Permaculture is Systems Thinking!
Wednesday, 24 March 2010 15:37
administrator
March 13, 2010 2010 Upstate NY Permaculture Gathering. Alchemical Spaces Co-Working Office at The Gear Factory 200 S. Geddes St Syracuse, NY 13204 315.380.6161 Permaculture is Systems Thinking! Andrew Leslie Phillips Copyright 2010. We are often asked: “ What is Permaculture?” And we all have different ways of telling the story as we learn more about what permaculture is ourselves – because it certainly is a journey, and a search - that brings us here today. To me permaculture is systems thinking. Systems thinking is a process of understanding how things influence one another. In nature - systems thinking examples include ecosystems, where elements such as air, water, plant and animals all work together to survive, flourish or perish. In organizations, systems consist of people, structures, and processes that work together to make an organization healthy or unhealthy, sick or abundant. And, of course, systems thinking is about connections. For without connecting nodes - creating and maintaining links, we are alone. Understanding that by connecting outputs to inputs within systems, to create webs of connections – including in our economic, social and cultural lives, we slow entropy, conserve and gain more energy to create redundancy and resilience. The model or pattern in nature we mimic is mycelium. If we floated high above the Earth and watched from that great distance as night fell, we’d begin to see lights spreading across continents describing settlement patterns and standards of living based on electricity use. It looks like a luminous organism from here, a kind of fluorescent mycelium, spreading along the eastern coastline of Australia and growing darker, the deeper it ventures inland to the desert and the dreamtime - and then finally it is dark. And all around the world it is the same – China and India much dimmer than America which is ablaze - Africa mostly dark. But the dark does not represent lack of people; it represents less resource use, whilst the light shows modern technology’s profligate energy consumption. Mercantile capitalism relies on growth and the continual depletion of natural resources and produces prodigious waste. Waste represents entropy, which is really unused energy that often finishes up in landfills, the air and the ocean. In fact the lights we see spreading across Earth from space represents resource depletion, waste and pollution. When we turn the light switch or boil water on our stove, we become part of the scatter pattern that results from mountain top removal and drilling for resources and polluting the earth and the water. We become part of the light, which in this case, represents the darkness of our time. Industrialization has divorced us from nature. Therefore we have become less reliant on understanding nature and more reliant on technologies contributing to nature’s demise – which is our demise too. But we are part of nature - and if we follow nature’s patterns – perhaps we can regain harmony and recognize that our prime ethic should be to our children, family and community – to the seventh generation - and that nutritious food, clean air and water security are our birthright and the essential ingredients to organizing our lives. There is overwhelming evidence that the world as we know it, is changing very rapidly. But even if this were not so, there would still be need and desire for systems more attuned with nature than with machine mentality and television induced stupor, fast-food-You tube-sugar-binge-coco-cola madness - neurosis. One feels a Borg-like mentality infusing our lives. For those unfamiliar with Star Trek, the Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek universe. The Borg are in part technology themselves, It is their nature to improve themselves by locating and assimilating technology which is highly advanced, and will augment their own capabilities. It is important to note that the Borg do not assimilate technology or species which they consider inferior, opting to destroy or ignore that which they consider to be lesser species. In face-to-face encounters with other species, the Borg will generally ignore individuals unless they pose a threat to the collective. Does any of this sound familiar? We are entrapped and enclosed, with nowhere to hide. We need to make a stand and assess our position. Can we find our niche, our safe place to land – our node of permanence? Throughout these counties and states lays the Marcellus Shale natural gas deposit, energy to maintain the status quo a little longer, while it ‘s extraction despoils the land even more, so our very air, water and food systems and health are threatened. It is a kind of attack - an enclosure! How should permaculture respond? Within our systems of design, how should we adapt and change. As mycelium? What can only be called, “an attack on nature” – began when humankind found ways to do less manual work to build their dreams - they used and exploited others, and then machines and the very Earth itself - to grow bigger, more bloated, flatulent, unhealthy, connected to medicine by machines and their food grown by accountants, technicians and machine operators. All this has happened very recently and is the direct result of “cheap” energy from fossil fuels. Most political structures in the world are based on supply of cheap energy. Oil, coal, uranium, water and natural gas provide electricity that drives industry. Growth fed by resource depletion drives capitalism. The accounting system in capitalism is based on fungible money and to a lesser extent, the same applies in communism and both rely on resource depletion as an economic model to drive the system forward. David Holmgren, the cofounder of the idea of permanent culture – conflated to – permaculture - describes four energy descent scenarios, each emerging from a combination of either fast of slow oil decline and either mild or severe climate change over the next 10-30 years: Brown Tech: (slow oil decline, fast climate change) Green Tech: (slow oil decline, slow climate change) Earth Steward: (fast oil decline, slow climate change) Lifeboats: (fast oil decline , fast climate change) Holmgren writes: “I imagine that permaculture – by principle and model, if not in name – will become the dominant paradigm in the Earth Steward scenario. Those with a long track record of achievement will become the natural leaders within new emergent power structures, primarily at the local level, that will be more effective than higher levels of governance and organization. The ethical and design challenges will be those associated with leadership and power. Because “power” at this (and all levels) will be very weak, it will be characterized more by inspiration and wise council than the capacity to make binding decisions. Transparent and collaborative leadership that draws from the whole community, and accepts slow evolutionary change, and avoids the imposition of ideology, is likely to be most effective in conserving resources and continuing to build a nature based culture.” In the system of permaculture, we seek to create alternative, local, invisible structures to bind communities together. The conventional idea of competitive growth is replaced by cooperative sustainability towards local abundance and the necessities of living beginning with healthy food. Food, family and community are the roots for a healthy node of permanence. Connecting with others can build a sustainable and abundant community. It is not only a nice idea, but a necessity , if we are to create a healthy future for ourselves and our children. The social philosopher, Murray Bookchin wrote in the early 1980’s that “…only the ecological problems created by modern capitalism are of sufficient magnitude to portend the system’s demise.” He also suggested that the knowledge that is important to an Earth centered culture – one maintaining its links and connections to the natural world, should protect this vital knowledge. He talks of monks carrying books to the caves during the Inquisition - the need to preserve and protect, and fix ideas that maintain our connections to nature and the full extent of what it is to be human. This may sound apocalyptic and dystopian but the crack-down on organics, the proliferation of genetically modified seeds and crops, the manner of agro-business and imposition of regulation by government agencies and an unhealthy, health care system, an unstable financial future and gas drilling under y our feet – does not feel healthy or stable to me. Permaculture reminds us that down through time, from cave paintings and tattoos and songs, through observation and accrued knowledge, experimentation and learning, through observing patterns in nature, we can become better humans and continue the great narrative of nature. That the knowledge we share as we all venture deeper into this great experiment that is permaculture – this system of thinking that helps us structure and connect many different disciplines and threads, leads us towards a common goal - the simple yet profound prime ethic of permaculture - to care for the Earth, to care for people and return a surplus to both. …ends main talk. Addendum: The Mycelium Network: Nature’s Internet: When one side of a forest is attacked by pestilence, the other side begins to move away and leaf-out in an act of resistance and survival. We believe trees communicate through the mycelium fungus web which stretches through thousands of acres and covers areas as large as states beneath the ground. The mycelium network is a membrane of interweaving, continuously branching cell chains just one cell wall thick. We believe it to be the neurological network of nature. Mycelium stays in constant molecular communications with its environment, devising diverse enzymatic and chemical responses to complex challenges. And so as the forest responds, so should we. In permaculture we design by moving from pattern to detail. Nature teaches a survival tactic. By creating nodes of permanence, starting at home with our families, we create conditions for sharing, exchange and support, reliable and resilient connections on a softer and greener energy descent path. Energy Descent: There are proven examples of applied permaculture all over the world. There is a vibrant movement growing as we speak. We are part of a shift away from pestilence, to abundance. It is absolutely possible to live in a world of abundance and in a strange way energy descent creates the opportunity. Some see a crash and burn descent curve, others a softer, greener descent. I think we have a choice and that change begins at home. The possibility of permanent culture spread far and wide inspires me despite the bleakness of the big picture. There is no doubt that the inertia and massiveness of State apparatus is an impediment to positive, long-term change in our society. It is a negative force that has caused the problem and relies on technology and the current economic system to maintain the status quo. But it’s over. In an aikido or tai-chi-like movement we can elegantly step-aside and let the beast pass, redirect some of the force into positive applications to ensure our success and survival as a permaculture system. In permaculture we talk about “edge thinking” – we understand there is more life on the edge – where the field meets the forest and the sea meets the land. Some say if you’re not on the edge, you’re taking too much room.
Mercantilism was the dominant school of thought throughout the early modern period (from the 16th to the 18th century). Domestically, this led to some of the first instances of significant government intervention and control over the economy, and it was during this period that much of the modern capitalist system was established. Internationally, mercantilism encouraged the many European wars of the period and fueled European imperialism. [2] The United States and most of the rest of the industrial world, run on oil and electricity. Fifty percent of electricity comes from burning coal and about fifty percent of industry is run by electricity. Coal contributes about one-third of green house gases causing global warming. We are already over the threshold and still building more coal fired plants, particularly in China, to keep up with the demand for electricity. Therefore the situation can only worsen - unless we change the way we generate and use electricity. This implies a paradigm shift of such magnitude impossible to imagine.
Last Updated on Saturday, 31 July 2010 18:31
The World Won't End in 2012
Wednesday, 01 April 2009 14:40
administrator
The World Won't End in 2012
By Steven McFadden with quotes from Carlos Barrios
Carlos Barrios was born into a Spanish family on El Altiplano, the highlands of Guatemala. His home was in Huehuetenango, also the dwelling place of the Maya, Mam tribe. With other Maya and other indigenous tradition keepers, the Mam carry part of the 'old ways on Turtle Island (North America).They are keepers of time, authorities on remarkable calendars that are ancient, elegant and relevant.
Mr. Barrios is a historian, an anthropologist and investigator. After studying with traditional elders for 25 years since the age of 19, he has also became a Mayan Ajq'ij, a ceremonial priest and spiritual guide, Eagle Clan. Years ago, along with his brother, Gerardo, Carlos initiated an investigation into the different Mayan calendars. He studied with many teachers. He says his brother Gerardo interviewed nearly 600 traditional Mayan elders to widen their scope of knowledge.
"Anthropologists visit the temple sites," Mr. Barrios says, "and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It's just their imagination. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012.The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed."
The indigenous have the calendars, and know how to accurately interpret it, not others. The Mayan Calendars comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles has proven itself to be vast and sophisticated. The Maya understand 17 different calendars, some of them charting time accurately over a span of more than ten million years. The calendar that has steadily drawn global attention since 1987 is called the Tzolk'in or Cholq'ij.
Devised ages ago and based on the cycle of the Pleiades, it is still held as sacred. With the indigenous calendars, native people have kept track of important turning points in history. For example, the day keepers who study the calendars identified an important day in the year One Reed, Ce Acatal, as it was called by the Mexicans. That was the day when an important ancestor was prophesied to return, "coming like a butterfly". In the Western Calendar, the One Reed date correlates to Easter Sunday, April 21,1519 the day that Hernando Cortez and his fleet of 11 Spanish galleons arrived from the East at what is today called Vera Cruz, Mexico.
When the Spanish ships came toward shore, native people were waiting and watching to see how it would go. The billowing sails of the ships did indeed remind the scouts of butterflies skimming the ocean surface. In this manner was a new era initiated, an era they had anticipated through their calendars.
The Maya termed the new era the Nine Bolomtikus, or nine Hells of 52 years each. As the nine cycles unfolded, land and freedom were taken from the native people. Disease and disrespect dominated. What began with the arrival of Cortez, lasted until August 16, 1987 - a date many people recall as Harmonic Convergence.
Millions of people took advantage of that date to make ceremony in sacred sites, praying for a smooth transition to a new era, the World of the Fifth Sun. From that 1987 date until now, Mr. Barrios says, we have been in a time when the right arm of the materialistic world is disappearing, slowly but inexorably. We are at the cusp of the era when peace begins, and people live in harmony with Mother Earth.
We are no longer in the World of the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the World of the Fifth Sun. This is the time in-between, the time of transition. As we pass through transition there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth changes.
All this, Mr. Barrios says, was foreseen via the simple, spiral mathematics of the Mayan calendars. "It will change," Mr. Barrios observes. "Everything will change." He said Mayan Daykeepers view the Dec. 21, 2012 date as a rebirth, the start of the World of the Fifth Sun. It will be the start of a new era resulting from and signified by the solar meridian crossing the galactic equator, and the earth aligning itself with the center of the galaxy.
At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world's spiritual traditions.
Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the earth, cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher level of vibration. This process has already begun, Mr. Barrios suggested. "Change is accelerating now, and it will continue to accelerate. If the people of the earth can get to this 2012 date in good shape, without having destroyed too much of the Earth, Mr.Barrios said, we will rise to a new, higher level. But to get there we must transform enormously powerful forces that seek to block the way.
A Picture of the Road Ahead From his understanding of the Mayan tradition and the calendars, Mr.Barrios offered a picture of where we are at and what may lie on the road ahead: The date specified in the calendar Winter Solstice in the year 2012 does not mark the end of the world. Many outside people writing about the Mayan calendar sensationalize this date, but they do not know. The ones who know are the indigenous elders who are entrusted with keeping the tradition. "Humanity will continue," he contends, "but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have the opportunity to be more human."We are living in the most important era of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the world, all the traditions, are converging now.There is no time for games. The spiritual ideal of this era is action.
Many powerful souls have reincarnated in this era, with a lot of power. This is true on both sides, the light and the dark. High magic is at work on both sides. Things will change, but it is up to the people how difficult or easy it is for the changes to come about.
The economy now is a fiction. The first five-year stretch of transition from August 1987 to August 1992 was the beginning of the destruction of the material world. We have progressed ten years deeper into the transition phase by now, and many of the so-called sources of financial stability are in fact hollow. The banks are weak. This is a delicate moment for them. They could crash globally if we don't pay attention. If the banks crash .... then we will be forced to rely on the land and our skills. The monetary systems will be in chaos, and we must then rely on our direct relationship with the Earth for our food and shelter.
The North and South Poles are both breaking up. The level of the water in the oceans is going to rise. But at the same time land in the ocean, especially near Cuba, is also going to rise.
A Call for Fusion As he met with audiences in Santa Fe, Mr. Barrios told a story about the most recent Mayan New Year ceremonies in Guatemala. He said that one respected Mam elder, who lives all year in a solitary mountain cave, journeyed to Chichicastenango to speak with the people at the ceremony. The elder delivered a simple, direct message. He called for human beings to come together in support of life and light.
Right now each person and group is going his or her own way. The elder of the mountains said there is hope if the people of the light can come together and unite in some way. Reflecting on this, Mr. Barrios explained: "We live in a world of polarity: day and night, man and woman, positive and negative. Light and darkness need each other. They are a balance."
"Just now the dark side is very strong, and very clear about what they want. They have their vision and their priorities clearly held, and also their hierarchy. They are working in many ways so that we will be unable to connect with the spiral Fifth World in 2012."
"On the light side everyone thinks they are the most important, that their own understandings, or their group's understandings, are the key. There's a diversity of cultures and opinions, so there is competition, diffusion, and no single focus.
"As Mr. Barrios sees it, the dark side works to block fusion through denial and materialism. It also works to destroy those who are working with the light to get the Earth to a higher level. They like the energy of the old, declining Fourth World, the materialism. They do not want it to change. They do not want fusion. They want to stay at this level, and are afraid of the next level.
The dark power of the declining Fourth World cannot be destroyed or overpowered. It's too strong and clear for that, and that is the wrong strategy. The dark can only be transformed when confronted with simplicity and open-heartedness. This is what leads to fusion, a key concept for the World of the Fifth Sun.
Mr. Barrios said the emerging era of the Fifth Sun will call attention to a much-overlooked element. Whereas the four traditional elements of earth, air, fire and water have dominated various epochs in the past, there will be a fifth element to reckon with in the time of the Fifth Sun: ether.
The dictionary defines ether as the rarefied element of the Heavens. Ether is a medium. It permeates all space and transmits waves of energy in a wide range of frequencies, from cell phones to human auras. What is "ethereal" is related to the regions beyond earth: the heavens.
Ether the element of the Fifth Sun is celestial and lacking in material substance,but is no less real than wood, stone or flesh. "Within the context of ether there can be a fusion of the polarities," Mr. Barrios said. "No more darkness or light in the people, but an uplifted fusion.
But right now the realm of darkness is not interested in this. They are organized to block it. They seek to unbalance the Earth and its environment so we will be unready for the alignment in 2012.
We need to work together for peace, and balance with the other side. We need to take care of the Earth that feeds and shelters us. We need to put our entire mind and heart into pursuing unity and fusion now, to confront the other side and preserve life. "To be Ready for this Moment in History Mr. Barrios told his audiences in Santa Fe that we are at a critical moment of world history. "We are disturbed," he said. "We can't play anymore. Our planet can be renewed or ravaged. Now is the time to awaken and take action.
"Everyone is needed. You are not here for no reason. Everyone who is here now has an important purpose. This is a hard, but a special time. We have the opportunity for growth, but we must be ready for this moment in history."
Mr. Barrios offered a number of suggestions to help people walk in balance through the years ahead. "The prophesied changes are going to happen," he said "but our attitude and actions determine how harsh or mild they are." "We need to act, to make changes, and to elect people to represent us who understand and who will take political action to respect the earth.
"Meditation and spiritual practice are good, but also action. It's very important to be clear about who you are, and also about your relation to the Earth. Develop yourself according to your own tradition and the call of your heart. But remember to respect differences, and strive for unity. Eat wisely (Ormus rich food). A lot of food is corrupt in either subtle or gross ways. Pay attention to what you are taking into your body. Learn to preserve food, and to conserve energy. Learn some good breathing techniques, so you have mastery of your breath. Be clear. Follow a tradition with great roots. It is not important what tradition, your heart will tell you, but it must have great roots."
"We live in a world of energy. An important task at this time is to learn to sense or see the energy of everyone and everything: people, plants, animals. This becomes increasingly important as we draw close to the World of the Fifth Sun, for it is associated with the element ether ˆ the realm where energy lives and weaves."
Go to the sacred places of the earth to pray for peace, and have respect for the Earth which gives us our food, clothing, and shelter. We need to reactivate the energy of these sacred places. That is our work."
"One simple but effective prayer technique is to light white or baby-blue colored candles. Think a moment in peace. Speak your intention to the flame and send the light of it on to the leaders who have the power to make war or peace."
We have work to do. According to Mr. Barrios this is a crucially important moment for humanity, and for earth. Each person is important. If you have incarnated into this era, you have spiritual work to do balancing the planet. He said the elders have opened the doors so that other races can come to the Mayan world to receive the tradition.
