© 2014 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
The Hummingbird Movement takes its name from a Native American legend: One day, the legend says, there was a huge forest fire. All the animals, terrified and terrified, watched the disaster helplessly. Only the little hummingbird was active, fetching a few drops with its beak to throw on the fire. After a while, the armadillo, annoyed by this ridiculous agitation, said to him: “Hummingbird! Aren’t you crazy? You’re not going to put out the fire with these drops of water!”
And the hummingbird replied: "I know, but I’m doing my part. Initiator of the Colibris Movement, recognized as an international expert in the fight against desertification, Pierre Rabhi is one of the pioneers of ecological agriculture in France. Since 1981, he has been passing on his know-how in Africa by seeking to restore food autonomy to the most deprived and to safeguard their nutritional heritage.
Author, philosopher and speaker, he calls for “the insurrection of consciences” to unite what is best in humanity and stop making our paradise planet a hell of suffering and destruction. Faced with the failure of the general condition of humanity and the considerable damage inflicted on Nature, he invites us to emerge from the myth of indefinite growth, to realize the vital importance of our nourishing earth and to inaugurate a new ethic of life towards a “happy sobriety”.
¶ Biography
1938: Son of a blacksmith from southern Algeria, Pierre was entrusted at the age of 5, after the death of his mother, to a European couple. He received a French education while preserving the heritage of his original culture.
1981: He sets up several training programs in France, Europe and Africa. Invited to Burkina Faso where farmers suffer from ecological (repeated droughts) and economic (high cost of fertilizers and pesticides) stagnation, Pierre Rabhi develops his first agroecological action.
1988: Pierre Rabhi is recognized as an international expert for food security and the fight against desertification.
1997-98: At the request of the UN, Pierre Rabhi intervened in the development of the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) and was called upon to formulate concrete proposals for its application.
1999-2000: Creation of Terre & Humanisme. This new structure should make it possible to broaden action in favor of autonomous ecological practices and international solidarity. Launch of new development actions in Niger, Mali and Morocco. Creation by his daughter, Sophie Rabhi, of the Ferme des enfants which offers Montessori pedagogy on the farm for nursery, primary and secondary schools.
2004: Birth of the project to create an agroecological center, Les Amanins, in La Roche-sur-Grâne, in the Drôme. This place of reception, accommodation and education dedicated to ecology carries the values of Terre & Humanisme. The school on the farm opens up to society with the creation of the Hameau des Buis, a true oasis of life and laboratory for experiments of general interest.
2006: Launch of Colibris, Movement for the Earth and Humanism to help everyone build, on their own scale, new models of society based on autonomy, ecology and humanism.
¶ The Living Channel
“All things are connected to each other. You must teach your children that the earth beneath their feet is nothing but the ashes of our ancestors, that the earth is our mother and that everything that happens to the earth happens to the children of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to man, it is man who belongs to the earth. All things are connected to each other as blood is the bond between members of the same family.” Indian Chief Seattle, 1854.
Modernity has built a civilization that is often “off-ground”, disconnected from the laws and rhythms of the Living. However, the least of our actions - eating, drinking, heating, dressing, finding shelter, reading, writing, etc. - has its roots in the earth, the water of our rivers, the wood of our forests, the air of our atmosphere.
¶ In summary, reconsidering the chain of Life means:
- recognize that all living species are linked to each other by relationships of interdependence;
- become aware that we cannot continue to live if we do not respect all of nature to which we belong;
- give up “always more” and “always faster” in our daily lives;
- accept natural rhythms.
Interconnection of all living beings: humans included in nature
All living species are linked to each other by relationships of interdependence. Each of them plays a specific role in the balance of the ecosystem and the different ecosystems interconnect to form the biosphere and allow life on earth. Any species that disappears is like a stitch in the knitting of life that jumps and weakens the whole. Today, the rate of erosion of biodiversity is 100 to 1000 times higher than it would be without the imprint of Man. We are experiencing the sixth major extinction of terrestrial biodiversity and for the first time, this can be explained by the impact of a single species on all the others. Humans, through their disproportionate ecological footprint, are endangering the balance of life and thus compromising their own survival.
The cycle of life: nothing is lost, everything is transformed
The validity of the cycle of life means that, in nature, nothing is lost and everything is transformed. This is how animal droppings in turn nourish the earth; plants absorb the carbon dioxide that we reject and reject the oxygen essential to our life, etc. Here again, the cohesion of all living things is the condition for its sustainability. With modernity, countless wastes have appeared, some of which are non-biodegradable and can no longer be included in this natural cycle. This is an unprecedented break in the history of life on earth. Each French person throws away 360 kg of garbage per year, of which only 20% is recycled. One of the most dangerous wastes rejected by humans, and for which no treatment or recycling solution has yet been found, is that resulting from nuclear electricity. Highly radioactive, it remains toxic for millions of years. What to do?
Reconsidering the chain of life means realizing that we cannot live without respecting all of nature to which we belong. By reducing our ecological footprint and readjusting our lifestyles to the rhythm and biological capacity of the earth, it is possible to find balance again. Agroecology is a fundamental alternative that allows us to place humans at the heart of an integrated system, in harmony with the earth, plants and animals. Reconnecting with nature and the nourishing earth allows us to know how to organize our societies so that the laws of life are respected and can continue.
¶ Mother Earth
We can objectively affirm that the Earth is a mother. It took millennia for the thin layer of arable land to which we owe life to be able to form. The seat of intense and silent activity, generated by microorganisms, fungi, yeasts, earthworms, etc., it is in it that the substances are developed that will allow plants to feed themselves, flourish and reproduce. And it is to plants that animals and humans owe their own survival. The earth, the plant, the animal and the human, are in this way united and inseparable. Thus, life has perpetuated itself since the dawn of time thanks to this logic based on the cohesion of all Living Things. Wanting to forget it, dominate it or transgress it is unrealistic.
¶ Natural cadences
The Earth needs time to renew the resources we extract and to absorb the waste we reject. To meet the production objectives of the globalized economy, we have sought to produce more and more and faster. In agriculture, the land is doped and mistreated to provide everything, all year round and in industrial quantities. This requirement for excessive yield is no longer compatible with the rhythms of nature. In France, the ecological footprint now stands at 5 hectares per inhabitant. However, the biological capacity of the land available per person is 1.9 hectares. This over-revving is unsustainable for the planet. The frenzy of existence of modern times is disconnected from the correct rhythm of natural cycles. This results in an increase in illnesses, stress and behavioral disorders in modern human beings.
