“Overconsumption is a "cancer eating away at our spiritual vitals." It cuts the heart right out of our compassion. It distances us from the great masses of broken bleeding humanity. It converts us into materialists. We become less able to ask moral questions. For example, just because we have the economic muscle to buy up vast amounts of the world's oil, does that give us the right to do so? When the poor farmer of India is unable to buy a gallon of gasoline to run his simple water pump because the world's demand has priced him out of the market, who is to blame?” WorldGivingHeartDoeRunningAbleSpiritualHumanityAsksWaterSimplePoorCompassionMoralCuttingEconomicExampleBrokenAmountDemandEatingMassIndiaBlameDistanceCancerOilMusclesFarmersConsumerismBleedingPumpsOverconsumptionGasolineGallons Author:Richard J. Foster
“The good people of Dakota offered to give Calvin Coolidge a farm if he would live on it. I wouldn't advise you to give those people too much credit for generosity. There is not a farmer in any State in the West that wouldn't be glad to give him a farm if he will paint it, fix up the fences and keep up the series of mortgages that are on it. And if you think Coolidge ain't smart, you just watch him not take it.” PeopleIfsThinkingGivingRealStatesWatchesToo MuchSmartSeriesWestPaintCreditGladGenerosityFarmsFarmersGood PeopleFenceAdviseMortgageDakota Author:Will Rogers
“Since chemical fertilizer burns out the soil organic matter, other farmers struggle with tilth, water retention, and basic soil nutrients. The soil gets harder and harder every year as the chemicals burn out the organic matter, which gives the soil its sponginess. One pound of organic matter holds four pounds of water. The best drought protection any farmer can acquire is more soil organic matter.” GivingYearsMatterWaterStruggleFourLandHarderProtectionSoilAcquirePoundsChemicalsFarmersDroughtBurn OutNutrientsFertilizerRetention Author:Joel Salatin
“When we mistake what we can know for all there is to know, a healthy appreciation of one's ignorance in the face of a mystery like soil fertility gives way to the hubris that we can treat nature as a machine. Once that leap has been made, one input follows another, so that when the synthetic nitrogen fed to plants makes them more attractive to insects and vulnerable to disease, as we have discovered, the farmer turns to chemical pesticides to fix his broken machine.” KnowsWayGivingHas BeensMadeFacesTurnsMistakeMysteryLandIgnoranceBrokenHealthyDiseaseMachinesTreatsPlantAppreciationVulnerableAttractiveSoilFedsLeapChemicalsFarmersInsectsInputHubrisFertilitySyntheticPesticidesNitrogen Author:Michael Pollan