DOCSLIB.ORG

Sustainability in a Post-Petroleum World Contributions of Communal Studies

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sustainability in a Post-Petroleum World Contributions of Communal Studies Sustainability in a Post-Petroleum World Contributions of Communal Studies Plenary Presentation International Communal Studies Association 9th Triannual Meeting Damanhur, Italy 29 giugno 07 Albert Bates Global Village Institute for Appropriate Technology The full paper and this slide show is a free download at thegreatchange.com Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License sustainability what does that mean? Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air & ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change February 2007 Climate Change ClimateClimate ChangeChange Source: Bates, Climate in Crisis (1990) Climate Change IPCC-3 (2001) projected temperature rise scenarios vs. IPCC-4 (2006) observed 20°C 18°C You are here 17°C 16°C 1900 2000 2100 Source: Bates, Post-Petroleum Survival Guide (2006) Climate Change TheThe FaFarmrm The Farm Unanticipated: isotherm creep Climate Change Climate Change Climate Change Climate Change The European Heat Wave of August 2003 killed 35,000 Key Findings IPCC-4 - Holdren Group - Pentagon - Stern - Lynas - Lovelock IPCC-3 (2001) understated the risk It is possible we could see a 6.4°C increase by 2100 Exceeding 2 - 2.5°C above 1750 levels would entail intolerable impacts (ie: risk of human extinction) due to tipping points We are already 1°C above 1750 levels The observed rate of warming is accelerating There is no guarantee that stopping all carbon emissions now would halt the rise of temperature 1°C Increase - Right Now Ice-free sea absorbs more heat and accelerates global warming; fresh water lost from a third of the world's surface; low-lying coastlines flooded; hurricanes increase; droughts 2°C Increase - the Age of Loneliness South Europe dies of heatstroke; Amazon ravaged by fire; stressed plants beginning to emit carbon rather than absorbing it; a third of all species go extinct 3°C Increase Carbon release from vegetation and soils speeds global warming; death of the Amazon rainforest; super-hurricanes hit coastal cities; starvation in Africa 4°C Increase Runaway thaw of permafrost makes global warming unstoppable; much of Britain made uninhabitable by severe flooding; Mediterranean region abandoned This is not inevitable... 5°C Increase Methane from ocean floor accelerates global warming; ice gone from both poles; humans migrate in search of food and try vainly to live like animals off the land 6°C Increase Life on Earth ends with apocalyptic storms, flash floods, hydrogen sulphide gas and methane fireballs racing across the globe with the power of atomic bombs; only fungi survive ... possibly. Climate Change Source: Met Office, Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research (Reading Unit), Meteorology Building, University of Reading, UK The Hockey Stick Climate Change Billions of Bbls per Yr 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 P1990ea2000 k Oil Dramatic Improvement in Oil 3.5 Production Field Technology 3.0 2.5 80 PRODUCTION 2.0 (Billions of Barrels per PRICE 1.5 Year) (2003 $ per Price barrels) 1.0 0.5 0 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 High prices & advanced technology did not reverse trends! SAIC/MISI WORLD OIL SUPPLY & DEMAND: LOWER 48 PRODUCTION PATTERN & EXTRAPOLATED DEMAND GROWTH Extrapolated Demand - Growing World Economy 120 100 Shortage 80 PRODUCTION 60 (MM bpd) L 48 production Assumed: 40 pattern • Demand @ 2% 20 • Oil Decline @ 2% 0 • Peak @ 100 MM bpd -20 -10 0 +10 +20 (Not a prediction) YEARS BEFORE / AFTER OIL PEAK SAIC / MISI k? ea hen is the P W Confidence in particular year coming at or following onset HIGH World Oil Production 2002-2006 and 5-year Average MODERATE 2005 2010 2020 2035 Even if we know when it will break, what