The Plot to End Farming

Alexis is turning the history-compost pile

Apr 11, 2024

This is the first post in a series. You can find Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

The April 1, 2024 session of the IPAK-EDU Director’s Science Webinar featured the research of Alexis Baden-Mayer. The research she presented is both eye-opening and compelling, woven around a timeline of people and organizations, stretching back from the end of the 19th century to the present.

Here’s a clip from the webinar: meet Alexis.

The title of the talk is evocative and full of intrigue. Upon hearing the title of the talk, some reacted with incredulity and skepticism. The word plot can be a trigger, certainly. The implication is one of a secret and nefarious conspiracy, which sometimes evokes a reflex response, depending on the subject matter.

It’s an interesting word to reflect on.

The word plot is fascinating because outside the realm of storytelling, it comes to us from Old English (‘small piece of ground of defined shape’) and the origins are for the most part unknown. It is also related to the Middle English plat which retains the sense of defining an area of land, as in a plat map.

By the 16th century, usage was more explicit with regard to mapping, connoting: ‘to make a map or diagram of, lay down on paper according to scale’. It isn’t hard to imagine that notions of ‘mapping’ and ‘planning’ somehow combining with ‘conspiring’ in the usage of the word plot, to eventually mean ‘to lay plans for, conspire to effect or bring about’ (often with ill intent).

In a storytelling context, the plot is the sequence of events that propels the reader from beginning to end. For a story, it is in many ways, not unlike a plat map; that is, it gives structure and definition to the events, characters, and interests of a tale.

A plat map is a bird’s-eye view of a parcel of land: defining boundaries, features, and their relationships—it allows one to see three dimensional relationships in two dimensions'. The map accentuates the ability to perceive and measure proximity, distance, boundaries, and certain relationships, which may not be visible or obvious to someone actually walking and exploring the property on the ground.

An example of a plat map from St Vincent, Minnesota. These public record maps often included the names of property owners. Image: Public Domain

Laying characters and events out in a timeline can be similarly enlightening. Like a bird’s eye view, it’s a shift in perspective. It can allow for perception of relationships distant in time. It revealsri recurring patterns, players, or themes. A timeline also can illustrate a progression over time.

One relevant narrative structure in storytelling has been called the Fichtean Curve, explored by John Gardner in The Art of Fiction. The Fichtean Curve describes a series of narrative episodes which rise and gradually build toward a climactic crisis.

Here is an example of this using the familiar story of Star Wars.

A Fichtean Curve for Star Wars. Image: Source unknown.

Alexis’ presentation walks this kind of path—presenting us with a timeline that reads like a Fichtean Curve. A progression of characters, events, inventions, policies, and uprising, all leading toward a mounting climax: the crisis of now.

Here’s another clip from the webinar at the start of her talk.

Nazi coal butter? Who knew!

Click here to go to Part 2 of this series.

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Subscribers to the IPAK-EDU Director’s Science Webinar get full access to webinar recordings, including this 2.5+ hour session with Alexis Baden-Mayer.

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Check out Alexis on Substack and her work at the Organic Consumers Association.