Good morning folks.
The video for today is from Ted Talks, an online video collection from annual lecture events that I highly recommend. Like almost all of the videos there, the lecturer in this one took some of our most troubling issues and looked at them with fresh, intelligent eyes and reviewed an active solution. How we obtain and process vital resources as a species – our energy supply, our food supply, our water supply – is unsustainable on almost every level. Thankfully, there are alternatives, and they are better every way.
This video is about a fish farm, but it is also about how we must approach our basic resource challenges in this new century. Study nature. Emulate nature. Create local solutions, not mega-corporate solutions. Produce smart, grow smart, and you can enjoy a mighty tasty fish.
Remember everyone, buy local or grow it yourself!
Love to all,
Millard
Good afternoon folks.
The posts have been a bit sparse here lately, primarily because I have been putting together a new business selling garden boxes. While the business has steadily grown, there is a ton of work to from administration and marketing to making the boxes themselves, and streamlining the process along the way.
I truly feel that growing a portion of our own food at the home and the community level is a very important part of food sustainability, which I believe is synonymous with food independence. While it is impossible for most of us to grow even a majority of our own produce individually, our garden boxes and vegetable gardens do contribute significantly to undercutting the power of our corporate food delivery system.
The cornerstone of food independence though will be consumer support of food producers who are local and organic. As responsible consumers we have to know where our food comes from, and understand the all of the costs associated with transporting food long distances from massive corporate farms.
This concept can be very easily overdone. There are some foods that can and should be imported, particularly regional specialties and luxury foods. Trade is a vital component of a sustainable community. What is important is that the majority of our basic food staples originate locally, and that all of our food is produced responsibly.
I am going to be going back to posting regularly, so please check in often.
Remember everyone buy local or grow it yourself.
Love to all,
Millard
Good morning folks.
Having studied sustainable issues for over 12 twelve years, I have come to understand that our sustainability as a species on this planet is dependent upon our relationship with plants. I am not saying this in an esoteric or fluffy way, nor am I suggesting that we find new ways to merely exploit and profit from the plant world. Plant life is a common thread in almost all of the issues related to our ability to live – food, energy, construction, oxygen production – ,and we must learn how to create synergistic relationships with the myriad manifestations of this profoundly complex technology in order to survive and thrive.
The video above briefly explains how certain species of plants can clean, humidify and oxygenate the air, processes collectively known as phytoremediation. This property of plants has been known since the 1970’s, when NASA conducted extensive research on plant’s air and water scrubbing capabilities for use in space capsules. Dr. Bill Wolverton, one of the NASA engineers involved in the research, has published several books on the subject, including How To Grow Fresh Air.
How To Grow Fresh Air details how plants, particularly tropicals, have the ability to remove toxins from air, as well as oxygenate and humidify it. Dr. Wolverton actually developed hydroponic planters with inline fans that magnify this amazing capability by a factor of 200.
Phytoremediation is extremely important now in our energy conscious world. In order to maximize the efficiency of our building’s heating and cooling systems, we are creating airtight building envelopes. One downside of this though is the increased stagnation of interior air. Using plants to offset this adverse side effect is the ultimate in “going green”. Aside from cleaning the air, indoor plants look great, and add to the living energy of spaces.
Using plants to clean air is only one of the ways in which we can employ these incredible biomachines. Dr. Wolverton’s planters are an excellent example of how we can use simple technologies to work in harmony with nature to amplify its benefits. This basic model is applicable to waste water disposal, food production, building construction and a host of other applications that we humans have only begun to scratch the surface of.
Showing some humility by admitting that our technologies are infant’s toys compared with the sublime depth of natural biological systems may be the smartest we ever do.
Remember everyone, buy local, or grow it yourself!
Love to all,
Millard
Good evening folks.
For a relatively short video, this one packs a powerful punch, touching upon several key sustainability issues. Its primary focus is on how the use of local currencies can keep capital resources local and encourage meaningful interaction among community members.
This is idea is not new, nor is it isolated. Local currencies are being used in over 200 communities in the United States. Considering that our current banking system, including and in particular the Federal Reserve, is a complete fraud, local currencies are not just a viable alternative, they are essential tools for weaning us away from the corporate teat.
Remember everyone, buy local or grow it yourself!
Love to all,
Millard
Paper vs. Plastic Debate Heats Up! – Watch more Funny Videos
Good afternoon folks.
This is a nice quick video on why we need to stop using plastic or paper bags and buy the tote. As a nice bonus, the narrator is pretty hot.
In addition to the continent sized trash island in the Pacific that is mentioned in the video, there is a similar one developing in the Atlantic. Boy do we suck.
Remember everyone, buy local, or grow it yourself!
Love to all,
Millard
Good morning folks.
One of the most commonly cited issues related to sustainability is overpopulation. There have been numerous experts, some very well meaning and others not so much, who have pointed to birth rates in developing countries as evidence that catastrophe is just around the corner if we don’t stop making babies and start voluntarily culling our herd.
