note-
italics is Naj talking
bold is Naj thinking
regular font is others speaking
"So what did you think of that?" Aleta queried as we walked the several blocks home. "You didn't mention you lived in the Ozarks."
"That will come later. You can't imagine all the question I have. Did you notice some of the words and concepts Glenn used? Conver, traveler, mubens, culture design. A slight odd accent, all of them. It was fairly easy to understand but I think we saw what could be the beginning of a new English language dialect. Different conditions call for different cultural and linguistic responses. It won't likely develop more here, they will be assimilated but I can imagine there are many other fascinating changes happening to our shared language beyond the borders and now that I think of it, visitors from other parts of Cascadia use some slightly different words, too."
We were in time to help with dinner for the potluck at the dome. If you didn't cook anything for the potluck, you could always help others put something together. We had shared meals almost every night.
"Well who do we have here? Looks like Misty has found a sponsor. Taking residence in my very own cluster."
I actually helped make it happen.
"It was a fairly brief meeting. They said they have been treated well and are making a lot of adjustments. From the short conversation that touched a bit on life in the Ozarks, I am eager to hear more. Sounds like some vernacular Ozark Bronze Age level of economics and social organization. A fascinating hybrid with Indigenous American added to the mix just to make it even more exotic."
"What makes you say that? Tell us more."
It was Otter, slicing broccoli. He was known for his keen interest in culture and social organization both ancient and up to the present. He was always eager to meet people from outside Cascadia.
"Well, the brief conversation we had we noticed several unfamiliar uses of words, in fact, a couple unknown word. One fellow named Glenn, who is Black and looking to be in his younger twenties, used the word conver when describing what would seem to be his tribal group. Its like conver is a tribe. He described a particular kind of person he referred to as a traveler who circulated between the convers as a sort of intermediary- a healer, peace keeper, story teller, and another odd pair of words- culture design. The traveler was also one who did this culture design. He mentioned something called a muben when describing the results of a successful design."
2
"Hmmm." Otter pondered for a few moments as he sliced a few more heads of broccoli. "Here is what I think. Conver is a contraction of maybe convergence- a group of people coming together. Or maybe convert, changing to another way of thinking or maybe both together. Traveller, well, that's easy. Its some local humor, that obviously refers to the Arkansas Traveler, something right out of their local folk history. And muben. Given the context you mention, that could be a contraction for multiple benefits. That comes back to permaculture - designing for multiple benefits is a core ideal of permaculture."
"Leave it to our staff anthropologist to figure it all out. OK, so then what does culture design mean if you're so smart?" That was Aleta.
Everyone was tuned into the conversation now. There must have been fifteen people listening to this. Basking in the moment to show and share his cleverness, Otter was on the mark.
"Culture design. That's even easier. The Travelers were practitioners of Perma Culture! Culture design is just a contraction of Permaculture Design. Could be these travelers were former Permaculture teachers with a big new mission in a very different world. Who or what else had any idea what to do given the drastically different conditions than someone versed in Permaculture?"
There was a roar of laughter. That made complete sense, at least it did to all who were listening. Otter was conferred with an honorary title, again, The Professor. And he loved it. He probably would have been a professor, or a story teller himself. He continued.
"And I think what you heard from the new cluster is a glimpse of the early stages of a new branch of the North American, English language cultural tree. Its a phenomena as old as humanity. Isolation leads to vernacular peculiarities. What we saw in the United States was a homogenization of culture. The ease of travel and communications, not to mention the product and lifestyle mass marketing coast coast that saturated their lives- that culture shaping lead to so much in common throughout the general population relating to thought, values, ideals and myths, there was a remarkable shortage of variety in perspective and world view. It was a cultural mono crop- like an entire region planted in one kind of vegetable.".
"When an insect pest came along, the entire field was at risk. The United States was a product of exactly that dynamic. Even before the Slide and Transition, this area, the Northwest, had developed a much greener culture than most of the rest of the country. Along with some natural advantages, this slightly different culture was far more able to make the needed adjustments than most of the rest of the country."
"More particularly, even within the Northwest's greener culture, there were some who took the alternative ideas much further. They were visible well before the turn of the century with their bike riding, gardens, co-ops, property conversions, alternative economics and green activism. We now see those who innovated along with their daughters and sons and people they influenced those are the survivors. Variety and diversity may create tension but it also leads to far greater stability and health of a system over the long term whether an eco system or a culture. A society with cultural and economic diversity `is far more able to be creative and adapt than a simple one."
3
"It should also be noted. In other parts of the country where one could find concentrations of Permaculture, you invariably will find local efforts that were more successful in coping with the Slide and Transition. This early news from the new cluster adds to that observaton. We also have many other anecdotal reports via short wave radio. Nearly all the places where people have survived, Permaculture has played an important role leading to that survival."
"Yay Professor!!"
Another round of laughter and more appreciative cheers.
"Tomarrow night is Story Night. Do you think its too early to ask the new Cluster to join us and describe their adventures?"
"We can ask. Its a bit fast but its their choice. My guess, people would love to hear their stories. I would.."
"I can't wait to hear what they have to say." It was newcomer Misty. "Given conditions all over the former United States like geographic setting, previous economy, access to transportation, recent migration patterns going north, climate; the potential for varieties of Adaptation are nearly infinite. What is happening beyond the Border fascinates me."
Several of us looked at each other. This was a 17 year old talking and she is living here now? And a highly intriguing new cluster? I thought, this looks like a particularly interesting period for Windmill Co-op.
It was the day Newbies would meet for our first field trip. The idea was to visit various parts of town to see what other Newbies were doing in their apprenticeships. The purpose to bond with other Newbies from different parts of Eugene and to better understand some of the many functions that combine to make our community work. Today's field trip would combine a visit to the Land Use Department and also an historical overview describing how the Slide and Transition came about. The Council of Elders all agreed that passing these important lessons on to our young people is vital for the well being of the present and future.
Misty and I set out to ride the horse trolley from the Hilliard St. stop to Downtown. Like just about everyone, I loved the trolley and to make this twenty minute trip with our new housemate was a true pleasure. She was very curious.
"Elder Jan. Can you tell me about River Road? You have lived here for forty five years."
I thought about that qestion. Forty years earlier I had painted a mural here at Hilliard Street and River Road. It was a huge painting of my ideal future- permaculture landscape, small businesses, people meeting and greeting. The mural also included a trolley. The painting had become a sort of neighborhood icon, something of an artwork that foresaw the future. Every 8 or 10 years it was touched up and we had a good look as we passed by.
4
"Thats a big question and deserves a big answer, Misty."
