The following is a narrative of a visit to Washington State I made in July, 2007

return to main page - Suburban Permaculture-Transforming a Suburban Property in Eugene, Oregon; Permaculture Foto Galleries, Land Use and Culture Change Essays; Culture Change slide Presentation; Calendar

The goal of my trip was to meet eco minded people in a number of different locations and to find out from them what kind of positive on the ground models of eco logical culture existed where they live. I also made five public presentations on culture change, Okonagon, Bellingham, Snohomish/Everett, Seattle and Olympia.

There are several parts to the narrative. One is a description of where i went, people i met, places i visited, impressions. Along with that are several dozen fotos that go with the text- fotos that fit with culture change, most of them,,,

Next is a somewhat embellished narrative, with fotos, of the presentations i made about culture change. Comments about global capitalism, eco humansim, cohesion, human potential, assets and models, land use, suburban renewal and more.

Finally, there are final impressions of the trip which are generalized beyond Washington State. Good, bad and ugly.

It was a fascinting trip! Plusses and minusses. I found out a lot and here it is.

The Kindred Spirits Tour took me to a variety of places in the second half of July. I hadn't been out of Lane County for a couple years and most of my transportation in Eugene is by bike so driving a couple thousand miles in Washington State was a real contrast.

The intention was to make contact with people and projects I would describe as in the realm of “Culture Change.” Places I visited included Okanagon, Tonesket and Twisp east of the Cascades. Then to Bellingham, Snohomish/Everett, Seattle and Olympia.

Culture Change refers to the idea that our middle class energy and resource intensive way of life contains many aspects that would suggest we create other options in a timely way to take care of our physical and cultural needs.

Culture Change is about shifting our personal and collecitve priorities from material affluence to nurturing human potential and social/eco relationships in a way that do not ruin Planet Earth.

During the Tour, I made five presentations in differenct towns, mentioned above, to explain why Culture Change is such a compelling issue. I took along slides to illustrate examples of Culture Change in Eugene and several other locations. Another part of the tour was to meet people and visit examples of what could be described as models of Culture Change.

The Tour began in Eastern Wahington as I started out in Spokane after leaving my brother from Texas at the airport after aweek of camping in Canada.

I stopped in Davenport, west of Spokane for breakfast in the city park. I unloaded my bike for a look around the small town. I came across this great passive solar house on the edge of town, there are vast fields of wheat just to the left and behind the house. I spoke with the owner and he was very happy with the solar performance. Temps over 80 happen inside the solar space even on sunny and chilly winter days.

This foto shows the Dry Falls of central Washington State 20 miles west of Grand Coulee Dam. From the pool below to top of the cliff is about 400 feet. Imagine the falls 6 miles wide with a depth of water going over the top at 200 plus feet. 12000 years ago, glacial Lake Missoula was formed by a lobe of the continental glacier just over the now border into Canada from Idaho's panhandle. The lobe of ice created a dam and the water accumulated 2000 feet deep and the lake backed up to a point where present day Missoula was a thousand feet under water. There are remnants of the ancient lake shore on the hillsides a thousand feet above Missoula. Over a period of a couple thousand years, every 50 or 60 years- 12000 years ago, the ice dam would let go and the result was a flood of biblical proportions. The volume of Lake Missoula was about half of today's Lake Michigan and it emptied in less than a week. Most of it in the first day or two when the ice dam let go. The Falls above [only a fragment visible] is where a good deal of that water passed through. It created the Scablands towards Spokane as well, see the foto below. The epic flood surged to the Columbia, backed up and flooded over 500 foot ridges and eventually made its way downstream, backing up again into the Willamette Valley all the way to Eugene. Portland would have been 400 feet deep for a couple weeks. There is a huge underwater delta off shore at the mouth of the Columbia River. Google Missoula Flood for more info. Earth abides.

These are some kids i met at Coffee Pot Lake in the Channeled Scablands, 50 miles west of Spokane. The lake, erosion channels and other similar lakes in the area are a result of the Missoula Floods. I taught the kids how to kayak. It was a fun stop. The young boy was hip to Continental Drift. When his dad was a teenager, he was slinging a rattle snake over his head like a lasso, the snake had his revenge embedding his fangs into a shoulder. His dad had to ride 15 miles cross country on a dirt bike to the hospital for anti venom and lived.

My first destination was Okanogan. From Spokane to Okanogan, one must across a remarkable landscape in central Washington that was the scene of floods of Biblical proportions 15,000 years ago during the last period of continental glaciation.

In brief, a lobe of ice periodically blocked the Clark Fork River in northern Idaho, created a lake with an estimated volume at half of modern Lake Michigan. For several thousands years, the dam would wash out every 50 to 70 years, the lake emptying out in less than a week. The floods were among the greatest ever to occur on Planet Earth with the gouged out channels, lakes, terraces, giant ripples, stranded boulders and immense former waterfall sites as the visible product still evident.

Planet Earth is a dynamic place.

I had made contact with Larry and Cathy by way of internet and e mail networks. We had chatted on the phone and e mailed. Larry had seen my suburbanpermaculture.org website with its many before and after fotos of my ¼ acre suburban property along with links to a 25 minute video interview/tour along with several published articles and essays on Culture Change.

Okanogan is a 4,000 population town with apples being a traditional important part of the local economy. The town is modest but home to a number of residents with a concern about economics and the environment who are looking to take care of more needs closer to home. I met Larry and Cathy at their place in town, a quarter acre lot in a modest neighborhood.

They had lived for years up in the hills miles from town but had decided living in town made more sense for becoming less automobile dependent. They had carrieded some of the back to the land ethic with them. The driveway was the site for new raised beds, a small green house and stack of firewood. The driveway's future seemed to be less for cars and more for food production.

Larry and Kathy's driveway. The raised beds are new and more garden action is planned for the former driveway.

