Switzerland, the Universe and Zjef

What you are about to read is one of the hardest things I had to write down in my entire life. To be honest, there are still a lot of thoughts and feelings that are confusing me, but as I am starting this story all over again for the 15th time (seriously, the 15^th time), I am now absolutely certain that this will be my last try (and yes, I did say this the last 5 times too).

But first, MUSIC:

The past months I have been swinging between moods when I thought  back on my time in Switzerland. Sometimes my feelings were neutral and logical, sometimes I felt a lot of anger and sometimes I would think back with joy. So, while I was having a lot of temper-changes, I wrote pages and pages about why I’ve returned from Switzerland after 7 months without achieving anything tangible. All of the stories combined would have made a semi-interesting book, and that book would have given you a quite accurate description. But what’s the point in making you read all that if the most important thing to understand is this: I fucked up and nothing can change that.

I went to Switzerland to work with Patrick Rota, a fantastic friend and person! Honestly, the things he did for me were quite amazing and he did all of them, knowing that I would never be able to pay him back. Damn, the guy basically gave me the opportunity to follow my dream... Of course, I still encountered many difficult roadblocks, had some long moments of extreme loneliness and almost completely lost my self esteem, but nothing can ever justify the things I did to Pat.

“Be the change you want to see in this world”, for months it was my facebook banner, I even tattooed my personal version of it (“Be Change”) on my arm so that I would never ever forget…yet, even when this message was in my face all the time, I became this fool:

A truly good man is not aware of his goodness,

And is therefore good.

A foolish man tries to be good,

And is therefore not good.

 (Laotse - Tao te King, Thirty-eight)

All of you are probably wondering what I did wrong and what I specifically did to fuck it all up to the point where I had burned all my bridges and felt so defeated that I had to return to Belgium. Yet, there’s basically only one thing that's really the cause of all of it: In order to reach my goals, I ceased being honest. And that’s the worst thing one can do to any friend!

I challenge you to try and read this fluently

Yes, you are completely right, it is taking too damn long! Personally, I blame alcohol, pretty girls and Star Wars as the main causes of diversion and the inevitable loss of concentration during the few and rare moments in which my literary inspiration was of an acceptable level. Even though an exuberant quantity of narrative worthy events have occurred since my latest blog-post, enormous amounts of time and strenuous efforts were needed to mold all these acts and facts into an in depth, yet readily readable story.

Fortunately for all of us, my deep affection towards Vertical Farming is still as intense as my unconditional love towards the above mentioned concentration killers. Therefore, through thorough thinking and perfectly profound pondering, a not entirely un-tiring aggregation of wonderful words were carefully collected and securely sequenced to recklessly render the proper purpose of this tenuous text...and also to provide you with the next update:

"My Back-In-Belgium blog-post is coming soon!"

What is vertical farming – Zjef's opinion

(Click Here for accompanying music.)

I did a personal scientific study and it showed that 99,99% of the human population wants to see hunger and poverty out of this world. Yet, even with this gigantic amount of good will spread all over the globe, it seems an unattainable goal. Personally I think the root causes are hate, anger, greed, pride, resentment,... and many other destructive emotions that exist in anyone of us. So the only thing we have to do is overcome these emotions and start thriving. Do I sound like Jesus? Well maybe I do, but a more interesting question might be: Why am I writing this in a blog-post with the name “What is Vertical Farming”?

Vertical farming is an expansion of the existing ways of producing food and it comes with many advantages. The most important one, of course, is that this vertical way of farming can multiply the yields of a specific production area by many times. The sky is literally the limit and enormous amounts of food can be produced on small pieces of land. Another interesting characteristic is that it eliminates the hight costs and other unfortunate effects of transportation. This is because the crops can easily be grown where they are consumed: In the heart of the city, in an underground facility and even in the desert. Next to that, the cultivation techniques, used by vertical farmers, can also seriously reduce the use of pesticides and water, causing the food to be healthy and ecological. The last (but not least) interesting property is that vertical farming is not subjected to annoying weather conditions, because of that it can produce plants faster and all year long. Thus you can start imagining yourself in the center of a big metropolis, on a cruise-ship or on the moon... eating fresh vegetables grown just a few vertical meters away, cause my friends, this way of growing food is already happing all over the world.

