Community

The areas globally that are being or have been deforested, or worse, desertified, were once healthy, vibrant and productive. They have been reduced to being postcards of disaster by ignorance, mismanagement or greed.

The present occupants are fully aware that they are living in a disaster zone and just like the citizens of Chernobyl, they are unable to make any significant change. They lack the education, support and funding. Although there are heroic examples of small successes, it is simply not enough to affect the whole world.

The land that has become abandoned or vaguely cropped or grazed can be replanted and on the necessary scale will alter the entire region. The financial upgrade occurs because the income goes into the hands of the individual owners (or tribes). Those people will buy food, shoes, bottled gas for fuel, and the basic necessities of their lives (and the occasional DVD player). The stores become more profitable and the ripples continue until the children are fed, healed and educated. With the forests and plains again sheltering, feeding and giving jobs, those children will have the choice of working in their own community, to serve their own people instead of being in service in another land.

A solid rural economy holds communities intact, preserving their heritage and paying taxes that maintain their security, continued integrity and self-respect.

The self-respect of a parent can be measured by the fullness of his child's bowl.