Dirt rich

In the 'Your Weekend' supplement of today's Press, there is a feature about 'the new currency' in town - self-sufficiency and the art of living off the land.  In the current Listener there is an article titled 'Back to the kitchen'. Only two of a plethora of media reports exhorting us to return to our roots and assuring us that such a return is widespread.

Pardon my cynicism, but I wonder to what extent this is a genuine alteration in our ways of living and to what extent it is a knee-jerk reaction to the current economic environment. Living sustainably, enjoying the relationship between garden and kitchen, consuming locally, eating and working 'slow' - is about a way of thinking and being. It's not a fashion that one picks up and discards according to the prevailing economic climate.

I hope the changes are genuine and deep. But I am yet to be convinced...