TED Community » Sally Smith

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Growing food and reducing our reliance on supermarkets-I would love to see all our food grown where we live in our cities and towns and in the land surrounding them.

An idea worth spreading

Forest gardens and perennial vegetables where we live.

Comments

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• A reply on Conversation: Non-American views on American politics

  Jul 9 2012: I agree Barry - I think we could probably manage very well without our murderous leaders!
  The Co-operative movements and Transition Town initiatives in UK and US and elsewhere are the beginnings of a way that humanity could manage itself. Farmers markets are huge in the US aren't they? I read somewhere recently that small farms outnumber agri-business farms for the first time in a long time.
  It's not just about food but I think if we can control our food/water supply along with energy and transport, we've got the means to manage. I worry about the cargo-cult that is present day capitalism; any challenge to the drive to make profits is actually described as communism!
  There was a Native American chief who said something like,'when all the fish and animals have gone, only then will you realise that you can't eat money'...

• A comment on Conversation: Non-American views on American politics

  Jul 6 2012: The USA is an empire coming to an end.
  
  When Britain was an empire the majority of the home population were living in poverty and had no idea what riches their lords and masters were amassing through exploiting and murdering in most of the world.
  
  The USA became an empire in a more informed and relatively richer world but still exploits and murders at will in other countries while the home population has no idea why the nation can afford to do so whilst being unwilling, for example, to provide free healthcare to it's own citizens.
  
  Thankfully empires tend towards entropy and one day the US and UK will slide into a reality much like Portugal which was once the only superpower and is now a quiet backwater where people live normal lives!

• A comment on Conversation: Is there such a thing as a bad person?

  Jul 6 2012: You're welcome Lia!
  The more empathy humanity has for itself the more likely we'll stop genocide/war happening.

• A comment on Conversation: Is there such a thing as a bad person?

  Jul 5 2012: I think there are degrees of empathy rather than good or bad people.
  
  Neuroscience is discovering how the brain works in social situations and finding out what I was taught in Psychology many years ago that all human behaviour is on a continuum. That Norwegian killer is on the minus scale of ability to empathise with his fellow humans and Aung San Suu Kyi would fit well at the plus end of the scale. I think most of humanity empathises somewhere in between depending on nature/nurture and who they're talking to.
  A religious person is not necessarily empathetic towards other people and a dirty person is not necessarily a burglar. I think good/bad is incredibly judgmental and degrees of empathy give room for mature discussion.
• +1

  A comment on Theme: Is There a God?

  Jul 4 2012: Of course there is no God - we are the gods!
  
  We know so much that was unknowable now; there's no point continuing to divide humanity into neat God domains.
  
  All life has been on this planet for billions of years back to amoeba when we all first started - let's start being awed by our deep, deep connection to this planet.