I've been trying so hard to educate people about alternative agriculture, but what I present is rejected, even by people who seem to be interested in preventing starvation in the future.

How do you keep going? How do you keep trying to educate people about the environment, agriculture, animal welfare, etc?

I'm seriously losing hope. :help:

I learned in my 20's not to bear the burden of anyone's education beyond my own. All we can do is live our lives the best we can, setting as good an example as possible. People can draw from this what they will.

This is not to say that activism and "spreading the word" aren't good things to do... quite the contrary. It's only when you feel you must successfully change other people's minds and hearts when you get into trouble. Just my humble opinion...

I think one way to educate people is to do so with those that are more willing to be educated. I can think of really great conversations on alternative gardening methods I've had with the local community gardening group I volunteer with. Such as how weeds are not to be eradicated but used as a means of determing what's wrong with your soil.

In situations like that, people seem more open to learning new things than those outside of such groups. It would be about like trying to convince a ChemLawn user that they would have a healthier lawn by spreading homemade compost. They are not going to listen because 1) compost smells; 2) it's extra work they have to do versus hiring someone to just come and spray their lawn worries away; and 3) their mindset is just not synced with alternatives. It's a slow process, and home-gardening shows (radio and TV) don't help by being sponsored by chem-gardening companies.

I know the chemical versus organic is just one side of all this, but it's the one that came to mind first. Maybe see if there's any way of getting an organic gardening show on the air where you live and that could become the forum for change you're looking for :)

Hope that helped some.
namaste,
Eric

Have you set up an experimental farm? Most people won't listen, but if you show them, they'll understand.

If you just complain about the problem and not do anything for yourself, most people just won't bother.

Have you set up an experimental farm? Most people won't listen, but if you show them, they'll understand.

If you just complain about the problem and not do anything for yourself, most people just won't bother.


Yes, I'm working on it. Takes time though. I have a couple different gardens, one fairly traditional organic, the other a series of small permaculture circle gardens, and I raise pastured poultry. I also have a tallgrass prairie restoration in progress, an experimental olive grove, and an experimental grove of Honey Locusts (a kind of cereal tree).

Primarily I've just been trying to direct people to all the useful information out there that's been done by people working in alternative agriculture. But it's hard to get people to accept the information in those books and research papers, even though the people writing them in most cases have spent their entire professional lives working in the alternative agriculture field.

Ludi, don't lose hope! You rock! Now I wanna come see your work!

Thanks Tess! :)

I've posted some pictures of my gardens in the garden forum previously...not sure what threads, though.....

Hmm, guess I'll post some new ones....

I think that people are so stressed and tired these days, that new information is usually met with resistance - especially when it comes to controversial issues. I'm continually amazed at how people DO NOT want to hear about how the food they eat gets on their plates - and these are the folks I would consider to be animal lovers and interested in health. But I've come to learn that for the most part they don't want to hear any details from me. Ah well. That's one of the main reasons I come here - it's so nice to be understoond and taken seriously!

Maybe that's it, Poppy. They just don't want to think.