About Spiritual Agroecology: Human Spiritual Growth through Agroecology and Beyond
(Essay)
(Under Construction)
Introduction
Love in Action: The Leadership We Need
"I open my heart and send forth my energy of love and understanding to everyone who has made me suffer, to those who have destroyed much of my life and the lives of those I love. I know now that these people have themselves undergone a lot of suffering and that their hearts are overloaded with pain, anger and hatred. I know that anyone who suffers that much will make those around them suffer. I know they may have been unlucky, never having the chance to be cared for and loved. Life and society have dealt them so many hardships. They have been wronged and abused. They have not been guided in the path of mindful living. They have accumulated wrong perceptions about life, about me, and about us. They have wronged us and the people we love. I pray to my ancestors in my blood and spiritual families to channel to those persons who have made us suffer the energy of love and protection, so that their hearts will be able to receive the nectar of love and blossom like a flower. I pray that they can be transformed to experience the joy of living, so that they will not continue to make themselves and others suffer. I see their suffering and do not want to hold any feelings of hatred or anger in myself toward them. I do not want them to suffer. I channel my energy of love and understanding to them and ask all my ancestors to help them." Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh http://plumvillage.org/
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn
"Although attempting to bring about world peace through the internal transformation of individuals is difficult, it is the only way. Wherever I go, I express this, and I am encouraged that people from many different walks of life receive it well. Peace must first be developed within an individual. And I believe that love, compassion, and altruism are the fundamental basis for peace. Once these qualities are developed within an individual, he or she is then able to create an atmosphere of peace and harmony. This atmosphere can be expanded and extended from the individual to his family, from the family to the community and eventually to the whole world.” H. H. The Dalia Lama, Forward, “Peace is Every Step,” by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn
“Our ecology should be a deep ecology—not only deep, but universal. There is pollution in our consciousness. Television, films, and newspapers are forms of pollution for us and our children. They sow seeds of violence and anxiety in us and pollute our consciousness, just as we destroy our environment by farming with chemicals, clear-cutting the trees, and polluting the water. We need to protect the ecology of the Earth and the ecology of the mind, or this kind of violence and recklessness will spill over into even more areas of life. [166] Our Earth, our green beautiful Earth is in danger, and all of us know it. Yet we act as if our daily lives have nothing to do with the situation of the world. If the Earth were your body, you would be able to feel many areas where she is suffering. Many people are aware of the world's suffering, and their hearts are filled with compassion. They know what needs to be done, and they engage in political, social, and environmental work to try to change things. But after a period of intense involvement, they become discouraged, because they lack the strength needed to sustain a life of action. Real strength is not in power, money, or weapons, but in deep, inner peace. If we change our daily lives—the way we think, speak, and act—we change the world. The best way to take care of the environment is to take care of the environmentalist.”
The Sun, My Heart, Thich Nhat Hahn
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~freeman/courses/phil394/The%20Sun%20My%20Heart.pdf
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking and consuming… I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety or other suffering by losing myself in consumption. I will make every effort to consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and mind, and in the collective body and mind of my family, my society and our Earth.
The Fifth Mindfulness Training, Nourishment and Healing, (in part), Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn, Plum Village, France
“If my hypothesis about societal anxiety is reasonably accurate, the crises of society will recur and recur, with increasing intensity for decades to come. Man created the environmental crisis by being the kind of creature he is. The environment is part of man, change will require a change in the basic nature of man, and man’s track record for that kind of thing has not been good. …I believe man is moving into crises of unparalleled proportions, that the crises will be different than those he has faced before, that they will come with increasing frequency for several decades… The type of man who survives that will be one who can live in better harmony with nature.” Murray Bowen, MD https://thebowencenter.org/theory/murray-bowen/
“To proceed very far through the desert, you must be willing to meet existential suffering and work it through. In order to do this, the attitude toward pain has to change. This happens when we accept the fact that everything that happens to us has been designed for our spiritual growth.”
― Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth
“No mud, no lotus.” Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn
“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh
"Political and social change is not enough......it will be easier when we have that transformation of ourselves at the base." Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afsGr7u9CNE&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0WaCFLBLCc6b5Qryr2xkd77gpJQ-GDHIUgtk93w-a2baiVqpBurRlZcOs
Humanity's Spiritual Crisis: Transforming Ourselves to Heal the World
by Paul Brunton, Larson Publications (2017), ISBN 9781936012374. (Print edition is titled The Spiritual Crisis of Man)
“As the twenty-first century unfolds, our world faces dire political, ethical, ecological, and spiritual challenges on a global scale. How are we to understand the crises that are affecting us all?
Paul Brunton’s Humanity's Spiritual Crisis spells out how the nature of today's widespread, confusing, and many-layered crisis is essentially a spiritual one—and one that we ignore to our peril—we must undertake a major step forward in our evolution as a species. He provides a deeply informed framework of spiritual understanding and practices that help us find the most effective and creative ways to address these momentous situations in our daily lives.
Brunton was well aware of the potential for disaster in the contemporary world. He had witnessed the two world wars and recognized the increasing danger of a nuclear holocaust. First appearing in 1952, Humanity's Spiritual Crisis, offers the only sure way to heal our society, and our planet—by awakening enough individuals to transform themselves and their world.
He writes, “I had been allowed a peep behind the curtain of world events, behind the present pattern of the human scene on this planet, and there was a real necessity for knowledge of it, if all of us were not to go down into the gravest catastrophe. The population explosion, the poisoned environment, and the poisoned mental and emotional climate—the crisis I alluded to in Humanity's Spiritual Crisis (orig. title: The Spiritual Crisis of Man), written more than [half] a century ago, has not only worsened but spread everywhere.”
Humanity's Spiritual Crisis makes it clear that we cannot build a new and better world until we have looked within, found the soul's light to guide us, and made unavoidable inner changes. We may consciously co-operate with the inner purpose of this crisis and intelligently participate in it to our own benefit. If, however, we blindly resist or lazily delay, we will suffer the consequences.”
The mission of “Spiritual Agroecology” is to raise human awareness of the possibility that traditional forms of agriculture, agroecology, the family farm, and our urban, suburban and rural gardens may be, at the most profound level, human spiritual practices in themselves, which are cultivating our own human consciousness or awareness. The mission of Spiritual Agroecology is to raise human awareness of the possibility that it may be awareness and consciousness itself which is cultivating and growing we human beings ourselves "through" "the food movement."
Is it possible that "the food movement" might just be "a human movement," just as much about growing and cultivating we human beings as it is about we human beings, individuals, families, and communities growing and cultivating healthy, affordable food for all “agroecologically”? The mission of Spiritual Agroecology is to raise human awareness and consciousness of the possibility that "the food movement" is just as much a "human spiritual movement," about relaxing and calming we human beings, our minds, our thoughts and cultivating higher levels of human consciousness and awareness, as it is a "food" movement, about cultivating sufficient quantities of affordable, accessible, healthy, nutritious, sustainably and agroecologically grown, human food.
Agroecology, sustainable agriculture, the family farm, and our urban, suburban and rural gardens calm us, relax our minds and take us deeply into the present moment, our spiritual home within ourselves, peace and transcendence within ourselves. This stops our constant thinking--relaxes our minds, our emotions and feelings, and takes us to the "true home" within ourselves, the most deep, profound and still part of ourselves. Agroecology and sustainable ways of growing food take us to what Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn calls "the transcendent dimension, " "the ultimate reality.”
We say Thich Nhat Hahn are more than our minds, more than our thoughts, more than our feelings and emotions, more than our bodies, and more than this "physical" experience, and what we sense through our 5 senses. What we are allows us to experience what Thich Nhat Hahn calls "the ultimate truth," "the ultimate reality," a way of knowing, and wisdom and knowledge itself, beyond thought, our minds, and our five senses of taste, touch, smell, hearing and sight.
