If I can do it .........

Well, today took the cake. I can only say thank god that I am vegetarian and that the global food crisis has not yet arrived. My first two chickens ran away - only to reappear briefly 3 months later. The next two were killed by the cat next door. And then finally today I got a rooster and a hen to add to my collection.
All I can say is that I never saw anything run so furiously as that rooster did on accidentally falling out of a hole in the bag. I was transporting him and his sister from Petit Valley. So there we were on Sydenham ave, him with his legs spread as widely as they could be, making the new world record look slow. And if there was anyone around to laugh, I would be hearing the cackling a mile away as I stood dumbfounded, the other chicken still in the sack in my hand, my computer in a bag on my back, my handbag lolling at my side and a skirt almost touching the ground trying to decide how to catch this crazy creature.
And so picture me tucking the skirt in my hip and the two of us running each other around for 15 minutes. And then me with a few towels in hand trying to now catch the hen who had run out of another hole and now herself was squawking and flying and running and flapping wings and hiding in a canal until finally she stopped, still hiding her head as though I could not see her. So I dropped the towels on her and put her in a bucket - wrapped up in towel - and deposited her in the cage.
If I had to consider the energy efficiency of this transaction: there is no way that eating those scrawny chickens could give me back what I expended trying to catch them. No way!

So I know that I need time to master this 'grow your own food' thing. I hope that the food crisis can wait for me to get good at these parts. I need those chicken eggs when times get touch.

Community Store Conversion

The time had to come. I have wanted to change Sun Eaters Organics to a Community Store/Coop since late last year and while I began putting some things in place, I also allowed sundry diversions to derail me. Well, the time has come to move ahead and we are doing so. All of us at Sun Eaters are trying to play our part in getting this to happen as swiftly and as seamlessly as possible.

Why a Community Store/Coop?

1) To share the work. Over the past two years I have worked more than I imagined possible to get this project up and running. I am finally at a point where others can come in and share what needs to be done while accruing numerous benefits. My body, my family and the other projects in which I am interested need me.

2) To have a rational financial basis in the organic sector. I have witnessed, with distress, the development of a mindset here in Trinidad and Tobago that organic is akin to 'gourmet'. It is not. I have probably contributed to this perspective by having to have higher than desired prices for the imported goods. As our size of shipment increases it becomes more and more possible to bring in our goods in a more environmentally friendly, inexpensive way. The Community Store/Coop will help to keep prices lower than we even dreamed possible for everyone. And for Member/Owners the goods will be further reduced in price. I envisage a time when for Member/Owners it will not cost much more to buy organic than to buy chemically-treated, non-sustainable produce.

3) To have a super active outreach and community education program. The place where we shop should be the place that is supporting the community in which it is located. As an individual owner I have done tons to support the community, but with a collaboration with other member/owners I will be able to do much much more. I cannot wait till we have our own newspaper columns, our own billboards with progressive information, our own Green Pages, and lots more!

4) To develop our region. The Community Store/Coop will have much more ability to work with others in the region than I will have on my own. My vision of this is expansive and I will share it in upcoming writings. What's your vision?

5) We are ready! Over the last few weeks it has become increasingly clear that the population is now at the perfect moment for this initiative. I have sent out many e-mails discussing development of the business, challenges to the business and the ongoing challenge of encroachment by confused profiteers. Your e-mail/telephone/in person response has been overwhelming and incredibly supportive. Sun Eaters has become a part of life for many of you and you seem willing to do something to ensure that the vision we espouse here grows and develops.

Thank you.

Sustainability the Trini Way

Okay, let's call a spade a spade. This is not World Environment Day that we are commemorating but World Human Race Survival Day. The world, the planet, the natural systems will figure it out. Once the human impact is reduced - either by reduced populations by environmental force or by reduced impact by choice - then the other species will find their way back into balance. Sure it's going to take a long long time after we are gone but in the natural non-human time scale a few thousand years is no more than a second.

