Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Do you care about the overall quality of life for - We arguably divert one half of the renewable
each living person? resources of the planet to human uses.
- We use non-renewable resources in manners
We need to set aside the rigid mindset that that destroy them.
separates and sees our infrastructure as distinct - The apparent abundance from hybrid crops is
aspects of biological, structures and other dependent on non-renewable resources and
engineering, and information and intellect. It all energy exponentially higher than the energy
needs to work together with minimal loss of within the food.
energy in such transformations as are necessary.
- The farming and food infrastructure depletes
There are many treatises with theories on how the groundwater, mineral, and biological base
many people could live on the Earth based on essential for soil to grow healthy natural food.
some minimum life support per person. I1 - Easy to mine metals and mineral resources are
propose though we ask also, what is the already "on the table".
minimum for new healthy generations, - The economy of many nations is based not on
actual capability and production of the nation,
1
This treatise and the related appendices and but on borrowing and inflation of currency.
tabs represent the opinions and observations of
the author, with full credit to the work of all Close your eyes for a moment, and imagine you
others referenced. Thanks is given to all who are traveling on a multi-generation spacecraft,
provided input, and further factual critique is powered by energy radiated from a fusion
welcome. reactor.
2
For those who have suffered thru a review of
earlier versions of these written babblings, thank
you for the feedback. Everything remains a
"work in progress", and if anyone has an interest
in this "Sustainable Civilization" or any of the
appendices, just send an email request to:
unno_2002@yahoo.com
Take the red pill, but "… you may not like how The federal government will have difficulty
deep the rabbit hole goes…" keeping national defense in operation, let alone
having any useful funding for anything else.
To achieve sustainability is going to present large Yes, the federal government can pay out any
challenges, and you may not like what is amount it likes:
necessary. But first and foremost, think.
It can print money.
"Sustainability" must become part of every
decision. It's not that driving a gas-guzzling It can go into debt:
vehicle is "wrong". It's a waste of a finite
resource, yes, but it's the personal decision of the For money that it eventually, somehow, repays
driver. (not likely), or;
The "problem" comes when the same destruction It can go into debt for money it never intends
of a finite resource is the sole means to provide to repay.
an essential aspect of life, society, or civilization,
We are entering a new paradigm, which requires In late 2006 Mexico announced that its giant
essentially a steady-state population. Cantrell oil field which at its peak produced
around 730 million barrels per year has fallen to
Life support, clean air, safe water, and nutritious 650 million with progressive decline expected.
food, must again be local. This one field represents 2% of the world
capacity.
Resources and energy must be accumulated, and
used and invested wisely. CO2 & GLOBAL WARMING
The economy, at least whatever aspects you rely Whether you believe the global temperature is
on, must be local. rising, or that human activity is a cause, the CO2
level in the atmosphere is increasing. Glaciers9
If the excesses in production end, so do the and the polar ice caps are melting.
excessive tax revenue that funds growing
programs. Are we going to have a society of free For relevant background, one gallon of gasoline
individuals working together voluntarily, or a weighs about 6.25 pounds. When burned the
complete take over by governments controlling hydrocarbons combine with oxygen from the air.
every aspect of life? Virtually anything in- The result per gallon is exhaust with a CO2
between is an inherent conflict. aspect of 19.3 pounds and around 8 pounds (1
8
If you believe that business as usual can “Winning the Oil Endgame”, Armory B. Lovins
continue, whether for individuals, private sector makes the best presentation this author has
businesses, or the government, ask yourself found. He and his associates at the Rocky
how? Mountain Institute are, compared to this author,
quite optimistic.
9
PEAK OIL Collapse of Greenland Ice Shield –
Consequences, By Dr John James August,
"Peak Oil", which is the point where the wells 2006 - The Greenland glacier ice cover contains
simply cannot be pumped as fast as demand, enough water to raise sea level twenty feet. The
may soon be reached. Some say it already has. ice is melting, and the melted water is seeping to
the anchorage rock to loosen the mass. At some
7
In what has become traditional inflation, the point there is the risk that a mountain of ice will
supply and demand for goods and services flow into the sea. Twenty-one glacial masses are
remains fairly stable, while the money supply is moving seawards eight times faster than ten
increased. This leads to overall price and wage years ago. It would seem we are on the verge of
increases, but little to no net change in spending a major tipping point, if we have not already
decisions. reached it.
In the big picture, we need to end all dependence The problem with peak oil is not gas guzzling
on non-sustainable factors, STARTING with SUVs, diesels or two stroke engines spewing
fossil fuels. As an example, if this country gets fumes, or the energy embedded in our food.
cut-off from foreign oil, in a matter of weeks
virtually everything we see and experience as It's what we can do, what we have, and what can
modern society will shut down. Is your personal be sustained absent non-renewable resources. To
"life support" and "security" arrangements ready those newly arrived to the concept of peak oil,
for this? and the realization of how dependent we are on
the destruction of non-renewable resources…
No conservation measure for oil is going to make
anything "better" unless it is linked to a program There are8 roughly as many humans alive now as
to end our addiction in the time the conservation existed cumulatively throughout all of recorded
programs allows. Absent such a link, history prior to the industrial revolution. That
conservation that merely provides "more of the means that a large proportion of all the geniuses -
same" prompts a larger and more dependent and monsters - who have ever lived are alive
population, and portends a greater "hangover" to today. Most of the modern infrastructure has
our oil party. been constructed in a single lifetime, and was not
designed or engineered to last.
Unless you are, as Heinberg comments, "Waiting
for the magic elixir", your children need to In the big picture, the world is NOT going to
understand the scope of the situation and know sustain 6+ billion people absent the green
how to obtain the essentials of life in a revolution crops (dependent on fossil fuel
sustainable manner, and how to avoid the worst derived fertilizers and pesticides), the engines
of the collapse that he and other peak oil and machines that pump the groundwater
advocates present. (beyond renewal rate), plow the fields, process
the food, etc.
Even if global population was in decline,
draconian conservation methods may not allow No matter how bad we may think things could
for remaining fossil fuel use to continue long become, we must keep our heads, and teach our
enough for global population to lower to children to do the same. Hopefully, we will not
sustainable levels. The transition period to a reach a point where our government intrudes on
post-oil paradigm promises to be an unpleasant, family decisions. But short of affirmative limits
dangerous time, during which individual survival being imposed, we can at least "lobby" for
may be difficult, and with a significant risk that elimination of misguided incentive to expansion.
civilization itself may be lost.
Communities9 can slow their population
Fossil fuels represent an essentially growth by removing the many visible and
nonrenewable resource of untold millions of hidden public subsidies that support and
year’s accumulation of energy, which our use
Governments by their nature tend toward the use Perhaps we should apply Dr. Kubler-Ross' 5
of force to take what is wanted. It is probable stages of grief, to humanities present global
that to AVOID a world at war, a collection of situation.
powers, probably “lead” by the U.S., must act as
global policemen to enforce a policy that nations The first stage is denial. "There's plenty of
will not fight over resources. It could mean oil"… or food… or water… or room on the
maintaining military forces in oil areas for the planet…
duration of mankind’s dependency on oil.
There are those who are confident that new Next comes anger or resentment. "Who did
technological developments will make oil this!" or "We've been set up!".
irrelevant, indeed, that oil companies have
suppressed such developments. The conspiracy The third stage is bargaining. "If I can just make
theorists may be right. We may indeed leapfrog it to retirement", or "…get the kids thru college",
the currently touted "hydrogen economy" into or "If we impose taxes… or rationing… we
"STAR TREK" technology. can…" delay the obvious outcome, and sooth
ourselves by not having to think about it now.
While I do not expect this leap in our immediate
future, I acknowledge there is potentially much The fourth stage is depression. A population
science for us yet to learn, IF we can maintain sustainable absent non-renewable input and the
functioning civilization, and act intelligently. A present infrastructure is MUCH smaller than
joke, which I've seen attributed to Iassic Asimov, alive today, no visible program of conservation
is that perhaps supernova stars are not natural allows supplies to be stretched to match any
events after all, but rather alien civilizations who "natural" population reduction, and extensive
have an "industrial accident" with a zero point conservation would cause economic collapse of
energy device. the infrastructure. There is no apparent "safe"
landing for most of the planet.
Even if there is no explosive potential, each such
device is a new source of surface heat. Imagine Finally comes acceptance. You can't save the
the effect of billions or trillions of them in world. In terms of current human society, it may
operation. But until these devices are clearly not be worth saving. You may not be among the
demonstrated, we must act within available small percent with the personal knowledge,
known technology, products and knowledge. skills, and ambition to save yourself and your
family. Any effort may be futile, but do you
We can voluntarily reduce our resource demands, elect to do nothing, or calmly analyze what is
both in per person demand, and working toward needed for the future after the crash, and where
I have been asked if/when I might publish a We must be the change we want to see.
guide such as this. The earlier that people wake - Ghandi
up, and the better informed they are, the better
not only for them, but for everyone. The author If you will indulge a personal peeve, while
hopes the ten chapters of this treatise, and the you've got your television "disconnected" from
various appendices, provide all readers a “jump the babble of broadcast or cable, leave it
start” toward making sustainability changes in disconnected. Break the addition to the useless
their lives and communities. This treatise is drawl. Talk with your family and friends. Read
available free on the web. If you cannot find and research. Sit and think.
them, email the author and I will send you the
latest versions. This writing is an accumulation of notes and
thoughts by someone for whom the challenges of
This is intended to get people to think, and for long-term sustainability have been a long term
those new to facing the sobering reality of how concern. Check the facts presented, and my
far from sustainability we are, to present math, and make your own conclusions, and
information so you do not have to research how plans. With hard work, and some luck, we may
to “re-invent the wheel”. This is intended to avoid the worst.
prompt YOU to take your first steps, and wake
up others. If there has been no point to the script
for the rest of your life, hopefully you will find
one.
That said, there is also the warning about what Rationally an essential step is that YOU and your
you own, or intend to buy or install: Can you neighbors not pollute. In air pollution there are
repair or replace it on your own? I offer myself
Indoor air quality in a relatively well sealed Ultraviolet light readily penetrates air, and even
home can however be affected significantly, by clouds. It, and ozone (ionized oxygen) are part
relatively simple actions. of God's open-air germ control system. There
may be lenses and surfaces which allow just
First and foremost, avoid contamination in the ultraviolet light to be concentrated, and used for
first place. Many of the adhesives and artificial specific sterilization purposes. (TO BE
materials used in present contractor construction DEVELOPED) If you have technology and
of homes outgas dangerous substances, often power, readily available are u/v systems for
continuously, and especially when they burn. desktop, portable, or installation in building vent
systems, to keep levels of microorganisms down.
In that items such as particle board, plywood,
many household chemicals, etc. release CARBON DIOXIDE
hazardous gases, avoid these inside your home.
We as a living animal inhale, use some of the
Radon seepage from the ground may be a oxygen from air, and exhale increased CO2
significant indoor threat readily abated during levels. Starting from less than 1% in "fresh" air,
construction by proper sealing and venting. the upper "safe" CO2 level is around 3%. When
the concentration exceeds 3%, even though there
BIOREMEDIATION is still oxygen in the air, humans are adversely
affected. An average person produces around .67
Appropriate selection of indoor plants can cubic ft. (5 gallon volume) per hour of CO2.
significantly improve air quality. (See Dr. Bill Burning of course produces MUCH MORE
Wolverton's "How to Grow Fresh Air") CO2.
Examples include Boston Fern, Janet Craig
(fern), Rhododendron, as well as Dracaena In a sealed container, starting with good outside
marginata, English Ivy, Warneckel, Peace lily, air, a person can survive for about an hour for
Chrysanthemum, Gerber daisy, dwarf date palm, every 22.5 cubic feet of air (about 1 cubic yard,
bamboo palm, Warneckel, areca palm, around 168 gallon). A 1200 sq.ft home, with 7
I use the term "one-time thru" to prompt thinking The area shown above had been cement-hard
of multiple / reuse of water. Consider for an compacted desert soil when we arrived. With
"extreme" example the Biosphere II facility, appropriate mulching, even in the hot summers
where the same water has essentially been in of Yuma, Arizona, (plants exposed to direct
enclosed re-use for several years. The Earth is, sunlight) our garden survived with two 12
after all, just a big yet closed system. minute soaks per day. A subsistence garden
should get by with 120 gallons per day (15 or so
See the Appropriate Technology Appendix for of which could be washing "gray water").
expanded discussion on obtaining and managing
water, including atmospheric condensers, and More precise watering (drip irrigation) of
application of other simple concepts useful to individual plants, or a buried reservoir with an
sustain a higher standard of living in the absence airspace between the water and the soil above
of our present high energy globally connected (semi-hydroponic - see the "Earthbox", or
infrastructure. controlled microenvironments) may lead to
further reductions in crop water use.
EXAMPLES OF WATER USE
LIGHT INTENSITY & WATER USE
20 gallon/day human cooking/consumption,
bathing (5 min low flow shower) Most plants can only make use of 1/4 to 1/2 of
(x365= 7300) the "candlepower" that impacts their leaves in
+105 gallon/day garden (adjusted for the summer, much above this level actually
cleaning/bathing graywater use) slows growth and results in heat, which the plant
125 must shed by evaporating "extra" water. In one
x365 test pad, where plants were put under 60% shade
45,625 Average annual water per person cloth near the end of the summer, THOSE plants
Basis of personal 20 gallon water estimate. Five suddenly grew much larger than plants in direct
minute low-flow shower (2.5 gpm=12.5 gallon), sun. This might lead to a lowered estimate of
up to several gallons per day drinking/cooking, the water consumption, or greater production.
and several gallons in misc. washing. (see Israeli experiments as touched on in the
MESS appendix)
Basis of garden water estimate. Every linear
foot of "soaker hose" waters plants in the two WATER PURIFICATION
square feet along its sides.
Plan on the need to clean your water supply.
To water a 1,000 ft. sq. area of crops requires
500 linear feet of soaker hose. Soaker hose Probably the oldest water treatment method is
releases water at 1 gallon/minute/100 foot. 500 filtering through 3 to 5 feet of sand, which will
The "success" in sustainable farming reported for Growing tilapia in a tank of about 640 cubic feet
semitropical Cuba is about 1/4 to 1/3 of an acre (4166 gallon), which weighs around 33.332
per person. My personal experience is that pounds (don't put it on the roof with a LOT of
"traditional" backyard gardening would take the reinforcement) should be capable of providing a
same, around 10,000 sq.ft. (1/4 acre) per person. protein aspect for a homestead of 10 people.
China sustains what we in the U. S. would (See further details in the neighborhood chapter,
consider a starvation level diet on .2 acre (about and the MESS appendix.)
8,700 ft. sq.). Most of the world does not have
even this area of productive cropland. You need ALGAE
to do better.
With ideal growing conditions, the mass of live
BIOINTENSIVE GARDENING algae in a tank can double every 24 hours. I’ve
read accounts of spirulina or tredici being grown
An excellent intensive gardening resource is in clear tubes, with relatively fast flowing water,
John Jeavons, and Ecology Action. Their alternating in sun exposure and a cooling bath.
presentation of the "biointensive" bed system (Yes, I've found I can grow spirulina in the
projecting feeding a person out of 1,000 sq.ft., is alkaline water I get by flushing "fresh" water
among the best commercially available. (The thru our local sand... It is supposedly healthy,
Biosphere II project officially had about 1300 but I've yet to acquire the taste...) That said, the
ft.sq. of garden per each of the 8 scientists, but rapid growth of algae provides the opportunity
they also had the entire 3+ acre dome.) for production of animal feed/supplement or
"biological waste" for composting to enrich the
For the full benefit, the entire Ecology Action soil.