is the shape of the curl? Peak Oil Ghawar Production, 2006 (The Oil Drum) Saudi Arabia Production and Exploration, 2001-2006 (The Oil Drum) Peak Oil Observed and Projected Distribution of Liquid Fuel Reserves, 1930-2050 (ASPO) Peak Oil The peaking of world oil production presents the U.S. and the world with an unprecedented risk management problem. As peaking is approached, liquid fuel prices and price volatility will increase dramatically, and without timely mitigation, the economic, social and political costs will be unprecedented. Viable mitigation options exist on both the supply and demand sides, but to have substantial impact, they must be initiated more than a decade in advance of peaking. —U.S. Department of Energy, March 2005 [F]ederal agencies currently have no Peak Oil coordinated or well-defined strategy either to reduce uncertainty about the timing of a peak or to mitigate its consequences. This lack of a strategy makes it difficult to gauge the appropriate level of effort or resources to commit to alternatives to oil and puts the nation unnecessarily at risk. — U.S. Govt Accountability Office, March 30, 2007 Sweden will: Peak Oil . Ration energy to all industries . Convert entirely to biofuels and passive solar for space heating . Continue the CO2 tax introduced in 1991 . Increase the tax on energy use threefold by 2010 . Participate in the Kyoto trading regime . Continue retiring nuclear plants as wind power comes on line . Develop 10 TWhr of installed wind energy by 2015, well more than provided by the 8 remaining nukes Oil Depletion Protocol Peak Oil a. No country shall produce oil at above its current Depletion Rate, such being defined as annual production as a percentage of the estimated amount left to produce; b. Each importing country shall reduce its imports to match the current World Depletion Rate, deducting any indigenous production. Scenarios Last One Standing Peak Oil - the way of WAR and COMPETITION Waiting for the Magic Elixir - FALSE HOPES, WISHFUL THINKING and DENIAL PowerDown - the path of SELF LIMITATION, COOPERATION & SHARING Building Lifeboats - the path of COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY and PRESERVATION From ‘POWERDOWN’ Richard Heinberg - New Society Publishers, 2004 Climax Industrial Compost-Modernism Peak Oil Modernism (Permaculture) Pre-industrial sustainable Future low energy culture sustainable culture 1000 1500 2000 2500 Yrs AD after D. Holmgren, Permaculture (2002) World Population 9 billion 6 billion 3 billion 1 billion Cows 3.2 billion 2 billion 1 billion .0.5 billion Bacteria in bottle double every minute The bottle is full in one day www.globalpublicmedia.com/transcripts/645 www.hubbertpeak.com/bartlett/ We stand at an unique historical moment. Hairless Apes in Gasoline Crack of History? —Wm. H. Burroughs Civilizations collapse. PopulationPopulation wellwell aboveabove historicallyhistorically stablestable levelslevels PoliticalPolitical corruptioncorruption andand mindlessmindless intriguesintrigues TooToo manymany farmers,farmers, tootoo manymany crops,crops, tootoo muchmuch ofof thethe landscapelandscape employedemployed inin productionproduction——soilsoil fertilityfertility crashcrash DeforestationDeforestation andand desertificationdesertification ClimateClimate changechange oror extremeextreme ofof regionalregional climateclimate pendulumpendulum DiminishedDiminished resilienceresilience toto naturalnatural disasterdisaster IncreasedIncreased migration/fightingmigration/fighting inin searchsearch ofof resourcesresources DiseaseDisease andand pestilencepestilence PopulationPopulation crashcrash Easter Island: They Didn’t Make it! Ticking Time Bombs Chemical plants & refineries in a reduced-regulation environment Nuclear wastes, reactors, and components Bioweaponry, and accidental runaway genes Super-viruses and bacteria Financial derivatives and currency collapse Cowboys in government Climate