Sustainability, a Stepping-Stone to Peace

 

Dealing with the default

   The default approach to sustainability is to allow changes to be forced by increasing shortages and elimination of resources. This has been happening in the form of skyrocketing energy costs and global unrest due to competition for these energy. Such a path is always miserable, and leads ultimately to poverty for all.

   People with greater vision and enough disposable income, purchase solar-electric systems for their homes (that at least alleviate some of the daytime burden), and buy the latest gas saving automotive technologies. This is a very positive step forward for an insignificant number of people. In a more prosperous world, more people could afford to save a little bit of energy. But if the average person were more prosperous, more people would have cars and air conditioning, greatly increasing the global energy demand.

   True progress will require the design of a prosperous society which does not require the icons of new cars and obese dwellings. It will also depend upon the development and conservation of locally available resources.

   As far as I know, such a society does not exist. In some high-density areas of our upper Atlantic coast, many prosperous people make do with elegant apartments of modest size, rather than spacious single-family dwellings. Their energy costs are reduced by both their size, and the fact that their walls adjoin units that are similarly heated and cooled. The residents themselves generally depend upon far more efficient public transportation, rather than personal automobiles.

   In many respects this is true progress. The actual energy used however, still depends upon the stability of global economic and political winds, so the sustainability picture is far from complete. Furthermore, the cost of living in such an environment is lavish beyond imagination for the vast majority of the world’s population.

 

Objectives and barriers

   Having recognized individual items – such as solar-electric and hybrid vehicles – as incomplete solutions, we should turn and welcome them as potential components of a more satisfactory system. If in addition to these, we had the ability to produce them from locally available materials and to power their production and operation with locally produced energy, the solution would be more complete.

   By “locally available materials” we can at this point include the global availability of steel, aluminum, and other materials that have already cost our economies and ecologies dearly to produce and distribute. In fact, the landfills themselves may at some point become valuable resources.

   So we need more components. Even though we have yet to address the less privileged majority, we at least have a target vision of prosperity, ecological balance, and peace. Philosophical and political issues aside, all that’s needed now is technology and flexibility – two things humans are good at.

   At a slightly less prosperous level we have a broad demographic in this country of hard-working people living in owned or rented single-family dwellings, and driving their private cars. I am defining this majority as people who can’t afford either new cars or solar-electric systems. Many are quite intelligent, and have hands capable of far more than massaging keyboards and manipulating cell phones.

   Suitable build-it-yourself projects could work for such people – for instance: I purchased a thousand feet of 5/8” plastic tubing for under a hundred dollars. Properly plumbed and temporarily stored on my roof, I was able to keep a 14-ft. diameter plastic pool 3-1/2 feet deep at about 96 degrees. OK, so it was during the summer months, but it was a beautiful quiet place to soak at about 3:00 am under the stars when I had the world to myself.

   Although my application was pure luxury, it demonstrated a potential that could be applied to more practical things. It was very low impact in that it was a temporary appliance serving a seasonal plastic pool. It was also quite impressive; heating that much water in an uninsulated container required a lot of energy.

   Another problem arises: What I did was neither legal nor taxed. If it had been legal, the permits, engineering evaluation, and structural design would have easily exceeded ten times the cost. In addition, such actions are immediately visible to the tax assessors. I can only suspect that the resulting increase in taxes would offset most if not more than the “free” energy benefit.

   There are other things I have experimented with, and lots of things I would like to try, but civic tax-and-regulate mentality forbids creativity and confiscates its fruit. Clearly, current governmental thinking is hostile towards anything that cannot be controlled and taxed. For those willing to risk it however, many web sites (including my own) contain ideas and plans for appropriate technology do-it-yourself projects.

   Again, these are only components tacked on to an existing lifestyle, and do not comprise an integrated system. But if we could just get enough components, we might eventually be able to create a system. Any such experimentation is therefore a good thing.

 

Limits of freedom

   A very wealthy man once told me that only the rich were truly free. When I mentally compared him to homeless I’ve known who pay no bills and owe nothing to anybody, I thoroughly disagreed. The very poor may be ineffectual, but they are at least free. I didn’t tell him that of course, because I was trying to con him out of some of my money.