"system" must be used. While the biointensive
beds create among the most efficient natural AEROPONICS
growth mediums, the necessary time (years for
the miniature ecology to mature) and energy NASA funded research (i.e. aeroponics - roots
investment (i.e. for the double digging) means suspended in a mist of nutrients), has
you should initiate work on this valuable long- implications of feeding a person from 22.5 sq.
term asset immediately. Meters (about 16' on a side or 256 ft. sq.) Their
research though has focused on special crops
Note, in a 2002 personal discussion with a tailored for a narrow range of closely controlled
member of Running on Empty living conditions.
(www.runningonempty.org), Mr. Jeavons
commented that a larger area may be needed, Their high-tech approach makes reliance in a
perhaps up to 4,000 sq.ft. if conditions are not crisis situation questionable, but provides insight
A example from the web of a homegrown food storage to provide around 730,000 calories per person is:
325 lb. Grain (i.e. whole wheat, pasta, oats, rice, barley, several years)
80 lb. Legumes (various beans, peas, lentils, seeds, etc., 5 to 10 years)
50 lb. Milk/dairy/eggs (dried, 5 years)
20 lb. Meats (dried, 18 months)
10 to 30 lb. Fruit/vegetables (dried, 2 to 3 years)
60 lb. Sweeteners (sugar, honey, syrups, etc., indefinite)
40 lb. Fats/oils (butter, nut butters, natural cooking oils, etc. Note:
Hydrogenated processed oils are Not nutritive, 2 to 3 years)
20 lb. Sprout seeds (alfalfa, all whole grains, beans, lentils, cabbage, radish,
broccoli, etc., 2 to 3 years)
1 lb. Leavenings (yeast, culture samples can be kept reproducing indefinitely)
5 lb. Salt (despite its OVERUSE in present society, it becomes critical in the
absence of processed foods, indefinite)
Residents of "First World" nations have become for each person you're looking at 92 boxes, a
accustomed to minimal physical work, and high stack 16" deep, 5 foot high, 16 foot wide. If you
calorie intake. While both of these are ending, it put your stack against an outer wall, it will
may not necessarily be all bad-news. Studies provide additional insulation, which, if you will
have shown that low calorie diets, IF the food is permit an opinion from someone who has eaten
otherwise high in vitamin/nutrient content, can MRE's, (and not cared for them) insulation may
result in a longer and healthier lifespan. be their best use. To store enough for a multi
generation family home, you need a room 14' x
If you have the money, high-tech (high cost) 16'.
freeze dried foods are available, with shelf lives
of 20 years or so. Good backup for a crash If you prefer working up a food storage program
induced emergency, and there are distinct short around food your family normally eats, look up
term advantages for concealment by avoiding the in nutrition (diet) guides the calories per pound,
need to garden, but when they are gone, they are and volume per pound for your selected food
gone.If you are considering the MRE (Meal items, and run you own calculations on how
Ready to Eat) option, they come in boxes of 12 much you need to store. Some examples of
meals, (H,W,D) 9 1/4" x 11 x 16 1/2. For a year
Soybean and Mung, and some peanuts and promenades. These passageways contain
approximate meat in completeness. (Please note planters and a wide variety of plants.
the other nutritional factors for these)
Working alone he carved out columns, arches
Sunflower seeds contain greater growth and domes from the local hardpan sedimentary
promotion nutrition than does meat. stone. Some ceilings have skylights, normally
open but easily covered with glass.
Rice is missing Isoleucine & Lysine, but if
served in combination with cheese, or most He had a wide variety of trees, some growing as
beans, becomes a complete protein. deep as 22 feet below ground level. There is a
fish pond in the garden court off the kitchen and
PIT OR UNDERGROUND GREENHOUSE bedrooms.
Earth sheltering provides a more stable climate His work of nearly forty years, without
for human habitation and for your garden. You blueprints or plans, stands as a monument to
may even go as far as an underground what one determined person can achieve.
greenhouse, which provides you greatly
enhanced ability to control the growing ENGINEERING INSPIRATION
conditions.
The Zhaoxian bridge in China spans a 115 foot
Relatively recent developments in natural arch over a river. This bridge is built of formed
lighting provide an opportunity to bring natural and interlinked stone and has been standing and
light into spaces not practical before. Examine in essentially constant use since the year 610.
"Solartubes" (mentioned later also), which can
route sunlight thru a relatively small opening. 21,000 BC - boomerang use case painting in
Some versions have flexible tubing for the light, Poland
lending it to bends / curves for routing thru even 18,000 BC - flint arrowheads, Spain
thick shielding materials. It should be possible, 15,000 BC - drawing of bridled horse
for example, to route the tubes from the roof of a 8,000 BC - domesticated peas/lentils
single story home, down to the basement. 7,000 BC - domesticated sheep/goats
4,000 BC - irrigation canals, S. Russia
Short of a high-tech greenhouse buried in the 2,500 BC - 300' wide x 37' high dam
basement, a simple pit, covered with an 2,000 BC - glass
appropriate clear or translucent material, can 700 BC - banking with mortgages
serve to provide area for growing food well into 600 BC - silver plated copper coin
freezing weather. 100 AD - hand powered double acting fire
pump
The Forestiere Underground Gardens in north The Dervaes family has, instead of waiting for
Fresno, CA is a complex of underground rooms politicians, or big-business to present a solution,
and garden courts that was the home of have made the decision, and put forth the effort
Baldasare Forestiere. The sections are to make their urban home in Pasadena,
inter-connected by underground passageways California a micro homestead. (Who says you
have to head for the hills). They present their
Glass, plastic, mirrors, etc. can be selective What is practical and effective for your local
surfaces, passing only the frequency and climate?
intensity of light needed for optimum growth.
There are some indications that small cells of What can be made and maintained with
"dead air", even without an air tight membrane, appropriate technology?
can serve as a greenhouse to increase
temperatures for plant growth. Think of shiny EARTH SHELTERING
shade cloth.
The temperature of the earth at a depth of
CROP SELECTION approximately 20 feet is essentially stable at the
annual average surface temperature. A home at
Perennial crops offer no-till (do you like that depth would probably not need any
digging?) growth of food. Do your research now mechanical HVAC, as it only needs to remove
as to "native" or other crops appropriate for your the body heat of the human occupants and that
climate for edible landscaping, and for your generated by the activities, but it would not have
garden, containers, greenhouse, or more, much of a view. It can though be well lighted.
depending on your resources.
The technical aspects of correct earth sheltering
Despite farming's focus on a limited number of are explained well by John Hait in his book
crops, there are thousands of edible plants. See "Passive Annual Heat Storage". The techniques
www.echonet.org as a good resource for plant will improve the feel of even a traditional home,
listings. See also The Land Institute, but works best in homes specifically built to take
http://www.landinstitute.org/, which is doing maximum advantage of the buffering.
significant work on perennial food crops,
eliminating tilling. The greatest source of energy on earth is the sun,
which appears to travel a fixed pattern in the sky
PHYSICAL PRIORITY IV – SHELTER that is readily estimated. To maximize the
benefits of shade, or of solar collection, the suns
A naked exposed human is a physically ill- pattern of movement must be taken into account.
equipped animal. We need the technological
achievements our minds have provided. If your roof is exposed, consider from R 70 to R
100 in your ceiling.
Why would anyone NEED to generate Turning generators with moving water, caused
electricity, to spin and heat an electric dryer, by the sun (natural, and artificially induced
when hanging wet clothes in a sunlit space means to move water to a higher location, or
would also dry the clothes, and perhaps the drips from a pressurized container.) Power can be
water the plants? constant and regulated. Most naturally occurring
cases of water in a high gravity location have
Even refrigeration can be driven directly from a already been exploited.
windmill or waterwheel. Ice can be made using
a solar concentrator or by applying a hand- Where tanks can be positioned at significant
pumped vacuum to a container of water. Low differences in altitude (i.e. 100'+) water pumped
levels of locally produced electricity CAN by windmill to the higher tank can bank the
provide the power to maintain a technological, energy (serve as a battery) for later expenditure
learning and developing society. A "typical" by turning a generator when dropped again thru a
American household has access to 22 kilowatt turbine. Think outside the box… Can you
(110 v with 200 amp service) 24/7. modify a turbocharger from a car to serve as the
driving turbine in a micro-hydro generator?
Check your own bill, and see what your real time
use has been. Can you reliably generate that Factors:
much power? Then you must be prepared to buy
the power (hoping someone else manages to 1kw = 1.3 hp
generate it), or reduce your power usage to what Water flow in cubic feet/second x height
you can generate. difference in feet divided by 8.8 = hp
1 cubic foot = 7.48 gallon
POWER OPTIONS Assume two 10,000 gallon tank, one 100' higher
than the other. To generate 1kw of power
The prime energy source on earth is the sun. It 1kw = 1.3hp = flow/second x 100 / 8.8
powers the photosynthesis process in plants, 1.3 x 8.8 = flow x 100
creating the energy supply for all animal life. It 11.44 = flow x 100
is readily concentrated into a limited area with 11.44 / 100 = flow
simple mirrors or other reflective/convective .1144 cubic feet = flow
surfaces. .1144 cubic feet = .856 gallon/second
10,000 gallon tank / .856 = 11,682 seconds / 60 /
If you can generate electricity beyond your 60 = 3.24 kilowatthours for this "battery".
needs, your spare kwh could be valuable barter
currency to exchange with neighbors without Each of the above tanks is only about the size of
power. a modest “above ground” swimming pool.
Consider a well where the water level is more
With technology we understand, and can produce than 100 feet below the surface. A small
today, we can produce electricity from the sun windmill could easily during the day fill the
by: pool, providing the evenings power for light and
electronics.
Turning generators with moving wind, caused by
the sun (natural, and artificially induced wind up
As of 2007, a large portion of the global Any appropriate means to produce sufficiently
population is 20 or younger. At current strong walls and roof could be considered a
consumption globally of 30 billion barrels per success. In many places, the construction
year, and the largest daydream of 1,200 billion material can be the earth itself. Even if you are
barrels of oil, we have 40 years until depletion... not yet building on site, you may want a secure,
MUCH LESS until demand permanently exceeds concealed on site location. Consider a "septic
possible supply, and anyone not self-sufficient tank", or "fresh water tank" as your first
crashes. construction. Neither should raise suspicion, and
either can provide water tight, underground
It's not that biofuels do not have a place, it's that storage space. It will probably cost more to have
they cannot power an infrastructure like the "first a tank installed, than to buy either in a heavy
world" of today. gauge plastic.
Assume a multi generational, stable population While Mr. Reynolds emphasizes use of tires,
family homestead of 8 people. If your food cans, etc. in his structures, the functional aspects
production is at the "best" biointensive level, are relevant regardless of the construction
than 8,000 sq. ft. (approximately 1/4 acre) would material. In his third earthship book, Mr.
be the minimum area for a homsestead, based on Reynolds has valuable suggestions on a "retrofit"
the food limit. If you home is underground, or for a typical suburban home. See John Hait's
has a roof garden, the only loss for the structure book "Passive Annual Heat Storage" for
is skylights. scientific details of the thermal buffering system.
Per the Tucson MEC - Thermal Mass. Designs Surface coated stacked concrete block is
utilizing thermal mass should have suggested advocated by architect Bruce Beer at his website
heat capacity between 18 to 30 Btu/cu.ft. Walls www.thenaturalhome.com. Blocks are stacked
without external insulation need 12 inches without mortar, then filled and coated with
minimum thickness or 8 hours time lag. External cement.
insulation can be used (R-9 to R-11) to reduce
thickness of thermal mass to no less than 4". Mike Oehler, in "The $50 & Up Underground
Surface area of uncovered thermal mass (in the House Book" presents his PSP system
direct sun zone) should be minimum 9 times the (post/shoring/Polyethylene), basically an
area of south glass, with 1ft2 of additional south underground pole building. Regarding wood in
glass for every 40 ft2 of mass located outside the contact with the soil, in most soils, the area of
direct sun zone (a simplified method of decay is just below ground level, where soil
calculating thermal mass and south glass areas). microbiological activity is greatest. Often a post
can be almost completely rotted out at this level,
Summer Ventilation. Thermal-mass buildings while the wood several feet deeper in the ground
shall be provided with a means of venting to the is still solid. So it's possible that a post, buried
outside at night during the months of May two feet or more into the ground, in an
through October to avoid overheating. Operable excavation already as much as six feet or more in
windows totaling at least 20 percent of the total the ground, will last a very long time. In
glazing area, located for effective cross- addition, Oehler points out the old-time
ventilation or ceiling fans or a whole-house fan observation that charred wood doesn't rot. He
sized to provide 10 air changes per hour may be chars the bottom two feet or so, by roasting them
used. over a campfire, propane torch, etc. For
additional insurance, wrap the post bottom in
Glazing. All glazing facing between 20 - 165 several plastic garbage bags secured with duct
degrees or 195 - 340 degrees shall have a tape.
minimum summer shading coefficient of 0.39.
All glazing facing between 165-195 degrees Conventional thinking involves digging a hole
shall have a minimum summer shading into a hillside and plopping a structure there with
coefficient of 0.5 or less. This may be a bank of windows facing downhill. This makes
accomplished by the use of overhangs, covered the uphill side a solid blank wall, with the roof
porches, tinted glazing, or other approved probably pitched back into the hill, so drainage
methods. from the roof runs into drainage from the
hillside. Leaks are almost inevitable. Mike
EARTH SHELTER TECHNIQUES suggests an uphill patio, basically a terraced
garden area, with its bottom at any desired height
One approach is well presented in the from the floor of the house, and its top blending
"Earthship" series of books by Michael into the adjacent ground level. It not only solves
Reynolds, ranging from single room pods to problems of drainage and lateral thrust (the
luxury homes. It's not that earth is a good pressure of the earth on buried walls), but it can
insulator, rather the advantage comes from that function as an emergency exit or a second
fact that earth is NOT a good insulator, and it entrance. It can also serve as a built-in
Soil can though be formed into bricks, and baked RAISED BULWARKS
(even in the sun). It can also be "rammed" into
wall molds to form monolithic walls. Neither is Your home can be surrounded by artificial
waterproof though absent a stabilization mounds, to provide visual and audio separation,
materials, such as added concrete. while not excessively impeding airflow, foot
traffic (all species...) as well as defining and
Clay can be "fired" to make it waterproof. Clays controlling where private property rainfall flows.
vary considerably in chemistry but most require
about 1800 - 2000 F to develop a glassy ceramic RETROFIT
bond. The glassy bond is developed by melting
the silica in the clay and allowing the resulting Do you have the time and assets to custom
glass to freeze the remaining grains in place. build? Most will have to retrofit. If your intent
2000F can be achieved using natural gas, coal, is to join or remain in an existing community, it's
DEMOGRAPHICS PANTRY
At the individual homestead level, this means A "root cellar" room inside the home along the
each adult can only parent their personal north wall. Ice / freezing capabilities increases
eventual replacement, whether their biological the food storage options greatly. Solar powered
child, or adoptive. Given the bisexual nature of absorbent / refrigerant (no compressor) was
the human species, at the family level this means accomplished in the 1800's, and once made, can
on the average no more than 2 children per operate for decades. Proven combinations are:
couple as the biological replacement for the
parents. While the same individual (male or Lithium bromide / water (LiBr/H2O)
female) can parent 2 children with 2 different Water / Ammonia (H2O/NH3)
individuals of the opposing sex, it shows in later Sodium thicyanate/ammonia
Evaporative cooling (where water is a readily Compost toilet. Low or no water systems where
available resource) can make a large difference. the human discharges are retained at
A simple approach, perhaps to hold food, is a temperatures and with airflow for bacteria to
covered fired clay pot, recessed in sand filling a process the discharges into safe fertilizer. Urine
much larger, unfired clay pot, keeping the sand must either be diverted and processed separately,
moist, and the device shaded. For a higher tech or most of it is lost to evaporation.
consider and air tight container, and a vacuum
pump. Fill the container part way with water, Expedient: Collect human feces and urine in a
and pull a vacuum. As the pressure lowers, the container (e.g, a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat
water boils at lower temperatures. While some on it) and after each use, cover the wastes with
of the water boils off, some will freeze. an organic cover material such as sawdust (or
peat moss, dried leaves, or even dirt if it is dry
KITCHEN enough to be absorbent). When the container is
full, transfer of the contents to a compost bin.
As potentially your greatest need for solar heat, The cover material serves a dual function of
the kitchen needs to have the most unrestricted suppressing odors and providing the carbon
solar access. Consider keeping the heat, needed by decomposer organisms to balance the
humidity and smells of the kitchen totally nitrogen present in urine. Each time the
isolated from the air of the rest of the home. waste/sawdust mixture is transferred to the
compost bin, it is covered with a sufficient
Winston non-imaging concentrators could amount of coarse organic material such as straw,
provide a constant hotspot for an oven. hay, leaves or weeds. Kitchen garbage and yard
waste may be put in the same compost bin.
Mirror or lens concentration on coils of Once the last addition is made, the contents of
circulating oil could provide a means to route the bin are allowed to compost for a year.
concentrated heat to a "burner" coil arrangement
for a stove cooking surface. Establish a compost pile of about a meter cube.
Effective composting requires:
Once you have something hot, use insulation. Sufficient moisture (50-75%)
An example, bring a pot of stew, cooking meat, Dry browns - dry leaves and grass, which are
etc. up to a rapid boil, and put the covered pot in high in carbon
an insulated box. Wet greens - green grass and leaves which are
high in nitrogen
BATH Air throughout the pile
Soil organisms.
If you're using compost toilets, perhaps you want
the bath well vented, separate from the primary It is desirable to have a ratio of 25-30 carbon to 1
home system. Provided you are not using soaps nitrogen or much more of the dry browns to the
or putting chemicals down the drain toxic to wet greens. The exact ratio is not too critical, but
plants, your bath and wash water is a valuable if your pile is not working very well try to get
gray water resource. closer to the ratio and/or add some rich soil. If
While we're in the bathroom, consider toilet nitrogen is low some urine can be added. The
paper. Absent some type of on-going specialist pile needs to be turned so that all materials reach
society, are you going to be able to make your the desired temperature at some time during the
own toilet paper? The options are more or less process.
leaves, dirt, the bare flesh of your hand, or some
leather/cloth that gets washed. Daily additions of peelings, stems and stalks
from vegetables and fruits keep the pile loose
HUMAN EFFLUENT RECYCLING and temperature up. Piles which are tight have
There are evil people out there. There are many Sustainable. The first weapon that comes to
today who have no reservations about taking mind as "sustainable" is bow and arrow, which
whatever they want, and I would conjecture that literally grows on trees. Other tree based
the numbers of such will increase in the coming weapons would include include the spear and it's
years. Consider the news stories about those who atlatls throwing holder which significantly
quietly submitted to an assailant, hoping to increases the range and power of a spear throw.
minimize the confrontation, only to be tortured With an investment of more time and effort a
to death. Consider these evil people being sling arm, trebuchet, or catapult can toss
emboldened by an effective lack of police. crushing projectiles long distances.
The online encyclopedia "Wikipedia" indicates
Selection of appropriate modern weapons often the pneumatic reservoir (pump up a storage tank
spurs strongly opinioned debate, which I leave to of air) guns have been in use since around the
you and your friends. While I do not encourage 1500's, and may be considered rugged and
anyone to adopt any particular weapon, I simply sustainable in low technology conditions.
report that my preferred sidearm is a .45 ACP
pistol, and a 45-7024 lever action rifle. Whatever In light of articles on potato or tennis ball
your selection, examine it from a sustainability "guns", powered by an exploding mixture of
position, if we do indeed experience a deep alcohol, gasoline, butane, etc., I continue to
crash, and a "dark age" period, can you maintain wonder if a functional rifle could be made
the operability of the weapon, and provide a powered by an exploding alcohol/air mixture.
continuing supply of ammunition?
"Clouds" of fine flammable dust can explode, as
Regardless of the weapon selected, follow the has been demonstrated by explosions in grain
basic rules: “Treat every gun as if it is loaded. silos.
Never point a gun at anything you are not willing
to destroy. Finger off the trigger until the sights Also, a powered centrifuge might be able to
are on the target. Be sure of your target and what serve as a repeating high-velocity "sling". Might
is behind it.” sounds over a PA system distract attackers?
(Pre-positioned speakers behind places where
I point out though that starting as we are from attackers might hide, or sounds of animals or
the bottom up, and considering the great leverage gunfire, or I've heard there are "sounds" below
in security provided by availability of modern audible frequencies that create nervousness in
firearms, should make clear the utter folly of the many people.)
24
The longest verified shot from a .45-70 was SUPERSTITION / FEARS
Two Miles. The Report of the Secretary of War,
1880 included "… Mr. R.T Hare of Springfield Real or imagined animals, ghosts, etc. may
Armory who has the enviable distinction, so far unnerve those who are already disoriented,
as is known, of being the only person in the having seen their entire "world" collapse.
world who has hit the 'Bull's-Eye' six feet in
diameter… at 3,200 yards.” LIGHTING
This economic cannibalism by government edict Those who have or desire power over you must
is the anti-thesis of security, and the anti-thesis of have a means to reward those they desire, and
the operation of eminent domain, where the punish those who fail to obey. Direct theft in the
government takes your property and pays you. form of taxes or taking of property under
It functions to discourage permanent eminent domain is obvious. Less clear but
improvements. perhaps more direct in establishing control is
exampled by "environmental" regulations over
In short you are forced to sell goods or labor - the water in a prairie pothole, and the quality and
forced to work. Your earnings will of course be quantity of pothole water sources. (Yes, there
subject to federal and state income tax, social are members of Congress who author and submit
security tax, medicare tax, etc., all before you such proposals.)
receive any funds to use to pay the property tax.
As repeatedly submitted, the law would allow
If you improve your home or business, the federal control of your rainwater collection.
county government will raise your tax, When you have achieved local self reliance in
regardless of your cash flow. And it can get life support, you see less need to work for cash.
worse. As others follow your lead, and real income and
tax revenues decline, you must be vigilant for
Coming the other direction, up from the those who will seek to ensure your obedience by
grassroots of your self-sufficient homestead, the creating a monopoly on some essential aspect,
better job you do in changing your lifestyle, and such as water.
setting up your home to eliminate dependence on
the grid, or fuel flow, or the commercial food INCOME FOR INCIDENTALS
system, the less you are, for now, a source of
revenue… And later, the greater you are a source Are you planning on some continuing stipend,
of supplies if the local government decides to such as a pension from a private sector employer,
quit pretending, and admit how far we've come or the government, a stipend from Social
in the government being a group of mobsters, Security, or investment payouts? Do you really
demanding protection payments. believe they can be depended on?
Money is simply an agreed unit of exchange, so The challenge is not in creating a currency, but in
that there is no need for a complex barter system. creating one where the units are standard and
The money specified by a government taxing easily understood, relatively stable, and the
authority, is the money in which they want to be system is generally accepted. Finding gold adds
paid. You must somehow generate the required units to the economy, but no new functioning
currency. value, as would more bushels of apples, or an
increase in power generating capability.
Why don't we all inherit a stable functioning Getting in place a homestead that can meet your
homestead? Some things wear out, or become life support needs should be a first priority.
obsolete, but a well done home can last Consider though, can you grow all of your own
generation after generation. Too many of the food, make your clothes, build your home,
decisions of our ancestors, and ourselves, have engineer a car, appliances, etc?
been short-sighted.
To the extent that you own your own shelter,
If you are not living at, and standing to inherit a garden space, make clothes, etc., you are
fully functioning multigenerational homestead, capitalist27, owning the means of producing your
make it part of your plan that your children will. necessities. In continuous ownership by the same
family, the usefulness and value of capital
Could you pull together your parents, improvements accumulate to the benefits of
grandparents, etc. to one location, or at least coming generations. To the extent that your own
within walking distance, to consolidate your assets provide for your life support needs, you
resources and natural interdependent support eliminate the need for outside income and
group? purchases, making you an autarky.
With a modest collection of quality hand tools, Other solar devices. Israeli research has
even a neophyte can make modest repairs, developed a relatively simple means which uses
disassemble obsolete equipment, or fashion vital a parabolic mirror to concentrate sunlight onto a
devices. Imagine trying to "double dig" you fiber optic cable, which then leads to a light
garden without a shovel, or loosen a bolt without scalpel, useable as a laser scalpel. Sunlight can
a wrench. be used to directly “pump up” a laser to firing
power. It can heat dangerous compounds past
Obsolete devices are a potential "goldmine" of the temperature where they separate into
parts and raw materials. harmless atoms or compounds. Light can readily
be manipulated by lenses or mirrors. Given a
APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY crashing infrastructure, my feeling is that shiny
Pedal power, referred to as bicycles, but more Round-trip travel between the further most
properly human powered vehicles, can meet a points of a grid city 11 miles on a side (see
great deal of local transportation needs. Per Chapter VII) would be 44 miles. The electric
power used, a bicycle is the most efficient bicycle would require 1,650 watt/hour, or just
vehicle available, with a typical adult on an over 13 cents of electricity, and just over an
upright bicycle able to maintain a speed of 10 to house of travel time each way. (Less if you
12 mph. The same person on the recently pedal.)
“rediscovered” recumbent should achieve a
higher sustained speed due to lower air Until human powered light vehicles, such as
resistance and the ability to provide a more variants of bicycles are the PRIMARY means of
efficient braced "push" on the pedals without transportation, perhaps a bike friendly
also straining back, neck, arm, etc. muscles as is community needs a separate network of bicycle
required on an upright bicycle. roads or "tracks." The author recalls at least one
such separate bicycle path in Seattle, running
behind homes and businesses, with independent
bridges over major roads, allowing essentially
non-stop bicycle travel for 10+ miles. It was
primarily for recreation. (The author prefers
restricting heavy vehicle use and opening up the
local community roads for manual or low power
bicycles – such as the 750 watt federal limit.)
BREAKTHRU PROMISES
A recumbent bicycle enclosed in a streamlined
fairing has been pedaled at sustained speeds of Amory Lovins, of the Rocky Mountain Institute
over 65 mph - try THAT on your mountain bike. (www.rmi.org) essentially presents in his online
book "Winning the Oil Endgame" that advances
Personal powered vehicles. The cost and in materials (light and strong) and in fuel cells
complexity of batteries, fuel cells, etc. may keep will so revolutionize transportation that we will
personal vehicles from returning to anything somehow be able to continue to drive where and
approaching the widespread ownership and use when we want, with no problem of fuel
of today's industrial nations, or at least from availability or price, but he presents no
resembling a 20th century automobile. consideration for expanding population, or the
initial energy source for generating hydrogen
In 2006 federal law classified bicycles with a fuels.
electric motor of 750 watt or less, and not
capable of traveling under power more than 20 Consider for a moment alcohol as a fuel. Corn is
mph, as NOT a motor vehicle. States may not a potential alcohol crop, but I remain convinced
require them to be registered, or require a that it will be more valuable as food, and as a
driver’s license to operate them. beverage for escape of misery, before it will be a
practical fuel.
Rabbit. 3 doe, 1 buck, in hutches out of the rain. Daylighting and solar heat collection. One solar
Feed greens along with some oats or bran. tube type device per room, and heat panels
exposed to the sun.
Sheep. In addition to the wool-bearing sheep of
the temperate zone, there exist hair sheep which Multi level. With your family living under your
are much better adapted to the tropics. In food source, your structure if spread under the
addition to their value in producing meat, such entire growing area could be 10,000 sq. ft. per
sheep are often used to control weeds in level, plenty of room for a multi-generation
orchards, and thus constitute a profit-producing homestead. Does your family have a business to
biological control. operate? How about a business on ground level,
"One faction of society's leaders22… suffers from We need to not only work on personal
myopia (short sightedness), in that they refuse to preparations, and remove the roadblocks to
see the long-term energy fundamentals or the further realignment of the infrastructure, but to
consequences of a serious energy crisis. The remove the artificial incentives and support that
academic and environmentalist community, on feeds the current mindset. One of our first
"pushes" has got to be removing the "zoning"
29
Mother Earth News has online a searchable restrictions that essentially outlaw home-based
index of vitually every previously published businesses. We need to get rid of the stupid
article, and should be considered an initial go-to barriers, not only to home-based businesses, but
source for ideas or palns for simple self reliance in some places even clothelines are banned…
projects.
We need to not only work on personal At the homestead / family level, it may seen
preparations, and remove the roadblocks to ridiculous to comment on a formal organization
further realignment of the infrastructure, but to structure, but the thought is relevant to later
remove the artificial incentives and support that discussions.
feeds the current mindset.
A family may have some aspects of "voting", or
Multi-use zoning, or eliminate zoning? members in some manner providing input, but in
the end a family is probably "run" by the
What animals are allowed? member(s) most capable of doing so. I believe
you will find extended families for the most part
We all bring with us the "baggage" we have to be meritocracies - leadership based on talent
accumulated during life. Our notions, or ability, with significant influence from the
infrastructure, industry, politics, religion, etc., owner of the major assets, or the wisdom of the
has all developed with a paradigm of continued elders.
expansion of population, and apparent unlimited
resources and energy.
ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Peak oil shows that paradigm is ending.
In planning / executing your plan, have you
I argue re-thinking everything from the grass taken into account the ecological aspects of your
roots up, not only the physical needs of a single actions? Are you planning on buying a plot of
person, but our laws and government. trees, and clear-cutting them down to build your
structures, sell for income, and burn for your
Immunizations. There are numerous nasty germs That said, if you need the care of a physician,
out there that are kept at bay by the technology and such is available, how do you pay for it? Do
and services of our modern civilization. Absent you expect your doctor to work for free, or for
protections, and with increased breeding barter? Do you believe any insurance program
grounds, "old" diseases may gain new footings. you may have will continue to function?
These diseases remain "typical" in third world
countries. Consult your physician for what HEALTH INSURANCE
additional immunizations you should have if you
were planning an extended trip thru a variety of General Motors (2006) has $64 billion in
impoverished third world nations. outstanding UNFUNDED healthcare obligations,
which is $50 billion more than its market
Exercise. If you're not in shape, work with your capitalization. Do you want to be dependent on
physician now and establish an exercise this? In a scenario of hyper-inflated currency, do
program. In selecting your exercises, consider you believe any government program would be
the type of physical labor you are likely to be viable? If Congress just "drags it's feet" about
doing. My personal focus is on bicycling and passing an annual budget, the programs shut
shoveling. down.
