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Thursday, August 15, 2002
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This is the start of my strongend. I am working with team of associates to define and create a model for sustainable community. I will keep you posted. Meanwhile from the SynEARTH network:
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Arthur Noll writes: A common example I’ve used is that if you want to cut one 50-year-old tree a year, you need to have 50 trees growing of that kind, from seedling to 49 years old. As long as you have all these trees growing, you can cut one 50-year-old tree a year indefinitely, and sustain the forest in its present size. That might seem more important for forestry than food production, but when we look at the problems of maintaining fertile soil in many areas of the world, trees become a logical source of food, as they produce fruit, nuts, and fodder for animals. The plant nutrients of soil are a resource, than can easily be used faster than they will renew under the plow. Perennial plants like trees can help to solve this problem, as well as reducing needed energy use to pull cultivating tools. Which is once more, following the principle of not using resources faster than they renew, to avoid using too much energy, whether from fossil fuel, or anything else. Many other factors come into play as we consider trees. Many other things will kill trees, animals like deer, goats, beavers, and diseases and insects and fire and weather events. The animals represent valuable resources themselves, and even if they are not directly valuable to us, they often are indirectly valuable in that they are vital parts of the ecosystem in which they live. For the ecosystem to sustain itself, we can’t use them faster than they replace themselves. (08/15/02) | |
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From Chaordic Commons: Principles are clear, commonly understood statements of how the Participants will conduct themselves. Individually and collectively, they are the parameters against which all subsequent decisions, organizational structures and practices will be judged. Once the Purpose has been clearly stated, the next step in the chaordic design process is to define, with the same clarity, conviction and common understanding, the Principles by which those involved will be guided in pursuit of that Purpose. If the Purpose defines a field for the organization's pursuit, Principles guide organizational behavior and individual practice and foster success in that field. They serve as the "organizational DNA" that supports continuous learning, innovation and emergence. Principles typically have high ethical and moral content. Developing them requires engaging the whole person, not just the intellect. The best will be descriptive, not prescriptive, so that there will be many different ways that Participants in the organization can embody or practice the Principles. (08/15/02) | |
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A unique form of shelter, the Earthship has been designed to reduce our impact on the planet and increase our connection to it by utilizing recycled and low embodied energy materials, passive solar heating and cooling, photovoltaic power system, catchwater, solar hot water, gray water and black water treatment systems. The techniques of building Earthships are presented and developed in a way that will allow Earthship owners to participate in and sometimes completely build their own home with many materials that are free byproducts of our existing society. The homes are designed with simplicity in mind. An owner builder with little or no construction experience could build or help build his or her own home. These units have been designed with many prefabricated components and these components can be delivered to the site and assembled by an owner builder. The owner's involvement in building educates them about the function of their home and empowers them to maintain and repair their home, making that home and lifestyle all the more sustainable. These buildings have been designed and developed with an emphasis on global availability of all aspects of their construction. They exist now in Bolivia, Australia, Mexico, Japan, Canada, Honduras and all over the United States. (08/15/02) | |
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New York Times -- General Motors released today the first pictures of a prototype car called the Hy-wire, a fusion of technologies that re-imagines how cars look, operate and drive. Hy-wire is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, a technology that was used in the lunar lander and one that every automaker is trying to adapt for cars.
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An exterior view of the Hy-wire, a prototype fuel-cell car from General Motors. (08/15/02) |
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New York Times -- Eugene P. Odum, widely considered the father of modern ecology, who founded and for many years directed one of the world's largest outdoor scientific preserves, was found dead on Saturday at his home in Athens, Ga. He was 88. ... Dr. Odum did not invent the discipline. The term "ecology," which comes from the Greek "oikos," and literally means the study of home or habitation, was coined in 1869 by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel. In the early part of the 20th century, ecology was largely seen as a subdivision of biology, and the work of an ecologist was to observe and catalog species. Dr. Odum, however, argued that ecology was not a branch of anything but an integrated discipline that brought all of the sciences together. He saw the earth as a series of interlocking environmental communities, or ecosystems, each of which embraced "a unique strategy of development." (08/15/02) | |
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Pittsburg Post Gazette -- Al Barnett has donated his body in blood more than 17 times. As a regular blood donor since 1950, he's rolled up his sleeve 170 times -- giving a total of 21 1/2 gallons. "It makes you feel good, knowing you're helping people," said Barnett, 74, of Greensburg. (08/15/02) | |
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New York Times -- The more than 100 world leaders who will attend the Earth Summit this month must tackle the double threat of widespread poverty and increasing environmental devastation that has left billions of people facing food and water shortages, according to a United Nations report released today. ... Forests are being destroyed, drought is becoming more intense, sea levels are rising, agricultural production cannot keep up with the demand for food, many plant and animal species are at risk of extinction, and air and water pollution are killing millions of people, the report asserts. ... "You can't reduce poverty unless you also address land and water," Mr. Desai, speaking for the United Nations, said. "You can't improve children's health without addressing sanitation and air quality." The report also said that the world was failing to produce enough food for a global population of 6 billion, with almost 800 million chronically undernourished. (08/15/02) | |
3:41:53 PM 
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© TrustMark
2002
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
9/3/2002; 6:03:25 AM.
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