Change + Peak Oil + Toxic Timebombs + Population Explosion = Planetary Life Disaster We do not have long. Solutions The Batestrix Extreme Warming 5-15°C Stable Chaos and (growth) Collapse Economy Slightly Warmer < 1°C Extreme Warming 5-15°C Stable Chaos and (growth) Collapse Economy Slightly Warmer < 1°C Extreme Warming 5-15°C Stable Chaos and (growth) Collapse Economy The Postman Slightly Warmer < 1°C Extreme Warming 5-15°C Plan A Plan D Worst Case Stable Plan B Plan C Chaos and (growth) Collapse Economy Plan B Plan C Plan A Plan D Best Case Slightly Warmer < 1°C Plan A Business As Usual Sustained Growth Use the harder to get, more expensive fossil fuels, even though they will generate much more CO2. Enhanced Recovery Tar Sands Coal to Liquid Nuclear Fission, Eventually Fusion Michael Chertoff Hydrogen from Fossil or Nuclear Resource Wars, Halliburton Archer Daniels Midland, Monsanto Plan B Some Alternative (The Magic Bullet) Al Gore Sustained Growth Plug-in Prius LEEDS Triple Bottom Line Photovoltaics, Wind, Tidal, Biogas Amory Lovins Hydrogen from Solar; Fuel Cells William McDonough The Thurston Howard IIIs Plan C Cutback, Curtailment, Powerdown “Sustainable Retreat” - Lovelock “Conservor Community” - Murphy “Re-localization” - Darley Julian Darley “Voluntary Simplicity” - Robin Ecovillages Victory gardens Horses Pat Murphy Home fuels Gilligan’s Island Vicki Robin Plan D Die-Off, Civil Collapse, Anarchic Transition Michael Ruppert Meltdown Warlords Dmitry Orlov Packs of feral pets Survivalists with guns Succession by other species Richard Heinberg James Howard Kunstler Extreme Warming 5-15°C Plan A Plan D Stable Hot Hot Chaos Stable Plan B Plan C Chaos and (growth) Collapse Economy Plan B Plan C Stable Cool Cool Chaos Plan A Plan D Slightly Warmer < 1°C Linearity Seduction of Antrocentricity Have we fulfilled our purpose as a species? Meme
Load more

Recommended publications
  • ROMAHDUS Vipu
    ROMAHDUS ViPu Lokakuu 2014 1 Sisällys Lukijalle……………………………………………………… 2 1 Mikä romahdus?…………………………………………… 2 2 Romahduksen lajeista……………………………………… 6 3 Romahduksen vaiheista…………………………………… 15 4 Teoreetikkoja ja näkemyksiä……………………………… 17 5 Romahdus—maailmanloppu, apokalypsi, kriisi, utopia… 25 6 Romahdus ja selviytyminen………………………………. 29 7 Pitääkö romahdusta jouduttaa?…………………………… 44 8 Romahdus, tieto ja hallinta………………………………… 49 9 Romahdus ja politiikka…………………………………….. 53 2 Lukijalle Tämä teksti on osa pohdiskelua, jonka tarkoituksena on luoda pohjaa Vihreän Puolueen poliittiselle toiminnalle. Tekstin aiheena on jo monin paikoin ja tavoin alkanut teollisten sivilisaatioiden ja modernismin kehityskertomuksen romahdus. Tekstin ensimmäiset 8 lukua käsittelevät erilaisia teorioita, käsityksiä ja vapaampaankin ajatuksenlentoon nojaavia näkökulmia romahdukseen. Ne eivät siis missään nimessä edusta ViPun poliittisia käsityksiä tai tavotteita, vaan pohjustavat alustavia poliittisia johtopäätöksiä, jotka esitetään luvussa 9. Toisin sanoen luvut 1-8 pyörittelevät aihetta suuntaan ja toiseen ja luku 9 esittää välitilinpäätöksen, jonka on edelleen tarkoitus tarkentua ja elää tilanteen mukaan. Tätä romahdus-osiota on myös tarkoitus lukea muiden ViPun teoreettisten tekstien kanssa, niiden ristivalotuksessa. 1 Mikä romahdus? Motto: "Yhden maailman loppu on toisen maailman alku, yhden maailmanloppu on toisen maailmanalku." Moton sanaleikin tarkoitus on huomauttaa, että vaikka yhteiskunnan romahdus onkin yksilön ja ryhmän näkökulmasta vääjäämätön tapahtuma, johon
    [Show full text]
  • A Concise History of the Global Ecovillage Movement