The present infrastructure and ideologies of mere subsistence. That said, much of the
civilization developed in an era of cheap remains of our inheritance must be used to play
abundant energy, expanding population and what world-policeman and prevent war on a global
seemed to be unlimited resources. All of this is scale. We will, probably, continue misguided
ending. Given present knowledge and science, programs that sustain a growing underclass of
humans are faced with physical limits. We need individuals who return nothing to society.
to recognize what these limits are, and re-think
our civilization from the grass roots up, not With the food production and shipping made
bumble blindly on. possible by oil, as well as energy to transform
the landscape, and overcome the environment,
HISTORY humans have overpopulated32 like a plague over
the planet. For the present, humans can live in
In this past 100 years, the incredible places, and in concentrations that are impossible
development of our global society and to sustain without oil.
population expansion was made possible
primarily by oil, which provided a store of Our strategic reserves, established as a "buffer"
cheap, concentrated, portable energy, as well as against OPEC economic actions, and for security
plastics, medicines, clothing, pesticides, paint, use, represent less than 30 days supply at our
and thousands of other products. normal use. And, these reserves can not be
pumped faster than a flow which would be
God blessed the United States with an original around 17% of our normal daily use. So, the
supply of about 260 billion barrels; only Saudi governmental reserves, if NOT used for the
Arabia had more. From 1859 to 1939 the U.S. military, could keep 17 percent of the economy
produced two-thirds of the world's oil. Part of going for a few months. Our total domestic
the motivation for Japan and Germany in WWII supply could only operate the nation's present
was their lack of resources to cope with the infrastructure for a relatively brief period. Until
combination of expanding population and we have an alternative, we're stuck providing
increased per person demand, with a particular security to keep the foreign oil flowing.
shortage of energy in the form of oil. It could
easily be argued that American oil, and the In 1859 when oil was struck in Pennsylvania,
industrial output it nourished, was a major factor Americans traveled on horseback; in 1969 they
in World War II, as was our hydroelectric power drove Mustangs and flew to the Moon. In 2069,
which allowed for production of great quantities those who survive will probably walk. Will your
of aluminum for aircraft. For oil, taking heirs, if they live, live in a comfortable self-
California as an example, this one state had more reliant modern city, or hide in caves?
than all Axis territory combined. As recently as
1950 the U.S. was producing half the world's oil.
32
When is an area overpopulated? When its
Today, we now don't produce half our own oil, population can’t be maintained without rapidly
and absent a scientific energy breakthru, we depleting nonrenewable resources.... By this
should probably preserve it for national defense standard, the entire planet and virtually every
use as the oil era ends. nation is already vastly overpopulated.
- Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich, Stanford Professor of
Starting immediately, should make every effort Population Studies and author of The Population
to use our power, technology, knowledge and Explosion (1990).
resources to transform our oil-dependent society
into one that is sustainable, above the level of
An early 2006 article in Mother Earth News on Uranium is not particularly rare. There is an
biodiesel presents an apparently optimistic view estimated 40 trillion tonnes of Uranium in the
of biodiesel production. The article indicates Earth's crust. To date we have mined less than
that the United States has 6 million acres of one ten-millionth of this. The relevant
cropland that are fallow, asserting that if all of information though is what can be recovered
this acreage was planted in rapeseed, it could using known technology.
conceivably annually provide 6 billion gallons of
diesel fuel. Estimates as of 2005:
Setting aside considerations of putting our last
fallow cropland into use, let's put this amount of Readily recoverable at around $130/kg is 4.7
fuel into perspective. In barrels, this is 142 million tones. If each 1 GW light water Nuclear
million barrels. Approximately 2 BILLION Power Plant consumes 30 tonnes of fuel per year
barrels per year are used in the U.S. in the food this "easy" to get uranium represents 157,000
production industry. reactor/years. Say we already have 441 (1006)
in operation, so it's enough to keep them
Therefore, the loss of every "spare" acre of operating for 355 years.
farmland could replace perhaps 7% of the fuel
used in farming and food processing. If these reactors represent a continued output of
1 billion watt/hour through the year, then for
There are, absent fossil fuels, means to example at 100% efficient conversion of oil to
sustainably obtain clean water, nutritional food, electricity that it would take around 5,280 of
appropriate clothing and shelter, but not in these reactors to replace our 2005 oil use. Then
sufficient quantities to sustain the present the "easy" uranium extends our present global
population, let alone provide any excess. energy use levels by 30 years.
ABIOTIC THEORY
There is potential for additional recoverable
uranium of 35 million tones, for a total land
There are theories that oil is constantly being
based estimated available and useful supply of
produced deep in the earth by reactions in the
Some CO2 emissions arise from the construction The Earth presents an 8,000 mile diameter disk
of the plant, the mining of the Uranium, the to the sun. But remember, the world is not flat,
enrichment of the Uranium, its conversion into is tilted relative to its orbit, and rotates. The
Nuclear Fuel, its final disposal and the final plant further you are from the equator, the less sunlight
decommissioning. The total estimated CO2 per square meter of surface, therefore covering
emitted per KW-Hr is less than one hundredth polar regions with solar panels would be
the CO2 of Fossil-Fuel based generation. impractical. To provide continued collection in
the non-polar regions, the entire earth would
The Chinese Nuclear Power Industry has need to be belted with panels. At any given
contracts to build new plants of their design at moment though, probably a circle of 5,000 mile
capital cost reported to be $1500 per KW and diameter or less would face the sun adequately
$1300 per KW at sites in South-East and North- for solar collection. Area = Pi x radius squared.
East China. The greatest growth (2006) in With present solar panels (say 10% efficient),
nuclear power is in China. how much power could we intercept?
Putting photovoltaic panels where the demand is If the same swath as with solar power was
does not necessarily work. In higher latitudes, in instead turned into an 7,500 mile wide
overcast climates, etc., the power generated biointensive garden, completely surrounding the
would not be worth the effort or cost. There may Earth, 50% clouds, it would intercept in BTUs:
not be a lot of time left to implement some
functional alternative. 207,522,049,398,048,000
Warfare is the historical response to the pressure Is humanity as a whole, and the citizens as
of local needs, or greed, or the perceived individuals, better off in a world with some
unfairness of better off neighbors, or those who maximum population existing at a starvation
refuse to strip their own resources and join the level, unable to maintain a sane organized
death of a failed society. Leaders will need to civilization with teaching, medicine, etc., or with
shift the responsibility and blame for failure much lower numbers, well fed and healthy, with
elsewhere. America, with the highest standard of reserves of food, the ability to produce biofuels,
living on Earth, the greatest purchaser of oil, and etc.? With the globe covered by human sprawl
producer of food, is the most visible, most likely & refuge, or with distinct human enclaves
target of this redirected anger. The accumulation isolated from a protected greater volume of
of atomic, biological, and chemical weapons has natural environment? With a long-lived
spread dramatically, and they are now in the educated and experienced population, or short-
hands of many small nations, who have long lived neophytes who must reinvent the wheel
histories of conflicts with neighboring nations, each generation? The future will be what we
and short tempers. make it by the accumulation of our individual
decisions and actions.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts
absolutely. The U.N. and those behind the EARLIER CRASHES
scenes control the world, with agendas probably
contrary to your personal freedom and Starving frightened33 people do not care about
achievement. sustainability. If sustainability is to be achieved,
people who are not starving must supply the
If we can’t sustain the present population, what necessary leadership and resources. There must
are you suggestions for avoiding such conflicts
and their spread? How do we avoid further
destruction of the natural ecosystem, the human 33
The author is a fan of “zombie” movies. When
life support ecosystem, and the artifacts and you are running from one crisis, only to
knowledge of civilization and manage the least encounter another, it is at the least difficult to
painful and damaging way out from our self think and act long-term. How many survivalist
imposed crisis? (Reminder: Excess food, viable guides provide any long-term consideration such
as collecting seeds for storage?
Six extended families does not however provide The collection of homesteads is the lowest level,
a wide safety margin (i.e. for sicknesses or probably the BEST level, to consider what in
accidents) or the ability to maintain and pass on human terms, “survival of the fittest” means for
specialized knowledge and skills, or maintain long-term civilization. It is perhaps NOT what
and develop much technology. you would first think. Early tools, stones and
knives required physical strength, and hand to
If we assume the initial Homestead association hand combat ability was essential to survival.
group begins with members of random age, the The bow, a more refined tool, allowed for lesser
likelihood of practical mate matches in a strength but a distinct skill to provide distant
gathering of just six families is reduced. Tossing neutralization of a much larger adversary or
around some random numbers. Children born to animal. Our continued progression has made
couples at some point between are 18 and 36. mind and precision more important than
We could easily find an 18-year or more age gap strength, in a feedback loop. The drive to
between potential mates. Increasing the number overpopulate was early on another survival trait,
of families by a factor of 3 (to 18 families) in as many died as children, or before they had their
theory reduces the likely mate average age gap to own children. Like other early "cave" aspects,
6 years. (See discussion later of 20 homestead given the now global coverage of humanity, the
"units" for Homestead associations.) drive to expand population is obsolete.
On a modest 1/4 acre lot if the family home and In any existing community though it is not likely
structures are underground or earth covered (see that 20 families are going to be able to buy out
PAHS), the entire surface of the homestead could the 16 families occupying the prospective central
be available for food production, say around field, to demolish the structures. A pre-crash
10,000 ft. sq. At the best biointensive yield, the option might be for the 20 to establish an LLC
lot itself could feed the family. and progressively buy the core for temporary use
as rentals.
How about a 10,000 sq. foot multi-floor
building, a business on the first floor, living Pre-crash do not expect politicians to look
quarters above with a greenhouse/garden on the favorably on attempts to shift from maximum
roof? density of voters to a local balance of housing,
food production, etc. Your livestock doesn't
As touched on in Chapter I, the ability of a ¼ vote, and vacant land planted in crops does not
acre multigenerational homestead to provide for pay the politicians as much in property taxes as
the family has two significant factors, sufficient yet another building. “Compromises27 between
sunshine for crops, and sufficient water for the demands of urban / industrial growth and
crops. agriculture will always result in the conversion
of agricultural land to urban and industrial uses.
A simple greenhouse can provide a lot of leeway The reverse conversion never happens.”
regarding solar exposure time. If there is not
enough natural rainfall, water can however If the overall 20 homestead area is in isolation
become a significant limiting factor. from other resources and needed to be
surrounded by water collection, at the upper
With 12” of rainfall (presented for reference (safer) estimated area the neighborhood needs a
purposes, adjust all estimates for your local water collection band around it 304 feet think, or
information.) a multigeneration homestead of 8 the neighborhood needs to measure 1,208 feet on
to 10 people would need to collect water from an a side.
area of 52,000 to 65,000 sq.ft. The homestead is
Lost or Little Used Technologies (i.e.: probably As long as the use of such lists remains the
rarely practiced skills) voluntary exchange or lending of goods or
services, one might expect people to be quite
Blacksmithing forthcoming with information. If the community
Horse shoeing implements any approach that commandeers
Sheep Sheering property, expect cooperation to cease. This
Gunsmithing points to the problem of such lists getting into
Hand yarn and fabric making the hands of thieves.
Cotton ginning
Slaughtering / hog dressing INFRASTRUCTURE ACCESS
Hide tanning
Meat preserving A single family or small group can't anticipate
Home building: Log, Rammed Earth, Straw everything, and can't gather everything. I guess
Bale, Heavy Timber Framing, etc the "plus" side is that (at least in the USA) it's
Barn raising difficult to find ANYPLACE that is very far
Hand tool carpentry from some town.
Furniture making
Hand plowing If you are building a remote retreat community
Hand wheat preparation (drying, winnowing, "from scratch", (NOT recommended by the
grinding, etc) author) costs and difficulties are reduced while
Windmill design / building the resources of a functioning community are
Water mill design / building within reach.
Wagon / horse buggy building
Boat Building All 20 families can live in a single room, or
Stone Mason individual family homesteads, built per the
Shoe Making resources of each individual family, or in a multi
Internal trade in a small community of family / So long as there are banks that can “loan” the
friends can be barter / loan, with informal money you have in on-demand deposit, the same
accounting. If a goal is the same 2% in farming situation could develop regardless of what you
as the U.S. today, in each association there are 3 call the currency.
people doing the gardening/farming.
Nevertheless, your group, your community,
Posit a gathering of 20 families having agreed to whatever the level, NEEDS a currency that is
use "MONOPOLY" money as a medium of disconnected from the highly manipulated and
exchange. Someone finds another game box, completely artificial federal currency. You need
and divides up the money. Is anyone richer? to realize that all voluntary exchanges between
Prices rise, but everyone can still afford the same two parties are barter. Money or currency is
purchases. What happens though if the second simply some agreed intermediate barter item,
game finder slowly filters the excess money into where everyone is readily willing to exchange
the economy by purchases that benefit that their goods or services for the barter item, or the
family? In the long-term overall the community currency representing the barter item.
is no more wealthier, however, the sneak has
personally profited to the percentage the If the basis of your agreed barter currency
additional “cash” relates to the initial cash. The denomination is something that can be created, it
extra monopoly money adds no new value to the needs to be something that if created adds value
community, but does inflate everything. to your local economy of at least the same
usefulness as the unit created. Finding gold adds
The U.S. dollar is no better. The federal potential units to the economy of a gold standard
government, via the NON-GOVERNMENTAL economy, but new gold found in a mine does not
agency of the Federal Reserve, puts printed, and add real useful value to the economy, and
debt generated cash into the economy, essentially dilutes the currency, just as a
benefitting the government and the federal government printing press does. In comparison
reserve, but lowering the value of every other growing a commodity such as wheat, or
Existing zoning and/or business license/taxation The physical design is usually such as to
requirements may pose sufficient barriers as to encourage personal contact and use of the
prevent some from implementing a "sideline" common areas. There is no required sharing of
business that they might otherwise have an income or other personal assets. There may also
interest in operating. The very people who be other jointly owned assets, vehicles, tools,
would benefit in the future from such hobby machines, etc.
businesses waiting in the wings, will probably
balk at changes today that would allow them to Cohousing facilities, and quite a number of
start to develop. But it must be done. neighborhoods, have restrictive covenants, rules
for the neighborhood that one must agree to
What else do you see that needs to be changed, follow as part of obtaining title to the property.
to get the various levels of government OUT OF As with an easement on the property, the
THE WAY of achieving long-term sustainable covenants survive even seizure of the property
civilization? and a resale. I solicit input for covenants for a
long-term sustainable neighborhood.
TECHNOLOGY
With private ownership of the means of
So long as the external infrastructure continues providing for life support and comfort needs, as
to function, the gathering should be capable of well as potential sources of income for the
keeping up to date with the rest of the world organization, it is by definition a capitalistic
(given appropriate funding). autarky.
A question: Assume your family, and nineteen While such fictional entities are still available
other families, have completely equipped under law, the common areas and the overall
homesteads with everything in presentations to neighborhood may want to create and operate
this point, and are planning on isolation. Do you
SUMMARY
The apparent principles and guidelines of our - From the Great Law of the Iroquois
present civilization ignore natural limits. Once Nation
we recognize these limits exist, we need to shift
the focus of our thinking to different paradigms. Seven generations is somewhere between 96 and
280 years. A properly maintained and managed
INTRODUCTION neighborhood or cooperative housing association
provides a minimum genetic population, and can
"Sustainable" is a word you will more readily see provide for the life-support needs of residents for
added to the name of programs. Real change seven generations and beyond. But it appears
though will be difficult to actually implement clear that a homeowner association scale
and maintain given present individual attitudes, community, if isolated, will be unable to sustain
institutions and paradigms. much technology, education, or skills.
Civilization, operated on sustainable principles, Humans and all other animal life on earth are
could eliminate starvation, poverty, pollution, dependent on plants to use light to recycle our
etc. But such will not be implemented by a wastes and mortal remains to create food. We in
starving population or by those who benefit from particular are dependent on our agriculture art
the present system. Such will be resisted by the and technology. Without it, the natural systems
selfish and greedy who contribute nothing while on the Earth could not support the present human
demanding others support them. It will be population.
resisted by those who feel THEY have the
“right” to have as many children as they want, to Given present science, what comprises a
do what they want, to go where they want, sustainable community?
regardless of whomever else upon which the
COSTS of such actions are imposed. There are no secrets to success. It is the
result of preparation, hard work, and
Given humanities civilization is now global, for learning from failure.
many practical purposes, we've got to recognize
- General Colin Powell
we are living in a closed environment. Our
resources are finite. Other than energy from the
sun, there is virtually no input to our resources.
