MINDcreatingMIND-7

MCM-Rural Knowledge

The initiation of these posts on Rural Knowledge in Re-Creating Society is focused on developments beginning in South Dakota simply because the author hereof is a native of rural (near) Lane, South Dakota, State Highway 34.

A PEER COLLABORATIVE TO GENERATE A DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR RE--FORMING GLOBAL SOCIETY WITH AN INITIAL FOCUS ON AGRICULTURE

AgReCulturing the WORLD

This continuing post on Rural Knowledge will be an entry point inviting open participation in the evolving Community of MultiCoRelational Thoreauian-inspired, Free-thinking, Libertarian, Societal Re-Creating, Humanistic Activists focused on Rural Transformations.

WHY THE RURAL FOCUS? [Data from a report on the 2006 World Water Forum]

Farmers are central to the Global environmental crises. Why?

• 2.5 billion people, roughly 40% of the World’s population, live off the land
• Most live on 525 million small farms of 5 acres or less
• These farmers suffer most from poverty, disease, lack of sanitation and clean water, and lack of educational access
• This accounts for 842 million of the World’s hungry, starving or undereducated
• These farms account for 70% of the World’s water consumption and most of its waste, although these farmers live on less than 2.5 gallons of water per day – one thirtieth of the daily usage in developed nations

Perhaps even more critically detrimental to the Earth’s health is the Western practice of monoculture agriculture. The result is a catastrophe happening.

Rural Transformations
Rural Transformations is to be initiated through several inter-related blogs such as the TrueFarmer.com blog suggested below, but with an expected focus to be on featuring the Rural Learning Center of Howard, South Dakota. The purpose for these blogs is that they might serve as the unifying platform for creating/organizing the virtual collaborative and integrated learning (knowledge development and diffusion) environment to help rural communities achieve viable and vital futures.

RURAL TRANSFORMATIONS, INC.

Rural Transformation, Inc. (RTI) was created as a joint enterprise between the Rural Learning Center (RLC) (http://www.rurallearningcenter.com/) located in Howard, SD and TrueFarmer, Inc. (TFI), both RTI and TFI being South Dakota corporations. TFI is focused on the Ag(ricultural) aspects and RTI on the ReCulturing aspects in AgReCulturing the WORLD. To this end RTI staff are also engaged as consultants with the RLC in communities across the region conducting rural economic development/community revitalization activities. It is from this community work that the concept of “social satisfaction” as an economic development strategy was developed by the visionaries behind the RLC.

RTI Blog: building a deep conversation about the future of rural

http://www.reimaginerural.com/, an outgrowth of the Rural Learning Center (see below), is a blog for rural residents who want to be a part of building a new future for their communities. It’s no secret that most rural communities have struggled in recent decades with outmigration, poverty, and general decline. We believe this downward slide can be turned around by the people who take time to reimagine and work towards a different future.

A movement of change is rolling across the rural landscape as many communities pioneer a new future. Rural communities are coming alive with big ideas and people are connecting to each other and to the world of opportunity.

We expect to be sharing ideas on this blog, we hope will inspire rural residents to “reimagine” their communities and become a part of this changing rural landscape.

RLC VISION: renewed hope is the driving force

The Rural Learning Center is a product of visionaries. Both organization and place, it is a platform for rural people to discover, teach, share and reimagine--together. In the midst of Miner County, South Dakota's quiet, remarkable transformation from dying town to place of hope and opportunity, this small rural community has become a living learning laboratory for innovative and sustainable solutions.

Now, as a centerpiece for the work in and out of Miner County, the RLC and dozens of partners are building a learning and demonstration center in Howard, SD (http://www.opportunityhoward.com/). The Maroney Rural Learning Center facility will be a one-of-a-kind conference and training center - a living showcase of innovations in rural sustainability, a gathering place to share and experience rural community learning, and the home of an innovative workforce development experiment.