Sustainability at Home
and Away
Part 1
Dexter Chapin
&
21 Acres
Introductions
• Who are we?
• Why are we here?
• What do we hope to get out of
this experience?
• My objective:
To increase your historicity.
There are three parts to historicity
Technical knowledge (how to intervene)
Worldview that give meaning to the
intervention
(Social/fiscal capital to underwrite the
intervention)
What does it mean to be
sustainable?
• What is unsustainability?
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• What is sustainability?
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A Sustainable System
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Produces 3 domains: Food, Water, Air.
Food is not just pancakes and syrup. It involves biodiversity,
and is the crux of a food, water, energy subsystem of giant
proportions
Water is water; it is food, and it is energy. It is old and it is
rare.
Air is Oxygen, but not pollution; it is energy, but not climate
change.
Has 3 legs, Ecology, Economy, and Equity.
Ecology asks if the system contravenes the Natural order.
In a more positive light, does the system do Biomimicry.
Economy asks if the system’s long term payback is
sufficient to offset immediate internal costs.
Equity asks if all the costs are internalized
.
“Sustainable development is development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
Brundtland Commission of the United Nations ,1987
A Sustainable System
Report of the IUCN Renowned Thinkers Meeting, 29–31 January 2006.
Measures of Sustainability
GDP is Gross Domestic Product or in the equation, “Y”
(Y) is a sum of Consumption (C), Investment
(I), Government Spending (G) and Net Exports (X
(exports) – M (imports) ).
Y = C + I + G + (X − M)
• GDP does not address Ecology nor Equity.
• And according to JFK, it does not measure any of the
things that make life worth living
… the world’s economic superpower, the United States,
has achieved striking economic and technological
progress over the past half century without gains in the
self-reported happiness of the citizenry. Instead,
uncertainties and anxieties are high, social and economic
inequalities have widened considerably, social trust is in
decline, and confidence in government is at an all-time
low. Perhaps for these reasons, life satisfaction has
remained nearly constant during decades of rising Gross
National Product (GNP) per capita.
http://www.earth.columbia.edu/sitefiles/file/Sachs%20Writing/2012/World%20Happiness%20R
eport.pdf
Not-so-Random Factiods
America uses about 15 times more energy per person than does
the typical developing country.
Americans represent only 5% of the world's population, but
generate 30% of the world's garbage.
http://www.sustain.ucla.edu/handbook/article.asp?parentid=3465
Two-thirds of the energy from coal, gas and nuclear power
generation in North America is wasted in the form of heat that’s
vented up smoke stacks and cooling towers.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/05/six-surprisingsustainability-facts/
http://sayiamgreen.com/infographic/environmental-impact-of-cellphones/
Not-so-random Factoids 2
http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/15/why-climate-deniers-haveno-credibility-science-one-pie-chart
How did we get here?
www.storyofstuff.org/
Reductionist (Newtonian) Science has been a powerful approach to
understanding the world.
However, it ignores many questions and issues.
An alternative is systems thinking, analysis, and dynamics focused
on the interactions rather than the bits and pieces.
What is the GHI?
The Gross (National) Happiness Index does measure those things
(making life worthwhile).
Developed in Bhutan in 1972, the GHI uses nine domains & 33
measures of satisfaction with governance, the relationship with the
environment, economic satisfaction, and a sense of cultural and
national belonging to measure national levels of happiness.
• GHI Domains
Indicators
Psychological well-being
4
Health
4
Time Use
2
Education
4
Cultural Diversity & Resilience
4
Governance
4
Community Vitality
4
Ecological Diversity & Resilience
4
Living Standards
4
GHI Indicators
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Economic Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical
measurement of economic metrics such as consumer debt,
average income to consumer price index ratio and income
distribution.
Environmental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and
statistical measurement of environmental metrics such as
pollution, noise and traffic.
Physical Wellness: Indicated via statistical measurement of
physical health metrics such as severe illnesses.
Mental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical
measurement of mental health metrics such as usage of
antidepressants and rise or decline of psychotherapy
patients
Workplace Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and
statistical measurement of labor metrics such as job change,
unemployment claims, workplace complaints and lawsuits.
Social Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical
measurement of social metrics such as discrimination,
safety, divorce rates, complaints of domestic conflicts and
family lawsuits, public lawsuits, crime rates.
Political Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical
measurement of political metrics such as the quality of local
democracy, individual freedom, and foreign conflicts.
Thrivancy or Applied Happiness
GHI indicators are great for Nation /States but what about smaller
groups? Thrivancy is the ability to thrive, make steady progress; prosper,
or flourish. Domains: appreciation, generosity, interest, lightness, and
easy provide a framework for thrivancy indicators.