The Maya have long appreciated and respected that there are other colors, other races, and other spiritual systems. "They know," he said, "that the destiny of the Mayan world is related to the destiny of the whole world."
"The greatest wisdom is in simplicity," Mr. Barrios advised before leaving Santa Fe. "Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It's not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It's encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you."
"Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way."
Last Updated on Friday, 26 March 2010 15:16
|
Principles of Permaculture Design from David Holmgren and Bill Mollison
Thursday, 19 February 2009 17:35
administrator
Principles of Permaculture Design. David Holmgren
David Holmgren is author: Permaculture Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability.
Assembled and produced by Tracy Dee Cook and Andrew Leslie Phillips
Hancock Permaculture Center.
012509
Permaculture principles are brief statements or slogans - a checklist when considering the complex options for design and evolution of ecological support systems. These principles are universal, although methods that express them vary greatly according to place and situation.
Principle 1: OBSERVE AND INTERACT
In conservative and socially bonded agrarian communities, the ability to observe and adapt traditional and modern methods of land use, is a powerful tool to evolving new and more appropriate systems.
Good design depends on thoughtful and protracted observation of people and nature. It is not generated in isolation but through continuous and reciprocal interaction with the subject.
Observing then combining traditional and modern ecological permaculture design will be more successful than fossil fuel dependent systems. A diversity of local systems will naturally generate their own innovative ideas which will interact and cross-fertilize creating redundancy and resilience - a Mandelbrot set of self-replicating sustainable systems.
Principle 2: CATCH AND STORE ENERGY
Laws of Thermodynamics.
First Law: the law of conservation of energy. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. The energy entering a system is accounted for as either stored or leaking out of the system (entropy).
Second Law: the law of degradation of energy. In all processes, energy loses its ability to do work and is degraded in quality over time. The tendency of potential energy to be consumed and degraded is described as entropy, which is a measure of disorder, which always increases.
We live in a world of unprecedented wealth - the result of harvesting enormous amounts of fossil fuels created over billions of years. In financial language: we are consuming global capital (natural resources) in a reckless manner that would send any business bankrupt.
Inappropriate concepts of wealth and growth lead us to ignore opportunities to capture local flows of renewable and non-renewable energy. Identifying and acting on these opportunities can redirect energy to rebuild natural capital, and provide "income" for our immediate needs.
Sources of energy include:
* Sun, wind and water.
* Wasted resources from agricultural, industrial and commercial activities.
The most important storages of future value include:
* Fertile soil with high humus content able to store large amounts of water.
* Perennial vegetation systems, especially trees yielding food and other useful resources.
* Correctly placed water bodies and storage tanks/cisterns, swales.
* Passive solar buildings. * seeds.
Principle 3: OBTAIN A YIELD
The previous principle focused on the need to use existing wealth for long-term investments in natural capital. But there is no point attempting to plant a forest for the grandchildren if we don’t have food today.
We should design systems to provide self-reliance at all levels (including ourselves), using captured and stored energy to effectively maintain the system, and capture more energy. A sustainable system is one that produces more energy than it consumes over the lifetime of the system.
Without immediate and useful yields, our design will tend to wither. Elements that generate immediate yield will proliferate. Whether we attribute this to nature, market forces or human greed, systems that most effectively obtain yield and use it most effectively to meet needs, tend to prevail.
Principle 4: APPLY SELF-REGULATION AND ACCEPT FEEDBACK
This principle deals with self-regulatory aspects of permaculture that limit inappropriate growth or behavior. Understanding how positive and negative feedback works in nature, we design systems that are more self-regulating, thus reducing the work involved in repeated, harsh corrective management.
Self-maintaining and regulating systems are the holy grail of permaculture, the ideal for which we strive. By applying integration and diversity (Permaculture design principles 8 & 10) we fosters self-reliance. A system composed of self-reliant elements is more robust and resilient.
Use of tough, semi-wild and self-reproducing crop varieties and livestock breeds, is classic permaculture. On the human scale, self-reliant farmers were once recognized as the basis of a strong and independent country. Today's globalized economies and huge monocultures make for greater instability and the effects cascade around the world.
Principle 5: USE AND VALUE RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND SERVICES
Renewable resources are those that can be renewed and replaced by natural processes without need for major non-renewable inputs over reasonable time. In the language of business, renewable resources are sources of income. Non-renewable resources are capital assets.
Spending capital assets for day-to-day living is unsustainable. Permaculture design aims to make best use of renewable natural resources to manage and maintain yields. Permaculture includes use of non-renewable resources needed to establish systems when it is sustainable to do so.
When we use a tree for wood we use a renewable resource. When we use a tree for shade and shelter, we gain benefits from the living tree that are non-consuming and require no harvesting energy. This simple understanding is obvious and powerful in redesigning systems. Where many simple functions are dependent on non-renewable and unsustainable, “cheap” energy, it is unsustainable.
Principle 6: PRODUCE NO WASTE
The industrial process, which supports modern life is characterized by an input-output model where inputs are natural resources and energy and outputs are goods and services.
However, when we step back from this process and take the long-term view, we see these “useful things” end up as waste choking our landfills. This model might better be characterized as "consume/excrete". Viewing people as consumers and excretors might be biological, but it is not ecological.
Apply traditional values of frugality and care for material goods and concern about pollution. A more radical perspective views waste as a resource and an opportunity. The earthworm lives by consuming plant litter (wastes) converting it to humus improving the soil for itself, for soil microorganisms, and plants. Thus the earthworm, like all living things, is a part of a web, where the outputs of one are the inputs for another. From pattern to detail!
Principle 7: DESIGN FROM PATTERNS TO DETAILS
The first six principles tend to consider systems from the bottom-up perspective of elements, organisms, and individuals. The second six principles tend to emphasis the top-down perspective of patterns and relationships that tend to emerge by system self-organization and co-evolution.
From observation and pattern recognition we see that nature reveals branching patterns common to many systems. It helps us understand scale and ratios in nature. A tree usually has nine main branches and so do river systems. Mountain ranges and sand dunes, waves and leaves and even our capillaries, follow similar ratios of scale and branching patters.
The commonality of patterns observable in nature and society allows us to not only make sense of what we see, but adapt one pattern from one context and scale, to another. Pattern recognition is an outcome of the application of Principle 1: Observe and interact, and is the necessary precursor to the process of design.
The idea behind permaculture is the forest as a model for agriculture. While not new, this model offers the opportunity to apply one of the most common ecosystem models, to human land use.
Terms like stacking functions, vertical zones, polyculture, forest garden, edge-thinking, sacred land, water sheds, water and rivers, diversity, constants, resilience, redundancy, cycles and yields, inform design.
The use of zones of intensity/activity around an activity center such as a homestead, to locate elements and sub-systems, is an example of working from pattern to details.
Similarly environmental factors – the wild energies of sun, wind, flood, and fire - can be arranged in sectors around the same focal point. These sectors have both a bioregional and a site-specific character to make sense of a site and help organize appropriate design elements into a workable system.
Principle 8: INTEGRATE RATHER THAN SEGREGATE
In every aspect of nature, from internal workings of organisms to whole ecosystems, we find connections between things are as important as the things themselves. Thus the purpose of functional and self-regulating design, is placement of elements serving the needs and accepting products of other elements - a web of connections and biofeedback.
This principle focuses more closely on relationships that draw elements together in more closely integrated systems - improved methods of designing communities of plants, animals and people to gain benefits from these relationships: guild planting. Creating symbiosis. Diversity. Redundancy.
Correct placement of plants, animals, earthworks and other infrastructure, encourages a higher degree of integration and regulation without need for constant human input and corrective management. Allowing gravity to work for you - free energy to permeate design, provides elegant and cost-free solutions.
For example, by appropriately locating, scratching poultry under forage forests where they feed on the food forest itself, without direct input from the farmer, we can harvest litter to down-slope garden systems efficiently. The fertilized run-off can be part of the system. Of course the chickens provide many more functions including chicken tractor applications.
Herbaceous and woody weed species in animal pasture systems often build and improve soil contributing nitrogen, biodiversity, medicinal and other special uses. Appropriate rotationally grazed livestock can control weedy species without eliminating them and their value, pruning them as well as manuring the property.
But this agrarian example could serve in other systems design too. Permaculture and pattern understanding can help inform community and financial design. It is a design tool – a way of approaching design toward sustainability and higher yield.
Two statements in permaculture literature and teaching have been central:
* Each element performs many functions.
* Each important function is supported by many elements.
The connections, or relationships between elements of an integrated system, can vary greatly. Some may be predatory or competitive; others co-operative, or even symbiotic. But all relationships can be beneficial in building strong integrated systems or community. Permaculture strongly emphasizes building mutually beneficial and symbiotic relationships. A paradox?:
- We have a cultural disposition to see and believe in predatory and competitive relationships, and discount co-operative and symbiotic relationships, in nature and culture.
- Co-operative and symbiotic relationships will be more adaptive in a future of declining energy. Cooperation not competition is a prime ethic of permaculture.
Principle 9: USE SMALL AND SLOW SOLUTIONS
Systems should be designed to perform functions at the smallest scale practical and energy-efficient for that function. Human scale and capacity should be the yardstick for a humane, democratic and sustainable society.
In forestry, fast growing trees are often short-lived, while some apparently slow growing, but more valuable species, accelerate and even surpass fast species in their second and third decades. A small plantation of thinned and pruned trees can yield more total value than a large plantation without management. Understanding cycles and rhythms in nature, seeking niches in time and space, creates more long-term productivity.
Principle 10: USE AND VALUE DIVERSITY
The great diversity of forms, functions and interactions in nature and humanity are the source of evolving systemic complexity. The role and value of diversity in nature, culture and permaculture is complex, dynamic, and at times apparently contradictory. Diversity needs to be seen as balance and tension in nature, between variety and possibility on the one hand, and productivity and power on the other.
Monoculture is vulnerable to pests and diseases, and requires widespread use of toxic chemicals and fossil fuel energy to maintain itself. Inputs outnumber outputs, It is unsustainable.
Polyculture (the cultivation of many plant and/or animal species and varieties within an integrated system) is one of the most important and widely recognized applications of the use of diversity to reduce vulnerability to pests, adverse seasons and market fluctuations. Polyculture reduces reliance on market systems, and bolsters household and community self-reliance by providing a wider range of goods and services. Developing polyculture systems in proximity to population centers will increase the stability and resilience of those communities.
Principle 11: USE EDGES AND VALUE THE MARGINS
When the forest meets the field, one ecosystem rubs up against another creating a third ecosystem, which is more diverse, producing more yield. The same thing happens when communities are rubbed together, new bonds are created, there is cross-fertilization of ideas and talent that spawns new relationships. There is more life!
This principle works from the premise that the value and contribution of edges, the marginal and invisible aspects of any system, should not only be recognized and conserved, but expanded to increase the systems productivity and stability.
For example, increasing the edge between field and pond increases the productivity of both. Alley farming and shelterbelt forestry are systems where increasing edge between field and forest contributes to productivity.
Tidal estuaries are complex interfaces between land and sea - a great ecological trading market between two domains of life. The shallow water allows penetration of sunlight for algae and plant growth providing forage areas for fish and birds. Fresh water from catchment streams rides over the heavier saline water pulsing back and forth with the daily tides, redistributing nutrients and food for the teeming life. There are many lateral and horizontal edges.
Within every terrestrial ecosystem, the living soil, which may only be a few centimeters deep, is the edge, or interface between non-living mineral earth and the atmosphere. For all terrestrial life, including humanity, this is the most important edge of all. It is the fragile edge of life about as thick as the skin of an apple if an apple were the earth.
Only a limited number of hardy species can thrive in shallow, compacted and poorly drained soil. Deep, well-drained and aerated soil is like a sponge, a great interface that supports productive and healthy plant life. One of the central tenants of permaculture is to build soil.
Applying three-dimensional thinking to edges encourages more yield. Where the atmosphere meets the water and the mist between, are all edges. The edge is the transition point where one thing becomes the other.
Principle 12: CREATIVELY USE AND RESPOND TO CHANGE
Permaculture is concerned with the durability of natural living systems and human culture, but durability, paradoxically, depends on flexibility and change. Many stories and traditions have a theme: “in greatest stability lay the seeds of change”. At the cellular and atomic level, science shows that the solid and permanent is really a seething mass of energy and change. This is similar to the descriptions in various spiritual traditions.
In permaculture literature and practice, the acceleration of ecological succession within cultivated systems, is the most common expression of this principle. For example, the use of fast growing nitrogen fixing trees to improve soil, and provide shelter and shade for more valuable slow growing food trees, reflects an ecological succession process from pioneers to climax.
The progressive removal of nitrogen fixers for fodder and fuel, as the tree crop system matures, is a renewable yield and will encourage the forest to grow even stronger. The seed in the soil capable of regeneration after natural disaster or land use change provides insurance to re-establish the system in the future.
ends holmgren
The Principles of Permaculture Design: Bill Mollison
Author: Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual”
The principles of permaculture provide a set of universally applicable guidelines to design sustainable habitats. Distilled from multiple disciplines–ecology, energy conservation, landscape design, and environmental science. These principles are inherent in any permaculture design, in any climate, and at any scale. The following is a list of these principles.
1. RELATIVE LOCATION:
Components placed in a system are viewed relatively, not in isolation.
2. FUNCTION RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COMPONENTS:
Everything is connected to everything else. Create a web of life.
3. RECOGNIZE FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ELEMENTS:
Every function is supported by many elements.
4. RECUNDANCY:
Good design ensures all-important functions can withstand the failure of one or more elements. Design backups.
5. EVERY ELEMENT IS SUPPORTED BY MANY FUNCTIONS:
Each element we include is a system, chosen and placed so that it performs as many functions as possible.
6. LOCAL FOCUS:
"Think globally - Act locally" Grow your own food, cooperate with neighbors. Community efficiency not self-sufficiency.
7. DIVERSITY:
As a general rule, as sustainable systems mature they become increasingly diverse in both space and time. What is important is the complexity of the functional relationships that exist between elements not the number of elements.
8. USE BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES:
We know living things reproduce and build up their availability over time, assisted by their interaction with other compatible elements. Use and reserve biological intelligence.
9. ONE CALORIE IN/ONE CALORIE OUT:
Do not consume or export more biomass than carbon fixed by the solar budget.
10. STOCKING:
Finding the balance of various elements to keep one from overpowering another over time. How much of an element needs to be produced in order to fulfill the need of whole system?
11. STACKING:
Multilevel functions for single element (stacking functions). Multilevel garden design, i.e., trellising, forest garden, vines, groundcovers, etc.
12. SUCCESSION:
Recognize that certain elements prepare the way for systems to support other elements in the future, i.e.: succession planting.
13. USE ON-SITE RESOURCES:
Determine what resources are available and entering the system on their own and maximize their use.
14. EDGE EFFECT:
Ecotones (degrees of edge) are the most diverse and fertile area in a system. Two ecosystems come together to form a third which has more diversity than either of the other two, i.e.: edges of ponds, forests, meadows, currents etc.
15. ENERGY RECYCLING:
Yields from system designed to supply onsite needs and/or needs of local region.
16. SMALL SCALE:
Intensive systems start small and create a system that is manageable and produces a high yield.
17. MAKE LEAST CHANGE FOR GREATEST EFFECT:
The less change generated, the less embedded energy is used to endow the system.
18. PLANTING STRATEGY:
First natives, second proven exotics, third unproven exotics - carefully on small scale with lots of observation.
19. WORK WITH NATURE:
Aiding the natural cycles results in higher yield and less work. A little support goes a long way.
20. APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY:
The same principles apply to cooking, lighting, transportation, heating, sewage treatment, water and other utilities.
21. LAW OF RETURN:
Whatever we take, we must return every object must responsibly provide for its replacement.
22. STRESS AND HARMONY:
Stress here may be defined as either prevention of natural function, or of forced function. Harmony may be defined as the integration of chosen and natural functions, and the easy supply of essential needs.
23. THE PROBLEM IS THE SOLUTION:
We are the problem, we are the solution. Turn constraints into resources. Mistakes are tools for learning.
24. THE FIELD OF A SYSTEM IS THEORETICALLY UNLIMITED:
The only limit on the number of uses of a resource possible is the limit of information and imagination of designer.
25. DISPERSAL OF YIELD OVER TIME:
Principal of seven generations. We can use energy to construct these systems, providing that in their lifetime, they store or conserve more energy that we use to construct them or to maintain them thereby building sustainable systems.
26. A POLICY OF RESPONSIBILITY TO RELINQUISH POWER:
The role of successful design is to create a self-managed system.
27. PRINCIPLE OF DISORDER:
Order and harmony produce energy for other uses. Disorder consumes energy to no useful end. Tidiness is maintained disorder. Chaos has form, but is not predictable. The amplification of small fluctuations.
28. ENTROPY:
In complex systems, disorder is an increasing result. Entropy and life force are a stable pair that maintain the universe to infinity.
29. METASTABILITY:
For a complex system to remain stable, there must be small pockets of disorder.
30. ENTELECHY:
Principal of genetic intelligence. i.e. The rose has thorns to protect itself.
31. OBSERVATION:
Protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless destructive labor.
32. OPPORTUNITY:
We are surrounded by insurmountable opportunities.
33. PATIENCE:
Wait one year: (See #31,Observation, above)
34. GRAVITY:
Hold water and fertility as high (in elevation) on the landscape as possible. Its all downhill from there.
Last Updated on Thursday, 19 February 2009 18:25
The Impact of Gas Drilling in the Catskills
Saturday, 14 February 2009 16:46
administrator
The Impact of Gas Drilling in the Catskills Compilation of notes by Andrew Leslie Phillips, Hancock Permaculture Center http://www.hancockpermaculture.org Educational Forums – Natural Gas Drilling in the Upper Delaware Region: Issues and Strategies of Property Owners and Municipalities. Walton, June 26 (300 attedees). Liberty, June 27 2008 (1,000 attendees). Co-Sponsored by: Catskills Mountainkepper – 845-482-5400 Wes Gillingham, Catskills Mountain Keeper.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/node/290 (lot of good info here). Sullivan County Division of Planning and Environmental Management – 845-794-3000 x 5028
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Goals: to educate on efficacy of landowner consortia, understand the scope and ramifications of gas leasing and comprehend the direction of public policy to mitigate impacts of development. - Benefits of landowner consortia - -fundamentals of community-gas corporation collaborations - -Understanding the basics of lease agreements - Preparing for impacts of this type of development Since western states have had more experience with gas drilling than states in the east, three members from Colorado and Wyoming share their experience and offer ideas and strategies to property owners and local policy makers. PARTICIPANTS:Jill Morrison, Organizer, Powder River Basin Resource Council - Sheridan, Wyoming. Jill Morrison unites ranchers, public officials and conservationists to address industrial impacts to land, water and tradition. She is the 2004 winner of the Leadership for Change Award and she was featured on PBS's Now with Bill Moyers. The mission of the Powder River Basin Resource Council is to promote land stewardship and responsible development in Wyoming. Rural people rely on the Council for an array of hard-to-find information, including examples of recently negotiated energy-company agreements, as well as facts and figures on the real costs of methane development. Peggy Utesch, Member, Western Colorado Congress and the Grand Valley Citizens' Alliance. Ms. Utesch is a writer and graphic designer from New Castle, CO, and member of the Western Colorado Congress and the Grand Valley Citizens' Alliance. Peggy's work on the gas drilling issue in Western Colorado has brought citizens, municipalities and gas companies together to look at the long-term impacts that will result from an intense level of projected development - more than 20,000 wells - and seek solutions that benefit both industry and residents. The result was a Community Development Plan that aims to protect landowners while reducing conflict with the gas industry. Bruce Baizel, Staff Attorney for the Earthworks Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP). Bruce comes to Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project from Dine CARE, a Navajo action group and Round River Conservation Studies, he staffed and represented for eleven years. Bruce received his law degree in 1986 from the University of Denver, College of Law, and has a BA in Biology and a Masters in International Relations. Bruce is the author of significant natural gas regulation bills that have passed in both New Mexico and Colorado to safeguard the environmental health of the communities. The Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project is the only organization in the United States with the sole mission of working with communities to protect their homes and the environment from the impacts of oil and gas development. Robert Wedlake, JD, Parner, Hinman, Howard and Kattell, LLP, Binghamton, New York. Degree from State University, Buffalo. Past president of Broome County Bar Association and current member of Broome County Bar Association Real Property Committee. Experienced in writing contracts for gas leasing. Dr. Robert J. Pammer, Jr., Ph.D., Commissioner, Sullivan County Division of Planning and Environmental Management, Monticello, New York. Has served on planning committee since 2004. Was Fulbright Scholar with U.S. Dept. of State and a senior development adviser with USAID, Moldova Local Government Reform Project. Marcellus Shale – Where the gas is! Marcellus Shale formation reaches from Ohio to Virginia to New York and is a potential trillion-dollar resource in the gut of the nation's most populous and energy-hungry region. The Millennium Pipeline will deliver the gas through a 30-inch diameter pipe stretching 180 miles from Corning to the Lower Hudson Valley and 425 miles from Lake Erie, across New York's Southern Tier and the lower Hudson Valley to Westchester County. More than 90% of the pipeline will be installed within or adjacent to existing pipeline rights-of-way. The Millennium pipeline project is the centerpiece of a $1 billion investment in new energy infrastructure that includes new facilities by Empire Pipeline, Algonquin Gas Transmission and the Iroquois Gas Transmission systems. Hydraulic fracturing process involves drilling up to 9,000 feet deep and then horizontally up to 3,000 feet. A mixture of silica and toxic chemicals are injected into the shale to fracture it, to permit natural gas to escape to the surface. Wyoming is least populated state in the union exporting about 300 million tons of coal and is the “Saudi Arabia” of the U.S. It is a state rich in bio-diversity. Powder River is one of America's remaining wild, untamed rivers - 25,000 sq. miles of wildlife area supporting antelope, elk, mule deer, shovel nosed sturgeon, In early 90's huge rush for gas by land men. Jill Morrison, Organizer, Powder River Basin Resource Council has 18 years experience with gas drilling in Wyoming. Oil and gas industries are the single richest in the country. Over next ten years, 51,000 gas well will have been drilled, 17,000 miles of new roads installed and 1.4 trillion gallons of water used in drilling (enough for 16 million people or all Wyoming residents for 30 years). Some areas gas wells at 20 acres spacing. Bureau of Land Management owns mineral rights. Very rare for people to own mineral rights in the west. In northeast, people own mineral rights to their land. There is lack of regulation at national level. Companies not bonded to restore land like coal companies are. Spread of noxious weeds a big problem. Spread by movement of trucks across landscape Her advice: "get out front of this thing and shape it". "You need to list what is important to you." Develop a Community Development Plan. Seek industry best practice to protect community. Identify community values and create core interests. form work groups and meet bi-weekly. meet with gas companies - community and companies working together. Note these are not legally binding documents but rather "gentleman's agreement.” Gas drilling will create haves and have-nots. Good for neighbors to work together. Compressor stations are very noisy - used to push gas down pipeline. Drilling mud pits contain noxious chemicals and leak into aquifers. Expensive legal fees to fight breech of contract by gas companies (who have very deep pockets). "...if their lips are moving then they're lying." Passage of specific legislation necessary to protect the land. Good to get your own consultants to create bio- impact statement. The state will not do it - the people need to. Gas is of great financial benefit for the state but not necessarily for landowners. And unlike the coal industry, the gas industry is exempt from most hazardous waste laws. Confluence Consulting (helped local folks do research studies) 406-585-9500 Pinedale, Wyoming has ozone levels in winter, caused by drilling emissions as high as Los Angeles or Houston. Causes lung disease and asthma. Ozone forming compounds. What happens upstream impacts downstream – flooding, salinization, erosion, pollution. The Sage grouse population of Wyoming has decreased 85% and is now on endangered species list. Private roads that used to carry 10 cars a day, now carry 100 semis 24/7. Roads and traffic volume increase 10 fold. Blowouts release several tons of toxic materials to atmosphere. Ground water contaminated. Wells contaminated. Ozone release higher than LA in some rural areas of Wyoming and can cause permanent lung damage. Downstream impacts - flooding, destruction of pastures, salinity of soils, erosion. Some wells in Western Colorado are up to 9,000 feet deep at gas lens. 100 semis per day are common with headlights shining through your windows. Waste pit flaring contains carcinogens and blow over residential areas. 