   The super rich are in fact above the law. They own the banks that charge interest on the money loaned from the Federal Reserve. They own major politicians and the media that directs the voting that puts them into office. One pompous figure among them once boasted “Give me control of a nations money, and I care not who makes the laws.” If such statements are an insult to your intelligence, read some of the political essays and become more thoroughly disgusted. Such people care nothing about the human fodder that feeds their money machines, as long as they remain productive, in debt, and under control.

   Effective action will not originate form the wealthy. They have what they need, buy what they want, and control the rest. As the global economy slowly settles into the dust they will still be on top of the heap. The lower middle class can take a limited amount of action, as long as they don’t get caught. The poor on the other hand, have nothing to lose, but then, neither do they have the resources to take action.

 

A technical objective

   Having painted the future in black, let me use a slightly darker color before turning on the hope. Without sustainability, there is no long-term future. If all you want to do is survive until your personal light goes out, then don’t worry; it might be possible. Those with a little more interest in life – regardless of their economic status – have no option but to deal with sustainability issues.

   You could begin with an inventory of your own lifestyle and consider opportunities to move towards sustainability. You could then scan the world for products or projects that may be practical to apply to your personal situation. This could save you a little, increase your security, and contribute to the sustainability economy. Beyond this however, this practice would be a band-aid that would help deny reality, and only bail out your end of a sinking ship.

   If you are ready for meaningful action, carefully consider what is to follow, if not, I hope you at least find it entertaining.

 

   A true solution will require a new paradigm that begins with the earth itself, and grows fruit that all but the tyrants of this world can enjoy. Postpone the band-aid and heal the wound. Plant, rather than consume the seed.

   For the moment, forget stupid questions about practicality, marketability, desirability, and governmental involvement, as we focus upon defining an optimal solution:

1.  We need a village design that could unite small groups of adventurous or destitute people into sustainable micro-communities
2. This design would not require consumable resources from more than a half-days’ walk away.

1. Survival would no longer depend upon motorized transportation.
2. Energy would have to be produced locally.

3.  Low to zero start-up cost. Much assembly required, but a good price.
4. Scalable to adapt to populations supportable by nearby resources.
5.  Modular format so that individual components could be upgraded individually.
6. Long-term or permanent access to the land.
7. An organizational structure suitable to basic community needs.
8. Locally produced food, structural materials, energy, and utilities.
9. Education, research, and shop facility to manage maintenance and ongoing improvement. Every village an institute.
10.  Adaptable so it could adjust to local and global changes. Also so that variations could be tailored to situations of disaster or poverty on a world-wide basis.
11. Provide an address and identity so that those who wished could become involved with more conventional employment within our existing infrastructure, at a radically reduced cost of living.

 

  At the very least, such a technology would evolve a minimum lifestyle – a safety net – that could limit the level of misery among those devoid of resources other than the earth itself. It is at least dreamed that once established, ongoing improvements would at some point meet the prosperity of our conventional infrastructure traveling in the opposite direction.

   Visible structures would be involved. Initially they would be far below the standards imposed by Regional Building, but they would be well above the endlessly reconfigured cardboard and tarps of the homeless. Sanitation may not initially include indoor flush toilets, but it would be far better than the crap-where-you-can existing practices. People that were hidden would be seen, and they would actually live somewhere.

   A locally sustainable village would make it possible for otherwise destitute people to actually acquire jobs in the main-stream economy.  Since their cost of living would be a tiny fraction of that of their more prosperous neighbors, a man with a minimum wage job could provide for his family, and live with dignity.

   Much of the productive activity would revolve around the village itself. Technical resources and a village “technosmith” shop would enable ongoing development to respond to needs and luxuries. Educational resources and appropriate technology services could serve surrounding communities at a greatly reduced cost.

