First, a few words about the 100th monkey effect, from Wikipedia:
100th monkey. Photo from LaDonna Coy. Creative Commons. Click to go to orginal on Flickr.
“The story of the hundredth monkey effect was published in Lyall Watson‘s foreword to Lawrence Blair’s Rhythms of Vision in 1975,[2] and spread with the appearance of Watson’s 1979 book Lifetide. The claim is that unidentified scientists were conducting a study of macaque monkeys on the Japanese island of Koshima in 1952.[3] These scientists purportedly observed that some of these monkeys learned to wash sweet potatoes, and gradually this new behavior spread through the younger generation of monkeys—in the usual fashion, through observation and repetition. Watson then claimed that the researchers observed that once a critical number of monkeys was reached—the so-called hundredth monkey—this previously learned behavior instantly spread across the water to monkeys on nearby islands.
This story was further popularized by Ken Keyes, Jr. with the publication of his book The Hundredth Monkey. Keyes’s book was about the devastating effects of nuclear war on the planet. Keyes presented the hundredth monkey effect story as an inspirational parable, applying it to human society and the effecting of positive change.[4] Since then, the story has become widely accepted as fact….”
From what David E. Gumpert reports from his recent time at the Mother Earth News Fair, it sounds like a similarly critical level of consciousness is being reached on food rights, and we are now starting to see widespread appreciation of the issue:
From David E. Gumpert’s The Complete Patient blog. Click to go there.
“Lots more people are beginning to get it on food rights. They are coming to understand they can’t look the other way when regulators try to intimidate farmers on trumped-up charges. They are beginning to appreciate the importance of becoming directly involved in fighting the assault on private food arrangements. Most important, they are realizing the necessity of standing up to regulators who bob and weave on what is and isn’t allowable on food availability.
These are a few of my take-aways from a couple days spent at the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs, PA, where I was a speaker. I gave two talks based on my book, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Food Rights, and I was impressed by not only the interest in my talks (150 people filled up the room for one), but the enthusiasm, along with questions and comments afterwards….along with the whole tenor of the fair, which is a huge celebration of farming, gardening, and sustainability.
When I described at one of my talks how Michigan hog farmer Mark Baker convinced a judge to let his case go to trial, the audience burst into applause.
“How do we get the word out about all these injustices?” asked one man during the question period.
“What is your outlook for the next five years?” asked another. “Will we make gains, or is it hopeless?”…”
