WSP05005

• File Number: 8021
• Description: Section D General Studies - Western States Water Council
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 9/1/1990
• Author: Land Institute
• Title: The Land Report - The Land Report - Fall 1990
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

otJu,:<ol, I

Mind-Mulch in the
Fall Session

At The Land

Jake Vail

"Is it always so windy here?" first-time visitors
to The Land Institute often ask. Over the gusts we
shout, "Yes!" Kansas, from the aboriginal "konza," in
fact means "spirit of the south wind," and throughout
the summer winds blow from the south. As the
seasons change so too do the winds, and winter winds
come from the north. This fall the changing winds
assembled colorful visitors at The Land Institute like
autumn leaves collecting in a garden bucket.
, Each told a different story, which mixed unpre-
dictably with class discussions. Add to the visitors
and discussions a sprinkle of extra-curricular activi-
ties and the pile ofleaves is transformed to compost,
mind-mulch out of which amazing new ideas and
actions grow.
While the Illinois bundleflower blossomed in
August, writer/poet Lewis Hyde and his wifE! visited.
Lewis is the author of The Gift: Imagination and the
Erotie Life of Property, a fascinating exploration of
art and gift exchange, myth, and economics. The Gift
argues that nature's abundance is a consequence of
our treating wealth as a gift, for the circles of gift
exchange enter the cycles of nature and keep us a
part of the whole. Property-based economics, in
contrast, separates us from the non-human world.

Glass moves outside on a nice
fall day. Clockwise from the
left: Doug Romig, Kathy Call-
mer, Kris Schaefer, Holly Ewing,
Peter Kulakow, Jean-Lue
Jannink, Paul Muto and Tracy
NoeL

"The gift must always move" explains Lewis; to break
the circle and retain a gift as property destroys the
intimate and dynamic relationship between giver and
receiver.
A few weeks after the Hydes visited, the
interns finished the summer field season and began
to devote mornings to "Considerations for a Sustain-
able Society." Wes started fall classes with his vision
of integrating ecology and economics. Reading from
Herman Daly and John Cobb's important new book,
For the Common Good, essays of historian Donald
Worster, and some of his own speeches, Wes argued
against the growth economy associated with industri-
alism and for an economic system that recognizes
biological and physical limits and works creatively
within them.
Ecologist Jack Ewel visited from the University
of Florida and presented a slide show of his work
which, like our research, uses nature as a model.
One of the participants in the "Marriage of Ecology
and Agriculture" symposium sponsored last October
by The Land Institute (see Land Report #36), Jack
takes a structural approach to agroecology which
complements the process approach we take. He has
found that agricultural systems which resemble an
area's natural ecosystem (in this case a tropical
forest) can produce high yields while cycling nutri-
ents and resisting outbreaks of pests and diseases as
the natural system does.
From tropical agroecosystems our attention

3

t:

"
.
~
i:
~

:~

:~.
.,
}".

.

,
}
~

::.

;.~-

~

,

:~
.~

;
,',
::-";
.
~.
~::
~:
~

"
~

:~
"
,
,
'.
~o

:~

.;-
;~

;;

~.

:~.

;-: