HEATHENS, PAGANS & VILLAINS
I refer to Eliot Coleman’s article ‘The Importance of Soil’, in Resurgence & Ecologist Issue 283.
Perhaps one reason why we have become soil destroyers can be traced to the use of our language. Consider these words: Pagan, Heathen, Villain. Not nice names to call anyone. But look at their origins. Pagan is derived from a Latin word meaning ‘the homelands’: the fields of the father and the family. A Pagan worked those fields and cared for the land as his family duty. A Pagan was the one who remained at home caring for the land.
Then we have a snobbery developing between ...
There are approximately 717 more words in this article.
To read the rest of this article, please buy this issue, or join the Resurgence Trust. As a member you will receive access to the complete archive of magazines from May 1966.
If you are already a member, please Sign in