"River Road has seen many changes. Before the White settlers arrived over two hundred years ago, the area had been prime hunting and gathering for the Kalapuya for thousands of years. They would manage the landscape of the valley floor with fire to enhance hunting and the growth of beneficial plants. They were semi nomadic hunters and gatherers living in common houses in the winter up slope and away from the flood prone rivers. Then, dispersing into smaller bands for the summer, again, returning to the rivers. Most of their food was roots, nuts and berries. Camas was a staple and they made tools from obsidian and sinew. "
"The pioneers arrived and the Kalapuya culture suffered badly. The new settlers took over and cultivated the valley floor for grazing domestic animals and food crops. That was at a time when Eugene grew from a rough collection of log cabins and subsistence living into a town with streets, schools, civic adminstration and comfort."
"The area's exceptional soil meant that the period from the late 1800's into the middle of the next century was based on agricultural. There were orchards, small market gardens, small food processing businesses. The climate was perfect for fruits, berries, nuts and vegetables."
"As Eugene's population grew, the agricultural character of River Road evolved. By the mid 1900's the farms became smaller, some even subdivided to build houses. As the population continued to increase, more farms were turned into housing. At the same time, new local stores sprung up along a now paved River Road to service the growing neighborhood. Seventy five years ago, River Road was a link in the highway system from southern Oregon to Portland.More suburban development further out in Santa Clara meant increased traffic on River Road so traffic lights were installed to manage all the automobiles.
"That's interesting, Elder Naj. I have read about those times when automobiles went from a novelty to just about everywhere."
"Thats, true, Misty. The automobile had a profound impact not only on urban land use but also the economy, the environment, culture and life style, global relations and how we have ended up like we are today. We will hear more about that when we join the other Newbies."
"Back to River Road. After the middle of the last century, there were more changes in urban land use. More houses were built. by 1970 or so, we saw the rise of much larger retail stores. They were a product of more cars, more roads and economic trends that dictated economies of scale - that generally means the cost per item goes down when you sell or transport more items".
"These new big stores with cheaper prices drew customers from greater distances which meant many local and smaller businesses selling the same products could not compete with the new stores' low prices and closed. All this change was dependent on more cars, more mobility and a globalizing economy. So called market forces dictated the belief that the lowest cost for goods and services brought the most benefit to people who bought goods and services. Approaching the turn of the century, products from thousands of miles away, from food to underwear, were typically found in the big stores. There were no socks or garden shovels made in Eugene. 95% of our food came from hundreds if not thousands of miles away. This same narrative could be repeated all over the country at the time."
5
The horse trolley was almost full as we approached the bridge over the railroad tracks. That was normal. I recognized and greeted a number of people. There were several co-ops further out in Santa Clara and the trolley out north connected to another trolley that went all the way to Junction City a couple times a day. Misty and I sat several rows back. The trolley was a converted school bus. The entire front had been removed. Un necessary parts of the bus were extracted to make it as light as possible. The under carriage was reworked so the metal trolley wheels could replace the rubber tires.
"OK. Where were we? The history of River Road. River Road the street, was widened about 1990. The friendlier character of the shady thoroughfare was lost. For decades up to 2010 - just crossing River Road on foot or with a bike was taking a risk because of the traffic. At times, cars backed up a quarter mile waiting for the traffic lights to change. There were civic discussions about slowing the traffic down, redeveloping places to shop along River Road so people could walk to buy things they needed. There was talk of improving public transit."
"These were all good ideas but none of them really addressed the central problem. The design of our cities and towns was conciously made to facilitate the use of automobiles. Nobody really challenged the idea of automobile supremecy. The focus was mobility, not accessibility. There were a few thoughtful elected officials and city bureaucrats who were quite aware of peak oil,and the real costs of suburbia, automobiles along with the limits to growth for a growth based economy but they did little to bring these concerns it to wider attention within the city. Nobody wanted to rock the boat. As it turned out, the boat ended up sunk. So here we are in a horse drawn converted school bus on a street that used to be crowded with thousands of automobiles."
"Its a shame. Many, many people suffered for decades before the Slide, during the Slide, during the Transition, even still. Much of that suffering did not have to happen. The end of that remarkable way of life took place, in essence, because so few people challenged the automobile. Losing the automobile was part of a larger package deal. We lost a lot of other benefits of that time that we could have used wisely for the good of everyone far into the future."
"No one said anything?"
"Not exactly. There were individuals, a number of writers and several small groups warning that the oil and debt way of life was not built to last. The mainstream media even touched on their points of view on occasion, but the charade of everything is fine overwhelmed. Some people at the time wondered why was there no effective opposition to these problems. We were a few but the momentum for going over the clliff was just too much. Many intelligent people saw only two choices, either capitalism or socialism. The fact is, there were many diverse choices that could have been made. A lot of suffering could have been avoided. There was simply too much money to be made building suburbia, cars, pumping oil and selling military equiptment for making the world safe for oil and automobiles."
"So eventually, many of those nice River Road redesign ideas did come to pass but not in the way they were supposed to. We did not have any choice but there is an upside to what we have now. The pace of life is much slower now. Its easy to cross the street, the bikes are very courteous. You can patronize small local shops that are easily accessible. We are not at war with much of the rest of the world."
Closer towards downtown, there was a higher percentage of occupied homes. There were the occasional vacant areas where automobiles had been brought. The old rail yard, long, narrow and many many acres became a defacto collection zone for cars. The idea was to put them all in one place just to have them out of the way and eventually, they would be taken "somwhere" else. One plan was to put the old wrecks on train flatcars and take them out of town. That still had not happened. The world is full of the remains of what went before. The Pantheon, the Pyramids, Persepolis. Hundreds of millions of rusting automobiles are what our civilization has added to the list.
"What's a comparison between what you can buy now and what you could buy before all these changes."
6
"You ask such great questions, Misty. We could write a history book or something."
"These days, shops sell products that are much more for everyday practical use. Hardware - mostly salvaged like hinges, glass, screws and nails - far better than what we can produce now, hand tools. Some larger implements and products are manufactured locally, thanks to the community smelter and local machine shops. We make garden tools, hand saws, ladders. Many co-ops have small production facilities both for themselves and the local economy for items such as pottery, baskets, small metal tools. Within Cascadia, there are still fine tools being manufacture for medical and industrial use. There was a late effort 20 years ago to basically recruit important industries we did not have in the region, assuming we would need to become more self reliant in the region. We ran out of time."
"The nearest hardware and all purpose store before the Slide, is still visible further out River Road. You can see what's left. Its mostly tumble down and overgrown. There were stores that sold all kinds of electronic equipment, a store just for pets, there was a tanning place - can you imagine. People paid to lay inside a large box with lights that would make them darker. We don't have that anymore. For hardware, there were all kinds of electrical tools - saws, drills, spray paint and a lot more. We have some power tools around the co-op but without electricity, they are useless."
"So what about some of the professions that bit the dust?"
"There are no lawyers, bankers or accountants as we knew them. We don't have an automobile industry anymore either. But many of those skills have found new use in the very different context of Cascadia. People still have disagreements, people still need to keep track of numbers, people still need to attract investment support, we look at private property differently now. So these skills are important but are applied in different ways for our different circumstances."