   Sub-culture commodities such as smokeless wood-fired cook stoves and small solar hot-water systems could empower other homeless or low-income people to live in greater comfort. Other appropriate enterprises might be the installation and maintenance of high-density food-gardens in the back yards of main-stream clientele, or perhaps recycling services. Ceramics and hand-crafted/artistic utilitarian items could grace an on-site outlet.

   Ultimately a fabric of such entities could steer us into a clean and comfortable quality of life while avoiding the political, social, and ecological time-bombs confronting our global quagmire of conflicting interests.

  The biggest obstacle would be the municipality itself. The biggest challenge therefore would be to chart and implement a path that would make the concept possible in a city.

 

Community living

   Our society facilitates the isolation of everyone. When we go to work we don’t have to care about the people involved. We can deal with them as mere functional entities, rather than as people. Returning home, the TV and internet take us everywhere we want to go, and reality has little to do with our contentment. Financial ties integrate us with the city regulations, utilities, and wars in distant lands. We refer to a city or town as a “community”, but I think “machine” would be a more accurate term.

   Although crowded isolation is so easily achieved, not everyone chooses to live this way. In fact, those who want to do more than minimize the hassles in life, depend upon group actions. Community empowers the dreams of like-minded people to achieve objectives they could never achieve as individuals.

   Among the thousands of homeless in this country, synergistic communities are rare. I have seen beautiful caring relationships among them, and once in awhile a handful might get together for mutual protection or the secretive occupation of an empty structure. But generally speaking they have no legal place to live.

   I visited a refugee village in a developing nation that was indeed a group of houses (about seventy provided by government money), but it was not a community, because people depended upon welfare, rather than each other.

 

Solution begins with community

   Reinventing the worlds’ infrastructure is a serious chore. Many individuals and government-funded institutions have made great progress, and given us an incredible smorgasbord of appropriate technology options. It remains however, for people to select the entrees and integrate them into village applications that would begin a new life.

   This is not going to be done by a single person. In a sense, the village must be populated before it is even built. It will take intrepid thinkers and doers involved as a group. Given that there are existing technologies available that could be either used directly or suitably modified, here is the path as I see it.

1. A group of people who are interested in creating a sustainable village prototype will be needed, and they don’t have to be prospective residents. Such may arise out of a disaster situation, religious or political motivations, or simply a desire to steer the future rather than be driven by it. All they need to agree to initially is a regular time and place of meeting, and the objective of exploring sustainability.
2. A target village design is developed. Details would not be essential, but primary configuration and components would need majority agreement. Also, an initial target population must be selected.
3. As a village is a synergistic interaction of various specialties, so at this point a differentiation of tasks would be required. More simply put: assign developmental specialties. Perhaps a “mayor” should be elected at this time to coordinate the efforts.
4. The assigned individuals or comities would perform research to select technologies appropriate to the target population. Details would be compiled in their respective documents for presentation to the group.
5. A master document (perhaps a specialized web page) or story board would track the over-all progress, and provide detailed visibility to all.
6. Individual components would need to be prototyped, and their suitability verified. It could be valuable at this stage to have acquired the use of somebody’s back yard (or back 40) as a staging area for the development and integration of individual components.
7. Not my call – it’s up to the group.

 

My version

   The technologies shared in this web site are very limited, and are the result of only one man’s efforts. It is hoped that they can stimulate thinking, but people who do more than talk should do more research before committing time and materials. Having said all that, I offer a starting point based upon my personal journey.

 

   Growth is a continuum of increase in size and complexity from the moment of conception. Birth is merely one of several momentous events in the process of growth. I’ve shared all that to simply say that I plan to start small.

   For a few nights I shared the simple meals and campfires of a small nomadic community. They slept in the desert in old vehicles and on the sand itself. They ranged in age from young families with small children to a couple that had to at least be in their sixties, and their hospitality was touching.

   We shared many common concerns related to philosophy, government, and ecology; they were the epitome of those who practiced what they believed. I am convinced that such integrity can be maintained at a far more comfortable lifestyle, but this is a good place to start.

