EcoVillager

Fifth and Sixth

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:08:28 GMT

Link to the fifth article here. here After a break during which the rigours of travel overwhelmed my ability to write, the sixth article will soon be published!

What is Sustainability?

Mon, 25 May 2009 16:29:25 GMT

What is sustainability?

In recent years, since the environmental crisis has come to be known to more people, there has been a lot of talk about “sustainability.” You see it in everything from development to housing, food production to products in the supermarket. But rarely is sustainability defined. It tends to imply that whatever thing it is attached to is somehow green or environmentally friendly. I therefore offer my definition, in hopes that this will clear things up.

An activity or institution is sustainable if it can be continued into the indefinite future. Than means that it would only draw resources as quickly as they could be replaced by the natural cycles of the planet, and only emit wastes as quickly as those wastes can be assimilated and processed by the planet.

In many of my articles I talk about becoming “more sustainable.” What does this mean? It means that whatever activity I’m describing could be carried out for a longer time before it is forced to cease.

A sustainable use of fossil fuels would be at a rate low enough that they would be replenished by the time they would be used up. Since it takes millions of years for coal and oil to form, this would be quite slow.

Defining a sustainable social organization is a bit more difficult, since humans and societies continually change. I would say that a sustainable social organization would be one that changes little enough to (1) not cause calamitous population loss (war, famine, disease), and (2) pass down the knowledge of how to live in a way that uses resources at a sustainable rate.

Note that some sustainable social organizations have included war, such as some Native American systems, which lasted for thousands of years but were hardly peaceful. War in indigenous societies all over the world, however, is almost always very low in casualties, and is less a disruption of life than a part of it (which is not to say it does not cause pain and sufferning).

Jared Diamond’s book Collapse might provide more insight into societies that have and have not been sustainable.

Green Suburbia?

Sat, 09 May 2009 04:01:57 GMT

An addition to the article on “The Village,” Cloughjordan, Ireland:

As our cities rapidly expand outward, middle-class people living in the suburbs are forced to travel further to get to jobs in the city center, creating increased pollution. Because of this many middle class citizens choose to stay in the inner city, moving into areas that previously housed low-income residents. This is called gentrification. As areas are gentrified and prices rise, low-income residents are forced to live farther and farther from the city jobs they depend on. As “bedroom communities,” suburbs on the outskirts of cities offer them few employment opportunities, while travel times and transportation costs to the city center are prohibitively high.

Developments modeled off “The Village” that integrate living and working as well as food production, could provide a model for new suburbs. Space for offices and live/work units are included on the square fronts, allowing middle-class residents to work nearer home. Low cost flats are included in the Cloughjordan design, and these residents could take up the jobs created by a thriving local economy, including in restaurants, as cleaning staff, and, assuming a reduction in machinery use, on the farm. Living in an integrated community would start to break the social barriers between classes, and might even begin to restore the dignity of work, even work that requires a low level of training. More localized food production and reduced travel alone would drastically reduce the environmental impact of these communities, but added measures like the ecological housing guidelines at Cloughjordan could be taken as well.

Bonnie Scotland, Where Grows the Sweet Bluebell

Sat, 09 May 2009 03:59:39 GMT

I have returned to Scotland, where I will be taking part in a volunteer week with Trees for Life, an organization working to restore the great Caledonian Forest, which once covered much of Scotland’s now bare landscape. Many flowers are in full spring bloom, bringing a traditional Scottish song to mind. In it, a girl is asked about her love who has gone to war, the second verse goes:

Oh where tell me where, did your Highland laddie dwell? Oh where tell me where, did your Highland laddie dwell? He dwelt in Bonnie Scotland, where grows the sweet bluebell, And it’s all in my heart that I love my laddie well.

I find it beautiful and significant that of all the things that could have been mentioned about proud Scotland, something as small and delicate as the bluebell was chosen.

Merrie Olde England

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 11:28:08 GMT

I left Wales behind yesterday, traveling south by bus to the town of Totnes in Devon, England. Totnes has become the center for the Transition Towns movement. It has a culture similar to Ashland’s and contains within it a split between the progressive populace and the conservative populace, in the same way that the Rogue Valley is split. It should be interesting to find out how they are dealing with this while moving towards a sustainable future.

Last night I staid with a woman who I contacted via CouchSurfing, a website that puts people who need a place to stay in touch with people who have extra couches or beds. A feedback system keeps it safe, and I had a very enjoyable experience. Clare, the woman I stayed with, runs a language school here. She was unfortunately a bit cynical and depressed about the state of the world. I may address this feeling in a later blog, as it is something that many of us who are informed about the way things are going have to deal with. Keep your spirits up!