Please contact me for making a zoom presentation for your class, organization or event.
The topics and issues below can be an entire one hour presentation or a la carte. Tell me what you would like. There is a great deal of overlap among these topics. Perhaps the overall best choice is 18, Preview of a preferred future.
1] Critique of market capitalism - Mythologies, markets, efficiency, American Exceptionalism; external costs
Market capitalism as we know it is not compatible with public health and a thriving natural world. The consumer culture is social engineering at a remarkable scale. Millions of jobs exist to repair the damage caused by millions of other jobs. Products known to kill are promoted by billions in advertising.
2] Eco Footprint/One Earth Lifestyles - What might a sustainable lifestyle look like?
For the entire world to live like the average American would require something like 5 planet earths. Our food choices, transportation, urban design, employment, personal lifestyles would look far different if we lived within the planet's environmental boundaries. One earth lifestyles offer more quality of life rather than quantity of stuff.
3] Suburban Permaculture - 20 years transforming a 1/4 acre suburban property
Grass to garden front and back, edible landscaping, 6500 gal rain water storage system for irrigation, reclaim automobile space - depave driveway and turn garage into living space, south side patio turned into 250 sf passive solar sun room, detached living space increases residential density, aesthetics, community educational resource.
4] History of Suburbia - Brooklyn, government intervention, Levittown, make work
Modern commuting suburbia predates the car by 100 years. Government intervention with encouragement from businesses with money to be made, facilitates the rise of suburbia at the expense of inner cities. In the early years, suburbia was, essentially a make work program. Suburbia provides and enormous amount of jobs and has an enormous eco footprint. Suburbia also has surprising assets to work with.
5] Wisdom of the World's Great Spiritual Traditions - Ancient wisdom, more appropriate than ever
The social and ethical ideals advocated by many spiritual traditions are perfect for modern times. Care for the natural world, modesty of lifestyle, service to the community, uplift of the spirit, personal accountability - these are perfect ideals for guiding us towards a more green and peaceful
6] Allies and Assets in the Community - City programs, non profits, ad hoc groups, faith groups - making common cause. Every community has surprising allies and assets to work with for creating a more green and sustainable present and future. Most community organizations, see above, exist to make the community a better place to live. Essentially, they are all on the same team. Making common cause to build community creates many benefits for all involved.
7] Place Making - Public projects creates indentity with where we live
Place making is creating objects of interest, usually in public spaces, with or without permission, usually grass roots initiated. Place making is often artistic, even whimsical, they can be practical. The projects build community, create interest & identity for the place and nearby neighborhood. The projects generate care for neighborhood & community.
8] Pushing Back on Cars - Aborted freeways, freeways removed, parklets, community plazas, super blocks, car free zones
More and more cities and towns all over the world are pushing back on cars. These efforts are intended to reduce air and noise pollution and reclaim space for walking, bikes, kid space, community space. Pushing back can range in size from depaving a home driveway to city scale such as ambitious push back projects in Paris, Barcelona & Utrecht.
9] Eco Villages - Urban retrofits - East Blair, Maitreya, Kailash, Columbia, N Street
Eco villages are a hopeful preview of a more social and eco logical future. Eco villages are a great way to reduce eco footprints and build community. Eco villages can be repurposed apartments. They can be a retro fit co housing, they can be market rate rental, they can be a legal cooperative.
10] Aesthetics - Our visual surroundings affect our quality of life and well being
We are very much affected by our physical surroundings - built, landscape, sound, vibe. Parks, gardens and thoughtful landscaping date back millennia. Our health and well being can be improved, especially in suburban and urban places by re imagining and then, re working the aesthetics of our personal and community human habitats.
11] Block Planning - Multiple properties, residents, owners collaborate to redefine the block
Block planning is a process for re working an urban or city block, residential or commercial to make better use of both built and non built assets on site. Participants for making the plan would include property owners, residents, the city, neighborhood association. A block plan does not make city regulations go away but it can allow for much more creative ways to address set backs, storm water, density, traffic, parking, building height, commercial aspects and more.
12] Paradigm Shift/Systems Change - What is it, why, values, priorities, how to pay for it, benefits
Paradigm shift is a dramatically new way for taking care of needs - food, shelter, transportation, lifestyles, economics, social relations. The existing economic system & its socially engineered consumer culture is the source of almost every social, political, economic & environmental problem we are familiar with. What does paradigm shift have to offer?
13] How to Pay For the Preferred Future - Priorities - how we use our time and money
A sustainable future will likely be far more money constrained than the present. Smart to invest time and resources in sustainability, both personal and for society, while we can. That means prioritize spending time & money on products & services that serve downsized, localized & more self produced homes and communities. And there is the double benefit.
14] Into the Future - Suburban repair, parking lots into micro downtowns, civic culture, one earth living
The consumer culture has built an enormous amount of stuff. How can we repurpose much of what already exists to serve a future that will accommodate far fewer cars, less discretionary spending and producing more basic needs closer to home. A look at transforming suburbia, repurposing parking lots, civic culture and one earth living.
15] Voluntary Downsizing/One Earth Living - Less can be more
What might a one earth life style look like that planet earth might sustain for 8 billion people? A lifestyle includes food, shelter and home life, transportation, recreation, travel, social relations. How might lifestyles look if we lived within the boundaries of the natural world? What might be the benefits?
16] Alternatives to cash - Taking care of more needs at home and close to home
Not all economics requires money. There are many ways to take care of more needs outside the cash economy. That can be growing food at home, passive solar power, rain water catchment, food storage. One can practice shared economics with friends, neighbors and expanded networks like local currencies, tool share, co ops and more.
17] Democracy - Is it Possible? What could help? And then what?
How can we put paradigm shift ideas out to the mainstream? Practically every progressive group is addressing some kind of ethical, legal or baked in abuse from market capitalism - social disequity, homelessness, climate change, forest activism, labor issues, gender & more. All these groups might consider advocating democracy as part of their outreach.
18] Preview Of a Preferred Future - "Best" existing examples of paradigm shift
Projects at home, place making, eco villages, allies and assets. Something of a "best of" from previous topics. More practical, real life examples of paradigm shift, less why. Downsizing lifestyles, suburbia, urban land use and trans portation. Alternative economics. Making common cause.
The topics and issues below can be an entire one hour presentation or a la carte. Tell me what you would like. There is a great deal of overlap among these topics. Perhaps the overall best choice is 18, Preview of a preferred future.
1] Critique of market capitalism - Mythologies, markets, efficiency, American Exceptionalism; external costs
Market capitalism as we know it is not compatible with public health and a thriving natural world. The consumer culture is social engineering at a remarkable scale. Millions of jobs exist to repair the damage caused by millions of other jobs. Products known to kill are promoted by billions in advertising.
2] Eco Footprint/One Earth Lifestyles - What might a sustainable lifestyle look like?
For the entire world to live like the average American would require something like 5 planet earths. Our food choices, transportation, urban design, employment, personal lifestyles would look far different if we lived within the planet's environmental boundaries. One earth lifestyles offer more quality of life rather than quantity of stuff.
3] Suburban Permaculture - 20 years transforming a 1/4 acre suburban property
Grass to garden front and back, edible landscaping, 6500 gal rain water storage system for irrigation, reclaim automobile space - depave driveway and turn garage into living space, south side patio turned into 250 sf passive solar sun room, detached living space increases residential density, aesthetics, community educational resource.
4] History of Suburbia - Brooklyn, government intervention, Levittown, make work
Modern commuting suburbia predates the car by 100 years. Government intervention with encouragement from businesses with money to be made, facilitates the rise of suburbia at the expense of inner cities. In the early years, suburbia was, essentially a make work program. Suburbia provides and enormous amount of jobs and has an enormous eco footprint. Suburbia also has surprising assets to work with.
5] Wisdom of the World's Great Spiritual Traditions - Ancient wisdom, more appropriate than ever
The social and ethical ideals advocated by many spiritual traditions are perfect for modern times. Care for the natural world, modesty of lifestyle, service to the community, uplift of the spirit, personal accountability - these are perfect ideals for guiding us towards a more green and peaceful
6] Allies and Assets in the Community - City programs, non profits, ad hoc groups, faith groups - making common cause. Every community has surprising allies and assets to work with for creating a more green and sustainable present and future. Most community organizations, see above, exist to make the community a better place to live. Essentially, they are all on the same team. Making common cause to build community creates many benefits for all involved.