We human beings have created and involved ourselves deeply in a panoply of "movements:" "environmental," climate, food, health, farm, food sovereignty, sustainable agriculture, sustainability, ecological, agroecological, ---to change our food, health, farm, and agriculture systems, as well as our own behavior which is destroying our climate, environment, and health. We have also focused on working to consume less and more wisely, but as yet we have not been successful in reducing our levels and types of consumption in a way that can stop or significantly slow down the variety of crises we are facing to our continued existence as a species.
A large contributor to this situation is that we human beings are largely "unaware," "unconscious," as all spiritual leaders and human psychologists point out. From Jesus Christ to the Buddha to the Hindus and western psychologists alike, "spiritual teachers" and teach that humanity is not fully aware or conscious. Humanity is not awake. Humanity is asleep.
These traditions and professions also point out that no one is at fault, to blame, but that this is just the human condition that humanity must overcome and is overcoming through the generations through a process of evolving to higher and higer levels of human consciousness. Yet, humanity remains largely unaware of these profound truths in which we are all profoundly steeped, living as if blindfolded and with ear muffs, completely unaware of our human unconsciousness and blaming all else, even our own environment, which is perfect and divine in every way fot our environmental problems. Humanity is unable to focus on its own suffering and transform, grow and heal ourselves. We are unable to evolve our own human consciousness.
"Spiritual Agroecology" ultimately seeks to raise human consciousness to become more aware essentially of all these dynamics so that we can actually begin to focus on profoundly understanding ourselves, our own suffering, the suffering of our families, children, parents, grandparents and ancestors that may have unconsciously been passed down to us, and that we may have passed down unconsciously as well to our own children as well as to other members of our society. In this way, by making conscious the unconscious, we can consciously take steps and actions to heal transform, and grow we ourselves and our communities and societies spiritually and psychologically, as well as our own children and families and stop the unconscious cycle of suffering which spiritual leaders and human psychologists suggest is actually the root cause of our destruction of our own environment upon which we depend to live.
Both spiritual leaders like Thich Nht Hahn and human psychologists like Dr. Murray Bowen, the founder of Bowen Family Systems Theory, which explains how humans pass their suffering from generation to generation and to others in society, all unconsciously, also clearly identify this human suffering as the root cause of all our human crises. Today, as well, “Western new age spiritual leaders” like Iyanla Vanzant, Eckharte Tolle and Byron Katie, to name only a few, also identify the suffering passed down from generation to generation in the family as the building block of all suffering in human society.
This work seeks to make humanity aware that agroecology, the family farm, our urban, suburban and rural gardens, our community gardens, and our indoor plants as well, are all actually cultivating us, we human beings ourselves, our own human consciousness, as well as relaxing us, calming us down, bringing us home to the present and to ourselves, where peace, joy and happiness is possible. Interestingly, "Horticulture Therapy," a field in western human psychology, has recognized how beneficial plants, gardening, horticulture, and hands on farming is to the well being of we human beings and is also used to even cure illnesses such as depression and anxiety and other human suffering. https://www.ahta.org/; https://www.ahta.org/what-is-horticultural-therapy
This work seeks to awaken humanity to the human healing, transformation and much needed spiritual growth work of agroecology, the family farm, our gardens and beyond, in order that we might consciously cultivate our own human consciousness in this way and consciously continue the process of growing ourselves and transforming our own human consciousness and behavior in order to save ourselves and our society from predicted destruction. Spiritual Agroecology points toward the higher power at work through agroecology and beyond, that is actually transforming we human beings ourselves, while we remain mostly unaware.