    A Concise History of the Global Ecovillage Movement by E.C. Mare Autumn 2000 Elisabeth’s House COPYRIGHT © 2000/2012 – Village Design Institute – All Rights Reserved 1 The “ecovillage” is the latest conceptualization in a long history of utopian visions: model living situations that have the potential for bringing out the best in human nature. It seems that every age has its own version of Utopia, which literally means ‘no place.’ Sir Thomas More set the stage in 1518 by publishing the first Utopia, an ironic satire of Elizabethean England at the dawning of the Age of Colonialism. His story subtly ridiculed the pretentiousness, avariciousness, and pompousness of the colonial gentry and noble classes by depicting an ideal society in a fictional new land that achieved social stability, peace and justice by adopting values of simplicity and egalitarianism. In Utopia, captured military intruders were paraded around in gaudy gold jewelry and elaborate clothing while the native population were unadorned and wore unassuming plain linen cloth.1 Many more utopian visions were practiced, preached, or experimented on in Europe – and especially in the new land of America – in the next several hundred years: the Puritans, the Luddites, the Zionists, the Amish, the Quakers, the Mormons, Amana, Walden and Walden Two, etc….the list is quite long, and includes varied backgrounds – religious, secular, social co-operative, political. All of these groups were revolutionaries or reactionaries of some kind that sought to address the excesses and problems of their respective times by setting themselves apart somewhat from the mainstream and adopting and following creeds and values believed to be qualitatively superior to the status quo, often creeds and values of a spiritual nature that framed human potential in a higher, more resplendent light.
    [Show full text]
  • Part I: Introduction
    Part I: Introduction “Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.” -Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776) “For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it.” -Patrick Henry (1776) “I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth. On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen -- but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead.” -William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator (1831) “Gas is running low . .” -Amelia Earhart (July 2, 1937) 1 2 Dear Reader, Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon. This is not the wacky proclamation of a doomsday cult, apocalypse bible prophecy sect, or conspiracy theory society.
    [Show full text]
  • As the World Burns……..……….....……………….…
    $65.00 per year $6.00 U.S. A Nonpartisan Non-sectarian MAP for the Here That Is, Into the Tomorrow of Our Own Making Vol. VII, No. 8 ——–—————–———————————————————–—–——–————————— Dec 8, 2004 © Copyright 2004 FTW Economic Alert AsAs TheThe WorldWorld BurnsBurns By Michael C. Ruppert -- But when the run on the dollar begins, OPEC will inevitably at some point switch its pricing to the Euro, which the entire world is wrangling - much to Europe's chagrin - into not only a safe-haven currency, but a profitable one. The next house is being built before the old one is abandoned. When the run on the dollar begins, it will be as if the rest of the world declared war on the United States of America by launching a missile, dropping a bomb, or landing an army at Bethany Beach, Delaware. That this will lead ultimately to widespread global warfare seems certain. This is exactly the way the administration is setting it up to appear to the American people. Think of 9/11 times fifty. The rest of the world is merely defending itself with non-violent means - for the moment. But it will be portrayed as an attack upon the US. "Why?" George Bush will ask, rhetorically. "They hate us because of our freedom." And, barring a miracle, the end results will be exactly the same as from a physical attack: devastation so complete and unthinkable - magnified by the brutal impacts of Peak Oil - that only a few will even try to prepare for it. That is sad because preparation will make all the difference (barring luck or divine intervention) in who survives and to what extent they remain intact and functioning afterwards.
