acknowledge each other, even with only a handful of words.

In this dark time of year, may we all remember to reach out for others, reach out to others, and to be loving comforts for ourselves. May we know the importance of kindness and never underestimate the impact of a thoughtful word or generous deed. May we recognise how cold our world can be and commit to being a source of warmth. As Plato said, "Be kind... for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle".

May your holidays be full of peace, full of joy, and full of love.
Corrina

Do Things Differently
1) Take a walk in the fresh winter air and ask yourself: When there is despair, what is my hope?
2) Light a candle and reflect: In the darkness, what is my light?
3) What could you say, be or do today that would bring hope, light and warmth to another? Do it.

(c) Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2008

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#60 - Power Of Community

I went to Tesco this morning. It's a rare occurrence but I wanted stamps and they're the nearest place open in the early hours.

As I walked over, the sun was rising and the birds were singing. I felt connected to my environment and as I approached the giant superstore, I had a flash of vision of it being something else. Instead of the concrete car-park, I saw community allotments. The trolley shelters were replaced by storage sheds for gardening tools. I heard children laughing in a playground and saw elders nattering away on benches, playing cards and watching the world go by. Inside the store, I pictured a bustling market place where people traded their wares and gossiped. Also inside were different zones - for example, one for live performances where a student band could play, or a solo performer pick up her guitar. Instead of scheduled, imported entertainment, this was spontaneous and continuous - sometimes music, sometimes comedy, always local. In place of all the advertising billboards, I saw noticeboards holding poems, announcements, requests for lift-shares. I saw a community centre - one where I felt I belonged and which was based on reciprocity and connection. Owned by and for the people in that area, to develop in whichever way they saw fit.

I didn't buy stamps. The Tesco kiosk department had lost their keys to the till. I waited 15 minutes as the team debated amongst themselves - someone else's fault, someone else's money, someone else's store.

Last week, here in Cambridge, we had a public screening of the film documentary The Power Of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. This depicts a society which is forced to adapt its infrastructure when it can no longer rely on a constant supply of oil and food. It gives a case study of how people change, re-prioritise and re-allocate their resources in order to feed, house, educate and entertain themselves. I had the honour of introducing this film, hosted by Transition Cambridge. The event was a complete sell-out - we were moved to a bigger screen and even then a hundred people were turned away. I looked out at the sea of 150 expectant faces and saw a community of people choosing to come together to be inspired. In the Q&A session at the end, we all witnessed a cinema full of expertise, with people reflecting on how peak oil will affect Cambridge - offering practical solutions, committing to taking action.

At the moment, the piece of land near my house is host to a Tesco store because that's what the community wants. We are the community and the power is with us. If we wanted it to be used for another purpose, we could choose that. I wonder what we would choose.

Do Things Differently
1) This week, notice what sense of community you have. Is there somewhere particular where people gather? How large or small do you feel your own community to be?
2) Put your attention on your local High Street or a particular building. If you believed your community were really able to have ownership of that, what would you love it to be like?
3) Ask your neighbours or whoever you feel in community with - what would they like to see? Notice where you have a shared vision and start a conversation about what the first steps could be.

(c) Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2008