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The following is a review of the main points of my presentation on Eco Logical Culture Change.
This review is in greater detail than a "live" presentation.
Key Points are outlined immediately below. There are many fotos and graphics to illustrate points made.
* Global Capitalsim Is Not an Ally to Eco Logical Culture Change
* External costs- what are they and why capitalism cannot survive without them
* Suburbia and US Foreign Policy Doctrine
* Home Economics
* Where Does it Come From?
* Urban Land Use, Suburban Permaculture and Block Planning
* Communuity Cohesion
* Human Potential and Eco Humanism
* Assets and Models of Culture Change
* Mythologies
*Converging Trends
Preliminary thoughts.
The following is certainly not the complete "how to" create the world many of us would prefer. Perhaps one of the most important parts of moving in that ideal direction is cohesion, which is described in greater detail below. Different places- urban/rural, hot /cold have different assets and challenges but at least one item is common- the very real latent and creative potential of people working together for a common purpose and having the shared vision and the communication skills necessary to articulate ideas, hash out the pluses and minuses, make plans and carry them out in a cooperative and uplifting way.
Positive human potential is our greatest asset. Learning how to set that in motion within ourselves and with those we work with will be an immense benefit. Unlearning much of what we have been taught and told in adoration of our affluent consumer culture is a good place to start.
My presentation starts out by describing why the dominant economic system- global capitalism- is not an ally for a world at peace and a healthy environment and why it is severely in the way.
Global Capitalism- Not an Ally to Culture Change
This understanding is very important. Many people believe we can create a few more regulations, impose a bit of campaign finance reform, put a bit more into greenwash, rely on market forces, trickle down, recycle, ride a bike on occasion, a bit of New Urbanism, bio fuels,,,,,, Tweeking the system as we know it is not enough and feel good actions may be helpful, they will not be enough. Recycling the cardboard from the new big screen TV will not be enough. Changes in the way we take care of our needs are in order, unprecedented changes. In my mind, the kinds of changes needed for a peaceful planet and healthy environment are incompatible with capitalism and will present remarkable challenges even for people already conciously moving in that direction.
This perspective deserves careful consideration. Personally, I am not an alarmist nor do I tend towards conspiracy. I don't think there is a global command center controlling the multi nationals and all the millions of public servants who willingly or not, facilitate global capitalism. From what I can tell, capitalism contains a set of needs for its own self interest that are quite predictable no matter what the language.
It is extremely diffused, not to suggest it is horizontal in its structure, national or global. It has done a remarkable job of creating allegience, obedience and complicity to meet its needs whether people know it or not. In our own country, we have been brought up being taught free enterprise and democracy are inseparable and that the magic hand of the market place is the best way for the economy to meet human needs. These mythologies do not reflect reality. To dismiss these charades creates room for analysis that is accurate and fertile for Culture Change to take root.
External Costs
The needs of growth and externalizing the costs of business are the fundamentals of capitalism.
Capitalism sells its goods and sevices at a cost that does not cover all the damage related to most goods and services -their manufacture, use and disposal.
Pollution from cars, industrial agriculture, toxic waste;
many public health problems from stress, junk food and smokestacks;
social/cultural decline and lost human potential degraded by affluence and a highly seductive popular culture of distractions;
global relations becoming more strained in many areas over increasingly scarce resources and economic turf, a breathtakingly expensive military [in particular the US] to enforce/protect US economic needs/turf [take a look- google- US foreign policy doctrine- Truman, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton,,,].
These are just a few external costs of our affluent way of life and for capitalism to function and grow, so do these costs.
Without external costs- without letting some one or something else- like the environment or the future- pay for the wreckage and pick up the pieces, capitalism does not exist. What would you pay for a car if all the costs were factored in- air pollution from traffic, mines, petro chemical plants and factories that produce the components, ruined cultures and environments from where much of the oil comes from, time lost in traffic jams, accident victims, paved over farm land, non point source pollution from leaking oil on parking lots, suburbia's shortage of social cohesion, old and young suffer because so little money is left for public transportation or other programs for civic uplift.
"Protecting" the American Way of Life”, so dependent on automobiles is awesomely expensive. The list is much longer for the external costs of cars and oil. If all those costs showed up on the for sale sticker or the pump, the cost of a car and gas would be far higher and likely far fewer people could afford to buy a car or gas and there goes the profit margin and the very important economy of scale of mass consumption and production -not enough sales to keep the whole affair going.
How about junk food, tobacco, alcohol, many kinds of chemicals- products we know damage public health yet are still freely available and often encouraged. Those external costs- degrading public health are essential for capitalism's profit margins.
External costs can be social as well. Few people are living up to thier potentials sitting in front of a TV, vanity shopping, lost in cyber space, drugged out by way of pharmacology legal or otherwise, trying to escape the stress and commotion of everyday life. These are all external costs of our economic system. Some of them are hard to put a dollar amount on yet they are very real. Without them, capitalism as we know it would not exist. Uplifted people are not the best customers for mag wheels and high heels.
Peace on earth will not happen as long as global capitalism rules the world and controls virtually every national government elected or otherwise. This was a basic message in my presentations. It is not a happy thought. That is why downsizing and localizing our material lives and up sizing our individual and collective potentials is so important. We can trade passive dependence for active creation of alternatives that affirm our uplifted potentials and are far less damaging to this planet which we totally depend upon. Downsizing and re-localizing help to reduce participation and dependence on the existing dominant economic system.
Downsizing- often known as voluntary simplicity- is a powerful political act. It can be considered a boycott. Using less can mean less time in the cash economy- less time working for money and more time for self, family, community and being a part of creating a healthy eco logical culture.
In the presentations, I like to refer to concepts like cohesion, home economics, eco humanism, human/community potential, connecting the costs to the consequences, culture change, suburban renewal, existing assets and converging trends to name the most important.
A few words about suburbia are also essential because suburbia is such an important element to the way we live- its the “american dream”, one of our most sacred mythologies. Note, i highly recommend a book named “Crabgrass Frontier” written in the mid '80's by Kenneth T. Jackson, Oxford University Press. Its highly readable, even a bit humorous, slightly academic, some what sympathetic but overall, critical. It puts the place where half of all americans live in a new perspective and understanding.
Suburbia predates the automobile by decades if not hundreds of years. What the omnibus, the horse railway and the electric trolley started, the automobile trumped them all many times over. Cities went from compact and walkable- if often miserably dirty- to sprawling landscapes built primarily for cars.
Perhaps suburbia's most celebrated land mark is Levittown, a former potato field on Long Island, New York. There were other suburban developments at the time, the late 30's into the late 40's as well, but Levittown has received the most recognition. It was the most innovative in its vertical business organization, it developed innovative industrial techniques of construction, it had a new approach to financing and its timing historically, all added up to being the flagship of what has become, arguably, one of the most destructive inventions in human history.
Levittown as it appeared in the late 40's. To the right, an ad promoting the American Dream.
The resources needed to make suburbia work, the associated highways, the fossil fuel dependent way of life it demands, the environmental damage,,,, A full description of the downsides/external costs to suburbia would require volumes. And it is great for the economy. To build, outfit, and service suburbia employs tens of millions and if one makes the second and third tier connections, just about everyone in the country has a stake in suburbia. It is a fabrication with earth changing inputs and consequences. Climate change, foreign misadventures, degraded public health, degraded water quality, short on community cohesion,,, these are only a few of suburbia's close companions.
Yoho National Park in Canada. Foto is where Yoho Glacier came down to within the last 50 years. Lateral moraine upper right, below the trees, shows extent of the former glacier. Many glaciers in the Canadian Rockies and the world are in retreat.
Low residential density, a primary characteristic of suburbia, is almost a guarantee of automobile dependence. Upper left between 0 and 10 homes per acre is most auto dependent which is about the density of suburbia.
Suburbia is home to half of all Americans. [and is matastisizing elsewhere in the world] Replacing suburbia is not an option- it is simply too vast. Recall, it is home to 150 million Americans. First, we should not be building more suburbia. [good luck] Best to make far better use of what we already have. Suburbia can offer opportunities, particularly in “special” places like River Road in Eugene and perhaps some other “favored” locations besides the Willamette. Realistically, hard core suburbia in large cities have lesser possibilities, along with the cities they are attatched to. The future for those places does not look good.
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This aerial foto could be any larger city in the country. Shopping mall, freeway, acres of pavement, cut off residential areas. Imagine living in the neighborhood on the right and wanting to visit someone on the left. Without cheap and reliable oil, this land use cannot exist.
I have flown over Dallas Fort Worth, Houston, Denver, Salt Lake City, LA, Portland, Seattle Baltimore,,,, and the prospects for similar places, given current global trends, is not good. On my road trip to Washington State, I did drive through smaller towns that do have some useful potential. Bellingham, Olympia, Everett come to mind and I am sure there are others. Its hard to say what will be the ingredients for a successful transition to a peaceful world but a bit of thought can provide direction and on the ground choices to be made here and now. Here we are.
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Suburbia. Not friendly for bikes and pedestrians. Connector highway and commercial area. Better than average, some homes are not far from stores. Suburbia is home to about 150 million Americans.
Rural sprawl between Dallas and Austin. Work and shopping are miles away. This type of land use is home to tens of millions of Americans. Without cheap and reliable access to oil, it does not function.
In the more favored places, suburban renewal is a smart choice. In this context, suburban renewal means making better use of on site resources. That can include solar energy, food production, rain water and building community relationships. All of these together can be thought of as home economics. Economics does not always require money. In this sense, home economics means producing more of our needs from assets at home.
Home Economics
Home economics is a vital concept and a primary element in my presentations- Here at my place in Eugene, I grow a significant amount of my own food on my property. I also have a 3500 gallon rain water catchment and distribution system to my garden. I have substantial passive solar design on both my house and detatched bungalow, I solar dry much of my food and grow other self keeping veggies like onions, winter squash, apples. A winter garden is surprisingly productive, espcially with coldframes. My place has a solar hot water heater and I ride a bike as my primary transportation.
Home economics. Food from the garden- keepers, dried, canned. Economics- taking care of needs with little or no money.
Passive solar. Home economics, energy from on site helps heat the house and provides a very nice place to relax even on a chilly sunny winter day. Add to this rain water catchment, walking or biking, downsizing needs, being vegetarian,,,
My property changes here in Eugene are visible from the street and have attracted a fair amount of media attention. There have been articles in the local papers about this place along with some TV and radio coverage. [our property tour in August was on the evening news] I offer occasional workshops and people call asking to visit my place either by themselves or with groups of people. This place has notariety. I like that because more people know about it, have seen it and aome people have made big changes to their own properties and are inspiring others to do likewise. Its a chain reaction and if enough people do likewise, there will be broader tangible benefits. Again, this is an enormous undertaking but it also a great deal of fun and offers the opposite of external costs, suburban renewal and home economics offer external benefits!
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External Benefits. School kids visit to see what can be done with a nothing special property. Its vital for kids to see alternatives to mainstream thinking.
Many of these elements of home economics take some up front money and or time investment but after that, little money is needed while money and time are saved over the longer term, not to mention benefits to the environment and avoiding participation/support for the mainstream economic system. My entire renewal project is all about over the longer term benefits.
[There is a 25 minute you tube video interview/tour of my renewal project that touches several of the topics in the presentation. please cut and paste this adress http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWjCnwbb5yc#GU5U2spHI_4 ]
Home economics can take all kinds of directions. People can share assets, tools and much more. In a book I am writing, Eugene 35 years from now, [more on this in another blog] we are 15 years into recovery from the global economic collapse. Much of suburbia is abandoned [there has been a huge population crash even in Cascadia], the best homes and properties are reworked for extended family style living. Cllusters of ten to twenty houses form co-ops [50 to 100 people] where there is a much greater social and economic integration. Few people live alone.
Excellent image to illustrate home economics and cohesion. Allen talks to a bike tour group about co-op living at Duma. The co-op offers many shared amenities and avoided expenses. Cohesion happens as residents build realtionships with each other and enrich each others lives.
In my story, the cash economy is mostly gone and needs are taken care of more by home and neighborhood economics- co-ops and extended families. People have learned [or unlearned] how to cooperate. More on that later other than here is a link to one part of that story I have on my website. Its a segment on a visit to Corvallis and its focus is Oregon State Univesity in the very different future. http://www.suburbanpermaculture.org/corvallis.htm
Summing up home economics, its about taking care of many needs outside the cash economy, close to home. For me, it has also been a great teacher in the realm of where does it come from?”
Where Does It Come From?
Where does it come from. Carrying water for the garden rather than flooding everything with a sprinkler, managing solar heating instead of using a thermostat and central heat, biking up a hill instead of pushing down the accelerator, growing and drying veggies and fruit instead of buying so much food at the store. These acts put me in touch appreciably more with what is needed to take care of some of my important needs.
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Oil has degraded many environments and cultures where it comes from. The more scarce it becomes, the more political and economic disruption it will attract.
Most people have little connection or awareness of what they use and what it takes to accomplish a given task. Most of what we use is so cheap and convenient, there is little incentive [or time] to care. That arrangement is becoming very expensive. Home economics provides direct experience with taking care of some basic needs. And it can go far beyond what I have done. How about building one's own car or properly disposing of one's garbage.
Its unfair to blame the multi national corporations, the oil companies, the auto manufacturers and a poor choice for a president for the world's problems. As long as people continue to buy and use the goods, services and cheap resources, this is what we can expect- a degraded environment along with a culture in steep decline and increasingly unstable international relations. Its a package deal.
Affluence is expensive. Poor and modest countries are not in Iraq fighting for oil. War for oil is an external cost of using an automobile. High levels of resource consumption will increasingly lead to resource wars.
Home economics can be expanded into neighborhood economics up to the bio region. Much of it can be senza dinaro. At the same time, downsizing our needs puts taking care of those needs much more within reach. This is fundamental to relocalizing and culture change.
Urban Land Use
Home economics is directly related to land use. Many people own property and when we talk about culture change, the more examples and role models of culture change visible in the everyday world, the better. Talk goes only so far. A visibly changed property can create a lot of interest. One friend in Eugene has a modest sized natural front yard, natives and 60 year old redwood. There is no driveway. But there is a sign that explains the native plants and invites people to the back yard to see the garden, passive solar design to the house, cold frames, chickens, “alley repair”, and other eco friendly elements.
Suburban renewal. Making much better use of on site resources- sun, soil, water,,, This was a grassy yard seven years ago. The red barrel is part of the rain water distribution system.
Alley Repair, July bike tour. Whitey has enhanced this public space in collaboration with several neighbors. Cars are kept out of the alley during the wet season. There are many native plants and neighborhood kids like the space. This is a wonderful example of taking an under achieving shared space and turning it into a place people- and wildlife- can enjoy and make use of. There are many other similar opportunities, alleys, parking lots, private and public properties,,,,
There is a cliché'- “be the change you want to see.” Its a little sacharrine but its true. Having a bit of property is a great asset for culture change and making it look like the future you would prefer is a very powerful statement. What else do we have? We have our own potential. More on that in a bit.
Visible land use changes- models of culture change are essential. This is something I emphasize in my presentations. Talk needs to be translated into action. A beautiful front yard garden for all to see offers a great deal. It combines environmental/economic benefits with social change and external benefits.
Hideaway Bakery on East Amazon behind Mazzi's. Bike tour visit. Thanks to Hideaway for all the great pastries and rustic breads/basalmic vinegar/olive oil. The bakery occupies former parking lot. Where dumpsters once ruled is now a very pleasant hang out space with wood milled from Mazzi Farm 5 miles away. Farm also provides organic veggies for the restaurant and CSA. Note commercial sized solar hot water system, sand box for kids, murals on the walls, potted plants, southern orientation. Great transformation, a real model for other businesses.
Cohesion
Another concept that is vital for culture change is cohesion. Cohesion exists when people can work together because they have common interests, goals and values. Simple courtesy, waiting in line for one's turn, paying for what we buy are common denominators of every day life but cohesion and civic well being can be elevated to a much higher level. When we talk about an ambitious level of culture change, one can think of a world at peace with uplifted individuals, communities and a healthy natural environment. Thoughtful shared community and individual values can raise the level and point of departure from which people and communities can operate from to move forward positive culture change.
Building cohesion. This is a neighborhood meeting to discuss what neighbors can do to enhance our quality of life and create networks in the 'hood. Outcome was good, we did a number of service projects, potlucks, work parites. After a couple years it lagged, people always off doing something. When gasoline is up to 5, 6, 7, $ per gallon, people will become a lot more available for life closer to home. Still, its smart to start creating cohesion.
Imagine your best friends. People you trust, people who share many of your values and goals like a healthy environment and peace on earth. Consider how much more positive movement could be made towards those ideals if the values that would support movement towards those goals were far more widespread. Imagine if you had a sense of trust and shared purpose with people you didnt know like you do with your good friends.
Places of faith have cohesion like this and in other ways, so do service organizations, extended families and many other groups. When the cohesion becomes focused on eco logical culture change, there is already an existing elevated platform to operate from, its like a head start. As our affluent way of life become ever more shakier, more people will be looking for alternatives.
Imagine community conversations that can help clarify and mobilize civic movement towards living closer to home and taking care of more of our needs from sources closer to home. In Eugene, and many other towns, these kinds of conversations are already occuring with increasing vigor at the community level. More people on the same page with a shared vision will be vital to move towards a preferred eco logical future. Cohesion is about, a shared vision for a healthy community and way of life.
Cohesion and positive potential- individual and civic are made for each other. Does one precede the other? Good question, this is a great thought to ponder and discuss. I invite other viewpoints here. Please e mail me if you have some good toughts to share. spencerj at efn.org
I think these two positive items work in both directions. The kind of cohesion needed for an eco healthy/peaceful world would value the essential role of the individual in bringing about such a world. Indeed, a primary goal of “eco cohesion” would be to nurture individual positive potential.
When people manifest thier positive potential, cohesion benefits almost automatically because when we elevate our own positive selves, we are far more able to encourage others. Encouragement is empowerment.
There is a very real and positive feed back mechanism here. Cohesion and positive potential are made for each other.
Cohesion and human potential can both move forward whether one is motivated by peak oil and climate change duck and cover [both reasonable perspectives/conclusions] or just because one can realize that market capitalism is not doing us a favor and there are sensible ways to take care of our needs without ruining ourselves or the planet.
Culture Change happens! This is the outdoor living room at the Cascadia Eco Fair near Eugene, August, 2007. Lots of schmoozing going on here. Dining room, workshop space, hang out with the party lights at night. Imagine having a place like this to go all the time! many new friendships, shared info, plans hatched out,,,,
Cohesion can manifest long before the ideal world comes about. Rather, the ideal world will not happen without manifesting our ideals even in the midst of environmental and cultural decline. Positive models and cohesion are needed more than ever as the mainstream way of life accelerates its downward movement.
Transforming suburban properties is a wonderful way to express many positive aspects of culture change, cohesion and reducing one's environmental and political footprints, it is permaculture in its broadest expression. Imagine work parties where people help others make the changes to a property- designing what plants go where, removing unwanted grass, removing unwanted concrete, planting edible landscaping, simple remodeling like turning a garage into a usable indoor space, closing in a patio to make a sun room. These are only a few of the opportunities for people to work together, learn new skills and build cohesion and that work is made more meaningful when people know it is part of a larger movement of Culture Change- and that their property is moving up on the list for a work party. External benefits happen!
Block Planning [BP], an example illustrated above, is a very creative approach to land use planning that offers many many benefits. Aspects of BP can be found in Eugene, [and hopefully other places- if you know of any, please let me know] but the full blown potentials are not yet reality. BP happens when residents and property owners on a block agree to to make certain changes to the block over a certain period of time. The city and neighborhood association are involved also. The benefit is that normal codes and requirements can become a good deal more flexible with an approved Block Plan. It offers many advantages to ad hoc planning such as the possibility of virtually eliminating a road [space for emergency vehicles] through the block like the illustration above. Set backs can be reduced or eliminated as well. What BP can do is facilitate a far better use of space, the block becomes a single plan. It is not a commune but it is a single plan and needless to say, this would take a good deal of effort for a group of people to make a block plan. Co-housing comes to mind.
The image above shows the same block before and after. This is only one possible block plan. An alley could be the "main street" as well. See more on Block Planning above for a greater description of colors, process and history.
Finally, imagine the permaculture land use design- edible landscaping, work parties, skills learned, community building, jobs created, walkable neighborhoods, improved transit,,,,, Block Planning offers layer upon layer of external benefits.
East Blair Housing Co-op in Eugene. East Blair has a low per capita ownership of automobiles. What cars residents own park in front lot. This garden takes the place of a former parking lot. A small example of reclaiming automobile space. Block Planning contains the potential for many similar transformations. Higher density townhouses at left lack much space for a garden but townhouse residents have access to open space elsewhere on co-op property. See more on Block Planning above. Update- East Blair now has intentions of converting thier front parking lot into garden and pedestrian use.
Several weeks ago, Aug 18, we had a wonderful land use bike tour in Eugene. 50 to 60 people made for a party on wheels. We visited nine different properties within a ten minute bike ride of each other. Most of them within a block of each other. We heard inspiring stories of property transition and saw places that uplift the spirit with the creative designs, color, food producing, native plants, passive solar design, rain water catchment,,,, Garden and property owners were lavished with adoration, new friendships were made and many people will make use of what they learned.
We have property tours in Eugene every month or two in the summertime. For people to see examples of working examples of ecological culture change Some assets are properties, gardens, working examples of eco logical culture change while other assets are practical skills of many kinds, still others our own latent possibilities, waiting for us to recognize them and put them to use.
Human Potential
For me, human potential is a reason for culture change equally as important as the more duck and cover climate change and peak oil. Personally, I am not religious. Closest spirituality for me would be earth centered but i also firmly believe everyone has enormous potentials for self uplift and to contribute to civic uplift. Overall, we are severely underperforming. A culture based on vanity and distractions is not fertile ground for manifesting our innate potentials.
Culture change for me has as a core value and goal bringing out the best in everyone. We need it! Many social heroes and humanitarians aren't so great, they are just doing what they should be doing.
Companion to human potential is eco humanism. Eco humanism is a belief that includes the ideas that a positive/nurturing cultural and natural environment is vital to healthy people and bringing out the best in us. Its a challenge to be a high achiever for the preferred world when the world we live in dumps out so many cleverly manufactured distractions, a tragically built human landscape- our cities and towns, the oppression of advertising, the separation from and ruin of Nature. I could go on,,,,,
Building local culture in Tonasket, Washington. The community culture center is a wonderful asset to the entire town and area. Its a place open to everyone and creates all kinds of collaborations for events and happenings. Every town should have a place, if not several, like this.
A positive eco humanistic culture would make it a high prioritiy to rework our urban areas. Suburban and property renewal mentioned above are the advance guard of eco humanist land use. Its partly the visuals of making beauty from ugly, its partly the social skills and cohesion to make that land use change happen. We must have models and examples of what a preferred world looks like.
School garden near Roosevelt Middle School and Churchill High Scool, Eugene. Kids come out to work in the garden and learn about growing food, working together and living soil. School gardens are one of the best places to put time and energy.
The bike tour last month- one cluster of homes we visited is spreading in its area of renewal. One house, another, another, switched on people move in a couple houses down, another couple a block away. Several people doing great work living only a block away met for the first time on the tour. There is a wonderful spreading of conciousness and people are now more able to see it for what it is- it is culture change. It is the unfolding and evolving of an eco humanistic landscape and that land scape will touch others and they will embrace it and pass it on like an expanding relay.
N Street co op in Davis, Ca [http://www.nstreetcohousing.org/] has been doing this for years. An entire suburban block with the fences down, a far higher level of shared resources, a retrofitted co housing- [this was formerly just regular suburbia] where people are purposefully creating a greener and more cooperative way of life. This is culture change, suburban renewal and eco humanism at its best.
In a very real sense, we are seeing the beginnings of new pioneers. Not of geography and conquest, rather of culture and human renewal.
Visualize concrete removal. Neither Rob or I had experience with removing a driveway but now we know a lot. A cement saw is the way to go. Blocks can be reused for a number of purposes. Avoid the landfill. This project daylighted 800 square feet. Cement covers far too much area in the urban landscape. This driveway now is home to a thriving English Walnut tree, a nice shed which will support a grape arbor over the roof and allows water to build the water table.