Appreciation
There are accessible spaces in the community that offer natural and
crafted beauty.
Community celebrations feature public appreciation for community
success stories.
Generosity
People know others in the community they can offer help to and
request help from
People share and volunteer their talents and stories with others in the
community.
Interest
There are always new things and people to discover in the community
There are classes, workshops, and learning events available in the
community
Lightness
There is evidence of spontaneous interactions and gatherings in the
community
It is common to see smiles, hear live music and see children playing in
the community
Easy
People have easy access to good schools, health care, jobs, and fresh
food and water in the community
It is easy for visitors and residents to find what they’re looking for in the
community.
http://joyofthriving.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/the-new-shift-incommunity-happiness-indicators/
GNHI Resources
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/weekinreview/31uchitelle.html?_r=1
http://www.earth.columbia.edu/sitefiles/file/Sachs%20Writing/2012/World%20H
appiness%20Report.pdf
http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/ShortGNH-Index-final1.pdf
•
Others
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/wellness/story/2012-06-20/grossnational-happiness/56669830/1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/may/22/better-life-index-oecd
http://www.sustainableseattle.org/sahi/gnh-objective-indicators
The Sustainable Economy, Yvon Chouinard, Jib Ellison, and Rick Ridgeway, Harvard
Business Review, October 2011
The Economics Of Well-Being; Have we found a better gauge of success than GDP?
Justin Fox, Harvard Business Review, January/ February 2012
Thrivancy Resources
http://www.thegreenskeptic.com/2012/01/thrivancy-practiceof-happiness.html
http://joyofthriving.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/the-new-shiftin-community-happiness-indicators/
http://toanewfuture.com/the-design-of-group-thrivancy
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=267
5
Applications
Mystery indicator:
• http://daily.sightline.org/2011/07/01/the-mystery-indicator-ofsustainability/
More detailed evidence:
• http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence
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Applications
Compare the contributions of any large, chain supermarket to
that made by a farmers’ market to the GHI.
Where do you land? Take a happiness survey at
http://www.sustainableseattle.org/sahi
During the week, consider the role of food in the raising or
lowering the GHI.
Food
• Thrivancy is a necessary, but not
sufficient, condition of a sustainable
system. Sufficiency requires food,
water, and air, supported by
ecology, economy, and equity.
• We may live without poetry, music
and art.
We may live without conscience,
and live without heart.
We may live without friends; we
may live without books.
But civilized man cannot live
without cooks.
Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton
Food 2
• Agriculture is an attempt to tame
natural systems to produce
inexpensive, nutritious, and
sustainable food.
• A simplified representation of the
differences between a sustainable
system and an unsustainable
system at a macro level might be:
Sustainable
Unsustainable
Sustainable Vs Unsustainable
• Off-site consumption reduces
levels of soil humus and reduces
water infiltration and holding
thereby increasing nutrient loss.
• Extensive and abundant use of
inorganic fertilizers does not
improve soil fertility and structure
over the long term.
http://people.oregonstate.edu/~muirp/orgm
ater.htm
• Off-site consumption only makes
sense with a monoculture that
demands toxins.
Non random Factoids
• And about 550bn cubic metres of
water is wasted globally in
growing crops that never reach
the consumer.
• the demand for water in food
production could reach 10–13
trillion cubic metres a year by
2050.
• This is 2.5 to 3.5 times greater
than the total human use of fresh
water today.
•
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/10/halfworld-food-waste?intcmp=122
• At Thanksgiving, many sat down to
eat food that traveled between
1,500 and 2,500 miles.
• Lettuce from the Salinas Valley and
shipped to Washington, D.C.
requires about 36 times as many
calories in transport as it provides in
food energy.
• you can't grow food or develop
water sources without energy which
is why higher food prices and
rapidly rising oil are tightly linked.
•
http://moneymorning.com/2012/08/07/u-s-food-prices2013-jeremy-grantham-warns-of-coming-dystopia/
Wasted Food
• We throw away food; the
estimate is about 50 percent
more food per person than in the
mid-'70s, or about 40% of the
total harvested or produced.
•
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/21/161551772/the-uglytruth-about-food-waste-in-america
• http://www.foodtechconnect.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/08/FTFin-FoodWaste.jpeg
Not just veggies
• it's estimated that one-third of all
fish stocks globally have collapsed-having less than 10% of their
maximum observed population-and that at current fishing rates all
fish stocks worldwide will collapse
by mid-century. A full three-quarters
of the world's fisheries are now
either collapsed, over-exploited,
significantly depleted, or recovering
from being over-exploited.