Spiritual Agroecology seeks to contribute to the much needed collective human awakening of the need of we human beings to transform we ourselves, to cultivate our own collective consciousness to the highest levels and to dissolve our own collective and individual human unconsciousness in order to build an an agroecological, sustainable and just food system. This work is based thus, to reiterate, on the recognition that it is we ourselves, our own human unconsciousness which is the major obstacle to our creation of agroecological food systems which are truly democratic, healthy, just, fair and sustainable where the people have supreme control over their food and agriculture, food sovereignty. Spiritual Agroecology seeks to add to the spark of this collective awakening through its writings, radio show, workshops and conference presentations.
II. Mindfulness for the Food Movement?
Besides raising awareness, “Spiritual Agroecology” seeks to offer, create, and fund opportunities for interested global to local food policy makers, food corporation executives, food movement leaders and activists, educators, students, growers, farmers, and consumers to practice mindfulness with global spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hahn's mindfulness practice communities and at his mindfulness practice centers in the US, France, Thailand and beyond for their own healing, transformation, and spiritual growth. Almost all of these mindfulness practice centers now also have organic farm internships as well which allow retreatants to work on the organic farm as an official mindfulness practice while also practicing “formal mindfulness” long term at these Mindfulness Practice Centers. These farms at Thich Nhat Hahn Mindfulness Practice Centers were started by our good colleague former Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture co-founder Daniel Dermitzel who now works and lives in Berlin, Germany.
III. Peace: Love in Action
The need for peace cries out. Social peace is the sixth principle of food sovereignty. ( “Social Peace. Everyone has the right to be free from violence. Food must not be used as a weapon. Increasing levels of poverty and marginalization in the countryside, along with the growing oppression of ethnic minorities and indigenous populations, aggravate situations of injustice and hopelessness. The ongoing displacement, forced urbanization, repression and increasing incidence of racism of smallholder farmers cannot be tolerated.”)
This project lifts-up and incorporates the vision and strategies of peacemaker Thich Nhat Hahn and his communities. This work envisions the Food Movement through Thich Nhat Hahn, global peace leader in the Zen Buddhist Tradition, peace in oneself, peace in the world vision and by incorporating Gandhi's nonviolent principles for social change and the work of the Dhali Lama and many of humanity's spiritual teachers.
III. My Personal Story of Healing the Family Suffering that was Passed Down From Four Generation in My Family to Me: From My Great Great Aunt and Step Great Aunt to My Grandmother to my Mother to Me.
My great great grandparents around the late 1800's, the J.J. Hawes family, 14 children and two parents in small town, rural Lincolnton, GA.
I have also recently started including sharings from my own healing, transformation and spiritual growth journey including my work in horticulture, agroecology and sustainable agriculture that began with my coming to a profound understanding of the suffering that my mother shared with me that was passed down through four generations including me in our family beginning with the death of my great grandmother, Naomi Hawes as a young mother. Her early unexpected death left her daughter, my grandmother, motherless. When her father remarried, unfortunately her stepmother severely mistreated her causing her to run away from home at about 12, according to the family. She lived with various great aunts and other relatives. Not surprisingly she got pregnant at 16 by a man who then abandoned her. A great aunt then actually kidnapped her two day old infant from her who was my mother and went up north with her and her domestic partner who I later knew only as Grandpa. My grandmother and her great aunt (my great great aunt then fought for years over my mother, but tragically my grandmother was never able to recover her child. My mother herself although academically gifted was as one might easily imagine traumatized by all this. As well, her great Aunt who kidnapped her was a violent “mother.” My mother was apparently gifted, however, and eventually able to go on and self actualize despite her traumatic childhood, getting her PhD in Spanish from the Ohio State University at the age of 77 with the highest grade on her Spanish PhD Oral Exam in the history of the Spanish Department. She did pass all this suffering on to me, completely unconsciously of course, as well, however as her gifts including her gifts for academics and intelligence. I was the first one in this tragic family history to become aware of all the suffering being passed on and to be able to make conscious efforts to heal, transform and grow myself, an ongoing work in progress. However, my suffering and the suffering of my family have borne in me unexpected fruits as well, i.e., a profound understanding that suffering is passed from generation to generation in the family and how to heal it. As well another blessing is the knowledge and awareness of and the gifts that were also passed down by this same family that is making it possible for me to heal myself. These gifts included academic intelligence and skill, the ability to suffer on my own behalf, for my own good, typically known as discipline, ie, the ability to do hard things today for something good one wants tomorrow, humility, the lack of greed, and the desire and knowledge to help others heal, transform and grow from their own suffering as well.