   One might consider my friends in the desert as a “conference-style” community. They shared a common kitchen – even though it was only a pot of beans and miscellany cooked over a small fire adjacent to a dilapidated picnic table. I didn’t ask about sanitation, but assumed it was a pit behind some bush somewhere – there were no structures. Beyond common cooking and sanitation, they had their individual sleeping arrangements; it was at least clear that they did not all sleep together.

   A conference-style community is where I would start.

 

   I envision a demonstration project for a sustainable community that takes place on a city lot – for several reasons:

1. I live in a town, and would like it to be convenient.
2. I want to make it as easy as possible to get other people involved.
3. I want people to see it and ask questions – “consciousness raising” to use a good 60s’ term.
4. Material and other resources would be more readily available.
5. Properly done, diplomacy with city government could begin. Government currently has the power to shut down anything anywhere, so in the real world they must be addressed.

 

   There are a number of other features and principles I would consider important:

1. It would be scaled to a minimum possible population that is large enough to contain the various specialists required – probably a population of 8 to 12. This is primarily a demonstration project that can be scaled upwards.
2. It would be billed as a “temporary” operation, although the actual time frame would depend upon a number of factors.
3. Some form of City-approved sanitation would not be an option.
4.  As much as possible, components would be prefabricated or portable.

1. Less concern for regulating agencies.
2. Easier to upgrade as opportunities for improvement become evident.
3. Most of the components could be pre-developed and tested by the various individuals or groups involved before the entire project was assembled and integrated.

5. It would be a local educational resource.

1. Displays, information, and opportunities to participate would be available.
2. Students and academic groups could propose and develop projects.
3. Grant-based funding would be a possibility for some projects.

6. It would be a laboratory where various systems and ideas could be tested and integrated. It could study and test solutions for specific problems in different parts of the world.
7. All components of a village would be present, and most of them would be full-scale appropriate to the project’s target population. Agriculture of course would consist only of sample gardens representing all varieties of proposed plants (Container gardening would be likely in many cases).
8. Various categories of ccupancy would be tested.

1. Possibly unoccupied at times if in a secure enclosed area
2. One full-time resident manager/security
3. Weekend conferences for students and participants
4. Extended periods of a week or more for groups experimenting with community living
5. Ultimately perhaps it would become a long-term experiment in ultra-low-cost housing for minim-wage households.

 

Components and Comments

   In an emergency situation, any stable roof structure that a group could put together could serve as a place to cook, gather, and even a place to sleep a night or two. As an initial emergency situation consider the “Any-stick Dome” in the structure category of this web site.

   With a little planning, a more suitable structure such as that offered in “Parabolic Domes” could be pre-fabricated as a bundle of bolt-together struts. This is only a framework however, so some form of covering would be required.

 

   Keeping in mind that all components of this project could be scaled upwards to more practical levels, begin with enough specialists to cover the various technologies involved – butcher, baker, candlestick maker etc. In this case they would be specialists in structures, energy production, horticulture, public relations, etc.

   During the gestation period, these would be virtual tenants, preparing their respective specialties off-site if necessary. At the point of birth they may be replaced by others whom they have trained, and who are adventurous enough to actually try it all out. I believe a population of six to ten participants would be practical.

 

   The project would begin with a common structure for cooking, meeting, and emergency shelter. My version would likely be a hexagonal version of the above-mentioned parabolic dome. Initially, this structure might also serve as a shop until an additional structure could be created. In short, it would be the birthplace of the community.

 

  With kitchen and sanitation covered as community facilities, individual housing would be tiny custom cottages. This would be an opportunity for a wide range of experimentation. Occupants would be entitled to design or choose, and build to suit themselves. These would all be portable or temporary, so the technologies could be refined, replaced, or hauled off. A handy default would be the 16’ bolt-together dome described in the “structures” section of this web page.

 

   Electrical energy would be developed from alternative renewable sources. This could take awhile to sort out, and if need be, would be temporarily supplied by a conventional motor-generator. Under no circumstances however, would connection to the grid be considered.

