News of December 2021

 "When governments fear the people, there is liberty.

When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."

Thomas Jefferson

Hello dear People,

We hope this finds you all well wherever you may be on this wonderful planet during crazy times. 

Temperatures in December reminded us of our first Christmas on Kachana 30 years ago. As the landscapes around us now respond to good soaking rain, we attempt to catch up.

Daily Rainfall on Kachana has a different pattern each season, however from what we can tell, nothing appears to have changed in the workings of the macro-ecology and local micro-ecologies that we deal with. That is, at the end of the day we suspect that Nature gets to bat last!

As we (the human family) exercise our choices, we too are nature, and it may still be our turn to bat…

Nature even teaches us how ecological death-spirals can be halted, turned around, and then be managed as life-enhancing cycles of abundance.

It is a process that we call “wealthbuilding” - a word not yet recognized by most spell-checks.

(For young people who would focus on wealthbuilding rather than cash accumulation, listen in on the RegenNarration to hear more about this idea.)

Some months ago, regenerative efforts on Kachana were forced onto backstage. We are now being kept busy with a challenge for which we remain ill-equipped: searching for the science which supports bureaucratic rulings and a directive to shoot many of the very animals that have assisted us in bringing about what has been achieved on Kachana these past thirty years.

A saying springs to mind: Nothing is obvious to the uninformed.

Unsurprisingly, discussions commenced on a somewhat confrontational note.

On the 24. November Kachana Pastoral Company submitted a letter and a list of points to the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) as input for the Directions Hearing, 26. November 2021.

On the 25. November Chris was contacted by the legal representative of the Department by phone to discuss a way forward.

It was agreed that we approach SAT with a request acceptable to both parties. This was lodged that afternoon. Later that same afternoon parties were notified by SAT:

By consent of the parties, the Tribunal orders:

This is as good an outcome as we could have possibly hoped for at this point in time.

We feel that the stage has now been set for informed communication that will be based on known and knowable facts.

Further, this permits the exploration of what measures of management are reasonable and necessary as we move forwards in search of the best possible outcomes for the environment, but also for people who take seriously the responsibility of custodianship and restoration.

We have a small diverse team of dedicated individuals who are assisting us to negotiate the political and bureaucratic mine-field that protects the status quo of things that I (Chris) as yet do not fully understand.

Many, MANY THANKS to all the wonderful people around the globe who went out of their way to find ways to help spread the word about what we do and who support our efforts.

For us, such dedication and of course also our two new granddaughters were the highlights of 2021.

May you all continue to generate sufficient good humour to sustain sanity, health and joy for yourselves as well as for of those around you, and may 2022 be a productive one for us all!

Greetings from Kachana,

Chris

PS 

The Kachana Millennium Project is now one of over 76,500 sites to be viewed via satellite.

Click here ==>  the Kachana Millennium Project

When the site opens, if you click on “view satellite time series” (it may take some time to load), this then gives some appreciation of the dynamics that we must contend with on the ground.

I begin this section with a recommendation: “Christopher Browning’s penetrating study should be read by all those who seek to understand the depths of inhumanity in the modern era.” I. K.

The book:     Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

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Surely there are many ways in which to counter the fear, uncertainties and polarization that have impacted so many lives and livelihoods during recent times. On Kachana, I feel that “re-hydration and an associated healing of land” is a theme that contributes to unification. 

In the time that is left to me, this is where I intend to focus my energy.

Should you wish to know more about the context of this statement, please follow this link:

Taking stock after 30 years in the saddle on Kachana (December 2021)

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Salesmen have found greenwashing to be a financially lucrative activity for over two decades. Greenwashing has since become a political tool. Recent months have made it painfully obvious that elements of the environmental debate are now also being weaponised for geopolitical agendas.

After all, when economic activity is increasingly driven by fear and greed, it makes commercial sense monetize and weaponize whatever you can. - What else would we expect?

Little wonder that the average person on the street is confused and perhaps even scared.

As I interpret history, while fear and greed seem seldom absent, neither of the two appears to be a primary driver that would allow cultures to evolve or to be sustained over time. – But let us leave history aside for a moment.

From microscopic bacteria to pods of whales, culture of course also evolves without humans.

In fact, nearly everywhere we look nature nurtures culture.

The law (?) is simple: “Form follows function”.

Diversity and synergy breed abundance (this sustains growth).

Cultures are formed by the manner in which they function.

Simplification and competition breed scarcity (this brings about collapse).

A monoculture or a monopoly typically lacks diversity.  -  Nature will find a way to pull it down.

A vacuum lacks diversity. – Nature will find a way to fill it.

Where she can support life, nature manages for complexity.

Such statements are not that easy to prove. We either intuit their meaning or we can simply go out there ourselves and observe with our own senses what takes place in the natural world.

(I have been fortunate enough to do just that for over thirty years.)

Many of the conflicts we observe result from simple imbalances at fundamental levels (think of the “butterfly effect”). So many of the imbalances that are now destabilizing society are merely downstream symptoms of scarcity-thinking.

Things look a mess from where I stand. Perhaps they are a mess? Things might get messier yet.

BUT we cannot talk or legislate our way out of predicaments that we have collectively acted ourselves into.

Ironically, the messier things get, the more we have in common!

That was not pessimism, but realism!

… Not alarmism, but alertism!

Now the optimistic notes:

• Why not stop fighting nature, and align actions with how she builds wealth and resillience?
• Why not begin with what we have in common, and build on that?

Regardless of individual thoughts on food-preferences, racial issues and politics….

Irrespective of ideological affiliations, beliefs, aspirations, etc., we all need water.

Here is not the place to explain the particular context, but I have observed healthy cattle within the same herd begin to kill each other when the leaders began sensing that they were running out of water. Restoring their sense of ‘water-security’ solved the problem.

The point is: Water-security is more important than grocery shelves stocked with toilet-paper.

On this planet, we cannot afford wars over water.

1. Our weaponry is far too destructive; there would be no winners, only losers.
2. There is no need for wars over water; there is enough of the stuff.
3. Our planet has supported greater volumes of mammalian biomass in the past it can do so again whilst supporting dignified life-styles.
4. Water-security on this planet is possible, but we all need to work together!

And, I believe we will.

On every continent there are now more than enough of us who have spent lifetimes on exploring and testing the “How?”.

Philosophy and the science that underpins the Kachana Pastoral Company contribution is reported here ==>  Kachana Pastoral Company Uncensored

The question to those around us is: When?

To me at least, 2021 was foreshadowed during 2020. I conclude this section by inviting you to listen to Bishop Barron convey what might have contributed to us (as a human family) now being caught up in a unique time in our history:

Ideas Have Consequences: The Philosophers Who Shaped 2020

Here I wish to share the link to a conversation that I enjoyed in the wake of 2021: