Dear Family & Friends,
- When Jeanne Calment, the world's oldest recorded person at 122 years, 164 days (February 21, 1875–August 4, 1997)
- was asked what the secret of her long life was, she replied: "I keep calm".
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment
- I like that & don't mean to disturb or upset you. I've found the following documentaries &
subject matter worthy of consideration &
- convincing, however, so I'm passing them along. Again, though they're
bracing, my intent is to start a dialogue &
- to share ideas & links to information that can help empower us to respond individually
& collectively instead of leaving us feeling defeated.
- In short, I'm saying "OK, the future looks challenging indeed, so, what can I & we all
do to prepare for it; & what do you think?"
- Would anyone like to start a blog by sharing his or her own pictures, ideas & "best practices" of
things done on a personal or professional level that make a positive difference even modestly towards reducing his/her
carbon footprint instead of always feeling disempowered & overwhelmed by endless expert advice like that which follows
in the links I include?
- Or are there enough of these kinds of blogs out there already?
- http://wholefoodsmarket.com/socialmedia/wholegreen/2007/04/
-
-
- HOMESTEADERS: Have you ever admired homesteaders like the prototypical 20th century Helen
& Scott Nearing?
- http://www.goodlife.org/
- DOCUMENTARIES: (I generally don't see many of them & prefer romantic love stories.)
I've seen some important ones lately, though &
- they make me think that I should start working on developing homesteading skills & revision
the future especially after I saw A CRUDE AWAKENING.
- Though similar to AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, there are more "talking heads" & even more
expert facts, figures & opinions.
-
- WORRY WART JOHNNIE: I wish that I didn't worry so much & that I wasn't always in the throes
of some fight or flight syndrome.
- Why can't my life just go peacefully on - blissfully
unconcerned about what's going on around the world?
- I escape to the mountains & backpack every summer because I need
- to forget about everything & reconnect with nature in order to stay healthy. So...aren't I
just being an alarmist here?
- It gets really old & tiresome anyway, doesn't it?
-
- RECENT MEMORY: In recent memory alone, there was Y2K, the Avian Bird Flu Virus (which
remains a permanent threat)&
Global Warming which is becoming more & more widely accepted as an oncoming fact of life.
(I recommend getting the movie's DVD because it has an important update in its special features
section.)
- CO2 EMISSIONS: It's been calculated that the average American created more than 20 metric
tons of carbon dioxide emmissions in 2005 & that the average world citizen will need to reduce his carbon
emissions to less than 1 metric ton per year to keep the Earth's temperature from rising 2 degrees this
century which would create catastrophic global warming consequences. That's a huge reduction.
- LOOMING OIL CRISIS: Now the experts also say that the world will be running out of oil in
the next few decades
- (no one knows quite when of course) &
that available energy alternatives won't be plentiful enough or developed enough &/or inexpensive
enough & therefore won't be able
to come anywhere close to meeting the world's burgeoning energy needs as the population continues
to rapidly expand.
- If you read the papers every day,which I don't, you probably already knew this. If not,
- You'll get this news in the incisive & disturbing documentary the 2006: A CRUDE AWAKENING:THE
OIL CRASH.
After I saw the movie I understood & accepted the notion that, despite its huge
drawbacks, oil is by far the cheapest & most valuable non renewable resource; that it's the "bloodstream of
the world economy", the basis of US Intervention, War & Foreign
Policy & is responsible
for making us the world's number 1 economy.
Yet,"Not 1 in a 100 of the people in our country
have any idea of the potential problem that we're facing."
The history of oil is portrayed & there are many interviews of petroleum experts & looks
at the prospects for alternative fuels like
biodesiel,hydrogen, solar wind & nuclear energy & the forecast doesn't look good
- to put it mildly. Human ingenuity isn't discounted;
but we aren't left to entertain foolish wishful thinking either.
Here, also, are links to sites that deal with petroleum & the coming crisis:
- THE FOLKS: I think that my folks realized something like this some time ago-that life would
become very different in the years ahead -
when they told me that they were sorry that their children wouldn't be able to enjoy the
same standard of living that they had.
- ME: Perhaps I'm not very optimistic about the future & it seems
that I've taken upon myself the role of the town cryer &
- you might think that I'm an extremist.
- CONSCIOUSNESS SHIFT: I assure you that if you see these movies, they will change your consciousness &
you'll understand why I feel that it's necessary to speak up.
- WHAT TO DO? I don't think that the situation is hopeless. In fact, the perennial lessons
seem to be the same & come around to hit us in the face over & over again.
- As a culture,we're living beyond our means & need to start to change everything - to
waste much less & conserve much more, to become much more interdependent in the context of small local economies
& more self reliant (like we were in preindustrial times) & less dependent upon the
- far flung luxurious grid of goods & services that we've become so accustomed to.
- There are, of course, a million & one little things that we can do that'll help, so we
mustn't despair & the good news is that if we start doing
- all that we can we'll reduce our carbon footprint & impact on
global warming substantially.
- See below:
- carbon footprint & emissions calculators:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint
- http://www.earthday.net/Footprint/info.asp
- http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html
- http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/earthday/footprint.html
- A "How Green Are You" Quiz:
- http://www.cat.org.uk/information/info_content.tmpl?sku=info_hgayq&subdir=information
- And 10 FAQS: http://www.cat.org.uk/information/info_content.tmpl?sku=info_faq&subdir=information
- Some things that we can do:
- http://www.everythingscool.org/action.htm
- http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/issues/greenaction/greensense.html
- http://www.carbonfootprint.com/Minimise_cfp.html
- A fun British practical solution eco site:
- http://www.cat.org.uk/information/info_content.tmpl?subdir=information&sku=info_is
- "The first web-based do-it-yourself energy audit tool" & more tips
- http://hes.lbl.gov/
- http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/action/solutions.php
- http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2049304
- Here's another informative movie that, though dated & hokey still has some
good ideas & powerful video footage
- that came out in 1990. The[1990]Earth Day Special
- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6301757955/used111-20/ref=nosim
- MORE POSSIBILITIES about living & working together:
- http://gen.ecovillage.org/
- http://ena.ecovillage.org/English/ecovillages/index.html
- A place in Calvin's home town of Davis, CA :
- http://www.villagehomesdavis.org/index.php
- A place in Abingdon,VA that sister Martha considered, I believe:
- http://www.elderspirit.net/
-
- http://www.newurbanism.org/ which features the following description
- "Giving more people more choices about how and where they want to live, while providing the solutions
to global warming, climate change, and peak oil"
- http://www.cohousing.org/default.aspx
- The Book: Superbia! 31 Ways to Create Sustainable Neighborhoods :
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0865714908/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_top/104-6935468-3391128?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books#customerReviews
- http://www.eldercohousing.org/
They're tough lessons, though & I'm as nervous as the next guy about the prospects ahead
&
about how much I'm going to need to change & learn in order to be able to become more self reliant.
Here, also, are links to yet another earlier & even more alarming documentary on
this subject, which I was unaware of : The 2004 The End of Suburbia / Oil Depletion and The
Collapse of The American Dream
MY POINTS: My points are these:
1)Even if we weren't going to experience the ravages of Global Warming & an Oil Crisis in
the next several decades,
isn't working toward to downsize & eventually become far less dependent upon the
grid etc.the right direction to go in?
2) If we accept this, it's still going to take a long time to make significant progress in that
direction. I started looking into the subject &
gathering information on it a few decades ago & am
still woefully underprepared at this point.
3) We all need to think, talk & negotiate long & hard about the complexities of
these issues & hash out the nuts & bolts of
what exactly we're willing to do on an individual basis as we head in this direction. An
example: My life long friend Rick is
completely involved on the production end of things as a market gardener who sells his produce
at the Bennington, VT
Also the attached pictures are 2 simple examples of recycling: a Rain Barrel & Compost
Bins.
- Judging by the response to my previous e-mails about these kinds of subjects (0%), you're probably
in the minority if you've read this far.
- Congratulations.
- What do you think? How would you present a counterpoint & play devil's advocate to these films
theses?
- Is the Peak Oil theory (that it's been cheap for the last 150 years but has peaked & will
become much more expensive,
- hard to obtain & run out faster due to the world's rapidly
increasing population) really just a myth & a Zionist lie? I think not.
- Here's a link to a critical review which will also give you some info on the last film's views
of energy alternatives.
- I hadn't heard about the energy potential of sea algae, had you & will it be affordable to
make in massive quantities?
- http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18138/
- http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/189954
- I have some of the aforementioned films & can loan them out if desired.
- I'd be interested in your views, especially after seeing
the movies, if you'd like to respond.
- Thanks for reading & I hope that you're well.
- Warmly, John