The rest of the property was evolving as well with fruit and nut trees planted, composting and intentions to trade more grass for garden.

The back yard. Work has begun on major changes to the back yard and then front yard. We had a tour of several properties in Okanogan and next door Omak.

We visited several other places in town including a large garden that supplied several local restaurants and grocery stores. Another place was a great transition from compacted soil to fuit and nut trees, brambles and veggies. One key element was worm composting. A cloche within a greenhouse allowed for some winter salad even in the cold winter with temps on occasion, below zero.

8th Street Greens, Shannon's in town small farm that supplies several local stores and farmer's market.

Rochelle's green house. Nice pink!

Another part of Shannon and Jim's property. It was a large garden, reclaimed from a hard surface thanks to a lot of work on Jim's part managing the worm compost.

Another visit was on the flats above nearby Omak. Buck and Donna had five acres and had built a very attractive straw bale house along with a sizable garden and root cellar. The plan is to raise sheep for food along with their garden.

This is a root cellar next to the straw bale house at Buck and Donna's place.

The presentation I gave in Okanogan was billed in the newspaper as being on Permaculture. It did mention Permaculture but the first part focused on why globalized capitalism is not an ally for a peaceful world with uplifted culture and healthy environment. The next part was the slide show with its many positive examples of people and planet friendly role models. After the presentation, fifteen people stayed to discuss “what can we do?” There is agreement that progressives in Okanogan need to advocate for a greener community. Moving forward with an agenda, like many other places, is a challenge with busy schedules.

After the presentation at the Okanogan Grange, a number of people lingered to talk about what could be done to make Okanogan more green.

Another day I visited Tonesket, 20 miles north. It was smoky day with forest and grass fires in the entire region. The small town has a community culture center. It has been going for about 15 years, a place for music, civic events, rental space. It has been mostly a counter culture effort but is now reaching out to the broader community. The Cultural Project shares a building with the food co-op. Both entities benefit from income made available by the sizable yearly barter fare. The rest of Tonesket looks mainstream.

This is the community cultural project in Tonasket. It occupies the same building as the food co-op. A converted car dealership. Nice!

Returning to Larry and Cathy's, I stopped in Omak to look for Irene Welling. She had come to the presentation at the Grange having heard the radio interview Larry had set up for me on the local station. I did find Irene. She lives in an apartment across the street from “God's Green Acre.” She and a friend initiated a small but significant garden project on a vacant lot.

Here is Irene at God's Green Acre on a vacant lot.. She has plans to enlarge the garden next year. Good work Irene!

The site was lush with squash, cukes, tomatoes, lettuce. The work has brought several people into the project. Neighbors donated seeds, tools, water, hose, plants and an artistic painted rock with the garden's name. Its very nice with plans for expansion next season. Good work Irene!

I left Okanogan, with lightning and rain coming down, for Twisp in the Methow Valley. The plan was to have breakfast with several area residents at the end of Dana's two mile long driveway. Several people came on bikes. Everyone was concerned with the state of the world. I asked people to describe some charactreristics of where they live-with others, grow food, hunt, live near town, how much acerage, outlook,,,?

It was fascinating to hear the brief overview of respective efforts. Circumstances had similarities and differences. Some close to town, others miles away. Some places in suburban size lots, others multiple acres. Some people lived alone, others with families, renters, partners.

No one had all the prefered ingredients for the ideal eco way of life. A number of people mentioned someone had talked about a co housing idea but it had not come to pass.

After the narrations, I suggested an idea probably some had mused about. How about an asset inventory of all the properties. Location, available water, size, people, food production potential,,,, Then I suggested, with the best inventories available, come up with a plan that makes best cooperative use of what the group has.

Friends in the Methow Valley at Dana's place.

Choose the best place to locate a collaborative eco village. Sell the properties with no viable future. Set up a framework for a land trust or something similar all can agree upon and make a plan to create the collective dream.

Sure. What a nice idea. Easier said than done.

True enough. Such an effort would be a huge challenge. But it makes tremendous sense.

Bob Dylan had a song on Slow Train Comin'. His Jesus period. Its a great album. One song talks about not so much learning but unlearning.

The culture we have grown up with is highly individualistic, a perfect fit for divide and conquer in a political sense and also a perfect fit for selling tons of goods that see limited use becauses everyone has one of nearly everything even though they may use it infrequently. We don't share so well, even though there are many great benefits.

As many have pointed out, why not share and cooperate? It is one of the most radical things we can do. It sounds close to impossible but its what Dylan is singing about. Our culture and way of life has divided and separated and dis-empowered all of us. We are far more able to move towards our goals of liberation on a peaceful and green planet when we work together. Part of that challenge is to pioneer new ways- and rediscover and adapt old ways- to take care of our needs under evolving conditions that very well may compel us to do things we cannot imagine at this time.

We already have a clue of what that may be like. Seems like a good idea to start sooner rather than later. Will friends in the Methow Valley be some of the first culture change prioneers?

Part Two

Breakfast with new Methow friends was very nice.

Time to go and I was excited to be crossing over the Cascades although, the morning was cloudy and showery, this on the east side. The west side offered spectacular if cloudy views of mountains, now pack above and dams below. And lush. Bellingham was my destination. My first visit. Late in the afternoon, I found Lynnette's place in an apartment complex.

Its a testimony to the level of cohesion we have in the culture change/eco logical movement. I had spoken with Lynnette on the phone several times, we had e mailed. That was it, she had told me where her front door key was and I let myself in. That is impressive trust.

I settled myself in a bit but had time for a bike ride downtown. Bellingham has an active downtown and this Friday late afternoon featured live music in an alley. Right around downtown, I was impressed by the higher density residential buildings. Five and six stories high, contemporary and looking to be rebuilt on previous impacted locations.

I returned to Lynnette's and she was home. It was good to meet in person. We talked and made plans for the next day, site seeing and later the presentation.

Much of the next day, Lynnette and I drove around. We visited the HUB. Its an impressive community bicycle center. Its mostly about fixing bikes and also makes bikes available to low income people. The place has hundreds of old bikes giving up their parts to repairs. There was a constant flow of people.

http://myweb.facstaff.wwu.edu/browna30/index.html by mistake i dont have a foto of the hub so here is the website. any one with a foto of the hub, please send me one and i will post it. thanks

A popular bike path lead from the Hub through the trees and along the shoreline. It was a gorgeous bike path with parts being like a boardwalk over the water on the edge of the bay.

Biking around with David and Jeff. The board walk is part of the bike path along the bay/Puget Sound. David and Jeff are involved with Sustainable Bellingham.

The path emerged in Fairhaven, a satellite commercial area of Bellingham. It was quite a surprise to find a high density beehive of activity. There were a dozen or so 5 to 7 storey condo buildings, what looked like a lot of historic preservation, nice landscaping, some trendy shops including a very nice book store and a green plaza and promenade with a huge mural and blank space on the wall where summer outdoor movies are projected.

Here is the nice green plaza for showing outdoor flicks. Nice place,,,,

All in all, Fairhaven looked like a remarkable redevelopment project that combined higher density residential and relatively pedestrian friendly.

Downtown Fairhaven. A lot of historical rennovation but no hardware store.

Later I learned that 35 years ago, Fairhaven was a low rent, somewhat neglected, rundown counter culture stronghold, the Haight Ashbury of Bellingham. In recent years, it has become a target of renewal and gentrification. In one perspective, it looks nice in a new urbanist way. In another way, from what I was told, the new upscale development drove the low rent culture away if not ending it.

My friend Lynnette and I drove along the beautiful road with views of Puget Sound. New mega houses were here and there and many signs that declared no development on Chukanut Ridge. This is a local land use controversy. A scheme to build hundreds of high end residences on a forested hill top that could impact salmon streams and wetlands. Its classic developer against what seems to be public will to protect the area.

Another place we stopped was Bellingham Co Housing. Its a beautiful site with familiar co housing elements. Cluster parking for the cars so there is green space, common areas, playground, gardens, community house. A modest three bedroom house was for sale for about $350,000. Stores are not particularly nearby. The place looks ideal while it is auto dependent and espensive enough that many people could not afford it.

Common space at the Bellingham Co Housing. Very nice.

Here is Lynette as we check out the co housing.

The presentation in Bellingham went well. Its a privilege to share perspectives.

Jan in Bellingham.

Next day, two friends and I biked up slope from Fairhaven in search of a place called the Mirage [the name is changed in my narration]. And we found it. The place is a local permaculture landmark. Its an older house with a counter culture look but also has a number of embellishments that are not from the salvage yard. There are too many trees and not enough open space for much in the way of gardens but there are several multi level decks with healthy container plants- both ornamentals and vegetable. A well maintained greenhouse has a shower, tomato plants and hot tub with an elaborate system of use that cycles the water in a way that avoids chlorinating the hot tub water so it can be used again to water plants.

Very nice deck with view of the green house. Note container plants.

The Mirage.

The place is owned by one person but seems to be managed in a way that engages the housemates into helping out with the green scheme of development. There is a solar hot water heater, wood stoves and other innovative eco features. We were impressed. The Mirage would be an attraction in Eugene on one of our bike tours. It is a bit of a grind to bike to the place in the up hill direction, easy coasting back to Fairhaven.

I did not stay in Bellingham long enough to visit all its green places. On my way out of town, I did stop by Bellingham's bustling farmers market. My impression is that Bellingham is a beautiful setting for a small city. There are several groups and individuals making an effort to educate about important global trends like climate change and peak oil but like other places, the overwhelming direction is more auto dependence and resource intensive development.

My next destination was Snohomish but I meandered a bit along Puget Sound on my way there. Leaving Bellingham out the back door along the Sound is just georgeous!

I stopped at a park with a boat ramp and put my kayak in the water for a bit of a paddle. The place wasn't crowded but its not a secret either. I paddled out into the breezy open water from the small bay with the San Juan Islands scattered into the distance. No wonder people talk about this place. Its beauriful!

I stayed close to the shore for the home tour. All along the shoreline are trophy homes. Some blend well with the landscape, others are impossible to miss. No wilderness here.

Further south, the highway opens up into farm land, berries and corn. I regret driving past the fresh berry pies! Its beautiful country with a remarkble amount of traffic. I decided to check out Camano Island. An almost island as it turned out because it is a peninsula and it is easily accessible by car. What I thought would be an easy going bike ride in a scenic and mostly rural place, turned out to be something different.

There was a constant stream of traffic going on to the “island.” A woman at the visitor center told me there had been many changes in the past ten years. I chose roads less traveled for the 25 mile ride but still I could not avoid dozens of upscale housing developments with picturesqe names. Seems like Windemere Real Estate has a hold on the place with multiple offices. The roads were full of for sale signs and orange signs along the roads now and then advising applications for land use changes from protected, wetlands on site, steep slopes, critical habitat, etc to subdivide.

I saw quite a few signs like this on Camano Island and later Whidbey Island.

Some roads were bucolic and away from the development but the overall impression was that Camano Island is a hundred or so square mile rural neighborhood with lots of cars and few places to buy everday needs. It is a product of cheap mobility.

On ward towards Snohomish. Lots of roadside franchise development along the Interstate.

Late in the day, I followed my directions into the hinterland near Snohomish. Again. Frequent rural subdivisions carved out of the woods. Finally, I found my friends, a small homestead on 3 acres carved out of the woods. It looked like the Amazon rainforest.

This subdivision- there is a lot more than this- closest store, maybe five miles?

Was good to reconnect with Marilene, Brian and family. We had met in Eugene a few years earlier. Marilene is the energy behind the Foundation for Sustainable Community, [ http://www.communitysustainable.org/] a praiseworthy effort to teach localization skills and build community. They are partners with Green Everett, 15 mile distant.[http://greeneverett.wikispaces.com/]

Marilene's husband Brian works at Boeing and told me a story. Back in the cold war days, you can be sure the plane factory was a military target. So in an effort to confuse incoming missiles and bombs, the gigantic roof of the Boeing factory had a faux suburbia built on it. Complete with matching the real pavement on ground level with fake pavement and buildings up on the roof. Good thinking.

I made a presentation the next day in Snohomish. One attendee was a candidate for city council in Everett. Another attendee from Everett invited me to come over for a night to see a bit of her town.

The presentation was focused on the positive but had to include a preface. For me, any talk of peace and a healthy environment has to aknowledge that reforming our current economic/political system is wishful thinking and not to be depended upon.

Peace on earth, a healthy environment and an uplifted humanistic culture are not compatible with global capitalism and the political system that serves it. With that in mind, the images I showed were existing models that point the way towards a different way to live.[ Later in the blog I will describe greater detail the content of the presentations.]

There was a good deal of dialogue afterwards about politics and local green efforts. Later, we drove to Everett to Zippy's Java Bar to hear from a fellow from Bellingham explaining a computer based local goods and services barter system called Fourth Corner Exchange [www.fourthcornerexchange.com] The exchange is going well in Bellingham and creeping south. It is accountablilty based and organized a bit like Craigs List except it is an exchange with a cyber currency. A friend in Bellinham has used it a great deal and thinks its great. It sounded good to me. Check the website above.

As it turned out, Zippy's is a focal point in Everett for eco culture change. There are flyers and statements on the front windows that leave no doubt. Its also a very casual and comfy place to read, have a sandwich or wi fi. Named after the owner's Dalmation dog who is official greeter, the white and black spotted decorative theme goes well with the place and local art work on the walls.

Outside Zippy's in Everett with Zippy a bit shy.

I did come over to Everett for a visit. Marilyn, Zippy's owner, lives an easy bike ride from downtown. From the tops of the low hills upon which Everett is located, one can see the jagged Cascades to the East, Puget Sound and its islands to the west and more distant Olympic Mountains to the southwest. Further in the distance are Mt. Baker and Mt. Ranier.

Everett has a nice food coop and a listener supported radio station, KSER, that is well to the left of NPR. I did an interview one morning and was impressed by volunteer staff I met. The interview was prefaced by a 4 minute interview and tour of my place in Eugene, composed by Ann Dornfeld, KLCC alumna. [Now relocated to Seattle- Seattle's gain, Eugene's loss] It was a well crafted bit of audio journalism and did well to give an idea to listeners what I am doing at my place in Eugene, plus a “reality” visit to my next door neighbors to see what they thought about making greener use of their property. The feature was up beat, humorous and informational. [text of the interview http://www.glrc.org/transcript.php3?story_id=3533 audio http://environmentreport.org/story.php3?story_id=3533]

Inside radio station KSER in Everett. 90.7 FM

I had a couple of unplanned days and decided to take a bike ride to Whidbey Island. I had heard about the island as a beautiful place in the Sound. Its just a 15 minute ferry ride from near Everett. An easy commute,,,,

It was a breezy ride over to the island. I had packed my bike with food, sleeping bag and hammock. It was a bit remeniscent of bike riding in Italy. The ferry was full going over and the climb was steep leaving the ferry landing at the town of Clinton.

I had a map of the minor roads, best I was advised, to stay off the state highway that runs the entire 50 mile north-south length of the island. I had no particular agenda other than to enjoy some back roads, woods and views of the water. My eventual destination was South Whidbey State Park, roughly a third of the way to the north end of the island and looking to be a good full day of meandering to arrive there..

The terrain is modestly up and down and mostly wooded. The minor roads were not too busy and there were some stretches without driveways or developments. Overall, it was ok riding but there was never a feeling that I was in a fairly isolated or rural place. There were few views of the water because thats where peoples' houses are built, with the views of the water. I had to give up the idea of having a break and snack with a view of the Sound. Instead, I had my mid day break and snack in a graveyard, it was one of the few locations I found not on gated or private property. It was quiet with a new strip mall across the road.

Late in the afternoon, I arrived to the state park and I was ready. The ups and downs left me a bit tired. The park was very green and showed what the landscape looks like without the houses. Big trees, lots of ferns and awesome views to the 50 mile distant Olympic Mountains across an arm of Puget Sound.
Camping was fine.

Found a place for my hammock, right on the edge of a steep drop off. Great view of the water, finally, and the Olympic Mountains in the distance.

Next day I was ready to return to Everett but first biked a bit more, one stretch through a golf course with fairway homes. There were lots of driveways and for sale signs. Fortuntely, there is a bus, and free at that, that runs hourly the length of Whidbey Island so I waited at a bus stop instead of biking all the way back to Clinton on the busy highway. I met a young woman at the stop. When I asked about the non stop traffic, most visibly trucks hauling dirt and building contractors, she told me it was way different from 10 to 15 years ago. She said the county was having more requests for helicopter landing sites on private property. So far, none had been approved.

I call the visit to Whidbey Island the Tour of Driveways.

The return to Everett was pleasant enough. Beautiful views of the Sound with both Mt. Ranier and Mt. Baker visible at times.

Zippy's was a stop and then back to Marilyn's to take a shower and pack my gear. Then returned to Zippy's to say bood bye. I grew to like the place a lot. Check it out if you are in Everett. Its downtown, just ask.

On to Seattle. There was a pic nic in a park organized by the NW Eco Building Guild's Seattle Chapter. It was a nice chance to schmooze and meet some of the local greens. The park had been a somewhat neglected vacant lot that came into city possession and was turned into a small park with a nice community garden.

[note, the best list of groups and organizations i have come across for Seattle is at http://www.cityrepair.info/]

I slept in my truck that night after a bike ride around Green Lake. At midnight, a lot of people out and about. Next morning I checked in with Emily at Phinney Neighborhood Center, whom I had spoken with on the phone, and she set me up with an itinerary for the day.

There are hills in Seattle! One “pea patch” garden I visited occupies a former street that was so steep, it was decided to replace the street with a steeply terraced set of small gardens. The city library in Ballard has a living roof. I saw real wild salmon at the locks in Ballard.

Steep garden overlooking Ballard.

Salmon at the locks at Ballard..

The bike path from Ballard to Union Lake is a place to view a wide variety of urban landscapes.

The psychology of previous investment.

I ended up in Gas Works Park which features a small hill top. What a view! Its like being in the end zone of a giant footbal field with downtown Seattle with its dozens of 30 to 60 story buidlings in the far end zone, a mile away with the busy freeways above to the east packed with cars and all manner of residential buildings stretching from end to end. To the west, more packed residential, multi story up the hillsides. Down on the “field”, the entire perimeter there are marinas and house boats. Sea planes were taking off and landing. Boats and kayakers all over the “field”. It was a awesome scene.

View of downtown Seattle from Gas Works Park.

And immensely fragile. All of what I saw is profoundly dependent on cheap oil,,,,,

The gas works are amazing and what a reclamation that park area has seen. An old foto I saw showed it was hard core industrial. I continued on he bike path towards the U of W campus. I stopped at some green houses on campus and checked out a wonderful collection of tropical, succulent and unusual plants, leaving my name on the registry, Jan Spencer, Eugene, Cascadia.

Part of the former gas works.

Further along I made my way to see the Tilth garden and nearby intersection repair site, both sites notable efforts to green the urban landscape. I did come upon a small front yard garden and had a nice chat with those who care for it. Finally, I returned to the Phinney Neighborhood Center in time to set up for the evening presentation.

The presentation went well and was prefaced by several people who spoke for local green initiatives such as Feet First in Seattle, Phinney Eco Village, a group from Antioch College and City Repair. [see city repair above for web links]

I had not been in a city the size of Seattle for several years. Dallas was the most recent. Its overwhelming to imagine the amount of energy needed to keep all of that going. We try to suppose the future. How much of most people's future plans are predicated on what they are used to and expect? A term I have seen is the psychology of previous investment. We keep doing the same thing because its always been that way. Up to a point, so did the Romans, Etruscans, Minoans, Aztecs, Mayans, Incas and all the rest.

No doubt, there is an immense amount of positive culture change work going on in Seattle. I know of a number of groups, Feet First, Phinney Eco Village, NW Eco Builders Guild, groups at Antioch College, Sustainable Ballard, Seattle Tilth, something of a permaculture guild, post carbon group, other neighborhood groups, peace groups and hundreds of others I am sure. I know there are occasional meetings to pull various groups and people together in conferences. Its a huge and challenging task to synchronize and coordinate in a small town like Eugene. Seattle is so much larger. [again, see http://www.cityrepair.info/ for links to a number of Seattle groups]

Tilth Garden. For everyone in Seattle without a yard to have this much space- say 20 by 20 feet- would require several square miles.

A small but thriving front yard garden.

Intersection Repair in Seattle and nice terraced garden in the foreground. The house also had some chickens.

And it reminded me why I don't live in a large city. Leaving Seattle, I drove over the freeway bridges I saw from down below from Gas Works Park. I was part of the traffic. I wanted to drive close to Mt Ranier so I had to make several highway changes. That meant from Interstate 5 to 90 west to 405 south. The tunnels, bridges and overall infrastructure for automobiles is impressive from an engineering perspective and tragic from nearly every other thoughtful point of view. And mulitply that by hundreds if not thousands all across the country.

Leaving the metro area took some time driving from Renton towards Maple Valley. The road is access back into Seattle for multitudes of people living in suburban outlyers. The subdivisions kept going all the way to Enumclaw. Some upscale mini mansions, other developments of freshly built assembly line houses, vinyl descendents of Levittown. New highways under construction. A rocky expanse with new streets in with above ground connection boxes for underground utilities, various pipes and surveying stakes all over the place.

A new subdivision near Maple Valley.

A bit later, one subdivision i visited was called the Buttes. It was located on a hill top, some lots with views of Mt. Ranier. Most lots could have been anywhere, there is no view other than across the street to the neighbor's cluttered two car garage. What was most notable was the steepness of the climb on the road up to the subdivision from the county road below. Without a car and the gas to put in it, this place is uninhabitable. It brings to mind some kind of midieval hill town in Italy except the Buttes will not last anywhere near as long. There is no town within miles. Its leading promotions are school bus stop, green belt, natural gas and miles of hiking trails. Remarkable.

The Buttes.

I did touch Mt. Ranier on the west side. The forest looks more and more natural the closer to the Park one approaches. Just inside the park, the road is barricded because a few miles further, the road is washed out from flooding a couple years ago. Made me think about infrastructure in general. Without ongoing maintenence, it does not hold up for long. I am told that if pumps in New York City were not working, the subway tunnels would be flooded in a matter of hours,,,,,

A bit out of focus. Another gravel truck, new stop lights out in the boon docks.

On to Olympia, the final planned visit for this adventure. I meandered along secondary roads towards Lacy and Olympia. There isn't much open countryside and approaching Lacy, the commercial activity increased. Lots of shady parking lots and strip malls. This went on for a couple miles until I fond the Interstate. I never did see downtown Lacy.

Into Olympia. Nice downtown. The Capitol sits on a hill above the tidal mud flats. It was hot so lots of kids were out in a park that had playful fountains. I found my directions and headed out to Cooper's Point, where my contact Michael lives with his father, Dan.

I was pretty much spent with all the driving. The Kelly house was a grateful place to land, big fir trees all around with lots of ferns. I soon came to appreciate the place and its residents. And there was a good deal of coming and going from friends and visitors.

A priority for me was to decelerate so I rode my bike to the nearby shore which is the southern end of Puget Sound. Evergreen State University has some property and it was perfect for laying back in the gravel of a playground and listening to the breeze in the trees. I could see the now familiar Olympic Mountains across the water to the north east, 50 or 60 miles away. I could also see nearly the entire shoreline of the Sound was bordered by homes.

Refreshed after a couple hours, I returned to Michael's. Another friend was over, I met Michael's dad and we chatted into the evening.

Next day we biked into town and I had a ticket for a garden tour. These were more native and ornamental gardens and they were all well worth seeing. One with a huge coy pond, others had their plants labeled like a mini botanical gardens. There were musicians playing violas, flutes and clarinets. School buses took people from place to place and it was all very well organized by native plant people and master gardeners.

Returning to downtown, we stopped to pay repects to a downtown landmark, an artisian well in a parking lot. Its just a humble pipe with a couple gallons per minute flowing into a drain in the asphalt a few feet away. A couple of concrete blocks protect the pipe. There were a few tired potted plants. Apparantly, the authorities would like to close it but there is very strong public support for the well. The owner of the parking lot does not want to sell this little chunk. If he/she did, the place could become a beautiful small watery green oasis and a pride for the community. Its a shame, such a wonderful natural phenomena in a barren parking lot.

An artesian well in a downtown parking lot. Ancient water.

Later we met with visiting friends of Michael's from Japan for dinner, prior to the presentation. Their visit was primarily related to thier interests in Native American culture and they all came to the presentation. The talk and slide show at Traditions coffee house went well. Some people already working on their cultaure change own projects, others wondering how to make a start.

One fellow who came had an interesting story. Several days before, I had been on the lengthy bike trail from Ballard, along Union Lake and on to the University of Washington campus. I saw some green houses and stopped to check them out, being fond of such places. They were open to the public so i went in. There were several wings- succulents, tropical, orchids,,, and there were several home sized fish tank terrariums as well.

One tank contained several amazing black and yellow tropical frogs. I asked about them and a fellow working in the green houses explained their peculiarities. So Iwandered around for an hour or so. When I left, i signed the register Jan Spencer, Eugene, Cascadia. comment- thanks, great bit of botany.

So at the end of the day at the green houses, the fellow i spoke with had a look at the register, saw my name and detective he is, googled my name and found i was doing several presentations [my name on the web calendars of several organizations in Seattle and Olympia.]

So Keith came down to Olympia for some kayaking and to take in the presentation. When he told me the story, we had a good laugh. Keith came over to stay the night at Michael's and joined us for the bike tour the next day. Its a fun story.

Next day we checked out the overgrown garden at Evergreen State, had a look at Michael's garden and then into town to see the very well managed GRuB garden. http://www.goodgrub.org/

Please have a look at GRuB's website. This organization has a lot going on. We toured the in town CSA, nice! They have youth programs, the kitchen garden project, new community garden, ambitious plans to buy a property and upgrade the house.

GRuB as seen from the street. Their website is http://www.goodgrub.org/

Part of the garden which streteches off towards the trees in the distance. GRuB benefits from good neighbors with use of substantial space on adjoining properties.

We passed by the Olympia food co-op and into town where we checked out several more gardens including Carolyn's home. She told us her place was all grass when she first moved in.

Here we are at Carolyn's, an impressive property transformation, natives and edibles.

Then closer to town to a curious little space across the street from Fertile Ground- a lanscaped mailbox where one could leave poetry.

Poetry mailbox with native landscaping attracts the interest of Evan and Keith.

Across the street is Fertile Ground. To my knowledge, the only permaculture bed and breakfast on the street if not in the state of Washington or the Northwest or even West Coast. A beautiful property with a cob oven, relaxing outdoor sitting areas with great garden and landscaping. And a giant rope net 20 feet up in a walnut tree- one could pull themselves up on a knotted rope and lay in the huge spider web. Nice!

Jan takes a break on the steps of Fertile Ground.

Another view of Fertile Ground. Cob oven under the shake roof in the distance. Cool!

We then biked a ways past downtown to another odd place. In a modest residential neighborhood, there is an orphaned patch of property no one seems to want. It could have been a street but instead, its a couple thousand square feet that has been "annexed" for community use- a guerilla neighborhood park and emerging community garden. On this day, there was a potluck with music and puppy piles. Very nice!

Orphan land adopted by activist neighbors for community space!

Around the corner was a great suburban renewal project. An ambitious woman had made remarkable progress in a year converting her place to garden, with more improvements to come.

Nice suburban renewal project. Front yard looking towards the back. Good work!

We left the area by way of a project Michael had started on a couple days before. Reclaiming a front yard to be turned into a food forest.

Sheet mulching to become a food forest. Keith and Michael check out a front yard with a positive future.

That was our tour. This was the first land use/garden tour of a permaculture type in Olympia. Plans are under way for another tour in Oly for September. Check with Michael at eco city oly

We returned to Michael's late in the afternoon. It was a great bike tour. Olympia definitely has some projects to be proud of!

Next day it was time to go. I said good byes, threw the soggy chewed up tennis ball into the ferns and forest for Michael's dog Lexi, for the final times. It was a good stay!

I headed west to go down the coast and came upon a nulcear power plant about 20 miles west of Olympia. The two cooling towers are visible for miles. A bit further I came to 101, the celebrated West Coast highway. Sad to say, much of the way in Washington State is a drive through miles of clear cuts. I was dismayed, not even a visual buffer to hide the clearcuts like Oregon.

I did stop at Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. There is an informative visitor center. Across a narrow bit of water is Long Island with its hiking trails and backcountry campsites. I did paddle with my kayak across the narrow channel and hiked the three miles to a grove of uncut ancient cedars. Imagine, driving for miles along what had been one of the world's greatest temperate rain forests, having to paddle to an offshore island [the island is in a big tidewater bay] then hike another 3 miles through overcrowded second growth to see a few dozen nice sized cedars.

This is a huge remains of a giant cedar. Its hard to tell by the foto but the base is easily 20 feet across. It is a high rise home to all kinds of wildlife and small trees growing in its burned out nooks and crannies. This has to be one of the most beautiful remains of a tree i have ever seen. This old guy made the entire hike well worth while.

On the return hike, I came upon a porcupine. He/she had little concern about my being so close.

Wild porcupine!

The final attraction on this island was a workshop for the wildlife refuge. It has a great rainwater catchment system.

Rainwater catchment on Long Iisland at Wallapa National Wildlife Refuge, north of Ilwaco.

I kept going south, crosed the long bridge over the Columbia and contemplated what the Missoula Flood looked like here. I slept in my truck at Oswald West State Park, lucky I was not asked to leave by the park police. Did some great hikes the next day.

Wow! Oswald West State Park.

My final cultural stop was at Cafe Mundo in Newport. Friends own the place and they are doing good work there. CM is Newport's counterpart to Zippy's in Everett, a local haven for kindred spirits in the historic Nye Beach area. Stop by if you are in Newport. The blackberry crisp is really good! Had a nice chat with owner Greg about the local scene.

Next door neighbor to Cafe Mundo in Newport. The banner reads "What is so funny about peace, love and understanding?"

Cafe Mundo. Newport's counter culture hang out. This is the new digs! Passive solar design in the south facing roof makes it nice and warm up above. Great blackberry crisp!

It was windy at the overlook near the Sea Lion Caves. Haceta Head Lighthouse was flashing in the dusk and the sun was near the horizon. I always like to see the backwash here at the base of the cliffs a couple hundred feet below. Waves literally bounce off the verticle rocks and head back out to sea. When their out going amplitudes are in sync with incoming waves, they shoot upward in a dancing fan of water, sometimes 10 to 15 feet high. One of my favorite things.

So, I left the ocean and made the final dash home. It was great to leave and great to be home,,,

Next installment, presentation content. Perspectives on global capitalism, external costs, thoughts on cohesion and eco humanism. Existing models and assets, downsizing, localizing, suburban renewal, equity, spirituality and more. Then, impressions of the visit.

Part Three

Punch here for the enhanced review of the culture change presentation.

The following is a brief review of the main points of my presentation on culture change. The details of the various presentations on the tour were all a bit different but here are the the major topics.

Critique of Global Capitalism- Our economic system is contrary to peace on earth and a healthy natural environment

External costs- what are they and why capitalism cannot survive without them

Suburbia and US Foreign Policy Doctrine

What is Culture Change

Converging Trends

Assets and Models of Culture Change

Human Potential and Eco Humanism

Urban Land Use, Suburban Permaculture and Block Planning

Home Economics and Economics Without Money

Where Does It Come From?

New term> External Benefits

Community Cohesion

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.

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. The Trilateral Commision, the Bilderburg group, WTO, IMF. Certainly looks like a chummy bunch. Like al Quida, remove the top and it is replaced in short order.

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.

From what I can tell, 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.

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.

Suburbia. Connector highway is 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.

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 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 without 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!

External Benefits. School kids visit to see what can be done with a nothing special property. Its vital for kids to see alternatives.

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. Many shared amenities and avoided expenses. Cohesion happens as residents build realtionships with each other and enrich each others lives, plus take turns washing dishes.

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. 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.

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.

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 degrading culture and increasingly unstable international relations. Its a package deal.

Affluence is expensive. Poor or even modest countries are not in Iraq fighting for oil. Resource wars are an external cost of using an automobile.

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.

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. This was a grassy yard seven years ago. The red barrel is part of the rain water distribution system.

Alley Prepair, July bike tour. Whitey has enhanced this public space with 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,,,,

More bike tour images here.

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 payments.

Hideaway Bakery on East Amazon behind Mazzi's. Bike tour visit. Thanks to Hideaway for all the great pastries and ristic breads/basalmic/olive oil. The bakery occupies former parking lot. Where dumpsters 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.

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/platform 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 very good to start creating mementum in a local direction.

Imagine your best friends. People you trust, people who share many of your values and goals like a healthy environment, peace and living within what planet Earth can safely provide for. Consider how much more positive movement could be made towards those ideals if the kinds of values that would support movement towards those goals were far more widespread. This is what cohesion is about.

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 parimary goal of “eco cohesion” would be to nurture individual positive potential.

When people manifest thier positive potential, cohesion benefits almost automatically because our made visible positive potentials DO INCLUDE encouraging others, cooperating, living more eco logically and with a care for the future.

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 happens! This is the outdoor living room at the Cascadia Eco Fair. 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 payments happen!

More on Block Planning

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 andneedless 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 Blck 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 benefits and external payments.

East Blair Housing Co-op in Eugene. East Blair has a low per capita ownership of automobiles. What cars residents own are park in front. 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.

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. Its all about making use of existing assets. 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.

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 I 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 urbanlandscape. 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 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 in the 'hood!

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!

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.

Bike tour last month. 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 contries. 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. 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.