I am the one in my family who has been able to consciously become aware of both this story of suffering and healing, and heal myself, a work in progress. But what I have learned is that now my suffering is my enlightenment, my wisdom, my strengths, my profound understanding and something that grew me and made me stronger, compassionate, understanding, wise and caring and someone who is able to help others heal, transform and grow themselves as well to their full potential and wholeness. I remain flawed and will continue to remain flawed, however now these flaws are the best part of me which give me compassion and understanding for all people as well: people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, genders and nationalities, ages, political persuasions etc. We all suffer and much of it is passed down unconsciously from our own families to us. Understanding that I truly have no ill wishes to anyone including myself and am able to forgive and understand both myself and all. Its a practice. It takes work and it is the way, the profound path of life that I am privileged to be able to share.
Cuba-USA Agroecology Solidarity Group
This work includes a project Maria Whittaker founded with the support of many American and Cuban colleagues and friends, such as from Cuba: Dra. Nilda Perez, Dr. Humberto Rios, Otto Manuel, a researcher at Cuba's INIFAT, INIFAT, Cuba's urban agriculture institute, Cuban Agroecologist and Ph D Candidate Emilio Andres, and from the USA, the amazing “Cuban literacy filmmaker” and beyond, activist Catherine Murphy, the super amazing New World Agroecology Group at the University of Michigan, including Dr. Ivette Perfecto, Dr. John Perfecto, leading Latin American Agroecologitsts, Dr. Peter Rosset and Dr. Miguel Attieri, Food First, John Peck, the ED of Family Farm Defenders and Family Farm Defenders, which has supported all her food movement work since about 2006 and the amazing and super divine and capable Alicia Froman, ED of Plaza Cuba with whom Maria was first able to travel legally to Cuba to research Cuba's world renowned food sovereignty and agroecology movement. I started this work in about 2004 to promote food sovereignty and agroecological exchange, solidarity, collegiality, friendship, understanding and good working relationships between the Cuban and USA food sovereignty, agroecology, and food movements. It includes an active 1500 member social media group of both Cuban and US and beyond social media groups, her published articles on food sovereignty in Cuba, and posts and other work sharing opportunities with the US food movement and beyond to participate in Cuba's food sovereignty and agroeclogical conferences and events. Maria has advised and supported many US Food Activists, journalists, farmers, growers and horticulturalits in visiting Cuba and attending the Cuban Food Sovereignty/ Agroecological African American
Spiritual Agroecology is inspired by the work of beautiful and transcendent, community centered projects, especially Plum Village, the work of global peace leader, Thich Nhat Hahn, and his Zen Buddhist communities, http://plumvillage.org/; Siglo XXIII, International Institute for Cooperation Amongst Peoples, the work of El Salvadoran Peace Leader Marta Benavides, nominated for a Nobel Prize, and Hridaya Yoga Mexico and France under the leadership of Sahajananda, the communitys' leader and founder.
Gratitude to my family, my first spiritual teachers. This work is the manifestation in form of what I ultimately learned from my beloved father, James Francis Whittaker, my ultimate spiritual teacher whose presence remains with me long after his form passed away in 2008 without pain or suffering. I also know because of him that we are always together and that death can not separate us; that he is always present with me and watching over me and that we can never be separated or hurt in any way.