So what much of this - Go Green/Save the Planet/Environment Day thing - is really about is attempting to ensure the survival of the human race. The natural world is making a big heave to get back into balance and that can ONLY happen by reducing the impact of humans. The natural world NEVER allows any one species to predominate for too long and endanger the bio-diversity that natural systems strive for.

So how can we reduce our impact right here in Trinidad and Tobago? And this is where things like World Environment Day come in - but still don't be confused that the end goal is about anything but human survival.

1) Eat vegan. This doesn't mean eat vegan every meal or even every day. But really increase your commitment to eating low impact food - which animal products are not. Introduce vegan food into your diet a few times a week to start. And (shameless advertising here), don't forget that you can get locally planted, organic vegan meals at Sun Eaters Organics delivered to your doorstep every weekday.

2) Set limits to your driving. For those of you who live far from work then ensure that the car contains other people going in the same direction Maybe you can share a ride 2 days a week?

3) Eat organic. Organic uses less water, less energy, sequesters carbon in soil, and lots more. See shameless plug above.

4) Start planting. Johnny Stollmeyer and Earle Rahaman-Norohna conduct permaculture planting classes. Johnny and I start a 4 session organic planting class next week Sunday for 2 hours a session (only $25 to come). Plant anything, anywhere to start building your relationship with the natural world.

5) Start recycling. Drop off your stuff at Sun Eaters or if you live in the East go directly to Indo Caribe for newspaper drop off, Carib Glass works with glass, and in El Soccorro you can take plastics.

6) Read any of the Ishmael books - Ishmael, My Ishmael or the final one (I'm writing this on a plane so don't have research access to the internet). You will never be the same.

My Experience in Xaymaca

My first trip to Jamaica. I found the island:
Indescribable (although you know me, I will try to describe it).
Stereotype dissolving - I can't believe that I swallowed those things I was hearing about Jamaica and Jamaicans all those years.
And completely and utterly awe inspiring. Humans seem like an intrusion here - the land has better things to do. As I travelled from Kingston's airport and drove under the Man Crab monstrosity of the cement plant (shame on a Trinidadian company for sweeping their dust under Jamaica's bed), I felt puny in a yukky way. But when I leaned my head backwards a few minutes later to look up and up to the top of the Blue Mountains the puniness seemed just right and I remembered which of the two - cement plant/Blue Mountains - will endure. Uncontested.

I remember flying out of Quito airport in Ecuador about 15 years ago. And as we were flying along peacefully with me peering out of the window, suddenly the bottom fell out! We had come to the end of the plateau on which Quito is located and the earth was now thousands of feet lower than it had been a moment ago. I will never forget the free-fall-stomach wonder of that moment.

In Jamaica I had the same experience of awe for Mama Earth. The richness and power of the forests and the mountains, the solidity and generosity of the soil, the largeness and silent regard of the limestone cliffs was not what I had anticipated. This spirit also found its way in the relaxed confidence of the writer Kei Millerl's voice as he read from his new book. In the intensity of the energy beaming out from the soil. In the studied regard of the little green lizard one early morning. I was taken aback! And none of this planetary authority was negated by the mask-like bleached faces of many Kingstonians, the drive-by shooting that held up traffic for hours, the insistence of the addicts asking with the ubiquitous stretched arm and Anancy stories. It wasn't even negated by last week's pathetic stance of the PM who doesn't even understand how homophobia has a massive impact on his own liberty as a man. Humans can NEVER touch the strength and inherent truthfulness of something that predates us and will outlive us. And in Jamaica, I was blessed to see and experience this clearly.

PROGRESS!!

Some things do get better. And one of them that I have to report on is the recycling situation. Can you believe that one year ago most of you had nowhere to recycle anything? And now you can easily drop off in Woodbrook if you live or work in the North West.

The recycling has gone so well that the bin has now been moved from Sun Eaters compound. We were filling the bin so quickly that Piranha - the recycling company - has put a much larger bin on Murray Street in the park. It is shaped like a large bottle and is made of wire. Let me know if you can't find it and I'll give better directions.