"I should also point out some important differences in the realm of work between then and now. One is, our material expectations are far less than before. People are just not very interested in having a lot of things. Of course, there are not nearly as many things to buy as there were. We put more importance on our relatiohships with friends, family, our own selves, Nature. Many of the things we bought before, are produced locally, or like food, within our own co-ops while other items are barter and trade. People do not live for money and shopping.We don't have mass production so we spend more time looking after important needs."
"Important also, we are changing ouir ideas about what work is. By that I mean, what is the goal of work and what is the purpose of what we buy. That's where values and ideals fit in. Our ideal is live healthy lives within what the enviroment can sustain and as individuals, look after others in our cluster, co-ops and community. That involves discovering and nurturing our own unique potentials. Work merges with daily life. Its not something we do for 8 hours and then go home. In a sense, we are working all the time but we have a far more direct experience with what our work is and what the benefits are. That all adds up to the ideal that work has meaning. Its practical and it has positive social aspects. Its multiple benefits, a great example of Permaculture principles - design for multiple benefits."
"Many so called blue collar skills from before are more valuable than ever. Metal fabrication is one. Making use of old pre Slide machinery in new ways is very important and so is making spare parts. So machine making skills are vital. Bicycles and human powered machines are more a part of life than ever. It was great Eugene had the Center for Appropriate Transport, Bike Friday, Burley and other bike builders. These kinds of skills and products are vital now."
"There are several dentists and doctors in the neighborhood. Nearly all docs, like everyone else, belonged to residential co-ops. You saw Aleta at the meeting , our resident Windmill doctor. But not all co-ops have a doctor so the doctors in this part of town created a co-op and we just passed by their location. A medical practice is way different now. Its interesting to note, a woman doctor 25 years ago advocated a different kind of medical practice based on a different approach. This kind of clinic that was much more personal, slowed down and people oriented. What we have now is remarkably similar. I understand there is a medical school in Portland that teaches new doctors. Also a another part of health care is psycholgical counseling. As you know, there is great need even still for helping people adjust to all these changes."
7
"We had a lending library that dated back nearly forty years in River Road. Its larger now. So many books from abandoned homes deserved to be saved so we found a building in the neighborhood to have our own expanded local and convenient library."
On our way into town. The sound of the horse clip clopping was gentle as the trolley rolled along at a pace faster than some people ride a bike. There were several stops along the way and dozens of people riding bikes in both directions just outside the trolley window. It was great to see people on bikes greeting others walking or on bikes or riding the trolley. We passed through Whiteaker, which was looking very well cared for in its own unique way, having had a post Transition look even before the Transition. Its small downtown looked more vigorous than before the Slide. The neighborhood had embraced Block Planning several years before the Slide and it showed. East Briar Co-op had been a fixture in Eugene and Whiteaker since the 1970's and it was an invaluable model for other groups to follow. There was a lot less concrete and there was public art work all over for everyone to see. Murals, all kinds of sculpture, color. Whiteaker was looking good.
"So, Misty. What makes you so curious?"
"Wow, Elder Jan. Thanks for asking! That makes me think. A short answer is, I like knowing about stuff. I have always enjoyed history and the world around me. My parents told me I did'nt cry much as a child other than when nobody would answer my questions. I went on a hunger strike at 4 years old untill someone explained to me where mountains came from and I was teaching myself to read before I started school. My knowledge and understanding of physical geography when I was 7 astounded people. So, there was a term used in pre Slide times called place making. You know about that."
"Yes I do. Please go on and explain like I don't know."
"Well, place making is about bonding to where we live. Its about a place having an identity. I have read all about this at the River Road Library. In some examples, people actually created, they built small but special structures, usually artistic and sometimes whimsical, usually having a practical use, sometimes not. These structures created community identity and pride. There were other ways to bring about this bonding with features that already existed. Common Ground Garden in Friendly Neighborhood began over thirty years ago. A soggy grassy unused city property. Neighbors turned it into a wonderful place to grow food, learn about gardening and to meet people. The food growing, social and organizational skills learned at the garden were a huge benefit during the Transition."
"I understand the filbert grove by the bike path was adopted by nearby residents 25 years ago. It was a neglected remnant grove on city property. Locals decided to clean it up, return it to health and maintain it. The grove became a neighborhood cause and lots of people put a lot of time and effort into it. They even started a Filbert Fest that still goes on. I was told that Elder Ardans was the Filbert Queen last year."
"I have seen all kinds of features at Windmill Co-op. The Gazebo, the artwork, the playground, the Dome. Actually, the entire place is a place making project. Its beautiful and that beautiful surroundings helps uplift the people who live there. So, placemaking is all about creating a bond that helps people be happy and positive. Its not magic, its really very practical and pragmatic."
"Thats great, Misty."
8
"When I was a child, I learned about the mountains, then the rivers, oceans, the rain, the animals. Those are Places of our planet. You could say I bonded with them. I bonded with this part of the continent and by extension, with all of Planet Earth. And I can feel that energy and it makes me strong. The Earth speaks to me. Not in words but in an emotional and intuitive way. The sunset calls to me. The wind calls to me. The birds, the beaver, the clouds. They all call to me."
"So that is why I ask all these questions. They are not idle questions. And you as an Elder can provide a connection to many attributes of this place that make it more understandable and real. By taking the time, I have developed my own senses so when you tell me things, I can connect with what you are saying. Its very real what you are telling me. This skill of connecting with what you are saying gives me a great deal of satisfaction. Its very enriching to my life. So I value your knowledge and you as an Elder and mentor. Now that I think of it, you are a kind of living breathing place yourself."
"Misty, you are flattering, I think. That answers my question, and a lot more. You are a force to be reakoned with. And you know that."
Misty made solid eye contact with Elder Naj. A slight coy smile appeared on her lips as she gave an ever so slight nod of her head.
We continued down 5th St., under the old interstate highway bridge and towards the train station. Properties were occupied and looked well maintained. Although the population of the entire region had decreased by well over half, there was a great deal of regional and local shift in population. It all came down to location. Cars allowed people to live almost anywhere. That was no longer possible so many people moved into the flat part of town from the hilly areas of south Eugene. Those big houses on the hillsides with views were empty if not salvaged and removed. Few people were able or interested to hike or bike up there. People also moved into town from Veneta, Coberg, Cottage Grove and other towns in the area that historically revolved around Eugene. Those smaller towns had to manage their own triage and population shifts.
Finally, the trolley approached the old post office and the train station. Now that cars were out of the way, Eugene was able to design its public transit using all the best streets. In years past, many people opposed upgrades to the bus lines. No one did that now. The trolleys were embraced all over town and three of them converged at the train station, Eugene's primary connection to the world beyond. "
"There were regional trains connecting many towns in the Valley and north of the Columbia. In fact, one could take the train all the way to Bellingham and Vancouver. One could also take a train south beyond Roseberg. Another train went to the coast at Coos Bay and still another train went through Springfield and up to Oak Ridge. The train was a vital part of the regional economy. It carried not only people but crops, products, mail."
From the train station, we could either walk or if the timing was right, take a trolley.
9
We decided to walk the several blocks to Town Hall. We passed the The Hulk, Eugene's huge performing arts center. It was still in use on occasion. Eugene did maintain a community orchestra and performing arts association. Both were completely volunteer.
Multi Story Edible Landscaping - Affluence and Permaculture
Since the Transition, many more people were living downtown. Another one of Eugene's urban goals of 25 years ago has became reality. There is a greater number of people living in and near downtown. Many buildings are occupied as residential, including buildings not originally intended for residence. There is also much more food being produced downtown. One could see the gardens on the south and west sides, on the balconies and roofs. Its a remarkable site to see so much greenery downtown.
All was looking very peaceful. Some multi storey buildings made impressive use of their architecture for food production. One of the last buildings to go up in downtown Eugene was across the street from the library. It was part residential and part classrooms for the community college. Solar panels and passive solar design were a part of the plan so it has become a popular downtown residence. All the downtown residences had strong relationships with rural co-ops. On sunny early spring days, the trolleys and trains were crowded with people going out to the country to work, most of them met at the country stops with large wagons from the respective farms. They often stayed the night. The term work party took on a new meaning, they started in the morning and went late into the evening. Few wanted to be left behind.
We began our walk towards city hall.
10
"Misty, have you heard about the high rise neighborhoods in San Francisco?"
"A little. Whats that about?"
"I have heard that the taller buildings in San Francisco were occupied like the famous medieval Italian town of San Gimignano. The towers in San Francisco are fortified for safety, just like San Gimignano. They have become self contained vertical neighborhoods. Even still, the streets below were not safe, although mob violence was said to be in decline.
"Visitors have described how several hundred people or more might be living in a single San Francisco tower, the bottom floors barricaded and heavily defended. The best high rises were occupied by those who saw the break down and moved into them at an early point. First building choices were residential towers that did not have other tall buildings nearby. Security was a concern as bricks and rocks could be hurled down from an unfriendly neighbor. The best towers had indoor pools where rain water could be stored. Some had the remains of shops and clubs. Word was there were several cinemas that still worked. One tower had a penthouse where the leader of religious cult oversaw his high rise domain."
"The best towers also boasted upper story solariums, terraces, balconies and lots of glass on the south and west sides where hydroponic and raised garden beds were set up. Unlike Eugene, there was a dependable breeze for wind power, plus much taller buildings to catch it, so water could be pumped from the pools to where it was needed and there were lights as well. Each tower had its own food and human waste composting systems."
"How long have these towers been going? Were they food self sufficient?"
"From what I've been told, this all started about 2022. Keep in mind, these buildings had a lot of vertical walls for growing food. I can't imagine their diet being anything other than vegetarian. I suspect this has not been going on long enough to really call it sustainable."
"On occasion, armed groups from the towers would go down to the streets and hike up to Twin Peaks and beyond to Golden Gate Park for hunting animals. Some even ventured down to the beach and up towards Cliff House to forage for sea food. Even wilder was the stretch towards the Golden Gate from Cliff House. Interesting, a few people could still be found surfing. Taking turns to safeguard possisions left on the beach."
"Several friendly towers next to each other featured downwared sloped zip lines so one could transit from one tower to the other, climb back up several floors and return by another zip line to where they came from without descending to the chaotic streets. Someone had the idea from a video they had seen of a place in Colombia 25 years earlier where the locals navigated the steep terrain with long zip lines. A trip over a steep valley would take minutes instead of hours hiking down the hills, over the creek and back up the other side. Some tower villages had been functioning for over fifteen years and it was said there are young people who have never left their building."
"Another fascinating adaptation."
11
"Thats for sure!"
We arrived to City Hall.
How I remember City Hall. This structure was built about 2010 and was designed to be as green and environmentally responsible as possible. I was invited, along with dozens of others as interested citizens, to offer my thoughts on the design. What they came up with was a building that included a roof top garden, rain water catchment and passive solar heating. We were amazed they actually made use of our suggestions. So here it is, 25 years later and conditions are far different than its creators could have imagined. Ideas like this building looked radical to many 25 years ago, but now they are nothing more than ordinary common sense.
Our Newbie group was gathered.
"Here we are. A week later. Nice day! Good to see you all again."
We came together for a short huddle. People working at City Hall who happened to be passing by joined in.
"As you remember from last week, we introduced ourselves and found out how diverse we are in terms of work and where we live. You are all engaged in apprentice programs and work within your co-ops."
"This Newbie curriculum is intended to acquaint you with a variety of co-ops and Sectors that help make up the larger community but we also want you youngsters to meet your peers and see what they do. Judging by the huddle, you are all becoming acquainted. You will be creating friendships and relationships that will stay with you for your entire lives and you will be collaborating with each other for the good of our community no matter where your service takes you."
"So Gracie. Please tell us what we are doing here."
Gracie spoke. "Just to refresh your memories about the Public Sectors. These are community entities that oversee the diversity of services and functions that have civic importance across the entire community such as education, land use planning, public health, transportation, cohesion, repruposing, energy and food production. These sectors are managed for the good of the entire community "
"Thanks Gracie. Its time to introduce Elder Asil. She is a community treasure, she is both an historian, ethicist, expert on land use. Elder Asil, myself and dozens of others met each other and worked together in the late 1990's on several important community issues relating to public health and land use. She directed an environmental organization for years and deserves a great deal of credit for work she has done in the community. Elder Asil will explain some important historical aspects of urban land use. OK, Elder Asil, welcome."
"Thank you Elder Naj, Gracie and you wonderful Newbies. Its a pleasure to be here. Understanding the world around us gives meaning and perspective in life. Knowing how and why our town is like it is, its history, allows us to value where we live and to care for where we live. OK, lets jump right in."
12
"Those of us who were around before the Transition lived in towns and cities that were designed primarily for automobiles. Few questioned the streets, highways, parking lots and suburbia and even fewer considered how the apppearance and vibration of the urban landscape affected those who lived in it. The cars exhaust, the runoff from the oily dirty streets, the accidents, the noise, what it all looked like - few people questioned the harshness of the urban landscape, it was simply what people were used to and didn't question it."
"How we arrange the surface of the earth has a profound influence on culture, economy, the environment and public health. Urban land use and design tells us much about a culture, its a revealing indicator of a society's values and goals. Fifty years ago in the United States, urban land use was a familiar example of a culture severely out of balance with the natural world. The economic system, the popular culture and the urban landscape, all closely related, did not fare well in the recent past. They were also deeply at odds to the values, ideals and wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions."
"I have a question, Elder Asil. I'm Rita. What do you mean by the last sentence?"
"Sure, Rita. Thanks for the thoughtful questions. To answer your question, we will touch on several of the most important issues that connect life and culture before the Transition to the changes we have chosen for Cascadia since then. There are several parts to your answer. I will outline the basic points and then, explain them. Please listen carefully, this is very important."
"First, what we called popular culture was an expansive and remarkably effective social engineering project, a fabrication of the pre Transition economic system to fuel the economy."
"Popular culture promoted certain values, beliefs and behaviors that affected virtually the entire population, young and old, rich and poor from coast to coast."
"The basic function of the pre Transition economic system was dishonest and un ethical. Its very essense was contrary to the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions."
Asil and I have discussed these observations and perspectives for years. Interesting how she explains all this to the Newbies.
"OK. Let's take a closer look. I will draw these ideas together."
"First to understand is the term 'popular culture'. In this sense popular refers to common or widespread. Its what regular people did in their everyday lives - work, recreation, socializing, free time, what people ate, where and how they lived and how they moved from place to place. Its vital to understand that the primary societal goal of the former United States was to make the economy larger. That meant buy more, sell more, produce more, use more, create jobs, borrow more to spend more."
"To draw people into this scheme, it was necessary to shape and direct peoples' wants, their thinking and behavior. So business and commercial interests invested billions and billions of dollars creating messages to the people - called advertising. We don't have that now. The advertising was very effective in causing people to want to buy and consume - cars, homes, junk food, gadgets, a lifestyle and so much more. The ads showed how consuming was attractive, it made you happy, you were part of the group."
13
"The advertising was very clever and very intrusive - it crowded the radio, magazines, TV, internet; there were small ads on peoples' clothes, huge signs on busses, buildings and along the highways. And it was very effective and I am sure its difficult for you Newbies to imagine. All those messages were able to cause most individuals to associate their own identities with the carefully crafted advertising images. Essentially, by buying the product, people expected to gain access to the fantasy world created by the advertising for that product."
"The ultimate message was, consuming was the meaning of life. You were what you consumed. Notably, at the time, people were actually referred to as consumers. Historically, this consumer popular culture accelerated after World War II. Key elements related to popular culture were automobiles; technological innovation, cheap energy, suburbia and new forms of mass media for advertising. In the decades leading towards the Slide, the pace of life moved faster and faster so people could consume more and more."
"There was a popular belief at the time that the economy was rational and would respond faithfully in an honest way to what people wanted to buy. It was called the magic hand of the market place. In practice, the pressure to grow the economy meant the advertising was essentially about creating wants rather than satisfying reasonable needs. This was not magic, it was deceitful and purposeful manipulation of people and culture by those who would gain the most from a growing economy."
"Also important to understand, the economy externalized the cost of business. That meant that the prices people paid for what they bought did not take into account all kinds of problems directly related to how the products were produced, how they were used and how they were disposed of. Those problems included unsafe working conditions, pollution to the air and water, injuries and accidents. Many products that were freely sold and easily available were known to damage health to humans and the environment like junk food, alcohol or tobacco. The US spent immense amounts on its global military to protect access to strategic economic needs like oil. The military was an external cost. Some of us would consider lost human potential because of pervasive distractions as another external cost."
"These external costs were not paid for when the product was bought, rather someplace elsewhere. The environment suffered, individuals suffered, families suffered for loved ones, society suffered on behalf of commercial interests. The external costs were, in effect, a massive public subsidy and the economic system could not exist without them. The economy was fundamentally dishonest and it was remarkably seductive. This entire arrangement went on for generations."
"People who are uplifted and comfortable in themselves and their community, people who value a modest lifestyle, care for the environment and community, they do not make good consumers. They are not likely interested in excess, envy and selfishness. So pre Transition, the culture of that time was fundamentally in opposition to spiritual values and positive human potential simply because happy and uplifted people do not make good consumers."
"So, Rita, one could say the pre Transition economy and the popular culture it created were in near complete conflict with the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions.
"Can you please explain wisdom?"
"What is this wisdom? Wisdom means thoughtfulness and learning from our experiences as individuals and communities over time and being able to apply what we learn in ways that help bring about positive outcomes such as peace, cooperation, care for each other and the natural world. Now consider the accumulated wisdom of the great spiritual traditions of human history. All through history, no matter the language or geographical location, all these traditions point to modesty of lifestyle, making time to reflect, to avoid greed, envy and excess. These spiritual traditions teach service to others, to the community and care for the natural environment."
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"This wisdom, these values, these ideals provide reference points we can use in real life for how we think and behave towards ourselves, friends, clusters, co-ops, community and the world around us. They are ageless and they are practical."
"Here is the point - the advertising and its popular culture in the pre Transition world encouraged excess consumption, envy and self indulgence. These qualities do not fit well with care and respect for people, community and planet. It was a world that created a bewildering variety of distractions that kept people from discovering and developing their own positive potentials. The typical urban and suburban landscape was a product of that economy - an immense expanse of concentrated visual and vibrational disonance. This is where most of Americans lived. Its a challenge to discover and develop one's positive potentials in such a place. All the noise, the vanity and greed, the damage to the natural world, the distractions away from service and contemplation, popular culture and the urban landscape were contrary to the wisdom of the great spiritual traditions."
"In Cascadia, we have chosen to redefine human experience. Instead of suffering from misdirected thinking and immense costs in time and effort to recover from it, doesn't it make sense to avoid the suffering in the first place and focus our time and energy in a positive direction, such as uplift, creativity, cooperation, finding our potentials to benefit ourselves and the community?"
"We believe that the purpose of life, the purpose of being here is to discover, nurture and develop the innate positive potentials we were all born with. We also know humans are social creatures so its natural to call upon our clusters, co-ops, society and culture to be platforms to help facilitate social and spiritual uplift. In contrast to pre Transition, we look to the economy as a thoughtful and friendly tool in service to society and culture."
"So its important for the Elders to pass this wisdom on to our young people. We want you to benefit from what we have learned. That is why we are having this discussion."
"Thank you Elder Asil. Thats a lot to think about. You have tied all these issues together. It seems like its simply smarter to avoid creating all these problems you described in the first place. It sounds like the people of the United States and people like them in many others in other parts of the world paid a heavy price for how they lived."
"Yes. Rita. That's right. We want to learn from their experience. I think you understand that. OK, let's reflect for a couple minutes and pick up where we left off."
There were a couple minutes of calm reflection in the meeting room as a large group of bikes passed by on the street, outside the window.
"Here is more to consider," Asil continued a couple minutes later,"In the distant past, humans both venerated and feared the mysterious natural world. The seasons, the storms, the elements and animals. In modern times, science has explained away much of that mystery. With modern science and technology, we saw the rise of a world created by humans that displaced the natural and the spiritual as the focus of attention. In a sense, modern humans created their own religion based on their own cleverness and elevated themselves and their artifacts as its dieties. In the process, their capacity to make rational and healthy choices declined both as nations setting policy and individuals making choices in their own private lives. Years of poor decision making, years of too much self elevation lead humans to the remarkable disintegration of the world Elder Naj and I grew up with."
"Let's take a closer look. This story takes in urban design but its message is much more expansive."
"We start off in the early part of the 19th Century. A dominant characteristic of land use is how it follows from transportation, more specifically, how innovations in transportation affected how cities and towns were organized. We will also see how transportation was influenced by economics."
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"In the cities and towns of two hundred years BT, people lived much closer to where they worked, went shopping and took care of life's needs. After all, the purpose of a town or city is to locate the needs of life more closely and conveniently. But, during the 19th century in the former United States, Europe and other places in the early industrializing world, a succession of transportation innovations lead to increasing levels of personal mobility. People began to live further from work, shopping, school, friends - where they had to go."
"But Elder Asil," It was Ed. "If the towns and cities were already walkable and convenient, how come there were new transportation innovations?"
"Good question, Ed. Humans just like to invent stuff. History is full of exploration and discovery of all sorts. Transportation is one example. People have been figuring out how to move from one place to another for thousands of years. One innovation built on another and seemingly unrelated discoveries find their way to each other for totally unexpected combinations - foot, shoe, animal, sail, bridge, boat, wheel, rail, wing, pavement, internal combustion."
"Some inventions and innovations are out of the blue with no real connection to a practical need. Others are very specific and intentional. Some seemed useless when first discovered but became vital parts of civilization decades or even centuries later. Certainly, as urban areas grew, there was need to move around within them. I have been to the buried and excavated city of ancient Pompeii and it was small enough to walk everywhere but from one side to the other, it still took half an hour, but even in those ancient times, cities in ancient times were becoming even larger than that."
"OK. Return to the more modern. Each transportation innovation, the steam ferry, the omnibus- an urban stage coach, the horse trolley, trains, the electric trolley and finally the automobile provided greater and greater mobility. They all allowed people to live further from where they needed to go. But keep in mind that the walkable cities of the late19th Century and early 20th were not often pleasant places to live, especially for people of modest means. They were often crowded, noisy, dangerous and dirty. New forms of transportation did give more and more people a choice. Its no surprise that people who could afford to live in a nicer place moved elsewhere when they had a chance."
"Without question, the automobile became the most significant transportation invention affecting urban land use of modern times. It started as a noisy and intrusive curiosity at the beginning of the century and within a couple decades they were remaking a civilization. While the trolley was confined to a schedule, tracks and a narrow corridor, the car could go anywhere there was a road at any time. It was the ultimate in individual mobility. The spoke like land use pattern of trollies was filled in by the automobile. The moving assembly line, an industrial innovation in the early 20th Century, vastly accelerated the production of the auto and also made them far more affordable."
"Fortunes were made and there was need for new industries to complement the auto. Highway construction, home construction and petroleum became intimate companions to the car and they all gained a great deal of political influence. During the 1920's, highways came to be treated as a public expense, in effect, an enforced subsidy to automobiles. Rail construction was, for the most part marginalized, relegated to looking after itself. At the same time, oil was being discovered in huge amounts and when refined, was quickly recognized as the perfect fuel for cars."
"Enter suburbia. Suburban land use predated the automobile but the automobile and suburbia were made for each other. Suburbia was low residential density, not a good fit for public tranportation or walking, particulalry with an emerging culture increasingly in demand of convenience and mobility. Cars were perfect. Along came the Great Depression in the 1930's and the federal government introduced new policies to encourage the construction industry to put people back to work. Those new policies favored suburban construction. This was an intentional big push to suburbia and its close ally the automobile was right there."
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"Ten years later, after World War II, there was a severe housing shortage as hundreds of thousands of soldiers returned from the war. There was also an unprecedented new industrial capacity in need of shifting from war to civilian production. At the same time, new innovations in large scale residential construction such as specialized skills, new kinds of power tools, prefab parts, new approaches too financing and business organization were coming into use. These conditions during the mid and late 1940's combined for the largest expansion of suburbia in history."
"The idea of the American Dream came into being in the 40's and 50's. The Dream was a house in the suburbs and a car. This may have been suburbia's golden age. A time when tens of millions of middle class Americans gained access to a home where they returned from work to find a yard and trees and a cozy house with a washing machine, formica counter top, TV and lawn mower."
"During the mid fiftees, suburbia received yet another huge boost. President Eisenhower appointed a high level commission to study the idea that the nation's interests would be served well by constructing a vast network of super highways coast to coast. The commission's chairperson was a vice president of the country's largest automobile maker. Not surprisingly, the commission advised the network be built, 45,000 miles of divided highways, free from stop signs and traffic signals connecting every major city in the country. You have all seen remnants of this highway as the bridge in Whiteaker over the river and also the bridges over the Willamette just this side of Springfield. This network, the largest public works project in the nation's history, was perfect for automobiles and suburbia. It facilitated thousands of new suburban developments even further from centers of town. The nation became more dependent on automobiles and trucks with each new mile of super highway."
"Cars became larger and larger through the 1960's. The reasonwas simple, larger cars were more profitable, there were more features and materials. Oil was cheap, land was cheap. Suburbia, cars, roads and related industries from vacuum cleaners to spark plugs to rebar provided tens of millions of middle class jobs and fortunes for those at the top. At the time, few would have imagined it couldn't last forever."
"But problems began to show themselves. Congestion increased, from the 60's and into the new century, as larger numbers of drivers spent literally hours in traffic every day. At the same time, millions of urban poor, unable to move to suburbia languished in deteriorating inner cities. Public health suffered with the rise of fast foods, a close associate of the automobile. Millions ate the burgers and fried food and suffered because of the unhealthy ingredients, but it was great for business. Forty thousand people were killed in automobile accidents every year and millions suffered from air and water pollution caused by automobiles. A phenomena developed called road rage where frustrated drivers would become agressive and sometimes violent, towards anyone nearby. Less easy to gauge were the effects of an ugly urban environment designed for automobiles. The concrete expanses of parking lots, the huge commercial signs, the litter, the sameness were considered by most people to be ugly and dispiriting. These were only part of the downside to the automobile culture. Meanwhile, there were other worries within the automobile narrative."
"Through the early and middle part of the 20th Century, the United States was the world's leading producer and exporter of oil. Still, by 1970, the US experienced "peak oil", meaning its yearly output hit its historic maximum and declined steadily afterwards. As a result, the US became more and more dependent on imports to replace what it once produced itself. Still, importantly, as domestic production declined, overall demand grew as the urban landscape became more spread out, more cars were in use, population increased, agriculture became more dependent on oil and the world's economy moved towards energy intensive globalization."
"Finding and developing new oil deposits, to keep up with demand, resulted in widespread damage to the environment and disruption to the human cultures where the oil was extracted such as in Nigeria, Ecuador, the Middle East and Alaska. Added to that, US foreign policy made clear to the world, oil was a strategic need for the US and the US would take any actions necessary to maintain access to oil, including threat or use of military force. Towards the end of this entire drama in 2015, the US alone spent almost as much on its military as the rest of the world combined as it burned up a quarter of the entire world's oil with only six percent of the world's population."
17
"These conditions contributed to several international events that gave dramatic early warning to the consequences of oil dependency. In 1973 and again in 1980, because of geo political circumstance, oil supplies were severely reduced from vital producing areas in the Mideast, with severe consequences to the global economy. In 2008, the cost of oil reached its highest level ever up to that point, the global economy was shaken, many industries dependent on cheap oil suffered and many went out of business, costing millions of jobs. Soon after the 2008 price spike, the so called "Big Three" Amercian auto manufacturers suffered a tremendous loss of sales. Their cars and trucks were notorious for poor energy efficiency and sales plummeted when the cost of gas went up to unprecedented levels. Millions of jobs were at stake as those big corporations were going out of business. They survived only with massive goverment loans and intervention. Several years later, the big auto companies seemed to recover but it was false hope. In the end, those billions to prop them up only delayed the end for the huge auto makers. By 2018, the auto makers crashed for good."
"In 2012, a crisis developed in the Mideast between the US, its allies regarding Iran. The issue was fear that Iran would develop a nuclear weapon as a product of its civilian nuclear power program. Non military efforts were made to stop Iran with a steady racheting up of tactics to disrupt Iran's economy. No one really thought the result would be a war. Its surprising the hostilities did not escalate even further. An over anxious captain of a small Iranian naval boat approached too close to an American naval ship. An over anxious American sailor responded with gunfire. Ten Iranians lost their lives, no Americans were injured and it was a credit to the higher up officers of the respective navies that the incident didn't flash into World War III. Still, during the two days of extreme tension, the cost for oil on world markets skyrocketed and remained high. Another example of how fragile the world's economy was and how dependent it was on oil, even when supplies were still enough for world demand."
"We will pick up this theme later. We do want to cover the events and incidents that pushed the global economy over the threshold and into the Slide. But let's step back and issues related to oil first."
"Another realm of great dependence on oil before the Slide was industrial agriculture. Oil made cheap food possible - farm machinery, fertilizer, processing and transportation to distant markets were all dependent on cheap oil. The cost of food spiked as the cost of oil spiked. In 2008 cost of food surges lead to food riots first in poor countries, then in wealthy countries. This was merely one of the early parts of a more complicated set of trends converging over the following ten years leading into the Slide."
"Added to those issues was climate change. The great majority of scientists from all over the world agreed, human activity was affecting the world's climates. Glaciers were melting, the arctic and anarctic ice sheets were melting, short term weather events appeared more extreme, climates were changing, eco systems were being disrupted as more species were becoming extinct, sea levels were rising. And the projections were that all the these trends would intensify. Exhaust from automobiles was a leading cause."
"In review, once the template of automobiles, highways and suburbia were set - they become fundamental and vital industries of the nation's economy. Enormous fortunes and millions of every day jobs depended on selling cars, building highways, constructing suburbia, loaning the money and making the thousands of related products. Even as evidence rapidly accumulated clearly showing these resource intensive industries were causing enormous problems impacting the environment, global relations, economic equity, debt and public health, there was no reverse. It was obvious the economy had only one priority and the well being of people, planet and the future were not so important."
""Elders Naj and Asil, certainly there were people who tried to stop all that. I can't imagine people putting up with such behavior. It sounds really oppressive. Didn't people have more self respect. Didn't they value themselves and the environment at all? What happened?"
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"Go ahead Naj, your turn."
"Sure Asil, my turn. Thanks Robin. Another good question. Yes. Many people and organizations made efforts to call attention to the problems. People wrote books, people and groups wrote letters and voted to influence the government and policy makers. Some people and groups organized public demonstrations while a very few resorted to property destruction. Another approach was through the legal system. There were a few tangible victories but they were very limited. The fact was, the economic system was so large and so thoroughly entrenched in our way of life, few people could imagine any other way to manufacture the products, transport them or provide the services people needed and wanted. Most of those efforts in opposition were directed to a particular issue or problem. There were only a few people who called into question the entire System, namely, the capitalit market economy and the values and way of life that went with it."
"But the question deserves more of an answer because there were people and organizations that made heroic efforts to bring about common sense and justice."
"In the 1960's there were huge demonstration opposing the war in Viet Nam. There was a great deal of unrest in the country, particularly on college campuses. At the time, there was also a great deal of anger in many Black communities because of various kinds of social and economic neglect and discrimination. These issues mingled. Some of the leaders of both groups felt like the United States was close to revolution. There were riots, even some domestic terrorism. That unrest was directed towards the government and politicians. The revolution did not happen."
"In those decades, there were many environmental organizations and what we called public interest non profit groups and some had a national base with millions of members. Those groups mostly tried to influence elected officials and law makers for making modest changes to laws or policies. For the final fifty years of the United States, there were two political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. There were some small differences between them on a few social and environmental concerns but both agreed on the major issues such as the neeed for the economy to grow. Any small victories trying to influence the law makers was very limited. Personally, I lost interest in this approach."
"Over the years, there was a small amount of what we called direct action. These efforts were more populist and citizen driven and they involved people taking action in a physical way, usually in the streets. Several big issues attracted direct action such as nuclear power for generating electricity. Your Elder Naj took part in this kind of non violent protest when he lived in what was called Texas. We showed our opposition to nuclear power by trespassing on the utilitycompnay's property and not cooperating with the police who arrested us. There were many other protests and non violent direct actions all over the country and even all over the world opposing nuclear power. Still, the power plants were built but much of what we warned about turned out to be true over time".
"Another good example of direct action was the effort to stop the globalized economy. I believe you have learned about globalization in your study of our history. Elder Asil and I have mentioned globalization. Briefly, following World War II, there was a steep increase in interest by large corporations to operate at the global level. We will not look into the details but enough to say, the large businesses or corporations saw great potentials by opening new markets and having access to cheap raw materials and in later years, cheap labor. They wanted to see global rules to regulate and facilitate access to those markets, resources and labor. Globalization was great for corporation profits and to keep the cost of products as low as possible. Most people who disagreed with the globalization still bought the products. The global economy was utterly dependent on cheap energy."
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"Many observers were concerned about globalization because of damage to the environment, local cultures and one of its features was to undermine national sovereignty. Working conditions in the globalized factory sytem were often unhealthy for workers. There was also concern about the increasing size and political influence of the large corporations. In fact, some large corporations had assets greater than the yearly budgets of many nations. Large corporations and goverments had a shared interest in growing the economy so they worked together closely to advance the cause of globalization. Indeed, its safe to say, national governements were basically employed by the large corporations. The entire set up benefited the wealthiest countries the most as well as the wealthy and well connected even in the poor countries."
"By the later 1990's, there was an increasing recognition by many that the idea of a globalized economy was not in the interest of a healthy environment and fair and just human relations. So when the financial, corporate and government elites of the world had their meetings, they attracted tens of thousands of protesters. Your Elder Naj joined thousands of others when one of these meetings took place in Seattle. The streets of downtown Seattle were crowded with people. We blockaded streets and tried to prevent the meeting from happening. The meeting did happen but the participants knew there were many millions in the world who opposed to their agenda. Similar meetings in other parts of the world also attracted many thousands of protesters. Again, the problems we pointed out in our protests were accurate. We no longer have a globalized economy. It came to an end for a lot of different reasons. Some of them we could see coming, others we didn't. Again, we will pick up that story later."
"Another example of resistence. The Eugene area was a hotbed of forest activism around the turn of the century. This was also direct action. People climbed trees and occupied them, sometimes setting up platforms 100 feet above the ground, in the trees, so they could not be cut down. One campaign I helped with involved a road blockade for half a year to keep logging trucks out of an area of old growth trees. The blockade was symbolic but very real at the same time. A sort of wild west fort stockade was constructed with a dozen people actually camping in tee pees in the snow all winter. And as it turned out, the area that was to be logged was never logged. It was a local victory but only about a very limited issue."
"During that same time, there were a few individuals and small groups that gained a great deal of attention. These scattered and independent protests did involve destruction of property, such as burning down a large government forestry office near Eugene, blowing up large pylons that supported electricity lines, burning down a new ski resort, burning a half dozen over sized automobiles, damaging fields of crops for testing new kinds of plant seed technology. Many who did this kind of protest were found and sent to jail or prison. They did draw attention to important issues and concerns. They were heroes to some, criminals to others. Many many others wished they had had the courage to do the same."
"There were demonstrations opposing the US military and its various campaigns all over the world. But interestingly, the critics of the military rarely if ever called attention to how the economic system and the lifestyles of the average American contributed to the military adventures to secure access to resources and markets."
"Dozens of books were written that were very thoughtful in explaining these problems and they attracted a great deal of attention regarding the environment, global warming, peak oil, economic problems, social issues, all relating to the economy and way of life of the world's affluent people. At least one very well known study about peak oil was funded by the US government. The study concluded peak oil would happen at some point in the next couple of decades - between 20010 and 2030 and the consequences would be catastophic if mitigation efforts were not made decades in advance. Of course, this report did not result in any meaningful action even though the study was done by a highly prestigious research group. Its predictions and warnings were accurate."
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"The fact is, there was no shortage of information about the problems caused by more people and more economic growth and all the related problems. Even the mainstream news media reported on these news items. Still, its hard to say if the protests, books, studies had much effect. Most people were so distracted either making money or just trying to find a job, they had little interest or time for the broader issues. As mentioned, the seduction of the system was very very effective. Most people were more interested in having stuff and status than peace on Earth and a healthy environment."
"Another movement deserves mention in the years leading up to the Slide. This was totally positive. There was a steep increase in interest for Permaculture. As you know, Permaculture is a holistic set of values, ideals and principles for taking care of human needs in ways that are friendly to people and planet. These approaches apply to every day life in the realms of food production, social systems, life style, economics, urban design and more."
"Permaculture became something of a global sub culture from the 1990's into the current century. It was decentralized but its core teachings and approaches were the same all over the world. PC became a valuable tool for creating systems at all kinds of scales, from the home to the bio region. Eugene and what is now Cascadia was known as a Permaculture hot spot around the turn of the century. Permaculture was the only set of approaches and principles I know of for radical change in culture and economics for use at such diverse scales with so many applications."
"There were Permaculture groups, or "guilds" in many cities and towns along with Permaculture intensive design courses. In several parts of the country, there were yearly Permaculture conferences that combined education, networking and socializing. By 2010, Permaculture curriculum was finding its way into schools and universities. Permaculture gained rapidly in popularity as an increasing number of people began to realize the mainstream culture and economy were not allies for a peaceful and healthy world."
"Windmill Co-op, Karmalaya, Astara and most of the older co-ops in Eugene came together using Permaculture ideals with the core members all knowledgeable about Permaculture. Most of the more recent co-ops were mentored by the older ones so Permaculture had a great deal to do with the Transition and right up to the present. We have an office in the city specifically relating to Permaculture. All of you have had several classes about Permaculture. We will have more to say about Permaculture."
"One more grass roots movement deserves mention. It was called the Occupy Movement which started in 2011. At the beginning, it was mostly a complaint about increasing economic disequity between average people and those in the financial industry. Typically, the protesters would set up a tent village to occupy a highly visible public space in the middle of town or city to call attention to their concerns. Also, they typically considered themselves to represent the vast majority of people who were the victims of unfair economic practices and trends. The Movement started in New York City and thanks to the internet and social media, the idea quickly spread all over the country and soon after, to many other parts of the world. This was another kind of globilization - a globalization of protest because the basic problems existed all over the world."
"Overall, the Occupy Movement did tap into a popular mood as the economic downturn at the time meant there were many people out of work and the economic trends were well known and cause for concern, but it failed to take its modest message of reform to a deeper level of challenging the economic system itself and the set of values that went with it."
"That was to change in the following several years. The movement took a rest over its first winter. When it came back in the following spring and summer, many in the movement did begin to take its message deeper. They were calling not for reform but for a replacement of the system. As the economy went into steeper decline, that message began to resonate with a wider audience and the crowds grew."
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"So the Slide was complicated. There were many contributing factors but its safe to say, the Occupy Movement played an important role, not in causing the System to crash, the System did that mostly on its own, but the Occupy Movement made it more understandable to a wider audience why the System was coming unglued and that was a big help to many people. To understand the reasons for the Slide allowed them to make better choices in their own response and planning."
"OK, Newbies. Thats's a lot from Elder Asil and my self. We are old and need to take a rest break.. Please be back in thirty minutes."
"Thanks Elders Asil and Naj! We appreciate you both a lot!" The newbies shouted all together.
And they all ran out helter skelter.
"Well, EJ. Who would have thought we would be doing this ten years ago, much less thirty. I hear you have a new cluster."
Asil had been a close associate all through the Slide and Transition. She had been a citizens' representative on the Transition Council and used that position to the everlasting benefit of the community.
"Yes. We are really excited. I have met them. We have Story Telling tonight and all of us are hoping they will feel up for describing how they made it to Cascadia. I already think they know about a place I used to live. Imagine what they saw and experienced between the Ozarks and here."