There are a few things driving statements like this. The first is ignorance. The fact is that we do not know what the comfortable maximum population for this planet is, because we have never bothered to figure it out. I know of no comprehensive assessment of the world’s natural resources to determine how many people our cities and bioregions can hold. It is easy to look at pictures of the terribly overcrowded slums of Mumbai, India or Lagos, Nigeria and assume that there is a global overpopulation problem, but it would be just as ignorant as looking at pictures of the central Sahara and assuming the planet is empty.
Clear evidence of lack of human life on planet Earth
Another facet of the overpopulation myth is our addiction to Armageddon scenarios, which humans can’t seem to get enough of. After the Cold War ended, the threat of our being vaporized at any moment by nuclear war was significantly diminished, and for a while we had trouble getting our fix. The fear porn industry was only happy to step in though, and now we have terrorism, 2012 and alien invasion to help us get our apocalypse on. Fear peddlers are only too happy to supply lurid media and videos showing us in graphic detail just how screwed we all are. I talked about our Armageddon addiction in a previous post, and it is worth mentioning again, because someone has to talk us off the ledge.
Our most troubling addiction though that grossly skews the overpopulation discussion is our gross overconsumption of consumer goods. Are we ever going to take responsibility for our situation and assess the clean renewable resource of the planet? Are we ever going to stop using antiquated, polluting technologies to fuel our lives? Are we ever going to reduce our consumption levels in developed countries? It’s mighty convenient to be able to go to a store filled with goods and just walk away with our pick, but our disconnect from the real cost involved in bringing these goods to market is what is really causing us problems.
Saying our planet is overpopulated right is like putting a bunch of balloons in a trashcan and saying the can is almost full. If you use the resource consumption of the average American as a gauge, of course we are reaching critical population levels. We consume a lot, and we throw away even more. The energy used in the average American household could power an African village of 2000 people. Our addiction to meat, which requires 10 times the amount of grain to feed the livestock as opposed to just eating the grain, is hopelessly resource intensive.
Our atrocious mismanagement of our resources is what we have to get rid of, not people. Let’s start producing and consuming with some moderation and forethought, and do the work required to have an accurate gauge of maximum population capacity, before we start talking about depopulation.
Good morning folks.
I was looking all morning for the right ecovilage video, and I settled on Terramor because it was the cleanest and best developed idea. They are doing so many things right here – water efficiency, energy efficiency, building a sense of community, and even growing some fruits and vegetables – a very impressive, well conceived development.
I feel guilty though, because I passed up some ecovillage videos who adopted far more completely the idea of sustainability, but to be honest they looked slummy. Am I being elitist or judgmental when I disregard the message of the community because of the untidiness, weeds and the starchild demeanor of the community member being interviewed? These hippie-like communities are fantastic in that they really get sustainability, but even for a devoted environmentalist, there is something off-putting about the commune quality of these villages.
The good news is that the cutting edge environmentally sensitive communities built by the big developers are slowly starting to move toward real green, and the more grass roots ecovillages are getting better at addressing the needs and comfort requirements of people in the 21st century. One note for grass roots ecovillages: if you are going to be doing a YouTube video on your community, have the sense to weed the place before you shoot.
Remember everyone, buy local or grow it yourself!
Love to all,
Millard
Good morning folks.
Composting human waste may not really be joyful, but it will be absolutely necessary for us to be able to have a zero waste, sustainable society.
At some level, be it the municipal, village or individual home level, we have to have the capacity to usefully process all waste, and feces and urine are no exception. In fact, human waste is a particularly useful material, and when properly composted, provides a very nutrient rich manure.
So why are humanure systems not commonplace now? The only explanation is our psychological hangups over peepee and poopoo. When we use gallons of water to flush our waste on over to a waste treatment facility, which processes it and dumps it into the ocean, we are throwing away a potentially valuable resource, and assuming that our mommy earth will just take care of our doody for us.
Granted there are legitimate health concerns. Human waste cannot be dumped directly onto your landscape. Not only is this unsightly and unsanitary, it should be illegal. There is however a very safe, easy and responsible way to harvest poop, and it does not require a lot of chemicals or cost a lot.
Humanure systems will vary depending upon the scale of the community. Individual homeowners can create a humanure system, as we see in this video, but we also need to push municipalities to turn their waste treatment facilities into composting systems. They can use much of the same infrastructure, and rather than just being an energy and capital drain, these systems can contribute a valuable resource to our overall food production.
This is going to be a major psychological hurdle for many of us to overcome, but our society will not be sustainable until we address the issue of our issue.
Remember everyone, buy local, or grow it yourself!
Love to all,
Millard
Good morning folks.
I was beginning to think that I knew a lot about sustainability, but Introduction To Permaculture opened a whole new world for me. More than anything, it deepened my appreciation for the quantum intelligence of nature.
