I liked learning about all that ECHO does to train and help others learn to grow food and essentials to make their lives and that of their communities more successful. Not only do they teach them to grow but also show them many other things to make things easier and/or more productive like using cow manure gasses as fuel! Many of their success stories start with one person who was struggling just to survive and yet was willing to try and learn new ways to do things that could literally mean life or death to him. Then they take that knowledge and share it with others in their community to help them and their families survive and thrive as well.
From the information I understood from the video and website, ECHO has been doing these things and helping people in impoverished counties successfully for 34 years. They have learned what works and what doesn't through trial and error and only use things that work BETTER and that do not seem to harm the environment at all. We have discussed in class the desperate need for innovative ways to help sustain our resources and environment. For me, I am not sure why this same format isn't being used to come up with these types of ideas to help with these issues closer to home as well. If the same effort had been put into it that ECHO has put in in the last few decades, things may be different right now. People seem to care and talk about it but not much ACTION has actually taken place. I read in our text about all these meetings that take place and data that is collected and people say "we need to do something" and yet in a lot of those meetings the only thing done is scheduling the next meeting.
Seems to me that those people in these "meetings" need to take a few lessons from ECHO!