Pioneering suburban renewal. Compare to the concrete cutting foto above. New shed on old driveway.
Pioneering reclamation of urban space for people. Intersection repair in Portland. Place making in the 'hood. Creating community and cohesion where people live!
New intersection repair in Eugene. Planning, permitting, painting. A place in the 'hood people can be proud of. External benefits to all who participate and enjoy it!
Models and Assets
Also important to the presentations is the recognition of exisiting role models and assets. Some of those models and assets are on the ground and functioning such as N St Co-op in Davis, Blair Housing Co-op in Eugene, my suburban property and hundreds, if not thousands of other sites around the country and beyond.
Volunteer organizations are also a vital part of culture change. Many are vanguards of vision and dont even realize they are part of a much larger whole. There is a great deal of strength knowing the positive future is emerging in so many ways even as the macro culture declines.
Again, many of the assets we have are yet to be uncovered. That refers back to our own individual potentials. Those are enormous. It is well known that when unexpected disruption happens such as an earthquake, power failure, disasters of all kinds, many people respond in heroic fashion. Culture change needs those kinds of responses and the sooner the better. Discovering and developing our own capacities is vital to culture change.
Then, when those developing capacities merge on a larger scale, culture change moves forward even more. N ST. Co-op is a good example
For several years, we have been having land use bike tours in Eugene. We set up a number of places to visit and off we go. Most of the time the locations are residential and the residents are there to explain what they are doing. Typically there is food production, sometimes water catchment, concrete removal, passive solar design, reclaimingdriveways and garages for sensible use, native habitats, water features. Several places include cooperative living. We have visited businesses that have green features, one a very attractive outdoor sitting area for a bakery, both the bakery and sitting area located in what was a parking lot. Another location and acre vacant lot that is planned to be a neighborhood friendly mixed use redevelopment.
Bike tour several years ago. Visiting models of Culture Change.
The last tour we had in August attracted 60 to 70 people and it was a lot of fun. Already, a number of people have completely redone their homes because of the land use tours. An eco tour company in Portland offers week long tours of farms and various green locations between Eugene and Portland. They are expanding the operation to visit similar models ain California and Hawaii and planning to upsize their Eugene tour to several days because there are so many models locally. Seeing what people are actually doing is a powerful message and incentive.
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Bike in Eugene, August, '07. . New models emerging.
There are many other existing assets. When we think of cohesion, think of organizations that already have a comparatively elevated level of cohesion. Places of worship come to mind. Considering nearly all places of worship are all about being better people, what could be a better fit than being in the vanguard of culture change? So many of the “vices and sins” described in holy books fit market capitalism and its make believe culture perfectly. Envy, excess, selfishness, disequity, pride, vanity,,, the list could be a long one, how many more can you think of?
Vanity comes in many shapes and sizes.
Comparison of consumption between a variety of countries. The info is from World Watch.
Plus, many places of worship are increasingly coming to identify that humans should protect and cherish god's creation, otherwise known as the environment. Places of worship should be in the vanguard. In Eugene, one pastor has organized a very notable project called “Thats My Farmer.” He has created a network of several churches and a synagogue that encourage their members to buy shares of a particular Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] Farm .
A CSA is a farm where supporters buy a share of the produce early in the year as an investment in the farm. Investing this way helps make the farmer's livilihood more secure and it connects people much more closely to their food supply, invariably nearby.
The GRuB Farm, Olympia.. Very nicely maintained and organized. A role model organization for local food security.
So Thats My Farmer has succeeded in increasing regional food security, plus bringing fresh local produce [mostly organic] to new members of the network. Cohesion is manifested and strengthened between the particpants, the local economy benefits, the farmers benefit, less pollution in the air and water because there is far less transportation involved [one CSA in Eugene delivers to its drop off by bike. Another in Olympia has its production right in town],,,, It is a classic permaculture arrangement- many benefits from a single smart design.
Thats My Farmer in Eugene. Well over 200 people came to cheer on local farmers. A network of churches and synagogue ask thier members to support a number of local Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] farms. This is a wonderful example of making use of an existing asset, the cohesion that faith provides. Imagine other organizations with elevated levels of cohesion like the Scouts, chambers of commerce, peace groups, fitness clubs, nearly any organization could elevate its horizons to benefit people and planet.
