Andy Buckingham

Background

About Andy Buckingham

Pouring my heart into localizing the foodshed of Cape Cod and the Islands. I’ve been called an “unreasonable” systems-thinker; I prefer “realistic potentialist”. No specialization, my goal is to be a generalist across many domains developing a unique and honest perspective of how this world really works 40-some years into this life."The reasonable [hu]man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable [hu]man." George Bernard Shaw An independent oilman in west Texas for 25 years, I casually but consistently observed civilization from the edge of it. Hyper-consciously living the paradox of being a consuming, waste-producing (and energy-producing) human in an ever-needier modern society on a living planet with its finite resources expected to keep supplying “business as usual”. The self-evident truth is that at some point in this period of the human history our collective wants and needs threaten the health and ability for Earth to sustain its own vital ecosystems, and hence, Us. Damaged ecologies and species collapse are of the utmost matters to be addressed across continents and oceans. Last point on this LinkedIn soap box modern society has offered us for the chance to be read by millions. It would be my dream come true for millions of the those that want to get off oil and gas yesterday, to recognize that the cheap oil of the last century has brought the standard of living up for billions and allowed humanity the chance to further develop modern technologies. By hating oil you lose context of the one-time gift it has been, which without, most of us would be spending our time growing the food to feed us or animals… not scrolling our social media feeds with the enormous amount of free time we have compared to the agrarian age that Oil ended. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Buckminster Fuller I vote we listen to Bucky, don’t dismantle our current fossil fuel dominated system until we have a viable non-hydrocarbon alternative. Otherwise the well-being of billions are at stake, even if not aligned with Earth’s natural carrying capacity. So, how do I see making the biggest difference this century: REDUCE our fossil fuel use more than 50% by growing as much of our food as possible in the towns we live. Localize foodsheds everywhere! The impact vastly improved nutrition will have on health will be profoundly healing, and humanity needs healing.