From domestication to sedentarisation: the birth of agriculture
A bit of history:
Nowadays, most populations have become sedentary. Long ago, hunter-gatherers fed and cared for themselves by and through the harvesting of wild plants. These nomadic tribes followed warmer climates as the seasons progressed. The domestication of plants and animals not only drastically changed the way people ate but also where they lived. This was a major turning point in history and thus was born the Neolithic Revolution.
This domestication became a semi-yearly or yearly harvest that resulted in trade and tribal stability. There on, the fate of mankind was forever changed...
Thousands of years later the industrial revolution tore us away from nature. Gone was the acquired knowledge of thousands of farming generations and with that, went the accumulated wisdom of edible and medicinal plants.
In Canada, Aboriginal people are developing various initiatives that promote self-reliance and social development in their communities. They understand the importance of passing on all their knowledge and heritage to their children and grandchildren. Why don’t we feel the same urgency? Why do many people of the first world don’t know the basic skills of homesteading and the wisdom and knowledge of our environment? Why have we lost the ability to grow food, to heal ourselves with the help of plants, or to work with tools? Many of us do not know how to repair, to build or even the fundamentals of sewing.
It is through a heartfelt desire or an ancient yearning that many of us are trying to bridge the lost wisdom of the past with today’s lack of autonomy. New environmental movements are emerging everywhere. We notice through social media that many people the world over are returning to the basics and finding new and innovative ways to heal the ecological disasters we’ve created.
An awakening consciousness is rising in the peoples of the world. Maybe one day, we shall find the symbiotic relationship we need to be at peace with and to live as one with earth… Maybe.