    [Show full text]
  • Table of Contents
    Introduction In Creating a Life Together, Diana Leafe Christian estimates that 90 percent of attempts to start an intentional community do not survive past the initial stages. Similarly, many personal searches for intentional community fizzle out due to lack of adequate information, guidance, or exposure to fellow travelers’ stories. In both cases, ignorance of the wide array of options possible, and of the breadth of resources and support available through the Fellowship for Intentional Community and allied groups, undoubtedly contributes to the “failure” rate. This volume on “Starting a Community” and the next volume in this series, on “Finding a Community,” address the need for one-stop collections of stories to help founders and seekers. They are meant to complement the Communities Directory (available in print and online: ic.org/directory), COMMUNITIES magazine, a quarterly publication focused on Life in Cooperative Culture, and educational resources available through Community Bookstore (ic.org/bookstore). These books should broaden anyone’s outlook on what is possible and how to pursue their dreams of community. Within each section we hear from a range of voices spanning a great diversity of perspectives and experiences. In this volume, following more general “overview” articles, we dive into on-the-ground stories from founders, arranged roughly chronologically, followed by a separate roughly chronological flow about experiences of community that don’t fit the classic intentional community definition but are nonetheless powerful for their creators and participants. Most articles are drawn from the past decade of COMMUNITIES magazine, with several excerpted from the Communities Directory and a few from older issues of COMMUNITIES that were also excerpted in our Best of collections, Volumes I and II.
    [Show full text]
  • The Current Peak Oil Crisis
    PEAK ENERGY, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND THE COLLAPSE OF GLOBAL CIVILIZATION _______________________________________________________ The Current Peak Oil Crisis TARIEL MÓRRÍGAN PEAK E NERGY, C LIMATE C HANGE, AND THE COLLAPSE OF G LOBAL C IVILIZATION The Current Peak Oil Crisis TARIEL MÓRRÍGAN Global Climate Change, Human Security & Democracy Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies University of California, Santa Barbara www.global.ucsb.edu/climateproject ~ October 2010 Contact the author and editor of this publication at the following address: Tariel Mórrígan Global Climate Change, Human Security & Democracy Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies Department of Global & International Studies University of California, Santa Barbara Social Sciences & Media Studies Building, Room 2006 Mail Code 7068 Santa Barbara, CA 93106-7065 USA http://www.global.ucsb.edu/climateproject/ Suggested Citation: Mórrígan, Tariel (2010). Peak Energy, Climate Change, and the Collapse of Global Civilization: The Current Peak Oil Crisis . Global Climate Change, Human Security & Democracy, Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara. Tariel Mórrígan, October 2010 version 1.3 This publication is protected under the Creative Commons (CC) "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported" copyright. People are free to share (i.e, to copy, distribute and transmit this work) and to build upon and adapt this work – under the following conditions of attribution, non-commercial use, and share alike: Attribution (BY) : You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non-Commercial (NC) : You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
    [Show full text]
  • Regenerative Development to Reverse Climate Change London, 28-29 October 2016 Table of Contents
    The Commonwealth and Cloudburst’s Workshop on Regenerative Development to Reverse Climate Change London, 28-29 October 2016 Table of Contents ABBREVIATIONS PARTICIPANTS AND FACILITATORS 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 A MESSAGE FROM CLOUDBURST 7 INTRODUCTION 8 OBJECTIVES, DESIRED OUTCOMES AND DESIGN 10 WORKSHOP RESULTS 12 WORKSHOP FLOW 17 Friday 28 October (Day 1) 17 Saturday 29 October (Day 2) 28 The Commonwealth and Cloudburst’s Workshop on Regenerative Development to Reverse Climate Change | London, 28-29 October 2016 | 2 Participants and Facilitators Participants John Dennis Liu, Ecosystem Ambassador Janine Benyus, Co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8 and the Biomimicry Institute David McConville, Board Chair, Buckminster Fuller Institute Babatunde Abiodun, University of Cape Town, South Africa John McNelly, Producer, Cloudburst Foundation Louise Baker, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD Sam Muirhead, Open Source Circular Economy Antonio Bartesaghi, President, Cloudburst Foundation Justin Mundy, The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit Albert Bates, Global Village Institute for Appropriate Technology Marcello Palazzi, Progressio Foundation Gina Boone, Officer in Charge, Environment and Climate Change Mauro Paolini, Vice President Operations, Cloudburst Foundation Simon Buckle, Head of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Water, OECD Karuna Rana, Commonwealth Youth Climate Change Network Christopher Cooke, UK Savory Network Hub Leader, representing The Savory Institute Bill Reed, Regenesis Group Isabelle Dellanoy, Founder and Author, Symbiotic Economy Bill Sharpe, Visiting Professor, University of the West of England and Member, Steven Dixon, Consultant, Cloudburst Foundation International Futures Forum May East, Gaia Education Rajan Singh, India Africa Communications John Elkington, Volans Michael Taylor, University of the West Indies, Jamaica Herbert Girardet, World Futures Council Shola Taylor, Secretary-General, CTO Dane Gobin, Iwokrama International Centre John Thackara, The Doors of Perception Thomas J.