There are many service organizations that also have purposes that are often specific to service in the community. One can find numerous emblems at a welcome sign coming into many towns on the highway. Many of these organizations might become allies in culture change. Another is Boy and Girl Scouts. Imagine Scouts taking on community projects building gardens for people and helping to mentor people how to maintain them or being involved in any of numerous public service projects. This would fit in great with the gardening merit badge.
Trends both local and global are telling us we would be smart to nurture and develop local assets and be far more engaged in culture change. Its not only peak oil and climate change, its also who we are as people and communities, what are we capable of and what are we here for.
Some people are motivated by fear of an increasingly unsettle future. Thats fine. There is plenty of reason for that in today's world from both local and distant sources. There are so many indications that Planet Earth is far beyond what it can support. No need to elaborate.
Suffice to say that the US spending roughly half of the world's collective military budget on itself while half the world doesnt have decent sanitation is remarkable. And that the US leads the world or close to it in nearly every category of aggregate or per capita consumption- resources, commodities, manufactured products while producing the most pollution to the environment.
Affluence is expensive. The US spends as much as the rest of the world combined on its military. Meanwhile, half the worlds people do not have regular access to proper sanitation or clean water. VP Dick Chaney declared "The American Way of Life is non negotiable." This is how non negotiating looks. Buying the products of capitalism pays for the militaries and provides the rational to fight for resources.
Mythologies
The mythologies declaring that the magic of the market place serves all of us best and that capitalism and democracy are inseperable companions are dishonest. They are blatant fabrications that serve the wealthy and the powerful. The modus operandi of capitalism - its need to external costs, its built in disequity, its degradation of the environement and disregard for public well being are so much a part of everyday life, we scarcely question them.
And few people connect thier own complicity to the entire set up.
As resources steeply become more expensive, as global relations become more strained competing for declining resources, as cultures clash, as climates change, more and more people will be looking for ideas and models that do not support the status quo ways of global capitalism. Going local, downsizing our material lives, upsizing civic involvement and nurturing our individual and community potentials are strategies that will look better and better over the near and long term.
Already, many people are making life style choices that will serve them much better moving into a future very different from what most of us are familiar with or expect. Those lifestyle choices may be un-noticeable to others or they may be vanguard and visible models for Culture Change.
The so called techno fix, such as bio fuels, hybrid cars, most recycling, "sustainable" products of many kinds promoted as green and planet friendly are deceptions. They make people feel good about product and lifestyle choices that do not adress the fundamental problems.
A friend enthusiastically showed me all the gadgets and computer of her new hybrid car. The TV like screen between the driver and passenger seats provided an amazing amount of information about what the car was doing. She was excited to have such an eco friendly car that allowed for 50 miles per gallon or even more. The car had many other happy features.
My thoughts- cars are a terrible mistake. Does twice the fuel economy cut terrible in half and make if good? The seduction of green wash technology is very real. My friend felt great driving and she is a very thoughtful and sensitive, caring person. Not smart does not become smart when divided by two.
My first mortgage broker was a very nice guy. He carried a fair amount more weight than he needed to. A couple years after I moved into my house, interest rates went way down so I wanted to re financed. I called Dave for advice and he told me he had started riding a bike to work regularly, much to my surprise and people in his office. He also had improved his diet and lost about 40 pounds, was no longer pre diabetic and loved his morning ride along the river because he saw a lot of wildlife and had great exercise.. His attitude improved as well he told me.
Dave didn't change the world. But if tens of millions of other people in the US made comparable changes in thier own ways, we would be moved much further along towards a healthier future. Already, hundreds of thousands of people are making changes to thier lives in a green direction. If others do likewise and we all deepen our eco logical life style changes, there is potential to mitigate the almost certain tumultuous near future and longer term we are headed for.
Models are being made, assets are being discovered that have been there all along. Our own potentials are far greater than most imagine. Just changing the way we look at our surroundings and listening to our own uplifted inner voice will reveal many opportunities to be a partner in Culture Change.