Absent a breakthrough in technology, we are PRESERVE GOD'S NATURAL
effectively limited to the confines of the Earth ECOSYSTEMS
for the foreseeable future.
We must avoid interfering with any unique micro
HOW LONG environment, or the environment overall, such
that we cause species extinctions, or such that
The word sustainable implies the ability to natural evolution is prevented. Therefore a key
continue for an indefinite period. To put initial question, what is the upper limit for the
sustainable into an easier to comprehend portion of the environment to be devoted to
timeframe, consider seven generations. human use? 1/10? 1/3? 1/2? More? Less?
Please note, humans are already using 50% of
the productive life of the world.
"In our every deliberation, we must
consider the impact of our decisions on
Within such dedicated space, or indeed the entire
the next seven generations"
world, simple logic shows the number of humans
who can be sustained, and the per person ability
If you stick your hand into the fire, you need the Every factor I've examined indicates the
negative feedback of searing pain letting you population must decline dramatically. Once we
know there's not much time to get your hand out. have reached sustainable levels, the population
can only be permitted to fluctuate within a
There are consequences to actions; whether limited range. Consider the factors of
those of an individual, family, neighborhood, fluctuation, lifespan, child bearing age, and
city, nation, or humanity as a whole. birthrate..
Foul your air and you're dead in 3 minutes. Lifespan. Given other factors being stable (child
bearing age and birthrate) an increase, or
Foul your water and you're dead in 3 days. decrease in the average lifespan of a population
will cause a one time increase (lifespan divided
Foul your food and you're dead in 3 weeks. by child bearing age) in the number of
generations alive at any given time, and therefore
You may be able to temporarily obtain resources the total living population.
from elsewhere, but in a long-term sustainable
world where everyone is in balance, there may Child Birth Age. Given other factors being
not be excess to share. stable (lifespan and birthrate) an increase, or
decrease in the average age of parents when
POPULATION CONTROL children are born will cause a one time increase
(lifespan divided by child bearing age) in the
Some maximum population can be fed, but with number of generations alive at any given time,
no resources available for any other purpose. A and therefore the total living population.
technological civilization, in particular to
continue developing, requires "excess" resources Birthrate. Given other factors being stable
that can be invested for the future, and lost in (Lifespan and child bearing age) an increase, or
failed projects. decrease in the average number of children born
to parents, in simple fact, ANY deviation from a
At the other end of the scale, there is certainly a strictly replacement birth rate, will cause a
minimum human population, and distribution continued, and essentially geometric change in
program, for safety, maintenance and the actual number of people alive at any given
development of skills, knowledge, scientific time.
discovery, etc.
Regardless of the size of the population units, it
The smallest human population is that required appears practical to blend living, working,
for genetic safety. (A tribe? Six families? entertainment, etc. facilities in as close proximity
Twenty families?) While this size might be as practical.
appropriate for a "survival" community, or a well
organized and supported project (i.e. an INFRASTRUCTURE
interstellar mission) it is doubtful that technology
could be indefinitely maintained, let alone Modern civilization, as we experience it, is a
development continue. product of the present global socio-economic-
industrial infrastructure. Surely, no one believes
TERRORISTS
Whether you see it or not, we are engaged in a What must be saved? Knowledge, skills, and
multi-front war. The object of war is not technological capabilities. How much has been
necessarily to destroy the enemy, but to destroy wasted in humanities history by the same
his will. Terrorists seek to do so with preemptive discovery, invention, or even simple fact, being
acts of violence. Politicians seek to do so thru a "rediscovered" multiple times?
combination of promised government benefits,
that must be funded by theft. Knowledge. I can't tell you off-hand which
plants grow well with each other, and which can't
Regardless of what YOUR religion is, if it is stand each other. But I know the information is
NOT radical Islam, you are going to be involved important to efficient gardening, and that the
in a religious war. Our civilization cannot information is out there in books. I don't know
continue to use resources at the same rate as at which piece of information, invention, or
the turn of the millennia. Regardless of your discovery can or will become critical, so we need
personal resource use level and you are going to the maximum possible under whatever
be involved in a resource war. conditions we encounter. Post crash, I'd want to
have access to an intact university, or at least city
On September 11, 2001 the citizens on flight 93 library. My own library is merely a few
did not sit on their hands. They used their cell bookshelves of selected text.
phones, and discovered news of the World Trade
Center impacts. When big government plans Skills. Almost lost skills, such as blacksmithing,
failed, it was the acts of free men that prevented may need a revival. But if we lose skills such as
the final flight 93 from reaching its terrorist precision surgery, bringing them back will quite
intended target. What of security measures and probably be MUCH more difficult than resuming
gun control? Everyone on all of the flights, and smithy work.
in the two World Trade Towers would have been
safer if every citizen had been armed. Teachers. What is the minimum level
community expected to be capable of sustainably
Communities and civilization can slow their Living machines. We need human communities
population growth by removing the many visible to be fully integrated living ecosystems
and hidden public subsidies that support and optimized for human habitation. “Science writer
encourage growth. Welfare as it exists in Janine Benyus points out that spiders make silk,
America today must be eliminated. Its programs strong as Kevlar but much tougher, from
provide incentives for the unproductive to digested crickets and flies, without needing
reproduce excessively. It is the same with boiling sulfuric acid and high-temperature
dependency deductions, employer provided extruders. The abalone generates an inner shell
health insurance for families regardless of size, twice as tough as our best ceramics, and diatoms
free public schooling, etc. make glass, both processes employing seawater
with no furnaces. Trees turn sunlight, water, and
Stopping population growth will require air into cellulose, a sugar stiffer and stronger
educational, technical, and outreach programs in than nylon, and bind it into wood, a natural
the areas of social responsibility, family composite with a higher bending strength and
planning, contraception, immigration, and stiffness than concrete or steel. We may never
resource use. We must make clear the greater the grow as skillful as spiders, abalone, diatoms, or
degree to which the carrying capacity has been trees, but smart designers are apprenticing
exceeded, the more probable it is that coercion themselves to nature to learn the benign
will become a factor in these programs. It also chemistry of its processes.”
requires a review of governmental programs and
taxes, which “reward” population growth, or Pharmaceutical companies are becoming
penalize those who are successful. microbial ranchers managing herds of enzymes.
Biological farming manages soil ecosystems in
The food chain is nature's equilibrium order to increase the amount of biota and life per
mechanism. It functions to prevent unlimited acre by keen knowledge of food chains, species
expansion of populations of flora and fauna. interactions, and nutrient flows, minimizing crop
Primitive human societies were often able, if not losses and maximizing yields by fostering
forced to maintain approximately constant diversity. Meta-industrial engineers are creating
populations and to live within the carrying "zero-emission" industrial parks whose tenants
capacity of their ecosystems. The methods they will constitute an industrial ecosystem in which
used to maintain approximately constant one company will feed upon the nontoxic and
populations were often cruel and inhumane. useful wastes of another. Architects and builders
are creating structures that process their own
Technology has given many people the feeling wastewater, capture light, create energy, and
that, through our own efforts, we are exempt provide habitat for wildlife and wealth for the
from the cruel constraints of limited carrying community, all the while improving worker
capacities. Be prepared for the consequences productivity, morale, and health. High-
WHEN our infrastructure fails. temperature, centralized power plants are starting
to be replaced by smaller-scale, renewable power
Ancient civilizations have vanished, in part generation. In chemistry, we can look forward to
because they grew too large and their size the end of the witches' brew of dangerous
exceeded the carrying capacity of the ecosystems substances invented this century, from DDT,
on which they depended for support. PCB, CFCs, and Thalidomide to Dieldrin and
xeno-estrogens. The eighty thousand different
Education notwithstanding, civilizations today chemicals now manufactured end up
show considerable tendency to repeat the everywhere, as Donella Meadows remarks, from
mistakes of earlier civilizations, but on a much our "stratosphere to our sperm." They were
larger scale. created to accomplish functions that can now be
What is the minimum level gathering to allow microenvironment in the name of creating a
individuals to practice personal specialization in human ecovillage.
providing daily goods and services, even basic
schooling, within walking distance? Wherever the location, it must be possible, and
within the scope of community capability for the
A typical present day community is dependent local resources to sustain the climax stage
on a constant inflow of energy and goods, and population for the indefinite future, and the
outflow of "waste". Providers of goods and population must be large enough (without
services, even basic schooling, often requires exceeding the local resources) to be self-
trips beyond walking distance, such as long bus sustaining not only in the physical essentials of
rides for children. What happens when the fuel life, but also education of the children sufficient
which allows this to happen stops flowing? to at the least continue maintenance and
operation of the infrastructure, awareness of
INTRODUCTION plant and animal requirements and
characteristics, etc.
Consider if you will an "ecovillage" to be the
primary unit of society. A homestead may Research has shown that merely assembling
provide indefinite life support, and a modest climax stage factors does not a climax stage
neighborhood continuing generations for an environment create. The climax stage tree may
indefinite period, but it is doubtful that complex need the fact that earlier pioneer species have
technology, specialized or technical knowledge, accumulated nitrogen, opened pores in the soil,
or even "modern" K - 12 education would be etc.
maintained in an isolated neighborhood of 20
families. The next logical step “up” in Developers may construct collections of new
complexity is the infrastructure for basic houses & roads, but it is not a neighborhood or
education, community meeting places and community until the people are there and make it
marketplace, location for unique limited demand their own. Expanding this thought, the author if
services, etc. further skeptical of those who purport to create a
village in the wilderness. In general, the
Ecovillage does not necessarily mean that human designer/builder has no contact with the
activities are harmlessly integrated into the prospective owner/occupant until after the
natural world. As touched on earlier, humans in facility is constructed. A wilderness location
general do not want to live in direct contact with means of course that the facility is cut-off from
nature, in simple fact humans generally want to human infrastructure, it is in essence a pioneer
override what would have naturally occurred. species, and does not represent a long-term
climax stage.
This does not mean that humans can, or want to
continue in complete isolation from other life Frequently new developments are houses and
forms, rather humans want to choose the life roads, and little else. The houses were probably
forms the cohabitate with. built at the lowest cost, to present the greatest
attractive appearance, disregarding practical
The word “ecovillage” frequently initiates long-term use. A heavy rainstorm or wind,
thoughts and comments along the lines of settling of disturbed soils, and there may be more
finding that perfect pristine piece of idealist than a few surprises.
wilderness, and quite frankly cutting, digging,
paving, and planting there to meet human desires Existing neighborhoods, in particular perhaps
and needs, essentially destroying the local those that pre-date extensive auto ownership and
CREATING INFRASTRUCTURE
Sustaining civilization goes well beyond air, selective in selecting a mate. (Or the strongest
water, food, shelter, and new generations. It is and most prone to violence do what they want.)
also about education, specialization,
development of technology, etc. Do you believe We have however in the "developed" nations had
that a few friends in an isolated "village" can an ongoing misguided program of expanding the
sustain civilization alone? numbers of the least-fit, those who without
assistance would have never "made it" on their
INTRODUCTION own, and from whom society never had any hope
of any beneficial contribution.
Village size organizations can function on a
barter system, and may not have much need for Conversely, in growing numbers, those with
formal laws, or a complex economy for internal higher education, significant earnings capacity,
purposes. Absent a large-scale disaster, they and better living conditions have opted for less
could provide a healthy, nurturing environment than replacement level children.
for an indefinite number of generations. But
villages appear to be limited in the amount of This needs to be corrected. The physically and
specialization that can take place, and if unable mentally fit must no longer be subjugated to the
to communicate, and conduct physical exchange less fit.
of unique products, development is so inhibited
that mankind's progress would essentially come To maintain a stable population level, yet
to a standstill, and most likely regress. improve humanity overall, there will need to be
some form of restriction on breeding, whether
POPULATION bringing back "taboo's", economic incentives (or
disincentives such as IMPOSING a tax on every
A stable population is essential. Children may child, vs granting tax deductions), or outright
be a joy to the parent, and of value to the enforced controls.
eventual future of the community, but typically
until adulthood they are a burden. And any We have governmental incentives to have more
children beyond replacement for the parents pose children, and other incentive programs which
a threat. Yet despite wars, famine, pollution, increase the population. While there is such
resource depletion, and a crowded globe, most of government, THESE MUST STOP. In the end,
humanity still doesn't get the picture. these transfer the cost of children from the
parents to unrelated families. Eliminate tax
In a limited resource (air, water, food, etc.) deductions for children. IMPOSE a tax on the
situation, the lower the overall population, the parent of any child beyond replacement.
greater the amount of resource that can be
expended per person, with surplus for If people do not voluntarily address procreation,
experimentation, research and development. eventually either mother nature, or the
government will. What if the government
BREEDING imposed a license requirement on having
children? This would encourage creation of a
In a group of free individuals, there is to some market in parenting sales. Say NO parent has the
extent always a breeding program ongoing, right to more than their personal replacement
where the wealthiest, best looking, most child. "Wealthy" could have more children by
successful, etc., mate with peers, or can be more buying the parent permission of the poor. The
poor person(s) then does not have children, and
Even the most innocent appearing, "mom and Barter is typically thought of as a direct trade of
pop" store, can be a significant drain on the local goods or services. You grow a flock of chickens,
economy. A foreign product or service, is a and need a tooth cavity filled. Both you and the
foreign product or service. In a store selling for dentist are by your activities creating physical
example items that are virtually all made in value. The barter exchange occurs when you and
China, the only part of the funds spent there that the dentist agree on an equal value, for example
could continue to flow in the private, local 8 chickens for a tooth filling. "Buyer beware"
community are the after tax profits. applies to determining the value to you of what
you trade for. Your property and skills are your
As bad as consumer spending on foreign measurement and storehouse of value.
produced products is, if the spending is financed,
yet more money leaves the community. (Where General acceptance of common means of value,
do you send YOUR credit card payments?) i.e. grain or gold (grown/mined), or the modern
equivalent of grain to feed an industrial
Do you have a company pension plan, 401(k), economy, electricity, all permit less direct
IRA, whole life insurance, etc.? How much of transactions. You raise chickens, the farmer
your money in these products do you think grain, the miner digs the gold, and the dentist
circulates in the local community? As a distinct tends to teeth. You all create physical value.
example, purchase in the marketplace of stock of Whether you carry around grain, gold, or
a local firm sends your money to the sellers indefinable dollars, your transaction with the
account, NOT necessarily (or likely) someone dentist is nevertheless still barter - a trade of a
local. physical value for a physical value. "Buyer
beware" applies to determining the value to you
Another drain on local wealth I would conjecture of what you trade for. While "buyer beware"
that is often overlooked are those who earn includes the quality of the grain or gold,
income, live frugally, and send a significant manipulation of the inherent value of the
portion of their income to family located "currency" remains virtually impossible and
elsewhere. It doesn't matter whether the taxation difficult. Your property and skills are
elsewhere is another U.S. city, or a foreign your measurement and storehouse of value, some
country, it is still money leaving the community. of which can be held in the more convenient
barter/coin form.
In 2006 the Miami Herald estimated that
migrants sent over $300 billion in remittances to The next step is a receipts (debt) currency. The
home countries. It’s nice to help relatives “back grain, gold, or power is held in some secure
home”, just realize what you are doing to your manner, and some token representing the
“new” home. As an example, money drained commodity is in circulation. In theory the
from the U.S. economy and sent “home” to currency still represents barter; the receipt can be
Mexico from the U.S. is the second largest exchanged for the agreed item of value. This
aspect of the Mexican economy. step in economics introduces though relative
ease of fraud - you cannot tell a "real" receipt
India ($24.5 billion) from one with no value behind it. For example, if
Mexico ($24.3 billion) the grain silo owner, who issues grain receipts,
China ($21.1 billion) knows the silo is never empty, there is ready
temptation to write an extra receipt that lets the
What are you invested in? Disconnect from consumer culture. As with
eliminating your dependence on oil, this doesn't
Are you planning on retirement with a pension mean never again make a consumer purchase.
from a private sector employer, or the But stop buying what you don't need, or that
government, or a stipend from Social Security? which has no enduring significance. Try to shop
The federal government can, if it elects, cease for locally produced products, those (somehow!)