When I first decided to put the recycling bins in place I got lots of negative feedback - and I myself had my doubts. It would make it hard to keep the place clean (somewhat true), it would take really long to fill the large bin and the bottles would attract flies (not true - it filled every week and Piranha did a great job emptying once they got the rhythm down), and it would take lots of effort on my part (true but now I have at least one volunteer and others are coming). And now it has gone so well that I won't even have to deal with these problems.

Last week when the Piranha guys came by I felt like a parent saying goodbye as their child moves out. Tears came to my eyes as they dragged that red bin away and put it into the truck (sad music plays). And when I walked outside to simply toss a plastic bottle in I did feel a moment of regret when I realized that I would have to walk around the corner. But my heart sings to see how - when it is made easy - we are willing and able to adjust our behaviors in the right direction.

Heartbreak and Hippies

So the heartbreak is coming hot and heavy these days. Crickcrack. When things around me unfold in ways that are deeply challenging I don't start to lash out at others or whine and criticize. Instead I feel the little cracks in my heart getting larger.

This week I dealt with a common problem of small, young and successful businesses - the aggressive approach of someone intending to start a business like mine. With a frontal attack from an entrepreneur - Crickcrack - accompanied by a full explanation as to why they would be more successful at this business than I (of which one of the given reasons was that they would make the place look more welcoming to the elite of the country) I could feel the internal tears building and the fissures expanding. How could it be that this is what someone who wants to operate an organic shop thinks - that it is just a business and the focus of all businesses is profitability? Time to get some Paul Hawken - one of the most successful entrepreneurs worldwide - on the shelves of this country. Even the title of his most recent book - Blessed Unrest - is a breath of fresh air. http://www.blessedunrest.com/video.html. I am not alone.

Our maturation regarding issues of commerce and sustainability is long overdue and its time to stop indulging with our wallets or our respect (including awards like Entrepreneur of the Year) businesses who insist on remaining in infancy around these ideas. We no longer have time for this type of behaviour. Environmental healing and social justice are two of the largest markers of a truly successful business. The ability of a successful business to achieve its financial goals is a given assumption and does not have to become the mantra of any project. I think most of us tested the edible qualities of money as children and found it sorely lacking.

There was a time when all the people involved in organics (which ultimately is within the business of sustainability) were committed to what they were doing despite the lack of governmental support, the marginalisation that they experienced and the financial lack of support of environmentally and ethically sound businesses. But then organics began to get wider consumer support, and soon you saw the eyes of many outside of the field turn to dollar bills. Even in Trinidad the feeding frenzy has begun.... And to think that this is happening at the 11th Hour for us globally, a time when we could excitedly be making the major changes that make our lives, the lives of our communities, and the lives of other life forms and the planet, stand a chance! (Crickcracks become deafening).

I am committed to sustainability - of which organics is one aspect. But in my understanding of sustainability, the end does not justify the means. And developing anything - a business, a relationship - anything, from a position of greed does not give one the slowly unfolding moments that are supportive of sustainability. Hard cold meetings with banks, vendors, clients, and with products which one sees as pure commodities is part of what has gotten us in the mess that we are in now. Inescapable in coming to clarity are many moments spent enjoying the hairy caterpillars, engaging in uncomfortable conversations about race, class and gender, developing respect for pioneers, and ruthlessly participating in a self-examination of whatever cockiness we may still be feeding in our own spirits.

So where entrepreneurs should be congregating right now is not over bottles of imported wine, but in breezy front porches at BYOB functions fleshing out what it will take for ALL of us to survive and for our children to thrive in tomorrow's world. Please join Sun Eaters Organics over the next few months as we intensify the pace of these conversations, but help organize the practical sessions to help us engage with the environment around us. Express your interest. Drop by the shop to leave a note that says - I hear you. Let me know what hidden talents you have and /or how your commitment to sustainability is slowly building and changing your life. Unleash the hippie inside of you.