His mother, "grandma," Myrtle Whittaker, was my second most powerful spiritual teacher. She taught me what true love was and that it could save lives and protect children from harm even in the most challenging conditions. She is also with me at all times, and I am aware of her presence with me as well.
My third spiritual teacher was my beloved and academically brilliant mother who passed her suffering onto me as well as many gifts, talents and skills. She also taught me that everything can be overcome, and that nothing can hurt me, and that what appears to hurt me actually blesses me. I am most of all her continuation. From her I learned life's greatest lesson: that my suffering is no more than my spiritual growth, and that I am only accountable to my own self, none or nothing else other than my own self. She helped me lose my self so I could understand the source of most of the world's human suffering: lack of self, abandonment.
My mother also taught me how to suffer for my own good, discipline, so I could accomplish difficult things in this life including my own healing, transformation, and spiritual growth. My brother, my extended family of cousins, aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncle and great great aunts and uncles, neighbors, my communities in which I lived and grew up, and numerous friends and colleagues also taught me and continue to teach me many truly divine lessons along the way.
This work is the continuation of the teachings of my great great grandparents, J.J. Hawes and his wife and family from Lincolnton, Georgia, the Gartell family from Washington, Georgia, my grandmother Sarah Joe Gartrell's family, her Aunt Mattie Maude and specifically my Great Aunt Georgia Gartrell Finch, who appeared to me in a dream long after her "passing" to explain some of the most profound spiritual truths about life to me. This work is as well the continuation of the teachings of my many beautiful and wise cousins on the Hawes side of the family: Cousin Alcie Hawes from Lincolnton, Cousin Bud Hawes and his wife Themmie, Gus Hawes and his parents, Mary and Walter, and more. All who taught me without words the most profound truths that eventually enabled me to transcend my suffering in this life and touch the ultimate reality of no suffering even in this world.
This is an ongoing practice.
Bio Maria Whittaker
Maria practiced poverty and civil rights law and taught law to undergraduates before falling in love with agroecology and the sustainable agriculture movement. Not finding answers to the world's most pressing problems in movement work, in 2014, Maria found Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn's work online and went to practice at his community that same year on her first retreat at Plum Village in France. There she had a profound spiritual awakening which transformed her and her work. She now practices mindfulness regularly in the Thich Nhat Hahn tradition.
She graduated from Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School. She speaks English, French, and some Spanish, KiSwahili, Chinese, Farsi, and Arabic. She has participated in two global movements for food sovereignty: joining the La Via Campesina Caravan for Life and Environmental and Social justice in Mexico in 2010 as a representative of Family Farm Defenders and the TransAfrican Climate Caravan of Hope in 2011 also as a FFD representative. She was chosen for a Bold Food Fellowship in 2011 by Growing Power.
She has done 2 3 month retreats and two shorter retreats (1- 6 week and 1- 5 week) in the Thich Nhat Hahn tradition since 2014. She has also done one 3 month silent retreat and two six week retreats at Hridaya Yoga Retreat Center in Mazunte, Mexico and rural France. She practices with a lay community in the Thich Nhat Hahn tradition in her home town and is a member of Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing, an international lay community of Mindfulness practitioners on the Thich Nhat Hahn tradition which requires 60 days of mindfulness practice every year.
She also studied the Bowen Family System Theory at the world famed Menninger Institute which teaches how suffering is passed from generation to generation through the family and beyond. She continues to participate in growing her understanding of this process and personal healing, transformation and spiritual growth through involvement with the Bowen Center in Washington, D.C.
Advisors
Michael Hernandez PhD, Worthington, Ohio Dr. Michael Hernandez is a Clinical Psychologist.
Sister Peace, Buddhist nun in the Thich Nhat Hahn tradition.