7] Place Making - Public projects creates indentity with where we live
Place making is creating objects of interest, usually in public spaces, with or without permission, usually grass roots initiated. Place making is often artistic, even whimsical, they can be practical. The projects build community, create interest & identity for the place and nearby neighborhood. The projects generate care for neighborhood & community.
8] Pushing Back on Cars - Aborted freeways, freeways removed, parklets, community plazas, super blocks, car free zones
More and more cities and towns all over the world are pushing back on cars. These efforts are intended to reduce air and noise pollution and reclaim space for walking, bikes, kid space, community space. Pushing back can range in size from depaving a home driveway to city scale such as ambitious push back projects in Paris, Barcelona & Utrecht.
9] Eco Villages - Urban retrofits - East Blair, Maitreya, Kailash, Columbia, N Street
Eco villages are a hopeful preview of a more social and eco logical future. Eco villages are a great way to reduce eco footprints and build community. Eco villages can be repurposed apartments. They can be a retro fit co housing, they can be market rate rental, they can be a legal cooperative.
10] Aesthetics - Our visual surroundings affect our quality of life and well being
We are very much affected by our physical surroundings - built, landscape, sound, vibe. Parks, gardens and thoughtful landscaping date back millennia. Our health and well being can be improved, especially in suburban and urban places by re imagining and then, re working the aesthetics of our personal and community human habitats.
11] Block Planning - Multiple properties, residents, owners collaborate to redefine the block
Block planning is a process for re working an urban or city block, residential or commercial to make better use of both built and non built assets on site. Participants for making the plan would include property owners, residents, the city, neighborhood association. A block plan does not make city regulations go away but it can allow for much more creative ways to address set backs, storm water, density, traffic, parking, building height, commercial aspects and more.
12] Paradigm Shift/Systems Change - What is it, why, values, priorities, how to pay for it, benefits
Paradigm shift is a dramatically new way for taking care of needs - food, shelter, transportation, lifestyles, economics, social relations. The existing economic system & its socially engineered consumer culture is the source of almost every social, political, economic & environmental problem we are familiar with. What does paradigm shift have to offer?
13] How to Pay For the Preferred Future - Priorities - how we use our time and money
A sustainable future will likely be far more money constrained than the present. Smart to invest time and resources in sustainability, both personal and for society, while we can. That means prioritize spending time & money on products & services that serve downsized, localized & more self produced homes and communities. And there is the double benefit.
14] Into the Future - Suburban repair, parking lots into micro downtowns, civic culture, one earth living
The consumer culture has built an enormous amount of stuff. How can we repurpose much of what already exists to serve a future that will accommodate far fewer cars, less discretionary spending and producing more basic needs closer to home. A look at transforming suburbia, repurposing parking lots, civic culture and one earth living.
15] Voluntary Downsizing/One Earth Living - Less can be more
What might a one earth life style look like that planet earth might sustain for 8 billion people? A lifestyle includes food, shelter and home life, transportation, recreation, travel, social relations. How might lifestyles look if we lived within the boundaries of the natural world? What might be the benefits?
16] Alternatives to cash - Taking care of more needs at home and close to home
Not all economics requires money. There are many ways to take care of more needs outside the cash economy. That can be growing food at home, passive solar power, rain water catchment, food storage. One can practice shared economics with friends, neighbors and expanded networks like local currencies, tool share, co ops and more.
17] Democracy - Is it Possible? What could help? And then what?
How can we put paradigm shift ideas out to the mainstream? Practically every progressive group is addressing some kind of ethical, legal or baked in abuse from market capitalism - social disequity, homelessness, climate change, forest activism, labor issues, gender & more. All these groups might consider advocating democracy as part of their outreach.
18] Preview Of a Preferred Future - "Best" existing examples of paradigm shift
Projects at home, place making, eco villages, allies and assets. Something of a "best of" from previous topics. More practical, real life examples of paradigm shift, less why. Downsizing lifestyles, suburbia, urban land use and trans portation. Alternative economics. Making common cause.