So...highly productive, local, ecologic, healthy and futuristic. Vertical farming seems to have the possibility to solve many of the world's problems: it has the power to reduce hunger and poverty, while it simultaneously can help to protect and restore our fragile ecosystems. However, I do recall that already many technologies exist with very similar properties, and somehow, they can't seem to make a difference...why is that? Is there a secret ingredient that's missing and that prevents us from obtaining these noble goals? And if so, can we add it to the vertical farming technologies?

During my vertical farming quest, I've been inspired by many stories, people and companies, but probably the most important one is Plantagon from Sweden and its CEO Hans Hassle. Plantagon is not only trying to build the first full blown 17-stories high Vertical Farm in the world, they are also trying to do it using a special ingredient: “Companization”, an advanced form of corporate responsibility.  

Model of Plantagon's Vertical Farm (to be build in Linköping, Sweden)

In our organizational model, a hybrid between a company and a non-profit organization, we combine commercial and value based driving forces in one organization. We call it “The Companization. (From Plantagon's website) 

As the corporate role in society has changed dramatically we need to develop the corporate institution itself towards transparency, democracy and a long-term perspective. We designed Plantagon to implement a sustainable perspective in the business community. Our vision is a market with a human face. Maximizing profit is no longer a reason for a company to exist. (Hans Hassle in his book: Business As Usual is Over)

Plantagon's inspiring example demonstrates the possibility that vertical farming is not here to replace, but rather to support the current ways of farming in the quest to provide everyone with safe food. Cause finding affordable and healthy food is becoming a worldwide issue. Yet, the solutions for the supply-difficulties of China's megacities will be different than those for the East-African food-deserts, not to mention the fact that they are both hard to compare to the European situation. Switzerland, for example, has to import 40% of the food while its highly subsidizes farmers have difficulties to survive economically. This means that, in order to be sustainable and beneficial to everyone, the vertical farming technologies will need various and customized implementations for every region. That's why I'm here in Switzerland, doing my marketing research and trying to understand the problems and the needs of both producers and consumers. Consequently I can try to unite everyone so we can start implementing possible solutions for the benefit of all. And for me, this cooperation will only be successful if it generates sufficient amounts of healthy, local, affordable and easily obtainable food that makes everyone happy.

Is vertical farming a solution to worldwide hunger and poverty? Perhaps... But armed with the knowledge that every human being wants to do the right thing and inspired by international examples like Plantagon that are already doing it... I will put my passionate effort in making my first vertical farming-project work. Cause only if I succeed here, I can start helping the rest of world.

A message of Hope

Is this world a shitty place...or do we just have to look on the bright side of life? Some of you will choose one statement over the other, while some of you will find themselves struggling between these opposite views on life. But what if I boldly dared to state that picking a “way of life” is just a complete waste of your time? That it is as useless as a gigantic, disorganized quantity of malodorous bovine feces? OK OK, I know that's not completely correct, there are some agricultural uses for a big pile of bullshit.

I dare say the forgoing now, but this hasn't always been my way of thinking. At the age of 17-18, I appropriated myself with the nickname: “antidish”. Obviously, it had come into my mind while doing the dishes, but as I was pretty much “anti” everything, this was by far the perfect pseudonym for me. As a communist I cursed the big bad companies for being so...bad, and as a vegetarian I cursed them even more for cutting down the rainforest and making a billion people grow hungry every day. So with a goal-justifies-the-means mentality, all I wanted was to start a revolution that would change the world. Many people probably still remember me as antidish, cause he was really stubborn and aggressive in trying to persuade everyone to see all the shitty things that were happening in this world. 

Me (left) with Pim (right) during a manifestation in Brussels against a visit
 from the American President, George W. Bush jr. (autumn 2004). 

However, a man grows tired and depressed of being that negative all the time, it is not a very healthy way to live. So instead, I began looking at the positive and bright side of life. I stopped nagging about all the bad things in the world and I started being a good student, friend and boyfriend. But as I started accepting the fact that I could not change this society, I started to turn my back on all the shitty things that were happening in this world. I would have pulled up my shoulders if someone would have talked to me about the civil war in Syria and I would have zapped to another channel if the there would have been a program on television about Ecuador selling three million hectares of rainforest to Chinese oil companies. Cause in the end...there was nothing I could do, right?

Zjef says NO!

