An indigenous woman from Fang Thai is working with villagers to decolonize the life cycle of a sacred plant food.
In Fang Thai, (also India and China and the US) ... burning large swaths of land containing remnants of crops at the end of harvest like all the farmers do makes bad air quality[1], but since it is done just once a year most tend to think it is okay... but the wastefulness has been normalized by colonization.
Letting it rot on the soil creates methane (also not good).
Colonization tends to brainwash colonized humans (that is: those who seek the work products of small villagers) into thinking of the plant as a homogeneous commodity; is good for selling the rice grains only, discard the rest (burn or re-till).
The leftover material, however, can be used other ways not burning. The indigenous woman is making biodegradable alternative to plastic ¨to go¨ containers that street food vendors in nearby cities can use instead of Styrofoam.
Sharing good ideas globally[3] means credit the genius properly. To her, we extend Ecosteader Long Memory, or #ELM. Good work, Jaruwan Khammuang!
https://seed.uno/enterprise-profiles/fang-thai-factory
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8kodphRkAc
