A story exploring time travel and societal issues in the wake of 9/11. This is chapter 13. See previous posts for chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.
A thick mane of moss coated the huge fallen trees leaning at improbable angles here and there throughout the forest. At the end of the road into the property was an old school bus, which had been converted into a utility shed/office. This is where Trish met H2 and Ana, who had parked their van halfway up the drive, where a sizable tree had fallen and blocked the way.
Trish wasn't alone. She introduced her companions, who were all young and dressed in earth tones. A few had bits of stuff in their hair. Feathers. Twigs. Yarn and wire. T2 counted sixteen, which meant that some of this forest's residents weren't present. He'd been hoping they'd all show up, but this was most of them. "Everyone," he said loudly, addressing the small gathered crowd. "I came here to meet with Trish, but I also came here to ask you a question. Do you feel free, living with the trees here?"
"Yeah I do," said a young man named Eggs.
"For sure," said a young woman named Rambo.
"Definitely," said Pine Cone.
"Fantastic!" said T2. "And you don't miss all the conveniences of more conventional arrangements?"
"I live in a tree house and hunt for mushrooms all day," said Pine Cone.
"All I do is play guitar," said Eggs.
"Most of us help with running the retreats," said Rambo. "The rest farm. If you were wondering about our income."
"Retreats?" asked T2.
"Groups from the city come up and stay in a big yurt," said Rambo. "Our job is to provide protected healing space for them. They mostly keep to themselves and it works out for everyone."
"Are you staying for the full moon party?" asked Pine Cone.
"That's the plan," said T2
Trish and T2 ended the assembly by leaving to meet in the bus. "This all seems to be working out," he said, finding a seat. "I do have two concerns. First, are these retreats of yours psychedelic in nature? Second, what crop do you farm?"
"My property, my risk," said Trish. "Plus, it's actually important work we're doing. We're helping people."
"Understood," said T2. "Just promise me that you'll never use our network for anything illegal."
"Fine," said Trish. "Can we talk TAP?"
"Okay," said T2. "Let's start with how you gave a hundred thousand dollars to your friends at the local Food Not Bombs chapter."
"They submitted an application like everyone else and I approved it," said Trish.
"That's not where I'm going with this," said T2. "What I want to know is why didn't you give larger amounts to Food Not Bombs groups in other, larger cities? Or a hundred thousand to them and maybe fifty thousand to the group here?"
"So you're not mad?" asked Trish, relieved.
"I just want insight into your strategy," said T2.
"The strategy is mutual aid," said Trish. "Every group gets the same, and any group can appeal to the others for additional funds if the need arises."
"Interesting," said T2. "And is it working out?"
"So far so good," said Trish. "They're buying reliable vehicles for food drops and abandoned lots for community gardens. Some are partnering with street outreach organizations and anti-GMO activists."
"That's great," said T2. "We've never talked about it before, but this is an area where I have strong opinions. I think industrial agriculture in partnership with chemicals manufacturers is one of the greatest threats to our future."
"Okay," said Trish.
"In and of itself, genetic engineering is neither good nor bad. But the most common form of genetic engineering at this time is making plants resistant to glyphosate, so they can slather the fields with it and kill everything but the GMO crops. Glyphosate is of course an endocrine disruptor that probably causes cancer, and it's contaminating the whole food supply."
"Right," said Trish. "Monsanto."
"And Syngenta," said T2. "And Bayer. The list goes on. At the same time, these companies are rolling out pesticides called neonicotinoids. I have it on good authority that these pesticides, in combination with other factors, are starting to cause an insect apocolypse that will wipe out most of the bees and butterflies in under twenty years."
"Shit," said Trish. "Is that why you hired a lobbyist after telling me not to use funds to pay lobbyists?"
"No, my lobbyist is focused on ending cannabis prohibition and starting conversations about Universal Basic Income," said T2. "Sadly, I believe the chemical companies are too powerful to touch. Much like Big Pharma, the war machine, the incarceration industry, and the banking cartels."
"Yeah," said Trish. "Big Oil. All the rest."
"If we can't fight them, my thinking is that the best we can do is displace their power," said T2. "Maybe do what little we can to give the natural world a fighting chance against them. What I want to do is start awarding pollinator habitat grants to people all over the country, administered by TAP. They'd be small, a hundred bucks a pop, but all a person would have to do to qualify is promise to keep pesticides and other industrial chemicals off of a parcel of land. Maybe award five thousand a year for five years?"
"I like it, but what if people cheat?" asked Trish.
"We'll require video documentation of the parcel and their commitment to pollinators," said T2. "My guess is that fraud will be minimal. Do you think you can head the program up?"
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
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