    [Show full text]
  • The Midwest 9/11 Truth Conference, 2013 Event Videos Now on Youtube
    This version of Total HTML Converter is unregistered. NewsFollowup Franklin Scandal Omaha Sitemap Obama Comment Search Pictorial index home Midwest 9/11 Truth Go to Midwest 9/11 Truth Conference The Midwest 9/11 Truth Conference 2014 page Architects & Engineers Conference, 2013 for 9/11 Truth Mini / Micro Nukes 9/11 Truth links Event videos now on YouTube, World911Truth Cheney, Planning and Decision Aid System speakers: Sonnenfeld Video of 9/11 Ground Zero Victims and Rescuers Wayne Madsen , Investigative Journalist, and 9/11 Whistleblowers AE911Truth James Fetzer, Ph.D., Founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth Ed Asner Contact: Steve Francis Compare competing Kevin Barrett, co-founder Muslim Jewish Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth [email protected] theories The Midwest 9/11 Truth Conference 2014 is now in the planning stages. Top 9/11 Documentaries US/British/Saudi/Zionists Research Speakers: The Midwest 9/11 Wayne Madsen Truth Conference Jim Fetzer Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative James H. Fetzer, a former Marine Corps officer, is This version of Total HTML Converter is unregistered. journalist, author and columnist. He has written for The Village Distinguished McKnight Professor Emeritus on the Duluth Voice, The Progressive, Counterpunch, Online Journal, campus of the University of Minnesota. A magna cum CorpWatch, Multinational Monitor, News Insider, In These laude in philosophy graduate of Princeton University in Times, and The American Conservative. His columns have 1962, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and appeared in The Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, became an artillery officer who served in the Far East. Philadelphia Inquirer, Columbus Dispatch, Sacramento Bee, After a tour supervising recruit training in San Diego, he and Atlanta Journal-Constitution, among others.
    [Show full text]
  • Transition Parts 1 & 2
    Notes and references* page 2 http://tinyurl.com/4tfhgvo. 1 Rubin, J. (2009) Why Your World is About to 10 You can read the script in full at http://tinyurl. Get a Whole Lot Smaller: What the price of oil com/69mgfhj. means for the way we live. Virgin Books. 11 Which you can read at http://tinyurl.com/2cgnlll. 12 A very touching film celebrating the project’s Introduction first birthday can be found at 1 Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S. & Silverstein, M. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWDerzFiqOo. (1977) A Pattern Language: Towns, buildings, 13 You can read a write-up of the day at construction. Oxford University Press. Alexander’s http://tinyurl.com/yjtv3bt. observation was that any built environment is like a ‘language’, it is composed of different Chapter 2: Why Transition initiatives do what identifiable elements, some obvious, some subtle, they do and like any language, it can be used to write 1 www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/steph-bradley. beautiful poetry or doggerel. Alexander put it 2 Snyder, G. (1974) ‘Four changes’, in Turtle like this: “the elements of this language are Island. New Directions Publishing, p.101. entities called patterns. Each pattern describes 3 Most clearly and forcefully set out in Wilkinson, a problem which occurs over and over again in R. & Pickett, K. (2010) The Spirit Level: Why our environment, and then describes the core of equality is better for everyone. Penguin. the solution to that problem, in such a way that 4 Ibid. you can use this solution a million times over, 5 Figures from David Strahan at without ever doing it the same way twice.” http://lastoilshock.com/map.html.