Humphrey Omukuti, Grassroots Food Movement Leader in Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya
Charity Mahouna Hicks In Memoriam
Catherine Murphy, Filmmaker, Maestria, Literacy & Cuban SOlidary Acitivist
Pamela Montanero, Founder, Coordinator, Eco Cuba Network
Marta Benavides, Founder, Siglo XXIII, International Institute for Cooperation Amongst People
Kathryn Gilje, Executive Director of the Ceres Trust and lead consultant for Strategic Currents, LLC. Kathryn previously was director and co-director of the Pesticide Action Network North America. Kathryn co-founded and co-directed Centro Campesino, a membership organization of migrant agricultural workers, rural Latino/as and allies in southern Minnesota. She was senior associate with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, focused on marketing sustainable agriculture and U.S. farm policy. She spent several years on small farms in Minnesota, raising chickens, milking goats and promoting access to healthy, local and fair food. Now, she raises bees and vegetables in Oakland, California. Her training comes from the Organizing Apprenticeship Project, Farm Labor Organizing Committee and through Hispanics in Philanthropy at the Kellogg School of Management. She studied agronomy and environmental science at the University of Minnesota.
Otto Manuel Anderez, Cuban liaison. Reseracher INIFAT, Cuba's Intensive Urban and Sustainable Agriculture Organization.
Emilio Andres, Cuban Liaison, Researcher, ACTAF, Cuban Sustainable Agriculture Organization.
Afriye Fagbulu https://www.medewnefer.com/
Contact Information
Mailing Address: 143A Marshall Street, Yellow Springs, OH 45387.
Email: foodsovereignty@yahoo.com
Telephone: 913 945 1333 (not currently working)
Websites
Spiritual Agroecology: Human Healing, Transformation & Spiritual Growth through Agroecology and Beyond www.fssg.blogspot.com
KC Food Justice
http://kcfoodjustice.blogspot.com/; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Food-Health-and-Environmental-Justice-Coalition/342600635852243
Food Fight! Waging Love! Community Radio Program
http://foodfightwaginglove.blogspot.com/
Cuba-USA Agroecology Solidarity Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CubanSustainableAgriculture/
Organizational Status
"Spiritual Agroecology: Human Spiritual Growth through Agroecology and Beyond" has 501(c)(3) status through its chapter affiliation with Family Farm Defenders. The Kansas Chapter of Family Farm Defenders is registered as a nonprofit corporation in the State of Kansas. Family Farm Defenders is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation based in Madison, WI. FFD advocates for family farmers and food sovereignty and was founded by family farmer John Kinsman. http://familyfarmers.org/
Collaborators
International
Instituto de Investigaciones Fundamentales en Agricultura Tropical “Alejandro de Humboldt” (INIFAT)
Fundación Antonio Núñez Jiménez de la Naturaleza y
el Hombre.
Universidad Agraria de La Habana,http://www.unah.edu.cu/
National
Family Farm Defenders
Rural Coalition
National Latino Ranchers and Farmers Association
The Praxis Project
DBCFSN
Toronto Afri-Can Food Basket
Eastern Michigan Environmental Action Council
Kellogg Foundation
National Family Farm Coalition
Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation
Past Funders
Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation
The Christopher Reynolds Foundation
The Baha'i Community of Kansas City
US State Department
Growing Power
USA Community Food Security Coalition
Kellogg Foundation
The Praxis Project
The Rural Coalition
The Niles Home for Children
The Health Care Coalition of Kansas City
University of Michigan
Plum Village
Magnolia Grove Monastery
Private Individuals
Celeste Michelson
Ken and Loree Gross
Barbara McAtee
Martina Whittaker
Ubaldo Soto
Donations
Tax deductible donations for Spiritual Agroecology can be made to the Kansas Chapter of Family Farm Defenders, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
They can be mailed to the University of Michigan Credit Union, P.O. Box 7850, Ann Arbor, MI 48107-7850.
Copywrite.
To request permission to use any material from this or any of our sites please request permission via email at foodsovereignty@yahoo.com. www.coppyright.com. All of our sites are fully protected by copyright and trademark law.
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