The first time I realized that there was also something wrong with the previous way of thinking was in the summer of 2011. As an intern for Better Globe Forestry I was conducting research at the Kiambere plantation, located in the drylands of Kenya. And although it was a very poor region, the people were happy and I enjoyed my stay there. Of course, as an ecologist I sometimes got caught up in discussions about climate change and pollution (a hot topic in a desertificating region like this). I was fully aware of the impact of our Western society on the worlds climate, but the fact that their region was so dry and the soil so degenerated, was also because their way of farming had completely destroyed the local ecosystems and had degenerated their lands severely. Yet still, the conversations always had the same conclusion: It's all the fault of the developed countries and there's nothing we can do about it...”There is nothing we can do about it”. Now doesn't that sound familiar?

The five year old BGF tree-plantation surrounded by traditional farms during
the dry season at Kiambere lake (Kenya, September 2011).  The exposed
top-soils of the farmlands will be washed away when the rains start.

Before you start blaming poor Kenyan farmers for trying to feed their families, think about this: Have you ever met a person with a bad heart? Have you ever met a person who purposely destroys the environment and other people's lives because he is truly evil? I certainly have not! In my life, I have only met people who just want to be happy and who want the best for themselves, their family and their friends! Yes, I have only met good people in my life.

Recognizing this, I started accepting the fact that I'm also a part of this society. I started noticing that I too had an impact on the people around me and that I, in a way, walk through this life as a living example to everyone around me. So instead of accepting how the economic system worked, I started seeing the actual reality: Everything has always been changing, everything is changing right now, and everything will keep on changing in the future!

Today, my personal quest to build a Vertical Farm has brought me to Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland and a southern extension of the Alps. Together with Patrick Rota, a fantastic person and electronic engineer, I'm working on a project to start a vertical farming research center. We are establishing a business called Plantibo (which has a pretty cool meaning btw) and are trying to involve some other companies like Omaga-Gardens, Plantagon and Urban Farmers. With this collaboration we will create an international movement on the field of vertical farming and we will try to involve as many companies, universities and people as possible (Yes indeed, you will be able to join too). Plantibo and the Movement will break with the current economic mindset and we will thrive on trust and cooperation instead of competition. We truly believe that this way of business will significantly accelerate the the development of Vertical Farming in a responsible manner, therefore it will also accelerate the evolution towards a more sustainable society!

In my opinion, I'm doing a pretty good job as I dedicate my life to what I believe is good. However, as I'll be the last person to judge you on how you live your life, I do encourage you to think and to question everything. Is the world a shitty place, or do you just have to look at the sunny side of life? To answer these questions for myself, I had to dig a little deeper than that. Many of you might have already even recognized these issues as they are a part of a very famous philosophy: Yin and Yang, life and death, hate and love, light and darkness... As all is one, none can exist without the other. We can only live our lives fully, by accepting both. So no matter how you look at it, you're a part of everything and everything is a part of you. As you dedicate your life to doing good or bad, you will always be a part of both, and both of them will be a part of you. This also means that society is composed by all of us, and all of us are composed by society.

Quite depressing I hear you think? Well, my friends, not at all! As everyone is a creator, you have the power to define it all. You have the power to choose how bad, “bad” is, and you have the power to decide how good, “good” is. Hell, there's even a ready-made cookbook formula on how to do it:

“Be the change you want to see in this world”.

Now, click here to watch a music-video that will help you reflect

Peace and Hapiness at the UAS13

For a more intense experience while reading this blog-post, listen to the accompanying music:

CLICK HERE

Alone and Unaware, the Landscape was Transformed in Front of Our Eyes
Buildings Began to Stretch Wide Across the Sky, And the Air Filled with a Reddish Glow
The Soundless Dawn Came Alive as Cities Began to Mark the Horizon
Mechanical Sounds Cascaded Through the City Walls and Everyone Reveled in Their Ignorance
A Brief Moment of Clarity Broke Through the Deafening Hum, But It Was Too Late
Our Happiest Days Slowly Began to Turn into Dust
The Sixth Extinction Crept Up Slowly, Like Sunlight Through the Shutters, as We Looked Back in Regret 

The Red Sparowes – At the soundless dawn

Zjef Van Acker, who is this guy? I feel that not everyone knows me, so here's a small, habitual introduction to myself: Hello, my name is Zjef and I'm a horticultural engineer from Belgium. Welcome to my Urban-Agricultural-Summit story:

When I graduated in june 2012 I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. During my studies I had developed the idea that I would find a job, make a career and live the happy family-life. But as graduation came closer and closer,...something felt seriously wrong about that pretty picture. At first I thought it was the fear of being accountable for myself. But when my father passed away, being responsible was the only thing I could do (I am still gratefull for the support of family and friends I received in that period.). But even with all this new weight on my shoulders, the ill feeling about my plans for the future remained. It all seemed so unreal and I didn't know why.