Social Security, make it means-tested, or perhaps produced without toxic byproducts and large
worse, pay everything promised in useless inputs of fossil fuel energy. Realize though that
printing press money. For now, private firms for so long as the present picture global economy
that default on their pension plans might have the remains, local cannot compete on a price basis
deficit covered by the federal government, with with the far side of the planet.
the same eventual printing press challenge.
Carrying debt for the purpose of consumer
You need to understand31 the financial markets spending is a waste. Conversely though, debt for
and products, and realize the risks you may be the purpose of controlling an asset that even
taking by going along with the crowd. "holds" value in inflation may be a prudent
move. (At least while the current economy
continues to function.) If you pledge the asset
RETHINKING THE LOCAL ECONOMY though as security for the debt (i.e. a home
mortgage) and do not have sufficient cash
To become sustainable32 means to integrate our reserves to keep up with the loan, realize you
economic and social lives into the environment may lose your bet (and your home).
in ways that maintain and enhance it rather than
degrade or destroy it; sustainability is a moral In conflict with an exhortation to stop consumer
imperative to pass on our natural inheritance not spending is the fact that money in the bank is,
necessarily unchanged, but undiminished in its thanks to (primarily) government generated
ability to meet the needs of future generations. inflation, a guaranteed LOSS in purchase power.
As a sad example, as of OCT 2006 you are
Sustainability also includes the concept of probably better off holding rolls of pre-1981
carrying capacity, which means finding the pennies, than deposing money in a bank or credit
balance point among population, consumption, union.
and waste assimilation. Carrying capacity applies
to the economy, taxation, and government If the peak oil crowd is right (no evidence to the
programs as well. contrary) then to the extent any good or service
is a "daily" need, it will either need to be taken
Sustainability is NOT per se an environmental care of at home, or somewhere within essentially
movement, although preservation of nature is an walking distance. Things taken for granted
aspect. It is more about creating a sensible stable today are likely to become a "luxury". But until
human community. At the present, while the and unless enough people wake-up, and in fact
benefits of growth accrue to the few, not until things get bad enough, many things are not
necessarily even local, the costs of growth tend going to change.
to be distributed across the community. The cost
of growth needs to be borne by those who A personal example: I am a lawyer, nearing
benefit from such. retirement from Army civil service. If the "worst
case" scenario comes to pass and we are in
Every decision one makes--in life, community, "survival" mode, I do not expect that my
and business--can be gauged against this neighbors will have much need for services of a
definition. The simplest way to do so is ask lawyer. Nor do I have confidence that my
yourself whether your choice supports the local pension (or Social Security) will be paid, or that
How to improve the business environment for At the same time living expenses for the working
local enterprise, and make our communities rise, they will rise for the non-contributing. This
more sustainable and self-sufficient? Tossed out means that as workers have rising concern about
for consideration: their jobs, and find their useful income dropping,
the socialists will be demanding greater and
Identify and plug the (economic) leaks. greater percentages of workers income.
Identify products that could be produced locally,
but are not currently. How much of this are you going to tolerate?
Identify skills that are present in the community
and those that need to be developed to produce IMMIGRATION
these goods.
Establish a network to facilitate local business We must think and act more realistically than
development. present immigration procedures. Immigration
Create a local green business directory. refers to arbitrary government regulated
Appeal to local loyalty to entice market share movement of individuals. There are those who
from non-indigenous enterprises. advocate elimination of any limits on
Improve the self-sufficiency of your community immigration. What if the government was taken
through economic development with special out of the picture for setting rules, and deciding
focus on food production and small scale water who can move where, and is instead limited to
supply systems. protection of individual rights?
Create an increased sense of community by
working together to start and support local If a community has realistically implemented
enterprises. sustainability concepts, it should be clear that an
immigrant (adult or child) to a long-term
Establish a local currency to improve the use of sustainable community would cause a net
capital, facilitate trade, and encourage doing increase in the relevant population unless they
business locally. are a replacement for a native born resident.
Publish a newsletter and website to promote your NOTE: The assumption is that the community is
efforts, encourage participation, provide an already AT the maximum population that can be
objective source for local business news, and sustained on the available water, food, etc. If
alert readers to issues not covered by the every other community is also at maximum
mainstream media services. population, or worse (as we have now) well
beyond long term sustainable population,
COMPELLED ALTRUISM purchase of the needed extra resources is not a
viable option. Given these (which I believe may
In a rapidly expanding economy, with what was be best-case) parameters, how do you address
seen as an unlimited source of energy and vastly immigration?
enhanced growth of food, "charity" at the point
of a government gun was not widely objected to. Each multi-generation homestead if already at
It became un-acceptable to question this wealth their safe population has internal incentive to
transfer (theft) and the destructive results. restrict new births, as each new mouth takes a
portion away from everyone already there.
This meddling to breed for the least capable is
perhaps the program most dependent on an
LIMITS TO NON-RESIDENT ACCESS How do you improve the quality of life for the
residents already in the city while avoiding the
Related to consideration of permanent growth that news of the good life would cause?
immigration is the issue of those who have no Each family, neighborhood, village, and city
permanent connection to the area lingering should look after itself first. Personal then local
about. Do you want continued personal welfare, working upward from the grass roots
security? Do you want the ability to exclude must take priority over daydreams about
unwanted intruders from your home and addressing the problems of those who take no
business? At what point do you want to cede steps to solve their problems themselves, or
control? You operate a restaurant, and someone make them progressively worse.
parks their hot dog cart on the sidewalk outside?
How about your neighborhood? Your schools? Water collection and food growing at the home
level makes it clear what the life support limits
Under current law you only have control are. I suggest it is similar with sidewalks, roads,
authority within your privately owned property, and other currently considered "government"
you home, perhaps your neighborhood if it's not property. It needs to return to private ownership.
open to the general public (think a gated
neighborhood, with privately maintained streets).
Government is force. We need a paradigm of
voluntary cooperation and partnerships to work
Face it, people will move away from danger, and together. This means though not only work such
toward wherever they perceive as a "better as building a new library, but also working
place". If your home or neighborhood is, or together to establish and maintain limits. Public
appears to be better off then others, you become projects and programs paid by taxed theft or
a likely target for thieves (with or without slavery discourages involvement by the victims
government credentials). Get involved in your of the theft, and by those who benefit by it thru
community, in particular any aspect which no effort of their own.
involves the "law" and your private property
rights, self-defense rights, etc.
Consider a community with limited water. The
city takes all the water, and gives it away.
Current U.S. law allows for the most part non- Demand would rise, supply, recycling and
residents to freely walk about public conservation development would fall, and the
(government owned/controlled) sidewalks, per person supply would diminish. In contrast if
streets, lots, etc. But we are contemplating each homestead is free to use their own collected
extreme times. What if you don't want strangers water, yet must pay the full costs for other water,
hanging about in your neighborhood in the efficiencies are encouraged, as are naturally
middle of the night? If your neighborhood imposed limits to new development and
sidewalks and streets were once again private expansion.
property, with mere easements granted to other
property owners, only residents would have the
right to use such, and only for what the easement We are not likely to see, or desire, sustainability
authorized. Authorities would then be called on imposed from political authority. But we need to
to enforce trespass laws, or where the law allows have governments stop rewarding actions
private citizen detention for the trespass. contrary to sustainability.
PLANNED FUNERALS
It appears in history that numbers approaching 1 Not every invention is in the best interest of
million were the upper limit for cities. A city of civilization (think of a device that could destroy
a million, if part of a larger civilization may every living thing, so simple to make any kid
expect some significant percentage, say 80% of could do it...) Even without posing a physical
it's population to be permanent residents of threat, inventions are not necessarily welcomed
extended families, giving us around 100,000 with open arms. There are always those who
homesteads, with the other 20% considered oppose anything new. With innovation the
transitory, coming to the city on less than a demand for a product or service may wane
permanent basis for education, to learn or (buggies and horsewhips after the auto).
practice a trade or skill, etc.
Not every site has the same resources. Not every
A transitory population will have some needs group of people has the same capabilities or
that differ significantly from permanent interests. Specialization nurtures expertise.
residents. Some homesteads may absorb the Trade nurtures specialization. But it also
temporary population, whether due to charity nurtures the "theft" of inventions, reducing the
considerations, providing for a relative, or a paid reward for the inventors efforts.
border arrangement. If however the temporary
residents are present for a purpose such as We need an environment that nurtures positive
attending college, one might expect them to be creativity, avoiding careless waste of resources,
concentrated near the purpose of their visit. contamination of the environment, and
Facilities such as college need to be within a unacceptable risks. Thoughts?
regular daily commute for permanent residents,
but also have appropriate temporary living ECO-ECONOMY
quarters. (Note the need for expanded
community production to be able to provide “life Your first step, determine what product or
support” for the temporary residents.) service is being produced or provided in a
manner contrary to your ecological belief
The limited resource and population base of system, and stop buying it. Convince your
small villages provides little reserve capabilities family and friends to stop buying it. Get them
to cope with disasters. Even minor disturbances all to tell the provider why their business has
in water or food supplies, or a natural disaster been lost.
damaging infrastructure, could be a death knell
for the village without outside support. "The earth is finite. It cannot provide for
continually growing numbers of people. It can't
CREATIVITY even provide for anywhere near the present
population. Current economic practices which
The U.S. patent office estimates 1 patentable damage the environment, in both developed and
invention per year, per every 1,000 people in the underdeveloped nations, cannot be continued
population. But don't let statistics mislead you without the risk that vital global systems will be
into believing an energetic isolated eco-village damaged beyond repair. Pressures resulting
should expect 9 new ideas every year. from unrestrained population growth put
demands on the natural world that can
- World Scientists Warning to Humanity, the Air. We've got to stop pollution. Humans have
Union of Concerned Scientists. burned fuels for energy for a long time, and we
today burn at LOT. If we didn't derive the fuel
Prices must reflect the ecological reality of the by concentrating the energy component from the
situation. As touched on earlier, fossil fuels have environment (carbon from biofuels, hydrogen
been replacing human labor at an arguable from water, etc.) we shouldn't be putting it into
"exchange" rate of a gallon of fuel doing around the environment. (Biofuels and systems to split
562 hours of human labor, which at the U.S. hydrogen from water will be major factors for
minimum wage each gallon is around $3,000 portable power, unless of course Mr. Tesla's
worth of human labor. broadcast power proposals were accurate, and
are implemented.)
Oil has annually provided in recent years energy
to power civilization that is roughly equal to the In theory, if the community is growing its own
dedicated labor of more than 250 billion slaves. food, it should be balancing the CO2 output of
This is ending. It's not so much as what an eco- the residents, perhaps not exactly locally (due to
economy CAN be, as what it CANNOT be. open air and winds) but on the average. The best
the community can do for other air pollutants is
"In a sustainable society, durability and to avoid producing them, and refuse to deal with
recycling will replace planned anyone who does.
obsolescence as the economy's organizing
principle, and virgin materials will not be Water. The Ogallala Aquifer WAS a huge store
seen as a primary source of material but as of "fossil water", under around 225,000 square
a supplement to the existing stock" miles in the Great Plains region (the U.S.
- Lester Brown, Worldwatch Institute "breadbasket"), which has long been a major
source of water for agricultural, municipal, and
When human numbers were small, and the earth industrial development. Use began at the turn of
covered with a dense, diverse ecology, a tree cut the century, and has now greatly surpassed the
here, an animal or fish taken there, made little aquifer's rate of natural recharge. Some places
difference to the system as a whole. With our overlying the aquifer have already exhausted
vast numbers now, and technology, we clear-cut their underground supply as a source of
entire forests and eliminate entire species. irrigation. Given high power pumps, it may only
be decades before vast areas are pumped "dry".
For all practical human purposes, we have done, Given the loss of high power pumps, the
and continue to do damage that may never be irrigation will cease. Probably 1/3 of the U. S.
repaired. Limited population is an essential cropland is irrigated in this unsustainable
element. The very life processes of each person manner, and will then "disappear".
places that much of an additional demand on the
counterbalancing ecology. Any projection of the The Colorado River examples another source,
future is at best, a guess, based on present while renewable, allocated beyond its natural
information. But using present knowledge and flow. Often nothing reaches the ocean of what
technological capabilities, a sustainable, was once a river that could handle ocean-going
technological society can continue to exist, and shipping. The next cycle of lessened rainfall in
develop. the catchment area will have serious
repercussions for those dependent on this water
Try looking at the world as a series of sealed for their life. Limited population is an essential
bubbles. You are personally responsible for what element.
you do, or allow, at home, your property, your
town, country, the world. You can't pollute. In We do not have the technology to replace the
multigenerational family owned homesteads quantities of "fossil water" that have been
squandered. If "global warming" fears
materialize, heat and reduced rainfall pose a
Quality. A thoughtfully designed and executed Expanded copyright and patent protections.
product can have lifetime appeal and usefulness, These protections encourage new ideas,
and be a cherished heirloom, passing from discoveries and devices to be brought to the
generation to generation. A quality item is less public, by ensuring that the proper credits and
likely to be replaced merely because "new and accolades, as well as the financial benefits of the
different" is produced. creation accrue to the creator.
Durability. Don't you have that favorite shirt, Short term patent protection, such as the 17 year
pair of shoes, watch, etc., that you just love to United States patent, provide a relatively short
wear? Do you wish they would last longer? period for benefits to accrue to the creator, then
Why don't they? the invention becomes "public domain". In some
But what would happen to a politician who How do we avoid corruption? How do we avoid
proposed measures appropriate to these ends, institutionalism?
such as:
Democracy, or one person, one vote, majority
Repeal income tax dependency exemptions, rule, is self-destructive. It is mob-rule.
child tax credit, and all deductions for child care.
Have a one-time only, limited time grant for Democracy is two wolves and a lamb
abortions, then cease public spending for any voting on what to have for dinner
pregnancy related cost or child care costs, and Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the
cease welfare. Eliminate immigration for other vote
than critical national defense abilities. Eliminate -Benjamin Franklin
government mandated union membership.
Eliminate deductions for donations to "charities",
providing health insurance, life insurance, or "Democracy is a regular feature of
other benefits other than salary. decaying civilizations. When a democracy
is established, the destitute consume the
These have all contributed to a situation where capital of the wealthy, and the civilization
motivation to independent action has been must then decay until invasion destroys it."
suppressed, to gain the "benefits" of a steady job. - Sir Flinders Petrie.
Such jobs making taxation easier. Leading then
to demands that the government "fix" the
Your local police cannot be everywhere that real Americans readily demonstrate they are not
crime is. Technically in most of the U.S., every frightened powerless peasants. Even little old
citizen has the authority to make a citizens arrest, neighbor ladies join "neighborhood watch"
but it's discouraged by the professional police. programs. Rather than demand police or military
Perhaps I need to re-read my Heinlein to look for Only those formal laws minimally required to
clues as to a practical long term "military" provide for defense against outside threats of
government… force, or provide deterrent and redress for inside
initiation of inappropriate force. All government
(ST) "One of the older cadets took a crack activity diverts the fruits of labor at the point of a
at it. 'Sir, revolution is impossible . . . gun.
because revolution --armed uprising --
requires not only dissatisfaction but Spending for military and police equipment, and
aggressiveness. ... If you separate the the wages of the personnel, is in general a net
aggressive ones and make them the sheep loss to society, unless of course we experience an
dogs, the sheep will never give you invasion, or someone (outside the government)
trouble" forcefully violates you. The purpose of the
military is to prevent a foreign invasion; the
purpose of criminal punishment is to prevent
Rather than hold my breath for a military another crime, whether from the same individual,
imposed organization, I'd still suggest everyone or another; the purpose of civil courts is to
get their personal affairs re-aligned to survive the address fraud or redress of initiated harm. When
crash, and to cope as well as you can in the post you get to any legal framework beyond this, you
oil era. can quickly get into unlimited government
intervention.