The mythologies declaring that the magic of the market place serves all of us best and that capitalism and democracy are inseperable companions are unravelling. They are blatant fabrications that serve the wealthy and the powerful. The modus operandi of capitalismi - its need to external costs, its built in disequity, its degrading of the environement and dis regard for public health well being are contrary to the ageless wisdom of nearly every enlightened philosopy and ideal through human history.

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 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 visible models for Culture Change.

The so called techno fix, promoted as green and planet friendly offers dead end solutions. 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.

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 the surprise of 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. 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.

Part IV Overall Impressions

The Kindred Spirits Tour was uplifting and sobering. There are many wonderful people working with commitment and vision for a more peaceful world and for the natural environement but at the same time, the momentum in the opposite direction is looking to be overwhelming.

The global economic system with its psychological and physical infrastructures are so vast and entrenched, they appear beyond repair. I see no way to reform global capitalism, its own self interest and size would seem to remove it from meaningful repair. Rather it is going to run its course and that will not be pleasant in many ways. It is far more fragile than most realize.

I was thinking about Jonestown in Guiana and various other cults and "fringe" belief systems. To think we were born with our entire world view as it is at this moment- that global capitalism and suburbia are the natural state of human beings- would be an assertion few would agree with. We are the product of our environment. Most of us have grown up in the lap of middle class America along with its extensive value system. We have learned and been taught how to behave and think.

Much of our education and up bringing has been about our nation, history and certain beliefs such as that we live in a democratic country and it is the best in the world, big is better and our economic system and democracy are made for each other. Cults such as Jonestown and the Branch Davidians teach their believers a set of values and perspectives that serve the cult and its leaders in a similar way. Many of the people who subscribed to them have paid a heavy price. I suggest, our own upbringing is parallel to those cults in that what we have been taught serves the larger economic machine and those who control it. And we too, are paying a heavy price. Dying of obesity, pollution, stress or cancer, in many cases completely avoidable, is not so differenet from poison kool aid in the jungle or setting ones compound on fire. Its a chilling thought but is there really much difference?

The point of this tangent is there is nothing sacred, predestined, unavoidable or even desirable about global capitalism. It has been learned and it can be unlearned. That is what culture change is about. Its as much unlearning as it is learning.

What I also see is the vital importance for thoughtful people to create positive works- the more the better. This cannot be overemphasized. Models for a peaceful lifestyle and world are essential. These models of culture change are the best hope we have. People need to know about them and understand how important they are so they, too, can manifest thier own positive potentials by adding to the number of people actively engaged in creating an uplifted/peaceful world with a healthy natural environment.

An thoughtful lifestyle; riding a bike, walking or taking the bus, being active in uplifting civic affairs, turning a car place into a people place or returned to a natural state, nurturing one's own physical and spiritual well being, involvement in one's neighborhood association; nudging families, places of worship and places of work in a green direction; creating mutual support networks, buying less and buying local,,,, There is a near limitless number of ways to advance positive culture change, some ways invisible to others, some ways visible examples.

Anyone with property who connects with these issues is, in my mind, obligated to turn that property into a model for culture change. If we dont have property, we have our own selves.

Be supportive of good works. To say thanks or "good on ya" when we see something positive encourages more good works. Who doesn't like to be appreciated, its kind, its sensitive, its highly practical. It can pump people up to do more good. Mulitply that by thousands and we are moving!

One would be naive to think there are not other agendas as the global machine moves further into seize up. Challenging times bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. Desperate people are more likely to use poor judgement deciding who to believe and follow. We already see that from Resident Bush and his associates and there are many times in history when people chose mistakenly under duress.

People and planet friendly models and choices are essential to serve as alternatives to authoritarian and status quo seductions.

I don't see how large cities can be viable. Maybe Eugene is too large. The amount of energy and resources from far away to keep big cities going is unimaginabe, a giant example of "where does it come from." Its hard to vision the 250 mile economy where all our needs can be met from such a distance, not even a 1000 mile economy or even 2000 mile economy. So much from so far is so easy to buy because petroleum is so cheap. Practically everything is so cheap because of external costs, there's little incentive to be accountable while others down wind and the environment are the ones to suffer from our own consumption. Global capitalism and those who nurse from it have dug a very very deep hole and large centers of population are dependent on supply lines that exist at great cost and those costs are not a certainty to be maintained, or even desirable given current trends. Our entire way of life is fundamentally dependent on a resource and energy set up that is temporary.

Perhaps decline will be slow enough to adapt. I doubt it. Costs will go up and more people will be under bridges and sharing spaces in unfamiliar ways. The sub prime mortgage fiasco is only the tip of the iceberg. Our entire way of life is sub prime, totally dependent on assumptions of eternal prosperity that are inherently impermanent. Still, the mainstream culture has much to offer that will be useful for Culture Change. Part of our task is to make wise choices of what to use that can assist in evolving towards a way of life that is healthy and sustainable.

Notably, the kinds of social, economic and personal strategies- our lifestyle and civic choices- to respond to resource depletion, climate change, environmental degradation, political corruption, social and economic justice are all virtually the same >downsizing and localizing the material and upsizing our many and varied positive relationships. In Permaculture, this stacking arrangement is an ideal, to accomplish multiple tasks with smart design. This makes people who have a particular focus on any of these important concerns partners in culture change. We will be far more effective working together. External benefits happen!

Is there an honest way to conclude this narrative that is uplifting and cheerful? I think so. This is an incredibly exciting time. It is full of opportunity to share wisdom, vision and practical advice. There are healthy choices to be made and many of them are within the realm of human experience, including our own. Our challenge is to build on those experiences, to be actively engaged in Culture Change in our own lives and with those around us. We should take ourselves far more seriously with a good chunk of humor as well. We should have expectations and ambitions far more elevated for what can be accomplished to nurture and affirm our individual and cooperative potentials.

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