After months of worrying, sobbing and taking brain breaking decisions, I eventually found out what to devote my life to. The name of my blog probably already gave that away: “Zjef and the quest to build a Vertical farm” just isn't that subtle. And so it happened that by the end of January 2013, I found myself at the center of Vertical Farming at the Urban Agricultural Summit in Linkoping, Sweden. It was a eye-openening experience, because never in my life did I encounter so many like-minded people. Everyone present agreed: If we want planet Earth to be a livable place for the next seven generations to come, we need change. Period! I was glad there was no bullshit and no skepticism, only the will to change and a plain old cooperative spirit. The prevailing thought among participants on the UAS13 was:

 We need to change our Values!

 A very pretty sentence indeed. But what are those values? What is driving us to do what we do? this is a very interesting question that, once in a while, everybody should reply to. And please, don't address your answers to me, answer them to yourself. That's what I did when I graduated. For a couple of months, I stopped being interested in plants, and focused more on my philosophical side. What do I want? What do I need? I found out that I've always been in love with nature and with friends. But somewhere along the way I had forgotten that... My mind had pushed them into the background and the deceptive values that fuel our magnificent economy had gained the upper hand. Money and success had put on their sexy dresses, they had booty-called me...and...I had fallen for them. Fortunately it is never too late for a wake-up call. I believe that it is possible to live your life in peace and happiness, if everything you do is inspired by the values you treasure. But of course, that's only a small part of the happiness-puzzle.

At The Urban Agricultural Summit 2013

It looks like I'm deviating from the subject, the Urban Agricultural Summit. For me, the coolest thing about it were the round table discussions. It were moments when you could discuss solutions for a variety of issues with many people, who all had very diverse backgrounds. During those interesting conversations it became obvious to me that the road towards a sustainable society, is one of many different paths. Yet, they are all unified in the same direction, away from money-greed and competition.

Another highlight at the UAS13 was the ceremony of the Plantagon Awards. As a kid I had always dreamed of attending the Oscar academy awards, but this was even better! The award day had already been a long one, so before the ceremony kicked off, Patrick Rota, Mikael Norlén and me decided we needed to reload...at a local bar! I don't know if it was because we didn't eat before drinking, or because the two hours were just brilliant,...but I remember re-entering the summit with a feeling of confidence and bliss. This feeling only enhanced when I got to sit at the table in between two “big bosses”, okay, maybe big bosses is not the correct description, but sitting at that table was just fantastic. To the left of me sat Oren R. Lyons (Chief of the corporate board of Plantagon and Faithkeeper of the turtle clan in the Onondaga Nation), he taught me many things about life, Native Americans and democracy. You can say that he changed my life in 10minutes, and that a pretty amazing feeling. On my right sat Stefan Jakobsson (Director of Business Development with Tekniska Verken), we had many good, fun and interesting conversations. But I think the best part was the moment when it was announced that he was nominated for the Plantagon Awards for his individual commitment in the field of Urban Agriculture. Stefan is an extremely cheerful and modest person, and although he did not win this year, my hopes go out to the future! Off course, the ceremony wasn't only an amazing experience because of the people I got to sit with, overall it was a magnificent event. It felt like I was a part of an important part of history, and that's just a very epic thing to experience.

Simon Hassle Singing at The Plantagon Award Ceremony.
Amazing Singer, Check Him out;
CLICK HERE for his facebook-page

As I write this blog-post, one month has passed since the Urban Agricultural Summit 2013 and I still remember two presentations very lively. On the first day there was the overpowering speech of Oren R. Lyons, he is just a master in the art of touching your soul. And on the last day there was Dickson Despommier, the father of Vertical Farming. He was the first one who actually dared to say what I had always been thinking: Vertical and Urban Farming should not only aim to solve the world's food problems. We have to do more, we owe it to nature and the next seven generations to aim higher, much higher. We need to restore that what we have destroyed and are still destroying: The Planet's ecosystems!!!