Create a neighborhood watch and neighborhood Consider, Alvin and Bob feel that Dick has a
clean up program.
problem, which they want to fix33. After a brief
session, they decide what they are going to force
Implement your own "planned collapse", but
John to do to help Dick. Dick at the point of a
realize the consequences, not only for you, but in
gun is not allowed any input or objection to the
the bigger picture.
decision. The above examples what takes place
when governments stray from their function of
You go off-grid, grow your own food, and enter
military and police protection, and courts of law.
into cooperative agreements with neighbors to
While a government using a fiat currency can
swap your various handicrafts. You are no
create currency using the printing press, it does
longer part of the tax base. As taxpayers
not create value. If a government wants a
"disappear", or per taxpayer revenue falls,
subsidy payment to anyone to have any value, it
government must raise rates, go further into debt,
must first take value at the point of a gun from
or cut non-essential programs.
someone who produces it.
Eventually, you are looking at government doing
Politicians pandering for the vote of the “poor
nothing but defense / law enforcement /
and/or weak” rob those who produce, to divert
emergency response… All potentially done by
the “fruits” of productive effort to their selected
volunteers. But, gone are excess revenues that
serfs, to perpetrate their own political power.
can be expended to provide life-support for non-
But every cent so diverted to the sustenance of
contributing individuals.
those who, in their own turn, do nothing, is a loss
of funds that could have been supporting even
Besides laws and paychecks, coercion can take
greater accomplishments. And when such
many forms:
“charity” comes from politicians who depend on
it for their power, you can be assured that money
will continue to disappear into such a void.
(ST) "Service guarantees citizenship." If we have a limited government, a significant
challenge is to keep it limited. The primary
"Constitution" cannot be changed without a
Perhaps Heinlein will be proven right… unanimous vote of the representatives. Consider,
What is the minimum population that is a large live in subdivisions and drive to the Wal-Mart."
and dense enough gathering of people to provide -Alex Marshall (How Cities Work)
the opportunity for continued training in
specializations? How many times was fire "Above all else, a city is a means of providing a
discovered, or the wheel, or the beginning maximum number of social contacts and
principles of math, only to be lost when the satisfactions. When the open spaces gape too
individual with the spark of insight died? widely, and the dispersal is too constant, the
people lack a stage for their activities and the
Civilization exists to protect voluntary safe drama of their daily life lacks sharp focus."
interaction among individuals. -Lewis Mumford (The Highway and the City)
"City-making is an art rather than a product of
There must be ease of interaction, not only in statistical analysis or social service casework."
exchange of information, but of goods and
services. For non-crash consideration of the "The future will compel us to change our way of
infrastructure aspects, examine on the web the life, to give up the fiasco of suburbia and all its
publications of the “New Urbanism” movement. revolting accessories and re-condense our living
and working places into the traditional human
Taking a long term view, in a low energy habitats called cities, towns, and neighborhoods."
paradigm, the city needs to be an ecosystem -James Howard Kunstler (The City In Mind)
where its living and non-living aspects have
multiple and interwoven sources of feedback. MINIMUM SIZE
While some cities may be too large, on the other Thinking in term of this same 230 square mile
end of the discussion, how do you see a large water collection area completely covered in
enough group coming together to start a city- present technology solar panels. This is around
scale eco-community from scratch? There may 712 million square yards constantly intercepting
though be existing communities, with plot 712 million kw of sunlight. With 10% efficient
division, roads, pipes, wiring, etc. already in solar panels while exposed to the sun it produces
place that could be steered into a path to develop just over 71,000 megawatt of power.
along more sustainable lines.
Tossing more numbers, 6 hour/day average, 360
What, to you, is "Human scale"? How far are (Ariziona) relatively clear days, 10% intermittent
you willing to walk to visit family or friends, the coverage, annually the array produces around
library or museum? How far to grow or 138 million megawatthour of power. Before we
purchase your food? How far to your get too cheerful on this, note that the present cost
employment? for around 712,000,000 one-hundred watt solar
panels at $500 each would be around $356
Commuting distance. Absent "energy to burn", Billion, with each of the 134,400 homesteads in
the upper size is the ability to get people and the city being billed abour $2.5 Million.
supplies around.
Farming and food shipment. The city needs
food. While each homestead has its own garden,
Humans who impose on other humans as Within an ecosystem, including a city, larger
predators or parasites present a situation that environmental factors such as seasonal changes,
may warrant intervention by physical or deadly rainfall, growing season, even decomposers and
force. predators affect the cycle of resources, and
therefore the overall stable population range.
3. Balance energy supply & demand:
- Solar (Photovoltaic, heating, wind, Even if life support factors are evenly
hydroelectric, biomass) distributed, at a more focused level, specialized
- Geothermal environmental factors may require clustered
- Nuclear (Theory) populations. For humans, this could include
- Minimize regular movement of mass and potential daily factors such as work, school, and
people access to markets.
- Minimize temperature extremes
5. Use materials sparingly
4. Optimize rather than maximize - Form fits function
- More nutritious and greater variety and - Use fits need
quantity of food for lesser numbers, vs a - Design for durability
starvation diet for many
As the total mass of the human population has Concentrating. In what technology other than
grown, instead of providing for greater, or faster solar can something as in-substantial as a sheet
recycling loops, and a more complex yet human of shiny mylar be used to transform the diffuse
centered ecosystem, we've broken feedback warmth of the sun into a burning or melting tool
loops, destroyed much of nature, and isolated capable of easily destroying the mylar
ourselves from the biology needed to sustain us. performing the service?
Considering the biological matter and water that
have and continue to flow into the city, one Biological. Early man started by “taming” those
might expect it to be a lush oasis. Instead for the plants and animals that readily submitted. With
most part we continue to have a one-way flow genetics, we have far greater potential, and of
where materials enter the city only long enough course far greater RISK in what we can achieve.
to become trash, to then be shipped away. Drugs from bacteria, food or fuel from algae.
Potentially custom designed species, or “to
TECHNOLOGY order” humans.
What are your thoughts for appropriate Biogas. Biological waste, composted in a sealed
technology in a post fossil fuel era? container, can produce gas such as methane that
can be collected in relatively simple water-traps,
With liquid fuels a premium commodity. and used as fuel on demand. It is not readily
With electricity in far more limited supply than efficient as fuel for motors, but it is a means to
today. provide “stored heat” to cook in non-sunny
periods, vs trying to store solar heat directly.
Long distance shipping (at least on land)
inhibited by limited fuel and electricity. Sewage processing in "living machines" to
fertilizer (if not applied directly)
Pedal Power. Certainly devices that are
manually operated. Thinking… playfully… for a Wood. For all our "scientific progress", we ever
moment, can a computer be operated on the managed to replicate this wonderful
electricity generated by a pedal driven generator? "chlorophyll" thing, just to make non-renewable,
non-self-replicating, chemical imitations
What other pedal driven devices? A rule of (photovoltaics).
thumb goes something like this: a human's peak
power is 200W, and can sustain 50W to perhaps Electronics. Components and simple devices,
75W for longer durations. Add a "buffer" while perhaps not at energy efficient as present
(lead/acid battery and charge regulator) to circuits, can be hand-made. CPUs (central
smooth out the output, would there be enough to processing units), the heart of any computer, is
power a small desktop computer (Case + CRT), probably the most technically difficult thing to
and even more so, a laptop (energy efficient Case develop and build on this planet, together with
+ LCD screen). "rocket science", building and launching rockets
and satellites. A "fab" (short for fabrication
facility, the huge white room places that build
CPUs) costs billions of dollars to build, not
Radical concept? What if the government If you contemplate it, machines and industries
declined, or was unable, to register a lien on real can be formed into food webs and ecologies, just
property? You could and buy sell real estate, but as living creatures. So far, they just can't do it on
it would not be available as security for a loan, their own. Within a long term sustainable,
or as an asset which can be attached in a lawsuit. ecological city, where there can be no constant
Thoughts? external input, and no "garbage" to continuously
Technology such as cell phones can avoid How much authority over your property, your
processing and laying miles of copper wires, but life, that that of your children are you willing to
present cell phones are much more fragile than sign-over to someone else?
most hard-wire phones, and dependent on
batteries that represent a constant flow of toxics. ETHICS / MORAL
To get an honest market price for any product
containing toxic materials means requiring the Austerity will be a fact of life. To use a extreme
industry bear the cost of recycling. example for us in the modern, "First World",
what is going to happen, even in a city of a
We need approaches to high-tech materials that million, to an infant born with a lifetime
do not require use of toxic materials and leave crippling defect?
dangerous residue. I understand we already
know the principles of zero-pollution production, If the family is sufficiently wealthy, perhaps they
but don't because it's still cheaper, in terms of could manage to provide for appropriate
money, to continue polluting. When dumping care/assistance, even in their own absence. But,
costs rise, business looks for alternatives. In the absent the artificially robust economy, profits,
city (or on the Earth as a whole), there IS no and taxes provided by the cheap energy from oil,
"away" to throw things to. Even for substances how could even a city of a million afford a
well below the scale human can directly deal "publicly funded" program to provide for this
with, select organisms can remove remaining child, or any other person incapable of providing
trace pollutants, and concentrate them for re-use. some service to "earn their keep"? And if a city
of a million can't afford to provide a lifetime of
Education. Higher education, or specialized care, what happens in smaller communities?
programs are a natural, low energy, but high
profit effort for a city. Even if the population of In the 1950's and 1960's, talk of atomic war
the future is concentrated in cities, there will be prompted some to prepare fallout shelters. At
Aiming for an educated workforce, and low Setting aside for the moment the arbitrary laws
stress "elder" years, consider the educated written by humans, what would be the minimum
workforce to be ages 22 thru 56, this is around physical requirements of peaceful interaction of
407,400 people. Minus 4032 as teachers and 2% individual ecological communities?
of the total, or 21,504 as gardeners, the
First Law. Non-renewable resources must not Tenth Law. Survival of the fittest, but not
be used in a manner that precludes their future perhaps what you would first think.
re-use, and the maximum sustainable level of Eleventh Law. Give a man a fish and you feed
renewable resource use is the minimum reliable him for a day; teach a man how to fish and you
level of renewal. feed him for a lifetime”
Second Law. Achievement of sustainable Twelth Law. There is no quick fix. Deep-seated
society globally requires that every definable problems require more than a positive mental
area, whether natural or political, maintain a attitude and collection of short-term success
population and consumption level sustainable formulas.
within the applicable borders, using the local
resources, or trade in a sustainable manner. Thirteenth Law. Power corrupts, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely.
Third Law. Personal or societal
experimentation and development requires the Fourteenth Law. Law of the minimum. There
availability of excess resources. are critical factors the limit living and non-living
processes, regardless of the quantity of other
Fourth Law. There is no "away" where we can factors present.
throw things, or move to.
BACKGROUND ON THE LAWS
Fifth Law. An economic system becomes fragile
when it comes to depend on external exchange These laws are presented for consideration as
over which it has little control. - Ekholm physical principles, and not the arbitrary laws
invented by society and governments.
Sixth Law. "If an ethical foundation is lacking, a
civilization collapses. Civilization exists in the Consider them as laws of the universe that apply
effort to perfect humanity, and originates when a to human civilization. They may occasionally be
population is inspired to attain progress and to "bent", with consequences, but for the most part
serve." Albert Schweitzer. cannot be broken without dire effect.
Seventh Law. "In our every deliberation, we In your own life, you must plan. What are your
must consider the impact of our decisions on the desired results? What are your personal
next seven generations" - From the Great Law guidelines? Your resources? To whom are you
of the Iroquois Nation accountable? Who suffers the consequences of
your actions?
Eighth Law. Isolate Human Activity. An ecology
optimized for human habitation and life support DISCUSSION OF THE LAWS
is incompatible with a natural state ecosystem.
First Law. Non-renewable resources must
Ninth Law. Protection of personal property not be used in a manner that precludes their
rights is essential. People are more readily future re-use, and the maximum sustainable level
willing to present their surpluses for trade, if of renewable resource use is the minimum
they are assured they are free to negotiate the reliable level of renewal.
trade, or not, without fear that the "authorities"
will take their property.
A prime example of renewable resource us is Can you and your multi generation family
groundwater. If average use does not exceed the subsist on food grown on your own property?
recharge rate, a well is a naturally filtering &
refilling tank. But if you exceed the recharge Third Law. Personal or societal
rate too long or too deep you may cause experimentation and development requires the
permanent loss in capacity, and other problems availability of excess resources.
such as surface subsidence, or cracks in the
"filter" layers. At an extreme example, if an upper limit large
population is living at a barely subsistence level,
Second Law. Achievement of sustainable any crop failure will result in famine. In that
society globally requires that every definable scenario, who can afford to experiment on the
area, whether natural or political, maintain a hope of a better crop, while risking a failure?
population and consumption level sustainable
within the applicable borders, using the local Fourth Law. There is no "away" where we
resources, or trade in a sustainable manner. can throw things, or move to.
Globalization has been a horrible mistake. The Earth is a finite area sphere. Absent a
Cheap (for most purposes, "free") fuels have lead scientific miracle, space travel, if we can
to a global network of supply and distribution maintain it, will only be available for a minute
that is simply not sustainable when fuels return portion of the population. It is often tossed out
to being a "currently" paid cost. Global that we should just send all of our radioactive
shipment of luxury goods is a non-event. Even waste to the sun. Sending untold tons of mass,
the logic of moderate international reliance for on an ongoing basis, on a trip to the sun greatly
durable goods is only moderately questionable. exceeds our present capabilities.
But an early 2006 advertisement by Archer
Daniels Midland could easily be considered the We are, for all practical intents and purposes,
"poster child" for peak oil. The ad shows an "stuck" on Earth with whatever is here, arrives
Asian teen, with the text: here, or that we in our misguided efforts
generate.
Somewhere west of Shenyang, a teenager is
stopping for dinner. Earlier, limited geographic scope civilizations,
even Rome, still only occupied a limited area of
An organized economy of free individuals can continue advancement. But without reasonable
allow specialization, and allow the best distribution and balance globally, one such
utilization of local skills and resources, community would be faced with a myriad of
improving the overall quality of life, providing levels of alternative gatherings, who would not
for research, education, and exploration. We necessarily have the global ecology in mind.
may yet reach for the stars, but it may take the
collective will and efforts of all of humanity. The characteristics of the whole cannot
(even in theory) be deduced from the most
History, and ancient architecture, show there complete knowledge of the components,
have been many ancient civilizations, some of taken separately or in partial combinations
which may have explored the globe. They were - Ernst Mayer, evolutionary biologist
however in relative isolation to the rest of the
world. We must preserve biodiversity. At the present,
some estimates are that humanity, in one way or
When Egypt fell, it meant nothing to society in another appropriates for human use 50% of the
South America. We face a threat, and an productive biological life of the planet. We also
opportunity not seen before, a global collapse, continue to interfere with, and therefore
that may leave the Earth permanently scarred, or significantly alter the natural environment
may leave the survivors with a world full of globally.
already processed materials ready to use.