   The most important aspect of energy usage in the future is conservation. For this reason, each residence would be limited to a budget of 200 watts. This would be enough to run a laptop, power efficient lighting, charge a cell phone, and possibly another item or two.

   The sustainable power source would be limited to no more than 48 volts DC. Besides being a safety feature, it qualifies as “safe low voltage” (SLV) that puts it under the radar of innumerable additional regulatory requirements. Those desiring conventional 117vac would use converters at their individual respective locations.

   Experiments may be performed in supplying AC at various frequencies. Higher frequencies can be managed by smaller transformers and less copper wire. When the frequencies become high enough, there is less shock hazard in that the electricity tends to travel on the surface of the skin rather than penetrating to vital organs.

   The down side of all this is that higher frequencies are inclined to radiate and cause interference with communication. They are also more capable of being absorbed by nearby conductive materials, and dissipating energy.

  

   Thermal energy would come from a variety of renewable sources appropriate to the application. Passive solar might be used for heating individual cottages. Wood, concentrated solar, or other renewable sources could be used for cooking and processes like ceramics and blacksmithing. Solar heated water may provide comfortable bathing, and could be stored for heating during the evenings.

   Any form of energy may be converted to heat, so engines that convert thermal energy into mechanical energy might be used for electrical power production and various shop applications.

 

   Water storage and appropriate distribution would be provided. In an actual village it may be provided by an on-site well, or brought in from a community-owned source by pipes or vehicles. The demonstration project would begin with a central storage tank of potable water – usage and distribution to be determined.

 

   Agricultural operations provide food, as well as trees for energy, structural materials, and fodder for petrochemical replacement. Sample (possibly container) gardens would be provided the foods and herbs selected for local diet, and seedling trees of varieties proposed for fuel, structures, and chemical properties.

 

   Recycling will be taken for granted in sustainable communities. The initial projects should be designed so that the materials could be reused in improved and larger units. It would be good to attempt a practice of zero landfill while exercising sustainability experiments.

 

   Communication and commerce would be essential. It is pointless to ignore the fact that we live in an increasingly crowded world, and that isolation would be impossible. It is therefore important that favorable forms of interaction with nearby populations be defined and implemented at the outset.

 

Life cycle

  The very objective of this project is to deal with unavoidable changes, and the usefulness of the village project itself will likewise be dynamic.

   Initially it will unite an eclectic group of people in a common objective. These will work together to conceive and develop a proto-infrastructure that could bring hope for the future. As they specialize in their areas of interest and involve time and creativity they will be taking meaningful action. As their respective projects are integrated with others into an initial micro-infrastructure they enjoy the broader picture, and experience the fulfillment of participation.

   When the project is actually assembled and planted in a public place, the surrounding community will have an education/experience resource that will raise awareness and support for additional tasks.

   Expect failures. Expect fixes. When it is initially “plugged in,” not everything is going to function, or work with other components as expected. Don’t confuse reality with pessimism; what follows is called “development.” The group should be poised to expect problems and respond quickly to the challenge. Things will soon be debugged, and the completed infrastructure would be thoroughly documented for presentation to others.

   The functioning village will then have something of significant to offer. If aid is provided to an area in a form that enables people to help themselves, the endlessly helpless entitlement mentality can be avoided, and self-respect restored.

   A system based upon locally available natural resources would have the power to spread through a region without becoming an endless drain upon compassionate people in distant lands. Economies elsewhere can rise and fall, but a region empowered by local sustainability would remain stable.

   Once established, experiments would be preformed to upgrade the quality of life, and test various forms of occupancy. Grant funding may be sought to sponsor the refinement of various components. Commercial products may spin off to facilitate development in other regions. Requests for development of solutions to problems specific to other areas may be tendered.

   Additional villages may be designed. “Instant village” packages might be prepared for quick response to troubled areas, or other groups who had experiments of their own in mind.

   As pressures from the limitations of space and population mount, a 2^nd generation village would be designed on a more realistic scale. Actual implementation would depend upon the interest and resources marshaled by the initial project.

   Eventually, the village may either house a longer-term low-income population, or be packed up and moved to a location where it could grow.