b'marching towards the cliff of cultural and ecological collapse, a bit too much like fiduciarily numbed lemmings. OUCH! Staring the fiduciarily numbed lemming in the face can be tough medicine. Lets get back to the pig. On September 9, 2009, that Niman Ranch hog peered out at 400 people from 42 states and a few countries, gathered at the Santa Fe farmers market for the first national Slow Money gathering. Wed come to talk about investing in organic farms and local food systems, about how to bring some of Our Own Money back down to earth:We have two sets of problems, and they are deeply interrelated. The first problem is that money is moving faster and faster, becoming increasingly difficult to manage and eroding social capital. The second problem is that our food system is unsustain-able and petrochemical dependent, and it is eroding the soil.Both of these problems are part of the same whole. Marcel Proust wrote: The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. With respect to the problems we are considering here, having new eyes means seeing the relationship between the speed of capital and the fertility of the soil. 14That very same day, the Aspen Institute issued a report entitled, Over-coming Short-termism: A Call for a More Responsible Approach to Investment and Business Management, signed by Warren Buffett, John Bogle and other luminaries of business and finance.14 Opening Remarks by this author at Slow Moneys first national gathering, 20099955'