I feel that the world and the current policy fixates on the fight against the emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. But there is more at stake than that! My heart breaks when I see the estimation: In 2050, 80% of the global population will live in mega-cities. Do you understand what this means? It means that 80% of the world's people won't be in touch with nature, they won't be in touch with what they really are! We are all a part of nature, and we will always will be a part of nature...Don't you ever forget that! I am 25 years old and I had the privilege to growing up in a place where there still was a lot of nature. As a kid I could climb in the trees, follow the small rivers in the woods and fall into a half frozen lakes. But I've seen so many of it disappear, I've seen so many of it turn into boring lawns or concrete wastelands. I love nature because I grew up in it, because I tasted its divinity. But how will we teach the next generations that nature is important if they only know it from books and stories?

So I start dreaming, I start dreaming when I hear the four words: “Value change for survival”. I dream of a world where nature and community are rated higher than a new shopping mall. I dream of a world where every person can find a connection with nature, only five minutes away. And as I dream, I hope that one day, I will be called a crazy motherfucker when I will buy a piece of land in a huge city, knock down the ugly buildings upon it and plant a beautiful forest!

 That would be a hell of a value-change, wouldn't it?!!

A train of thought...

CLICK HERE for accompanying music

At first, embarking on a four-day-train journey from Belgium to Sweden seemed a crazy idea, but in the end, it turned out to be one of my best decisions ever made. Of course, taking the airplane to the Urban Agricultural Summit would have been easier, but as a sustainable-guy, I do have to set an example, right? Apart from that, I had two other reasons to opt for the train ride. First of all I could visit 2 beautiful cities on the way. But the most important reason was the voice within saying: you have to do this!!!!

Many people might have sensed it, many people might have noticed it, but when I departed from Belgium, I was scared as hell! Luckily for me, the magnificent Boris and Rodrigo provided me with safe shelter for my first night in Berlin. In 2011, my cousin and his husband decided that this city would become the location of the first Paleo-restaurant in the whole world. So, opening “Sauvage” can be seen as the official return of the healthiest eating-habit mankind has ever known. This is because the Paleolithic cuisine is created with the food our ancestors ate as hunters-collectors 10.000 years ago: It is gluten free, lactose free and sugar free. And in Sauvage, they do it as sustainable as possible: Like real inventors they create new dishes with local, seasonal vegetables and fruits, combined with fish or meat from wild/organic/grass fed animals (which is actually very hard to find these days). Apart from the amazing taste, that evening I felt like the healthiest man on earth. So if you ever visit Berlin, you should definitely try to score a diner at Sauvage: It will change your life! The evening was also colored by many interesting and inspiring conversations with the fantastic Boris and Rodrigo. But unfortunately, morning came, and I had to continue my train adventure.

Sauvage by night!
Click here for Sauvage Website

Boris promoting Paleo - food (awesome photo)
Click here for Sauvage FB-page

I just wrote half a page about the path which I am following in the pursuit of my dreams. Leaving Belgium was like jumping in the unknown or taking this huge leap of faith. But this explanation just felt wrong, that’s not what it is; I’m not Captain America, I’m not the red knight, I’m not a hero on a quest to fight evil and do good; that’s not what I do. I’m just a normal guy, dealing with normal insecurities, trying to break free from the imaginary shackles I laid upon myself. And that’s another issue: What are insecurities? Are they problems? Can they be solved? For instance death, as something unknown, is it something to be frightened of? Is it something to be solved?

As I entered Copenhagen, all kind of worries and insecurities still gnawed in my stomach, Untill José Bedoya took me on a walk. He is a fantastic, very open and extremely sapient guy that I met through couchsurfing. He lives, studies and works in Copenhagen and offered me a guided tour. And as we were walking through the snowy city, I enjoyed listening to his vast knowledge about Copenhagen. But we also talked about life, about the mysteries of the universe and about the past, the present and the future. He took great care in listening to my story, my associated dreams and my worries. All of the sudden, something funny  happened: He made me feel as strong and confident as I had never felt before. But what was this mystical force that made me feel invincible? Was it some kind of dormant power of a true hero that had awakened inside me? That would make me very special and unique, wouldn’t it. Hell, everybody wants to be Luke Skywalker, Superman, Spiderman or any other superhero that protects the weak and the innocent. But…the weak and the innocent…doesn’t this sound wrong? Because don’t forget: talking about everyone that is not the hero, talking about that useless and feeble crowd that needs rescuing, these people also include you, yes, YOU! Do you need protection? Do you want to be led? Do you want choices to be made for you? Cause for me, this way of thinking…it just feels…wrong. So, as far as I’m concerned, it is just wrong to describe this change of feelings as the awakening of my long hidden super-power. But how should I describe it then? It took me about two weeks to figure it out.