30 wells within one mile of her home (Peggy Utesch). CLEAR CREEK MONITORING GROUP - you may need one person per family to monitor drilling activities - self-monitoring since State ineffective. Loss of property value substantial - no water, "practically worthless”. A phased development approach very important - gas companies will want to move very quickly. Two types of spacing - surface and "down-hole" spacing. They can drill 30 wells from one infrastructure. Wells can be 150 feet from you home - it shakes so much it moved the water tank off its stand and the walls shake. Wells/compression pumps louder than a jet engine – 100 dbs night and day. Light pollution. Numerous water disposal pits containing hazardous materials like benzene (very volatile), heavy metals and arsenic and cadmium presenting cancer risks. Pits always leak lined or not contaminating nearby soils and groundwater. – 1,500 instances of ground water contamination in Colorado. Clean up may cost up to $100,000 but bonding is for a max of $5,000 so who pays?? Weed control becomes a big issue as trucks move weeds around district. Rapid community growth - schools, municipal water needs, emergency preparedness, hospital emergency rooms overload and kinds of accidents, rural fire protection - chemical spills, Roads and bridges, heavy traffic, housing shortage and expensive rents. Land men get paid by how many leases they sell. It is the single richest industry in the world. There will be 1000's of wells that will last up to 30 years. Gas has peaked and the search is on. A well pad may be 1.2 acres and up to 20 acres in size. You have to live with this for up to 30 years. There will be decrease in property values. This is an "industrial activity." They will come back and back till all the gas is gone - up to 10 times per well. Release of radioactive materials concentrated in workers over time. 800,000 to 4 million gallons of water to drill a well. (One million gallons of water equivalent to one football field, 3o feet deep with water). What happens to waste water? There are 7-15 hazardous materials in this water after use. It could be tested but usually is not. It may be hauled away to hazardous waste sites in PA - large volume of trucks. Maybe injected back into the ground. Impurities are vented/flared releasing nitrogen and methane. There will be increase in chance. Will add to greenhouse emissions. Landowners advised to get their water wells checked by independent agency before drilling commences. Cost to plug abandoned well up to $100,000 - minimum of $10,000 but bonding very low number - up to $5k. Lack of inspection and qualified inspectors. Increase in roads, power lines, pipelines, ponds and pits for water disposal, water usage way up and water dumping problems. There could be 30 to 60 drill holes from one drill pad. Drilling will occur in watershed for New York and Philadelphia. Populations double with influx of workers with huge impact on local communities and services. There will chemical related accidents. Local EMS will put under more strain and not trained to deal with chemically related accidents. In Texas (Fort Worth) people getting $25,000 per acre plus bonus and royalties up to 25% - millions of dollars are possible. $20K to $30K a month possible. Minimum royalty payments are 12.5% DEC is facilitating gas companies and so is New York State. Permitting has been made easier. Well permits issued by DEC. Production of gas is a policy of the state and compulsory integration of gas sites is possible. Wells cost about $1m to install. Public has right to audit gas companies. Selling a lease will impact titles and marketability of land. The relationship with gas company may last as long as 40 years. There will be hundreds of wells in our area, perhaps thousands and natural gas prices will remain high. Inspection agency staffing inadequate and expensive. Litigation with companies difficult and expensive. Local municipalities have power over local roads – that’s it! So a moratorium would be on road impact – nothing else. Oil and gas companies exempt form zoning regulation – they can drill in any zone. It costs $100,000 per mile to improve roads. Trucks will carry loads of 85,000 to 100,000 lbs (50 tons) on Type One road – that is dirt back road. Expect 83% damage to roads. Therefore make road assessment a prerequisite before issuing permits. In Colorado and Wyoming there was huge increase in drugs and crime. Jails were expanded by factor of three. Methamphetamines big problems for guys working 12-hour shifts 24/7. Family violence increase, prostitution. Proposed drilling sites are secret – impossible to get this information. Suggest people go to land office and inquire about where landmen looking to get idea of local scope of activity Gas output relies on self-reporting by companies. State moratorium would have to be dictated by governor, legislature or local towns. But industry is ahead of public. Environmental impact statements are 20 years old. EPA does not regulate flood run- off and flash flooding and pond overflow is likely. Local government responsible for storm water run-off. Likely that bonuses and royalties will increase. Email to local activist: “I commend your activism in this matter. As you must know this issue has come out of nowhere and we find ourselves infiltrated with the most insidious of situations - I see it as Dick Cheney's Haliburton/Blackwater come home to roost. You probably know that all this comes under the aegis of the Cheney Energy Task force - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_task_force Our communities are generally unsophisticated and poor so it is no surprise that people will take the money. But it is also true that local government has played no role in protecting local interests as far as I know. The best local resource we have in this region is the potential for local long-term sustainability but we have a lot of education to do to install this idea and it is why a sustainability/nodes of permanence are so essential. But that is a long-term plan. In the meantime I believe letters to editors, Oped pieces, education, community leadership and information distribution can get the ball rolling. It seems to me that we need to comprehend the degree of change that is coming as energy descent begins - this is just the beginning - there is no going back now. I believe we have reached the tipping point and climate change is here too!! This myopic, short-term gas leasing approach will do nothing to help us in the long run, rather it will devastate communities, not to mention personal relationships. It’s happening now as I write! Gas drilling in Wyoming has brought with it a serious rise in crime and crystal meth use and left the land devastated. For a preview of what is going to happen in our region check out http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/02/05/070205fa_fact_fullerMoratoria is without doubt the way to go right now and we all should be working toward that end. Once again I commend those of you who have jumped on this issue with such passion and I hope we can use it as a fulcrum to expand into the positive solutions I know are available if we have the time and space to move forward. It is why a sustainability center is so important. Long term sustainability towards abundance in our areas is absolutely possible if we look to the long term. It is the best insurance for our future and will bring us peace and prosperity if only we can turn this corner. We have everything we need in our region despite the current bleak picture. Andrew Leslie Phillips OTHER RESOURCES New York Times report on Walton meeting http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/nyregion/29towns.htmlCatskills Mountain Keeper – lots of info here: http://www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/node/290Info on Hancock area here: http://www.hancockgaslease.com/ The Cheney Energy Task force secret meetings, 2005 - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_task_force For a preview of what is going to happen in our region check out http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/02/05/070205fa_fact_fuller Christine Ahearn, WJFF radio recorded Walton session THIS IS SHORT TERM SOLUTION TO LONG TERM PROBLEM. DISCOURAGES ALTERNATIVE ENERGY AND CONSERVATION. WHERE IS THE GAS USED - WHO BENEFITS AND FOR HOW LONG? BIG PICTURE - GLOBAL WARMING - WASTE OF FOSSIL FUEL. BLACKWATER COMES TO THE CATSKILLS. BBC news report on CA drilling effects on health: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5iSPFbj6Zc&feature=related'Rural Impact' - What to expect from the Gas Industry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVNgwMGEObE&feature=related
Last Updated on Friday, 19 February 2010 16:30
|
Articles
