Save the Amazon: Grow a backyard garden

There are myriad data and stats thrown around all the time about the rate at which the Amazon rain forest is shrinking, due to land being consumed for crops and animals. So many feet per second, acres per year, football fields per day, and such. It's all very disheartening to hear about a large wonderful ecosystem like the Amazon being desecrated for the sake of soy and beef. I'm not much of a numbers guy so I won't add a digit to the orgy. But what I will do is offer a solution. And in this solution can also be found answers to many of our other societal shortcomings that become more apparent daily.

You will often hear proponents of organic foods say, "eat local." This means to consume food that has been grown within a predetermined range of let's say 5 to 10 to 100 miles. Some will argue the exact distance from farm to table, but the point is the closer the food was grown to where it is eaten, the better. Reasons for this are aplenty: it supports local economy/farmers; it's fresher; due to freshness, it tastes better; the foods ripen on the plant/vine; less chemicals are needed to produce nutritious foods; it has traveled less and therefore spent less fuel; it promotes healthy land development; ad infinitum. Another major reason is that is puts less strain on ecosystems/economies in far away lands, like the Amazon. You can trust that a tomato grown 7 miles from your doorstep has done less damage than one that has traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles.

But what about the beauty of a vine-ripened tomato that was grown 7 feet from your door? A sprig of rosemary clipped minutes before being added to a dish? An onion so fresh, clods of dirt still stick to its roots? Apart from the philosophical aspect of growing your own food, the practical benefits are endless.

No need to run to the store to pick up a bottle of thyme that was dried months (or years) ago in a farm where pesticides and fungicides and chemical bathes called fertilizer were used to "make" it grow. Forget tasteless lettuce, grown hydroponically in a hothouse thousands of miles away in the winter, apples that have sat "ripening" in a warehouse for months, or oranges with waxes and chemicals to make the fruit orange and plump.

You can have the best of all these plants right in your back yard. Unbeatable freshness, minus the enigma of where it actually came from. As a matter of fact, do you know where your food comes from? Honestly, I must admit that I too am not aware, which further proves the point that I don't know what has been done to it, and how it has affected its place of origin. For all I know the soy beans I pop in my mouth could have sprouted in the same place where mammoth trees once stood.

Another reason to grow your own food, is that it will lessen our dependence on fuels like oil. If you organically grow your own potato, for instance, there is little if any oil consumed in the process. On the other hand, if you purchased a potato that was mass produced in Idaho, petroleum based chemicals used as fertilizers and pesticides, gas used to plant and harvest, energy used to transport, separate, and ship, you have run up quite a high energy bill for a single potato. Growing your own foodstuff will greatly reduce our need for resources.

All it takes is a seed, in your mind or in the ground. It starts somewhere. And where you end up may be miles or steps from where you expected.

P.S I "borrowed" the above picture from www.photographersdirect.com, if you couldn't tell. I hope this frees me from liability.

You and Your Company

We all hold companies to high standards of financial reporting. When it comes to the publichly held companies, they must have standard reporting practices such as quarterly statements and GAAP accouting. They are stringently judged by analysts, speculators, investors and the market in general. If they don't do well in a particular quarter, the stock often drops (which brings up another concern for another time). On the other hand, if the company has strong revenue, low expenses, good accounting practices and reporting, usually a company and its stock will do well.

What about You?

For all the time you spend analyzing charts, ticks and reports, do you put in the same time and emphsis in your own "company?" You are a small (or large) company in and of yourself. You have revenue (income), expenses (expenses), and budgets to keep track of it all. Or you should.

If a company spends more money than it makes and it doesn't change or get help, it will go bankrupt. If you spend more money than you make, you too will go bankrupt. If a company doesn't keep records of its activities, it will not know how much or little it makes or has. The same with you. If you don't keep track of what you make or spend, you will have no idea if you have money or not. Is this a good way to go about something that is so important?

A company may seem more important becasue it is bigger and makes more money, but you are your own company and are importatnt to yourself or your family. Run your finances like a company. Hold yourself to high standards when it comes to taking note of what comes in what goes out, and how it goes out.

This leaves us with some final questions. In what state are your finances? Are you an Enron or a Google (GOOG)? Would anybody purchase shares in your company?

Would you?

Compound Interest

Most of us are aware of the benefits of compound interest. Albert Einstein, noting its value, said,“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.” Depending on frequency, compound interest is basically the principle amount times a rate plus interest, added over and over again.

But what about other things, like skills? If we start something at an earlier age, compounding our skills on top of each other, then don't they add up to something great?

I have been pondering an idea lately of something I call "ultimate expression." It is almost self-explanatory, but allow me to indulge. A while back, I read an article from Fortune Magazine titled, What It Takes To Be Great. The article spoke of people such as Tiger Woods and Warren Buffet, performing at the top of their game and at the top of the world because of something called deliberate practice . The stories' thesis was: anyone can achieve a level of greatness with time and deliberate practice. The key is deliberate practice, also known as dedication/due dilligence/determination. This article may have prompted the idea of the ultimate expression.

There is something in life that everyone is passionate about. There is something inside that, when it comes out, makes you feel great. Some play an instrument, some sing, others play sports or teach. There are endless ways to express this passion. If you are fortunate enough, your work can fulfill this desire. But for most of us, our job is well, a job. We find other ways to make us feel whole.

This expression is the soul escaping into the external world. It is the reflection of what is in you, casting its presence into the material world. For Picasso, it was through his vision and by extension, his hand and the canvas. For Pavarotti, it is through his sonorous voice. For Ali, it was with his graceful movement and hand-speed in the ring, and to a great extent his ability to manipulate his opponents' mind. For those of us watching, they make it look like child-play, like it's the easiest thing they've ever done. It is amazing when we get to see someone's soul on display. We are left in awe in the presence of a great soul at its zenith.

But we know that it isn't easy. It takes years of dedication to reach these levels. Take Ali for example. Do you think he spent all his time praying to Allah to help him win fights? Of course not. He spent hours circling and pounding a bag, hours dancing in a ring, countless hours perfecting his footwork and technique and always pushing and improving himself. It does take this much to be "The Greatest."

Although some of us are lucky enough to find our ultimate expression, others spend their entire lives searching for something that fulfills this desire. You need not become (and likely will not become) as famous as Tiger Woods or Muhammad Ali, but the feelings can be the same. For those of you who have found it, then, it is your duty to make use of it, to nurture and let blossom this inherent beauty. For the rest of us, I pose these questions:

What is your ultimate expression? How does your soul speak to others, or to yourself, for that matter? It's compound interest of your interests, for passion, not money, that makes you rich.