Rice Mother Sets the Tone

I'm occasionally asked if this topic is really as important, timely, relevant or urgent, as I say it is?  My first thought is always, "Don't you read?  Are you a citizen of the world?  Are you informed?  Do you do read, don't you?"  But my job is to inform, not to be rude or judge.  And, given that my work is, in large measure, guided by a revered spirit, I speak, as the Rice Mother might of larger themes that will potentially make a difference in their lives.  Did you know, for example, that it is her view that the work of growing rice is the ideal form human labor, reflecting a well-ordered, moral society?  There's something poetic about that.  The Rice Mother sets the tone of each and every blog and episodic mini-documentary series my name is associated with. 


Since ancient times, the Rice Mother has tapped into the psychology and resiliency of the poor rural farm communities and invited them into the process of living well during easy times and surviving well during difficult times.

Southeast Asia is already struggling with a climate that is no longer the climate of the past.  The rural rice farmers I address are well aware of the growing problem of climate change but often consider themselves disenfranchised and too uninformed to know what to do.  The Reviving the Rice Mother web series, in a rising tide of Internet use in that part of the world, will show the rural rice farmers how to prepare for and adapt to the already extraordinary changes around them.  They will be assured that their families can survive the expanding droughts, floods, and diminishing rice yields.  The documentary series is strategically designed to reveal what they can accomplish when there is a vastly increased opportunity to share practices, tools, planning and the implementation adaptation activities.  

As one rural rice farmer told me, "At last, farmers like me will have the information we need to feed our families."  That optimism is from someone who is already at the mercy of not only changing weather patterns and commodity prices but also with very low access to technology, information, and markets.  

Important, timely and relevant?  By all means.  Urgent?  Oh yes. Please pay attention.