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?
.JPG) |
| 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”.