• http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/how-bad-isoverfishing-what-can-we-do-to-stop-it.html
64% of U.S. agricultural land is
dedicated to livestock feed.
• Top five Global Crops: Corn,
Wheat, Rice, Potatoes, Cassava,
Soybeans.
• Top four U.S.: Corn (80% for
livestock), Soybeans (over 50%
global production, for livestock,
oils, etc), Hay (livestock), Wheat
(13% global production, 22% for
livestock)
• Nearly three-quarters of U.S. farm
workers earn less than $10,000
per year …ranks in the top ten of
most dangerous jobs in the U.S.
• 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible
for the equivalent amount of
carbon dioxide emitted by the
average European car every 155
miles,…
•
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=thegreenhouse-hamburger
• Top five Global Crops: Corn,
Wheat, Rice, Potatoes, Cassava,
Soybeans.
• Top four U.S.: Corn (80% for
livestock), Soybeans (over 50%
global production, for livestock,
oils, etc), Hay (livestock), Wheat
(13% global production, 22% for
livestock)
• Farms are exempted from federal
water-pollution regulation.
• Agriculture (live stock) is the
biggest single reason America’s
rivers and streams fail to meet
Clean Water Act standards
http://www.invw.org/
• California officials identify
agriculture, including cows, as the
major source of nitrate pollution
in more than 100,000 square
miles of polluted groundwater.
http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/ffarms.asp
• So what do we do? Why bother?
• The why bother question comes
down to a moral imperative:
“Once our personal connection to
what is wrong becomes clear,
then we have to choose: we can
go on as before, recognizing our
dishonesty and living with it the
best we can, or we can begin the
effort to change the way we think
and live.”
• http://michaelpollan.com/articlesarchive/why-bother/
History gives us an
alternative:
• During WWll, Victory Gardens
provided about 40% on our food.
• It is all about taking back
responsibility and control of our
own food supply. Each effort
represents one step towards
freeing ourselves from the forces
that would keep us dependent
on a system of petroleum fueled
and factory farmed food.
• http://www.modernvictorygarden.com/
Potato Box
• Grow 100 lbs in 4 sqft
• tipnut.com › DIY Projects
Straw Bale Garden
• http://www.growandmake.com/straw_bale_garden
Window Gardens
Honey Bees
•
http://www.genehanson.com/photos/otherbugs/honeybee
_031005_05.jpg
Summary
• It’s estimated that the way we
feed ourselves (or rather, allow
ourselves to be fed) accounts for
about a fifth of the greenhouse
gas for which each of us is
responsible.
• http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/whybother/
Applications
• http://www.supercook.com/
Recipes for what you have
• http://www.oakparkcropswap.org/
• http://www.victoryseeds.com/gard
encan_packlist.html
• http://www.seedsofchange.com/
Water
• Water is Life’s mater and matrix,
mother and medium. There is no
life without water.
– Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
– The source and age of the Earth’s
water supply is constantly being
revised. But much of today’s water
is 4.3 billion years old.
– New water seems to come from
Volcanoes, lightning, and comet
snowballs.
Where is the Water?
• 70 percent of freshwater is locked in ice
caps
• Less than 1 percent of the world's
freshwater is readily accessible
• 6 countries (Brazil, Russia,
Canada, Indonesia, China and Colombia)
have 50 percent of the world's
freshwater reserves
• One-third of the world's population lives
in "water-stressed" countries, defined as
a country’s ratio of water consumption
to water availability. Countries labeled
as moderate to high stress consume 20
percent more water than their available
supply.
• There is much more freshwater stored in
the ground than there is in liquid form
on the surface, according to the USGS.
•
http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/328-how-much-wateron-earth.html
Where is the Water?
• 70 percent of freshwater is locked in ice
caps
• Less than 1 percent of the world's
freshwater is readily accessible
• 6 countries (Brazil, Russia,
Canada, Indonesia, China and Colombia)
have 50 percent of the world's
freshwater reserves
• One-third of the world's population lives
in "water-stressed" countries, defined as
a country’s ratio of water consumption
to water availability. Countries labeled
as moderate to high stress consume 20
percent more water than their available
supply.
• There is much more freshwater stored in
the ground than there is in liquid form
on the surface, according to the USGS.
•
http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/328-how-much-wateron-earth.html
Where is the Water?
