Those who know me...really know me, know that Im not a political person. But Im loyal, and what I love, I love intensely... And this week I was shown an article about legislation that could change Gardening in NZ forever, thanks to large corporations and big business who want *more than their fair share*.... I dont like the world we are becoming - without empathy and compassion, and things being *reasonably fair*, we become less than what we should be, and our lives become small and narrow.
We SHOULD help each other - care for the welfare of one another, and if we dont, what are we becoming and why are we here?... I digress... here it is...
Here it is, the Food Bill that is being talked about on almost every NZ Gardening Forum I subscribe to!
LINK
It scares me to think that this could come to affect us all - from seed banks, florists, markets, smaller growers, organic growers, private gardeners who swap seeds and produce, bartering, trading, selling from the gate, and so much more restrictions and registrations that cost, to be placed upon Gardeners and small gardening businesses - typical of our government controlling the smaller businesses so that Big Business line their pockets - politicians and businessmen alike... the ones who toil and tend their own gardens may lose basic control of that which they grow... Fair? Of course not - but typical of the negative, aggressive and ego-driven, materialistic world that ours is shaping up to be.
Threads like this one HERE and HERE show the fear and stress that these things bring about. This makes it easier to see why these things are passed and agreed upon without intervention - the little people prove to be easy to defeat and have a lot less to bargain with than big business...
Articles like THIS about losing the right to save seed makes me cringe. Im a newbie to the whole gardening world, and I love that I have the freedom to grow what I like where I can... We have to be able to produce food to share - if not, the poor die out, and the richer become even more so.
The silly thing is - SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE has to grow the food... PICK ME :-)
And an update from Sue Kedgeley - HERE
THOUGHTS to end...
Is this a bill that was to be passed through parliament whilst our country congratulates itself on winning the Rugby World Cup?
Or was the timing just coincidental.
Dont believe it - nothing to do with beaucracy is coincidental. Well well, Gardeners - gather and discuss, and as we go to the polls soon -
we need to vote to save our lifestyle and our food!
Im unhappy about this, and I hope that this bill will be thrown out. Im sure I will write about this again, and it leaves a terrible taste in my mouth... or is that the cold coffee I have at the bottom of my cup? :)
Contemplative In Christchurch,
Love to You,
E BUTTERFLY
Good on you earth butterfly, I totally agree with your stance and your words.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it I ask myself that corporates are getting greater freedoms of action be that tax breaks or Legislation while the smaller entities and individuals are becoming even more oppressed. I do not use the word oppressed lightly, but if a people are pushed down and back by legislation such as this then there comes a time all of us need to stand up and be counted.
Could on you EB.