I came across a great documentary recently (thanks, Nate!) about social status, or at least, how we perceive our status in society. It's called Status Anxiety and is available on YOUTUBE in low quality. But you can probably find it around in better quality. Basically the film explores the relationship between wealth (real or perceived) and human happiness. The film begins with the statement:

"The past 200 years in the West have seen staggering increases in wealth and economic opportunity. And, yet, there have been no comparable increases in our level of happiness. Despite being so much richer than a few generations ago, we are often more anxious about our own importance and achievements than our grandparents were."

I put this up here because I feel it really sums up a lot of the issues facing society today; that we want to "keep up with the Joneses'", as it were or just our obvious affliction to material wealth. As, Annie Leonard asserts in The Story of Stuff, economic growth cannot continue indefinitely because the so called, "materials economy" is a linear system and, in terms of resources, we live on a finite planet.

Human civilization has evolved for some 11,000 years based on social relations with very few material goods to reflect social status, perhaps an amulet, a specific headdress or clothing, but rarely something larger or more numerous, and never an actual part of the Earth itself, until recent times. Then came the notion of private property at which point, possession became the sole reflection of social status.

Nowadays, this notion is all-encompassing. Indeed, in economic jargon, we are all referred to as mere "consumers", not citizens, persons or humans, as if our only reason for existence was to consume. Nonetheless, without consumption there would be no economy. Our lust for more and more material wealth drives the monetary system. But, resource depletion is real (be it, petroleum, metals, wood, fabric, what have you). So, we have to reach a wall sometime. Amidst the deep economic recession we are entering, I think there is no more pertinent a time than now to re-assess our status in society, not as consumers, but as individuals. The future can be bright, but it depends on our perceptions of what is necessary to live full, meaningful existences. The future starts with YOU... and... YOUTUBE... so please check out Status Anxiety.  Part 1 of 3 is complete, but the other two parts are divided into 10 minute segments - see links below.

Peace,

Grant

Part 1

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaLzRdsdPmE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGyf79izXC0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJlzRNPAtmw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MgfYPbPhao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvYVjaaXpAY

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDqZ8Hn0w50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxZgJ9sp7XA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fHNGVW9U3A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6tYePB3Ah4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1FPNfm-qLk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CPsF_uGr7Y

I had intended to write part two of this blog series on The Village about "The Square", the central heart of any village, where people come to meet, a place of playing, relaxing, entertainment and plenty of gossip. But, I'll save that for another time. I was so impressed by what is being done in the garden, the one that I could barely maintain alone, that I thought it appropriate to continue with the same theme.

I looked out the window the other day and there was Julio, sowing seeds. One part of the garden that was previously replete with weeds and shrubs and brush, was neatly cleaned off, with a seemingly new, fresh layer of loose soil, parted into rows. ¡Que bueno! Anyway, I went down, through the old wooden doors and we started chatting. First off, I complemented him on how great this all looked. I asked what he was planting and he told me there were Habas (a type of bean), onions, two types of lettuce and garlic (yet to be sowed). He quickly noted why he hadn't planted the garlic yet. And, I thought the answer most interesting.

Apparently, garlic, among other plants of a similar family, such as onions, shallots, etc, grow underground, so it is important that the root/shoot ratio is such that it leads to the garlic being firmly rooted, as opposed to sprouting (shooting) too high, and thus falling over under its own weight. That way, the garlic would not grow as large. So, as Julio explained, it was necessary to wait until the correct lunar cycle, ostensibly so that the garlic can take better root. He didn't go into any further detail than this.

Where the garlic will be planted (back, left)------------>


But, I surmise that the reason is two-fold. 1) Moonlight. The light from a full moon can be, relatively speaking, quite intense. That is, the sunlight reflected off the moon (particularly in the days at or around full) at night can be sufficient to contribute to increased photosynthesis in plants. For most, the the root/shoot ratio is robust enough for this not often to be a problem. But, apparently, for garlic, moonlight has a noticeable affect on growth. Makes sense. 2) Gravity. Tides are primarily caused by the balance of gravitational attraction from the sun and moon. Since we are always at more or less the same distance from the sun and the earth spins, for all intents and purposes, at a constant rate, the sun's affect is steady varying cyclically day/night. But, the moon revolves around the earth every 28 days or so, thus its position relative to, say, any given patch of garlic, affects from which direction gravity is tugging. The most noticeable, result of this are ocean tides. But, body tides within the solid earth also exist and are measurable. I don't know exactly what type of effect this might have on garlic growth, but all life has evolved for billions of years alongside the effect of the moon. So, all life, including the human animal, is influenced by it, garlic, possibly quite sensitive to it.

So, there you have it. We often consider the necessity of sunlight in the garden, but rarely, the influence of the moon. In my opinion, this is the type of traditional knowledge that we are lacking in our high-tech, super-fast, throw-away society. People have possessed this sort of knowledge for years, but it is in danger of being lost should we not pay attention to the world of which we are a small part. ¡Viva Julio y su huerto!

Paz,
Grant