• 70 percent of freshwater is locked in ice
caps
• Less than 1 percent of the world's
freshwater is readily accessible
• 6 countries (Brazil, Russia,
Canada, Indonesia, China and Colombia)
have 50 percent of the world's
freshwater reserves
• One-third of the world's population lives
in "water-stressed" countries, defined as
a country’s ratio of water consumption
to water availability. Countries labeled
as moderate to high stress consume 20
percent more water than their available
supply.
• There is much more freshwater stored in
the ground than there is in liquid form
on the surface, according to the USGS.
•
http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/328-how-much-wateron-earth.html
Depressing Facts
• America must spend $255 billion in the
next five years to prevent deterioration of
water infrastructure. We plan to spend half
that amount.
• Parts of America use up to 80% of their
available freshwater resources.
• Californians look forward to a fourth
straight year of serious drought.
• Transporting water is impractical, even
within the U.S. The process of delivering
water from the San Francisco Bay-Delta to
Southern California uses 2 to 3 percent of
all electricity consumed in the state.
(http://www.nrdc.org/water/conservation/edrain/execsum.
asp)
• Globally, 1.2 billion people live in areas with
inadequate water supply.
• 1.6 billion live in areas where there is
water, but they can't afford to drink it.
• Water use is increasing much faster than
population.
• Global water demands will increase by 40%
in the next ten years.
continued
• By 2025, two-thirds of the world will
live under conditions of water
scarcity.
• Two-thirds of the cities in China
suffer from water shortages. Clean
water is even more rare.
• India WILL run out of water in the
near future.
Desalination is only practical for
small countries with extreme
wealth.
• Green tech may provide a way past
peak oil. There is no escape from
peak water.
• http://www.businessinsider.com/15-factsabout-the-coming-water-crisis-2010-3
• "A shortage of water resources
could spell increased conflicts in
the future. Population growth will
make the problem worse. So
will climate change. As the global
economy grows, so will its thirst.
Many more conflicts lie just over
the horizon." -- Ban Ki-Moon
Water and Energy
• Average household uses 127,000
gallons per year. Most in the form
of energy costs.
• Under the Bush administration,
fracking was granted an
exemption from federal clean
water regulations and disclosure
rules, making it virtually
impossible to quantify risks and
impacts beyond local, anecdotal
evidence. Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1kr6e)
• Can you do this with your tap
water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U01EK76
Sy4A
Investing in Water
• T Boone Pickens etc
• The world uses 2.1 trillion cubic
meters of water every year. That's
17.5 million gallons of water every
second. To put that in perspective,
we use 41,000 gallons of oil every
second.
• North Americans use 1,280 cubic
meters
• Europeans and Australians use 694
cubic meters
• Asians use 535 cubic meters
• South Americans use 311 cubic
meters
• Africans use 186 cubic meters
•
http://www.energyandcapital.com/resources/waterinvestments
Climate Change and
Water
• Although responsibility for the
causes of climate change rests
primarily with the developed and
industrialised nations, the costs of
climate change will be borne
most directly by the poor.
•
http://www.wateraid.org/documents/climate_change_and_water_r
esources_1.pdf
• Climate Change Impact
Temp
rise (°C)
Water
Food
Health
Land
Environment
Abrupt and LargeScale Impacts
1°C
Small glaciers in
the Andes disappear
completely,
threatening water
supplies for 50 million
people
Modest increases in
cereal yields in
temperate regions
At least 300,000
people each year die
from climate related
diseases (predominantly
diarrhoea, malaria, and
malnutrition) Reduction
in winter mortality in
higher latitudes
(Northern Europe, USA)
Permafrost
thawing damages
buildings and roads in
parts of Canada and
Russia
At least 10 percent of
land species facing
extinction (according to
one estimate) 80 percent
bleaching of coral reefs,
including Great Barrier
Reef
Atlantic Thermohaline
Circulation starts to
weaken
2°C
Potentially 20 - 30
percent decrease in
water availability in some
vulnerable regions, e.g.
Southern Africa and
Mediterranean
Sharp declines in
crop yield in tropical
regions (5 - 10 percent in
Africa)
40 – 60 million
more people exposed to
malaria in Africa
Up to 10 million
more people affected by
coastal flooding each
year
15 – 40 percent of
species facing extinction
(according to one
estimate).