    [Show full text]
  • Thesis Template
    Reinventing the Wheel to Guide Ecovillages towards Sustainability Clarissa de Oliveira Arend, Johanne Gallagher and Peter Orell School of Engineering Blekinge Institute of Technology Karlskrona, Sweden 2013 Thesis submitted for completion of Master of Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden. Abstract: Ecovillages acting as experimental community models have the potential to help move society towards sustainability by developing alternative solutions for sustainable living. Their contribution is through the power of example, demonstrating successful alternative systems that can be replicated at higher scales through the broader community. However, ecovillages often struggle with long-term planning and lack a systematic approach to integrating structure, processes and actions into strategic planning. Research was conducted to examine how ecovillages could be supported in this deficiency to make them more successful as models of sustainability. An initial document review of tools and concepts currently used in the ecovillage movement uncovered a recently developed concept called the Wheel of Sustainability (WoS). The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) was applied to analyse this concept and to inform the development of a new prototype tool. The research was conducted in collaboration with experts in the ecovillage field and FSSD practitioners, through interviews and a final validation survey. The result of the research led to the co-creation of an enhanced communication and strategic planning tool, the Direction Indicator for Sustainable Communities (DISC), intended for use by ecovillage communities. Further research is recommended to field-test and further refine this tool. Keywords: communication, ecovillages, eco-village, strategic sustainable development, Direction Indicator for Sustainable Communities (DISC), tool, Wheel of Sustainability ii Statement of Contribution This thesis is the product of a joyful collaborative effort.
    [Show full text]
  • Together Resilient
    T What if community is the answer? O “When people ask me where to move to escape climate change, I tell them G there’s no escape and that the thing to look for is a strong community. is E book explains how to build that kind of community anywhere—it’s a manual T for the future.” H Bill McKibben E Author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet R “Is it possible to jettison our current system of exploitation and R environmental destruction, and create a new system, that is not only E S Resilient sustainable but affords us a comfortable and fullling life? e answer is a resounding yes. Ma’ikwe Ludwig eloquently reminds us how the way is I L fraught with challenges and shows us how to conquer them. is is a I must-read for anyone who cares about the future of the human race.” E Chong Kee Tan, PhD N Founder of Bay Bucks T Real hope comes from looking uninchingly at our current circumstances and then committing wholeheartedly to creative action. Never has that been more urgently needed than right now, with the climate crisis looming larger every day. is book advocates for citizen-led, community-based action rst and foremost: why wait for the government when you can take action today, with your neighbors? From small solutions to the full re-invention of the systems we nd ourselves in, this book mixes anecdote with data-based research to bring you a wide range of options that all embody compassion, creativity, and cooperation.
    [Show full text]
  • Relocalization.Network
    2006 Relocalization Network Report relocalization.network www.relocalize.net The Relocalization Network is an initiative of Post Carbon Institute © 2007 The Relocalization Network annual report welcome Greetings Best Wishes from the Network Team The 2006 year saw many changes for the Relocalization Network: the number of Local Groups in the Network almost doubled, we launched the website www.relocalize.net, and we started building and improving our library of resources and support services. We thank everyone for their patience in working with us through this process of learning and experimenting with different tools and techniques for improving the foundation of the Relocalization Network. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful people. Over the next year we look forward to building stronger connections with everyone in the Relocalization Network and to continuing to learn and adapt as we move towards a future less dependant on fossil fuels. All the best, Relocalization Network Team About this report This report provides information about the Relocalization Network for groups and individuals interested in getting involved and starting Relocalization projects in their communities. It includes a brief history of the Relocalization Network, and an overview of the year’s projects and events. If you have any questions about the material presented here, please contact us at [email protected]. relocalization.network 2006 Annual Report 2 The Relocalization Network annual report background and contents Background Contents The Relocalization Network was created in 2003 as one of the first initiatives of Post Carbon Institute. It developed as a response to individuals’ questions about how they 3 The Relocalization Network: could take action to address the implications of peak oil.
    [Show full text]