For a design professional who has studied and worked hard to learn as much as possible so that my designs would have depth, it is very humbling to learn about Permaculture, because I realize that compared to nature, all of my clever little ideas are nothing. The beauty of permaculture as a method for developing homesteads and communities is that it works in line with the natural order, not against it. It takes all of the elements of traditional agriculture – annuals, perennials, vegetables, fruits, trees, livestock and aquaculture – and arranges these these elements so they are interacting with each other to maximum effect. The book is not just for farm owners though. It is for anyone with any land, even apartment dwellers, who wants to make the most of their space in an organic, sustainable fashion.
Maybe the most attractive part of permaculture is the relative ease by which a developed system can be managed. While there is intensive energy and labor involved in creating a permaculture landscape, the end result can be a fully self sustaining food forest that provides for you, your family and some extra for the market. Now that is old school, and that is the way it should be done.
The author Bill Mollison first developed permaculture ideas in the late 60’s. The movement now has an institute devoted to its study, several books and many case studies. I can truly say that I have no idea why this planet is not following these principles already. Permaculture solves so many problems at once, not the least of which is how to make money. The end of the book provides some great ideas for making money through what is produced on your land.
Introduction To Permaculture is a great idea book, and I highly recommend it for everyone who is interested in sustainability.
Remember everyone, buy local or grow it yourself!
Love to all,
Millard
Good morning folks.
As my sustainability blog has not to this point addressed the issue of global warming, I felt the need now to briefly go over my position on this topic.
The primary contention of the global warming movement is that human production of certain “greenhouse gasses” through the burning of fossil fuels is creating a greenhouse effect on the planet, whereby the the increased levels of these gasses in the atmosphere create a heat trapping thermal blanket that raises the aggregate temperature globally. Evidence of this warming are melting icecaps in the South Pole and Greenland, a receding ice pack in the Arctic Ocean and significantly reduced glacier sizes around the world. Deniers of the phenomenon either ignore this evidence or suggest it is part of some larger natural cycle, and has nothing to do with human activity.
I think that the evidence is overwhelming that something is causing global ice to melt, and I do think that human generation of greenhouse gasses is a contributing factor. While I have yet to hear a cohesive, evidence based argument from deniers that convinces me that global warming has nothing to do with human activity, I am open to the possibility that some planetary, solar or even galactic cyclical event is playing a part in the warming process. The bottom line though is that when it comes to determining the on-the-ground, practical solutions that our long term sustainability on this planet requires, I do not feel it matters.
That’s right. Whether or not the globe is warming as a result of our burning fossil fuels or not is a complete aside. Here are the reasons why.
The burning of fossils fuels, including petroleum, coal and natural gas, for our energy needs, is a polluting, antiquated technology. For a variety of reasons completely unrelated to global warming, we should have twilighted this technology a long time ago:
- Exhaust from these fuels significantly degrades air quality.
- In the case of gasoline and natural gas, a significant refinement process is involved prior to consumption.
- Fossil fuels are finite, nonrenewable resources that requires vast amounts of capital for extraction.
- The primary source regions for petroleum are politically unstable (Gee, I wonder why? Heaven help the developing nation that finds out it is sitting on top of a valuable resource that a multinational corporation covets).
- The mining of coal is extremely dangerous, and devastating to the host bioregion.
- Our reliance on these on these technologies creates a very unhealthy concentration of power in the hands of the providers, making technological advances in the energy field a very difficult uphill battle.
Carbon monoxide is a poison. Every time you drive your car you are releasing a poison into the atmosphere. Every time you turn on your TV there is a good chance you are contributing to polluting coal exhaust being emitted into the air. There is this assumption that the planet is just going to somehow take care of it, but there are way too many of us now for that assumption to have any validity, if it ever did. Who cares whether or not the planet is warming? We need to move on to new energy solutions no matter what.
There is one other reason why I think global warming should not be the focus of sustainability efforts. We need to let go of Armageddon.
Humans are a traumatized race. Just looking at the history of the Unites States, a country that has enjoyed a great deal of prosperity relative to most nations, we see a lot of war, recession, depression and unrest. Who can blame us if we are just waiting around for the next disaster? I grew up in a Cold War, where the threat of the world being literally incinerated by nuclear war at any time was constantly in the background. As soon as this threat was alleviated a new excuse to spend tons of money on defense popped its terroristic head up, right on cue. And let’s not forget that asteroids hit this planet on a regular basis, and the world is going to end in 2012.
I believe we have a debilitating fixation on Armageddon. When an organism is in a defensive posture, the bodily systems tense and all energy is directed to the defensive mechanisms, leaving little or nothing for growth. Sometimes this is necessary, but a prolonged defensive posture based upon conjecture can deeply stunt an organism’s natural development.
Despite all of the traumas and dramas, we have to let go of our end-of-the-world scenarios, and start planning and working for the long term sustainability of this species on this planet. We don’t need another end of days scenario. We already have a dozen or so jammed into our heads on a daily basis.
Let’s stop debating about global warming, because there are way better reasons to go green.
Remember, buy local or grow it yourself everyone!
Love to all,
Millard
