Quorum Sensing...

There is this thing called quorum sensing. I must admit to being kind of fascinated by the concept after hearing a TED talk by Bonnie Bassler. Simply she talks about bacteria that exert a critical effect when they reach a certain point. I cannot help to draw comparisons between the human and microbiological world and whatever way my brain is wired this takes up rent space!

Do you get the sense that something is shifting and that we are sensing a quorum enough to elicit critical impact responses? We certainly do at The Urban Co-op! If you have been following the commentary each month you may be up to speed with the Dutch farmers protests have resulted in a landslide political movement seeing farmers strongly represented in government. 

We describe The Urban Co-op as an environment that inspires action and relate to the rising tide of inspiration coming from The Netherlands for our own farmers here. Last weekend saw a large gathering of farmers and landowners in Athlone at the launch of Farmers Alliance. Farmers no longer feel represented by the official organisations we are familiar with, and the rumblings of discontent are echoing up from the grassroots into concerted action. Naturally the urge to coalesce and seek commonality of purpose is there. Now it is about co-operating for everyone to benefit.  The challenge will be to do it equally. Often though the beginning of social movements attracts attention from those who seek just that – the attention. Committing to the long haul is a different sort of ethic and involves hard work. Who will emerge to do this..? What can I say… watch this space! 

​Anne Maher