Category Archives: Environment - Page 3

A Change in Perspective

Posted by on April 6, 2009 1 comment

In my previous post, I compared what’s happening to the ‘End of Rome’, if we’re not very careful then this is going to be very much the case.  Of course, this whole thing does provide us with an opportunity, all it requires is a change in the way we look at things.

I think this is an important change to make, as I think we seem to be largely in denial of the scale of what’s happening, but also unable to see a way through it.   Now, my personal conviction is that this isn’t a deficiency in intelligence, or in our ability to rise to the challenges ahead of us.  I think it’s a problem of perspective, we cannot accept the change because we seem to lose everything, and I admit the sheer enormity of the idea is frightening.

So can we turn that perspective around?  I think the answer is yes, we have an opportunity here to learn much more about living lightly on the Earth in a sustainable way, but also a chance to learn to take pleasure in something other than reckless consumption.  We could gain a better environment to live in, with less noise and traffic fumes.   A chance to slow down the pace of things maybe, gain some much needed time for reflection?  I feel that we lose a great deal because of our frantic pace, we miss a lot and I know I’m not the only one who feels like that, but more of that another time.

It’s easy to point the finger and call this wishful rusticism, but the alternative is unsustainable and will come crashing down around our ears sooner rather than later.  So we may as well find the silver lining, I don’t think it’s such a bad one.

So, this could be our chance at a new age, not a ‘Golden Age’ by today’s standards, but given where those standards have led us to, how much faith can we put in them anymore?

The need for a few questions

Posted by on March 26, 2009 2 comments

I’ve been watching the unfolding story of our global economic problems with a growing sense of foreboding.

People are running round trying to prop up the system without realising that it might just be time to question a few of the basic assumptions that underlie that system.

The one I think needs to be addressed with priority is the fixation with growth and how to restart it.  We have only so much planet, and we have been burning through the available resources with abandon.  You can only grow for so long, sooner or later you run out of room to grow and resources to grow with.  That’s the problem, we’re trying to do something that just isn’t possible and if you get into a fight like that, you won’t be the one left standing at the end.  Reality is always right and denying that basic fact just stores up trouble.

It’s time to start moving towards a path based on what we can sustain, it will be slow and challenging, but there really is little alternative and the clock is ticking ever louder.

We also need to realise that we need to start questioning the assumptions that underlie our methods and beliefs in all areas of our lives, putting our heads in the sand and allowing others to think for us is no longer an option.

Dare we begin to compare this to the fall of Rome and, in our denial, are we and our leaders guilty of fiddling while Rome burns?

Measure twice, cut once.

Posted by on October 16, 2008 1 comment

Many years ago, I came across this little gem of a saying in the William Gibson novel “Neuromancer”.

I’ve been thinking more about it in the last few days, events have made it quite relevant, haven’t they?  I’ve been reminded of it in Secondlife recently, though I suspect that the people involved don’t entirely realise that they’ve been teaching me.

Moreover, I’m seeing the need for this saying in the crisis round the world.  If we’d measured twice, we’d have realised that this is the end of the way things have been.  We cannot carry on in the same manner for much longer and expect to survive long term.  I’ve seen this called The Long Emergency, that’s pretty much right on the mark.

  • We cannot build a future on debt and commodity bubbles.
  • We cannot build a future on grandiose consumption and unlimited growth.
  • We cannot build a future in which most of the wealth is put in the hands of a few, while the majority suffer.
  • We cannot build a future in which the resources of the world are exploited by only a few nations, in an unsustainable way.

We must build a future based on compassion, both for others and for ourselves, it the only way we can survive and prosper.  To quote Bill Adama “It’s not enough to survive, we have to deserve to survive.”. 

We’ll only get one chance to make the cut, let’s try and get it right.

The Household Economy

Posted by on August 1, 2008 No comments

I found this blog post on The Household Economy courtesy of The Energy Bulletin and simply had to link to it.

This post goes into detail about the revival of the household economy and it’s invisibility in terms of accepted economic theories by using the example of making homemade Raspberry Jam.  It’s a wonderfully evocative example for me thanks to my memories of my own mother making homemade jam and marmalade when I was a child.

The article is highly recommended as it points out the difference between the official percieved economy and the truth of the economy, the things that happen under the radar.

I’ve talked in my most recent article about the difference between the map and the territory and the problems that can occur when the territory isn’t quite reflected in the map.  This article illustrates this principle (among others) very well with some very interesting comments as well.

Our Stuff

Posted by on February 22, 2008 1 comment

I was given the heads up on this very interesting short film a little while ago and finally got round to watching it the other day, it’s certainly worth the 20 or so minutes it takes to run.

It covers our consumer culture, the origins and processes and a possible solution to our predicament.  I saw a strong case for ethical shopping in there and this film has started me thinking about the way I shop and the consequences of that.

Take a look at The Story of Stuff, oh if you’re using Firefox and NoScript, you’ll need to enable scripts for the site.

What is natural?

Posted by on December 12, 2007 7 comments

A thread on the Teahouse started me thinking again about something that I’ve been working up towards for a long time , it’s probably not the most popular position I’ve ever taken, but I do think it’s accurate.

We seem to define natural as being Earth, our biosphere, by which I mean plants, animals and things arising and related to them, and anything arising there without mans contrivance. Now that’s a slightly vague definition, I readily admit that, but that seems to me to be the closest I can get without spending more time than I’m willing to.

As we’re talking dualities, ‘unnatural’ is, therefore everything that is not covered by the definition of natural. Which I take to be industry, technology and the artifacts and effects associated with them. Again, vague, but the best I can do without being here all day. The supernatural and occult I will, for the sake of completeness, consider as well; leaving aside all judgements as to the existence or not of these things.

So my question is very simple; What if we’re wrong? What if natural/unnatural and supernatural are rather arbitrary definitions, maybe even only held by Western culture? My charge is that we are guilty of not thinking outside the box, the box in this case being Earth.

We know that the first element in the universe was hydrogen, this was enormously abundant and formed the first giant stars. These star were incredibly unstable as they were so big and exploded, showering the cosmos with all the other matter including the matter that makes up the Earth and everything on it That’s right we are starstuff, along with everything else here. That by the way, includes your car, your microwave, the monitor you’re using to read this and everything else we define as “unnatural”.

So how then do we justify this line drawing? It’s seems odd taking matter that was created along with everything else in the cosmos and that, on that scale can certainly be considered to be naturally occurring things and then dividing it out like that.

I think the whole thing seems to be based on superficial form, after all nature as we seem to mean it is something built on top of the basic building blocks of the universe but not intrinsic to them. Or to put it another way, we know something of atoms, but atoms know nothing of us.

Unstone Grange

Posted by on July 31, 2007 5 comments

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to be invited on my Tai Chi clubs’ annual retreat to a place called Unstone Grange. The itinerary varies from year to year, but includes plenty of Tajiquan, some meditation and some drinking. A recipe for a good weekend!

Unstone Grange is a country house set in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside. It’s owned by a charity who maintain it and run it for organisations and clubs to hold retreats, though there have been weddings here as well. Below, you can see the view from the drive, followed by the view from the side of the house. You can see the attic dorm I was in, in the first photo, it’s the one on the left hand side.

Unstone (Drive & Front)

Unstone Grange (side view)

As I hinted earlier, we slept in single sex dormitories, which are located on and above the first floor, I was located up in the attic.

Attic Dorm

The break was just what I needed, just when I needed it, Unstone Grange is an amazingly peaceful place. It’s an amazing experience for townie like myself to do outdoor Tai Chi practise surrounded by rolling countryside instead of houses. Doing some early morning Chi Kung in the clear country air was a fantastic way to start the day!

Unstone Grange has it’s own gardens where they grow their own organic herbs and vegetables, they also run courses on organic gardening. The Deer Tribe have their own area as well, you can see the TeePees in the lower photo below.

Organic Garden

Deer Tribe Teepees

In addition, it was good to get the chance to talk about eastern philosophy and Zen Buddhism, the Zen guys in the group gave themselves away as soon as the guided meditation started!

Finally, I got the chance to experience a Reiki healing courtesy of a friend in Kaiming. I was privately a little sceptical, but it did the trick, and I was able to feel the flow of Qi into some of the worst hit areas of my head and neck. For someone who has always kept a sceptical view of such things, it was an eye opener.

Needless to say, I’ll be going back next year!