Anyway, Jose and me had a fantastic time in Copenhagen: We were as relaxed as tourists and we had fun like children. He made me pose with the little mermaid, we jumped on the city trampolines and we did a lot of other stuff that seemed silly, but was actually a lot of fun. Oh, and before I forget, everyone who visits Copenhagen, definitely has to check out Christiana: it started out as a independent hippy-commune in the sixties, and today, it is still a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood, which is pretty cool.

Me and my Copenhagen Girlfriend - pic by jose

If I had chosen to take the airplane, I would not have done all these fantastic things and I would not have arrived at the Urban Agricultural Summit with as much confidence. Instead, I followed my guts. And when I arrived in Linkoping, the worries in my stomach had transformed into tickling confidence, the doubts and insecurities felt easy to overcome and I saw joy and happiness everywhere. This was because of a train of thought that helps me to accept all insecurities as a part of life, a train of thought that enables me to meet all worries with celebration and a train of thought that makes me see the beauty of life as a whole.

And that is no superpower, that is something that everyone can do!

Why?

CLICK HERE for accompanying music

Ten days ago, I left everyone and everything behind to go on this special and exotic quest. It is a very challenging task to describe the reason why, not to mention the associated feelings. And up till today, the explanation is still very hard to produce. Even though asking “why” has the ability to make you quite uncomfortable, it also holds this amazing and fantastic feature; It possesses the power to change your life.

Just the other day, after the Urban Agricultural Summit, I enjoyed a nice and very slow walk through the city of Linkoping. I reflected on what had happened the past days and months. With a satisfied smile, I crossed the street and took a big detour around a young boy and girl coming from the opposite direction. Passing by, I observed that the shy boy focused on the road ahead, but when my gaze turned to the little girl, I saw that she looked me straight in the eyes with a big, confident smile. During that split second of unabashed eye contact, I noticed something very peculiar in her eyes: it was a look that said; “why”.

Of course, I could have been completely wrong about what was going on inside her head. But that glimpse of wonder and gratitude in her eyes made me think about the saying; “Look at the world through the eyes of a child”. It is one of the many expressions that, a couple of months ago, had helped me to take a step back and rethink my life. It had been a train of thought that had forced me to reflect on what I had been doing and especially…why I had been doing it.

So after I smilingly passed those two children and made a kind gesture by getting out of their way, I was curious. Had the girl been observing me? Had she learned that even small acts like these have the power to change a person’s mood? Or had she just been thinking that my hair looked funny? The answer will forever remain a mystery. But still pondering on this meeting, I wondered whether the girls investigative quality, her researching feature, her exploratory instinct is part of the attitude of a natural born learner. A tiny baby looks at the world with wondering eyes. He is curious for everything crossing his sight. And when the child learns to talk, question-mayhem begins; “why this? Why that? How come this? How come that?...”

This made me reflect, why did I lose this attitude as I grew older? Why did I ever come to think that everything could be explained? Was it because I stopped observing after people told me staring is impolite? Was it because the school-system taught me that every problem has a strictly defined solution? Or was it because of the easy “you’ll understand it when you grow up”-answer to many of my questions?... Who knows… But her curiosity also made me reflect about the important question Chief Oren Lyons had posed during his speech at the first day of the Urban Agricultural Summit. It is one of the questions I had asked myself a lot during these past months:

 “How do we educate 7 billion people about a sustainable society?”

And although life holds many uncertainties like this, there are numerous amazing and fantastic things to hold on to. Did the little girl inspire me or did I inspire her? Was she learning from me or was I learning from her? And is it foolish of me to believe that the world is like that little girl? Can I dream that, one day, the world will look up at that food-producing-skyscraper and wonder “why”?

Well...I guess there’s only one way to find out.

"La tour vivant "by SOA

Chief Oren Lyons of the Onondaga Nation
Onondaga Nation Website