At age 27 I left my homeland, USA, and moved to Switzerland. Since then I have been reflecting on the origin of human values, I believe that social values arise out of a community’s evolution within its natural landscape. For centuries Swiss communities lived isolated from each other, and so had to become self reliant. From valley to valley diverse dialects developed. Swiss communities were also often divided by being at the border of opposing empires. Swiss diplomacy is a result of centuries of service and cunning communication. Besides water, and rocks, Switzerland has no natural resources. They have only their people, and so they invest in mindful awareness.
So if social attitudes and values are reflections of natural landscape, then it seems that to regenerate healthy economic perspectives in disadvantaged communities a holisitic approach to community development is necessary. In addition to the ecovillage design steps that GEN promotes, I have initiated two projects of syntropic farming in Ghana. I believe the combination of the GEN ecovillage design steps and the inclusion of syntropic farming are a most vitalizing form of economic development. With the Dagomba people of northern Ghana, and the Yesu Krom farming community at Atwima Mponua district of the Asanti Region I am focusing on how human language use relates to soil food web interactions, and on how this knowledge empowers subsistent farmers to discover the ecological beauty of syntropic farming.
Primary interests: Promoting Whole Systems Design with the Dagomba and YesuKrom people in Ghana
