Clear blue sky. Fluffy white clouds. A baby intermittently cries behind me. As I write this, I’m 18,000 feet up, sitting on a plane flying from Brisbane to Port Macquarie in NSW, my hometown, to look after my parent’s farm for a week. As I look across the top of the clouds and below at the seemingly endless expanse of farms, fields and forests, crisscrossed and punctuated by creeks, rivers and lakes, I can’t help but wonder what impact we humans are having agriculturally and ecologically on the land and water.

Are the farmers below aware of and embracing more sustainable change and aware of their impact on the environment, good or bad? Are the towns, homes, businesses and vehicles below all going about their lives and actions aware of the bigger picture on the Earth?

I wonder how many of the farms below are embracing permaculture and urban farming practices, especially in the towns. How many properties, whether hobby farms or working commercial farms, are organic – partly or completely – how many families have chickens and/or other animals, how many grow some or most of their own food, and how many are living more sustainably on the planet?

Like many, I live in hope that increasing numbers of farmers, professional and pottering, are turning to more sustainable and organic methods of earthcare, and embracing practices as taught by experienced permaculture, urban farming and other teachers, including revolutionary teachers like Joel Salatin, RegenAg and others. This shift in awareness and change by farmers, however, is only one side of the coin. The other side, and perhaps the impetus behind the shift in farming, is the demand for more organic, natural and healthy food and products by the public.

My greatest hope, though, is for many more urban families and businesses to grow their own, get a few chickens and embrace organic and permaculture lifestyles. It’s not only possible and easy – it’s essential for our individual, collective and global future.