Ancient China had oceangoing vessels, and Say the Earth has around 43 million square mile
could have explored (with their "advanced" of ice free land area, which probably includes
science, potentially conquering) the world. The areas too cold for a community that does not
leadership decided instead to deter exploration, have readily available fuel for heating.
first outside the nation, then apparently
internally, as China lost it's lead. In more temperate areas, there is probably
around 37 million square mile.
"The Earth is just too small and fragile a
basket for the human race to keep all its THERE IS A STORM COMING
eggs in."
- Robert A. Heinlein Factors beyond the control of any local or
national government, or global society, place
We must, eventually, leave this planet, or be every person on Earth on the front-line of a
capable of dealing with asteroids, and an aging global battlefield.
sun. We must continue to develop, mature, and Criminals… terrorists… anyone who feels
learn. justified to use force to subjugate others, prefer
cowering weak victims.
SUSTAINABLE CIVILIZATION A question, does an individual have a “right” to
self defense, or not? If no, then there are no
Our minimum goal must be a civilization capable individuals, just chattel of whomever is the
of continued health and life support on Earth for current warlord. If yes, the individual must have
the projected viable span of the planet, the right to possess whatever their personal
potentially billions of years. A single eco-city situation and mindset allows and requires to
may be able to preserve a great deal of the exercise self defense.
benefits of our present technological society, and A decision of no right to private arms sends a
clear message to criminals and terrorists alike,
Humans at the extreme of hunter-gatherer level, Alternative 2: The mega city gets it's fresh
while relatively low-impact, may have only an water for farming from somewhere other
average of 1 person subsisted per square mile, than collecting it within it's own "borders"
for a total human population of 37 million. (example piped in de-salted ocean water)
(5/100 % of the 2006 population.) 99.95% of the and has 1/4 acre of cropland per person. It
present population must die and never be covers 3,750,000 square miles or almost
replaced. 20% of the temperate landmass of the
Earth. It is an area 1,936 miles on a side of
At the other extreme, where humans occupy the continuous moderate density city with just
entire globe to the exclusion of all other species, farm bands between each gathering of one
and do so in the most compact "eco cities", then million. Given significant engineering, we
consider, if each city is 3025 sq. mile, the might be able to fit such on the Earth, with
maximum sustainable human population is modification of overall layout, in the
around 12 billion, to the extinction of essentially process though killing virtually all natural
every other animal and non-human food species life on a continent.
on the face of the planet.
The first person to achieve a heat of 1,750 There are calculated minimums units for energy,
degrees Celsius was the 18th century French distance, even time, which fit with experiments
scientist Antoine Lavoisier, who achieved it with and observations to date. The minimum energy
sunlight focused thru hollow glass lenses filled level is very tiny:
with wine (hiccup!) Not much later, the French
socialist revolutionaries lopped off his head, 6.62565 x 10-34 watt
having in their opinion no need for scientists.
If every photon of electromagnetic energy (light)
TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT has the same energy (infrared to xray), why the
difference? The physical difference is the length
No man is an island, genius of today stands on of the photon, which determines what other
the shoulders of those who have gone before. wavelengths it readily interacts (resonates) with,
Genius functions best when relieved of and the wavelength also determines how many
encumbrances of normal day-to-day life that can “hits” an ongoing “beam” of energy imparts
be handled by the ordinary man. But the every second (or shorter time period). For
ordinary man cannot fill-in for genius. wavelength, think a quick punch, vs a drawn out
slow push, each with the same energy, and add to
it if the energy is in an ongoing beam, the quick
Professor Seth Lloyd, of MIT, presents in his punches follow each other in rapid succession,
book Programming the Universe the premise that while the slow pushes follow each other over the
the entire universe is a quantum computer, that longer time of the push. The same energy per
the atoms that comprise the stars, and our bodies, photon is imparted, but in the short wavelength
are not so much physical objects as they are bits the area impacted does not have time to cycle
of interactive information. If we learn how to and re-emit the energy before it is hit again.
"hack" the programming, we may be able to
create, or do... Anything?
Traditional science tells us that nothing can
travel faster than the speed of light. It was
The idea that the universe we perceive, is NOT astronomy which provided the first clues that
made of the solid objects we perceive, is not a light had some limited speed, as planets did not
new, or far fetched concept. There are teachings appear to be in the right positions, or moving as
in ancient philosophy and religion that things are expected, based on known "laws" of gravity,
not really solid, a belief “verified” by scientific physics, etc. When a reasonably accurate speed
determinations that atoms are mostly empty for light to reach us from such objects is
space. Delving deeper, we find that the accounted for, the motions come out right. But
“particles” dividing that empty space are doesn't that mean that the planets orbits are
themselves potentially just standing waves of calculated as though the forces acting on them
energy. Quantum physics appears to tell us that are instantaneous? In our solar system,
at the well below the atom level, “things” appear everything is in motion relative to something
and disappear all the time. else. Even the sun is in motion. But while the
light from the sun may take around 8 minutes to
In 1900, Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck reach the Earth, our orbit around the sun is NOT
calculated a minimum amount of energy, and centered on where the sun was 8 minutes ago.
laid the groundwork for quantum mechanics.
How do mirrors, or other reflections, work? If time is moving slower on the fast particle, then
Light is an electromagnetic wave. When the when we push hard for "X" seconds, to the
energy strikes an electron, IT DOES NOT particle, it was only pushed for some brief
REFLECT as we think of such. The energy of instant, not enough to have any effect. The
the electron is increased, and re-radiated. If the energy went into changing the particle's time rate
"reflecting" object is rough, the "reflected" light even further?
is scattered. If smooth, the light is re-emitted in
a particular direction. How? If atomic and smaller particles right next to each
other can experience time at a different rate, than
A wave of visible light is something like 5,000 what we experience as the passage of time must
times as "long", as an atom is "wide", and be an average of the input to our body.
moving at, well, the speed of light. Why doesn't
it "miss" all atoms? ELECTROSTATICS
How does a tiny, thin wire antenna pick up a Electrostatic force holds the electrons of atoms
radio signal? There are theories, and factual "in orbit". "Sharing" of electrons, via this force,
methods, to electronically (what really IS allows atoms to gather into molecules, and the
electronics?) make an antenna appear to arrangement of atoms determines the properties
incoming signals to be MUCH larger that it of the molecule. Matter, everything from the
physically is. stars to the DNA and other materials of our
bodies are made up of molecules that use these
Within a chunk of copper at room temperature electrostatic based properties to allow life. The
there are extensive loose electrons, moving atoms are themselves mostly empty space and
randomly over short distances, but at an average moving electric charges, with the electrons and
velocity of 106 meters per sec. In one cubic protons themselves perhaps being only
centimeter38 of such copper in electrical terms
the power driving this motion is 4 billion billion
watts.
The difference is that smart growth destroys the environment with good taste.
The pushers feeding our addiction offer us coal to liquid (CTL), natural gas to liquid (GTL), tar sands and oil sands and oil
shale, electric cars, hybrid cars, all to continue our addiction rather than offering methods of kicking our addiction and
moving on with an addiction-free life.
We can not cure our addiction by continuing to substitute new alternatives in support of that addiction. At some point we
have to get refocused. The longer that takes, the more difficult it is going to be and the greater the number of casualties that
will result.
Individuals, industry, and governments the world over are starting to accept that we are facing a looming global oil supply
crisis, but the "solution" focus in on finding alternative energy sources to replace the same level of use. So far most will not
consider the question, "How to we reduce our energy consumption?" (To levels that can be met by sustainable resources.)
No known combination of alternatives provides on a sustainable basis energy anywhere near what we get from fossil fuels.
They only buy us some time. We MUST use whatever time is left to make real changes.
3
Oil / food - 10:1 is by David Pimentel, Cornell University ecologist.
4
At $2.92 per gallon, your food represents $1.61 of gasoline. Use the formula Food Item Calories times ten, divided by
36,000, times price per gallon equals estimate of cost of embedded fuel used to grow the food item (Processing, shipping,
sales costs not included)
5
A SELF-EVIDENT TRUTH - If any fraction of the observed global warming can be attributed to the activities of
humans, then this constitutes positive proof that the human population, living as we do, has exceeded the carrying capacity
of the Earth.
As a consequence, it is AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH that all proposals or efforts to slow global warming or to move
toward sustainability are serious intellectual frauds if they do not advocate reducing population to a sustainable level at the
local, national and global scales.
OBSERVATIONS by Professor ALBERT A. BARTLETT
6
For a “worst case” scenario global warming advocates often point to the planet Venus, with its surface temperature hot
enough to melt metal, as a global warming horror story. Venus is closer to the sun, and should be somewhat warmer, but for
perspective, Venus has an outer atmosphere layer of sulfuric acid vapor, which reflects visible light from the sun in the
yellow part of the spectrum, but absorbs or transmits all other frequencies. This logically means that the energy in
frequencies other than yellow that Venus receives from the sun due to its closer orbit all make it to the surface.
Venus is covered by a "greenhouse" gas atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide. Once the energy in light makes it to the
surface, the CO2 retards it from being radiated back to space. Note though, it is an atmosphere that is PRIMARILY CO2,
and please note that the atmospheric pressure is something like 92 times that of the Earth. In comparison, on Earth CO2
amounts to a few hundreds of parts per million (at the extreme it would be 1/10 of one percent) of the atmosphere, in an
atmosphere that is, compared to the pressure on Venus, a vacuum.
As greenhouse gases increase, it would seem logical that we are in for warming temperatures, including the likelihood of the
melting of glaciers, and the rising of sea level. But temperatures such as Venus do not seem rational.
7
Collapse Of Greenland Ice Shield – Consequences By Dr John James 08 August, 2006 The Greenland glaciers that cover
the island contain enough water to raise sea level twenty feet, or seven meters. It was once thoughts (and that was only six
years ago) that the glaciers would be self-sustaining even in a warming world because of size and so on. Not only are the
edges melting fast, but the surface melt is seeping through the ice to lubricate the junction between the ice and the rock
underneath. This is the unexpected factor that has turned scientific attention onto this escalating problem.
8
Richard Heinberg, "Powerdown"
9
Reflections on Sustainability, Population Growth, and the Environment - Revisited
Albert A. Bartlett
www.hubbertpeak.com/bartlett/reflections.htm
10
United Nations 2005 demographic data used
11
Jared Diamond in his book "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" suggests five major reasons for the
collapse of civilizations:
- Environmental damage, such as deforestation and soil erosion
- Climate change
- Dependence upon long-distance trade for needed resources
- Increasing levels of internal and external violence, such as war or invasion
- Societal responses to internal and environmental problems
12
The Wall Street Journal, 20 December 2004
13
Per Bill Mollison as reported in his online public domain permaculture pamphlets.
14
"Future Fertility, Transforming Human Waste into Human Wealth", by John Beeby
15
The folks at www.leafforlife.org have extensive free information available for download on edible leaf crops, and on
processing non-digestible crops such that a high quality protein & nutrients concentrate can be produced.
16
Diet for a Small Planet, Frances Moore Lappe
17
http://www.pathtofreedom.com/ This site contains not only their story, and photos, but video coverage of their own, and
various news services.
18
See the book The Humanure Handbook, available online free to download at: http://weblife.org/humanure/index.html
19
Future Fertility, Transforming Human Waste Into Human Wealth, John Beeby
20
How to Grow Fresh Water, Dr. B.C. Wolverton
21
An appendix to the primary "Sustainable Civilization" document, which is also posted at the Sustainable Tucson egroup
files area, is a consolidated introduction to estate and financial planning.
22
The Coming Economic Collapse: How you can thrive when oil costs $200 a barrel, by Stephen Leeb, PhD with Glen C.
Strathy
23
APS Review Oil Market Trends - Oct 3 2005
24
U.S. News and World Report, April 2006
25
CIA World Fact Book, https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
26
A significant part of this information is from Martin Sevior, Associate Professor, School of Physics, University of
Melbourne, which has further nuclear information in a wiki-based website (http://nuclearinfo.net).
27
Collected articles by Professor A.A.Bartlett,
28
The folks at Columbia University Medical School, New York City, New York, have worked up a multi aspect theoretical
food system where a city building is used to produce food for 50,000 city residents.
29
Summary of U.S. Internal Revenue Service regulatory comments on bartering. Bartering occurs when you exchange
goods or services without exchanging money. An example of bartering is a plumber doing repair work for a dentist in
exchange for dental services. The fair market value of goods and services exchanged must be included in the income of both
parties. Income from bartering is taxable in the year in which you receive the goods or services.
30
During the FDR period depression, why did the nation need 26,000 artists, musicians, and actors, & nearly 7,000 writers
(other than to tell everyone how great his programs were?) In her book The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great
Depression, author Amity Shlaes presents a review of the period of the “Great Depression”, essentially 1929 to the U.S.
entry into WWII. Consider, a rise or fall in the price of stocks does not necessarily mean there will be any effect on day-to-
day business operations, ability for farms to operate, etc. What then is the significance of the 29 price fall? Speculative
purchase of stock with borrowed money, financing perhaps equal to 18% of the 1929 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was
stock purchases on margin. A margin purchase differs from a credit card or mortgage purchase in that you do not incur an
obligation to make any regular fixed payments, but if the stock price falls you will be required to put more money on
deposit.
To example, say you buy 10,000 shares of stock at $1.00 per share on a 10% margin that is a promise to keep on deposit
with the broker 10% of the amount needed to complete the transaction if you were forced to sell the stock. To start with you
must deposit with the broker $1,000. If the price of the stock goes up, say 50% to $15,000, you sell and make $5,000.
If however the price of the stock goes down, say for our example 50%, you are going to get a “margin call” from your
broker. If the market price of the stock is now $5,000, if you sold you shares, you would still owe to your broker the
$10,000 original purchase price. You broker is going to require you to deposit additional money, probably $4,500 to bring
your account up to $5,000, a level where if the stock were sold, the net amount on deposit would equal 10% of the
remaining value.
Many of those who were gambling in this manner in the 1929 stock market not only could not afford a margin call, but had
borrowed the initial deposit. Failure to pay on margin purchases was a major blow to the finances of those invested in the
market, and lending money on such accounts. But it need not mean the collapse of the national economy; that took ill-
conceived meddling.
Although the time period was still one of cheap & abundant energy (in fact growing supplies), and far more people lived on
farms, or closer to the land than today, it can be argued that the extensive government intervention in the marketplace
deterred production and deterred investment and spending. Customers and businesses were taxed out of the marketplace.
Research and investment was chocked off by the lack of after tax funds.
31
An appendix to the primary "Sustainable Civilization" document, which is also posted at the Sustainable Tucson egroup
files area, is a consolidated introduction to estate and financial planning.
32
The folks at the Sustainable Communities Network have focus area-specific suggested reading materials:
http://www.sustainable.org/economy/econ_index.html
33
See The Forgotten Man, William Graham Sumner, a discussion of who really bears the cost of government programs,
and even voluntary handouts.
34
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
35
Research the Factor Ten Institute organized in France under the leadership of Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek for improvements
in the thru-processing of raw materials. Keep in mind though, that even a 1/10 new raw material use rate IS NOT
SUSTAINABLE.
36
In 2002, American architect William McDonough and German chemist Michael Braungart teamed up to coauthor a book
entitled Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Waste and pollution are to be avoided at
any cost. “Pollution,” says McDonough, “is a symbol of design failure.”
37
See Lester Brown's book, Plan B 2.0. The entire book is available online, free to read, at: http://www.earth-
policy.org/Books/PB2/Contents.htm
38
THE FINAL SECRET OF FREE ENERGY, Tom Beardon. Mr. Beardon holds patent #6,362,718 on a “Motionless
Electromagnetic Generator” he seems to indicate concentrates electrical energy much as a heat pump concentrates ambient
environmental heat.
39
Scientific American, December 2006
40
Scientific American, December 2006