High risk of extinction of
Arctic species, including
polar bear and caribou
3°C
In Southern
Europe, serious
droughts occur once
every 10 years 1 – 4
billion more people
suffer water shortages,
while 1 – 5 billion gain
water, which may
increase flood risk
150 - 550 additional
millions at risk of hunger
(if carbon fertilisation
weak) Agricultural yields
in higher latitudes
likely to peak
1 – 3 million more
people die from
malnutrition (if carbon
fertilisation weak)
1 – 170 million
more people affected by
coastal flooding each
year
20 – 50 percent of
species facing extinction
(according to one estimate),
including 25 – 60 percent
mammals, 30
– 40 percent birds and 15
– 70 percent butterflies in
South
Africa. Onset of
Amazon
forest
collapse
(some
models only)
Potential for
Greenland ice sheet to
begin melting irreversibly,
accelerating sea level rise
and committing world to an
eventual
7m sea level rise. Rising
risk of abrupt changes to
atmospheric circulations,
e.g. the monsoon.
4°C
Potentially 30 -50
percent decrease in
water availability in
Southern Africa and
Mediterranean
Agricultural yields
decline by 15- 35
percent in Africa, and
entire regions out of
production (e.g. parts
of Australia)
Up to 80 million
more people exposed to
malaria in Africa
7 – 300 million
more people affected by
coastal flooding each
year
Loss of around half
Arctic tundra. Around half
of all the world’s nature
reserves cannot fulfil
objectives
5°C
Possible
disappearance of large
glaciers in Himalayas,
affecting one- quarter
of China’s population
and
hundreds of millions in
India
Continued increase
in ocean acidity seriously
disrupting marine
ecosystems and possibly
fish stocks
More
than 5°C
The latest science suggests that the Earth’s average temperature will rise by even more than 5 or 6°C if emissions continue to grow
and positive feedbacks amplify the warming effect of greenhouse gases (e.g. release of carbon dioxide from soils or methane from permafrost). This level of global
temperature rise would be equivalent to the amount of warming that occurred between the last age and today – and is likely to lead to major disruption and largescale movement of population. Such “socially contingent” effects could be catastrophic, but are currently very hard to capture with current models as temperatures
would be so far outside human experience.
Sea level rise
threatens small islands,
low-lying coastal areas
(Florida) and major
world cities such
as New York,
London, and
Tokyo
Notes:
As colours move from yellow to red, they indicate increasing severity of impacts.
This table shows illustrative impacts at different degrees of warming. Some of the uncertainty is captured in the ranges shown, but there will be additional uncertainties about the
exact size of impacts (more detail in Box 3.2). Temperatures represent increases relative to pre-industrial levels. At each temperature, the impacts are expressed for a 1°C band
around the central temperature, e.g. 1°C represents the range 0.5 –
1.5°C etc. Numbers of people affected at different temperatures assume population and GDP scenarios for the 2080s from the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Figures generally assume adaptation at the level of an individual or firm, but not economy- wide adaptations due to policy
intervention (covered in Part V).
Source: Stern Review, Chapter 3.
Salt Water
• Fish provide over 2.6 billion people
with at least 20% of their total
animal protein intake.
• it is the ocean that makes our planet
habitable. Without the ocean as a
heat sink, our days would be
unbearably hot, and our nights
would be freezing cold.
• The Pacific patch is 1,700 miles
across at various depths and located
between the California Coast and
Hawaii. The smaller Atlantic Patch is
located between Bermuda and the
Azores.
Salt Water 2
• Phytoplankton, half of all plant
matter around the globe, have
been dying off for at least a
century, with a staggering 40%
decline since 1950.
• The harvest in Alaska represents
about 80% of the total wildcaught North American harvest of
salmon, harvests from Canada
representing about 15%, and
harvests from Pacific Northwest
states representing about 5%.[1]
Local Water
• The District purchases all its water
supply from the City of Seattle for
distribution to its customers. The
majority of our water comes from
the Tolt River Reservoir but
occasionally we receive water
from the Cedar River Reservoir.
• Future growth anticipates a
combined customer base of
25,000 sewer and water
connections by the year 2020 Vs
approximately 13,00 at present.
• Seattle water:
•
http://www.seattle.gov/util/index.htm
Applications
• a dripping faucet can waste up to
20 gallons of water per day, while
a leaking toilet can use 3000
gallons per day.
• Upgrade Your Fixtures: lowvolume toilets, low-flow aerated
faucets.
• Collect rainwater: roof sqft X 0.6
X 35 = gallons per year
• Increase permeability; less lawn,
more xeriscaping.
• Harvesting rainwater for
landscaping:
http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/water/az1052/harvest.html
• Water footprints
• http://www.gracelinks.org/825/water-footprints
• Pacific Northwest Clean Water
Challenge
•
http://pnwwater.wordpress.com/
• Privatization?
•
•
http://truth-out.org/news/item/6641:public-utility-privateprofit-privatization-of-water-is-as-benign-as-lucifer
http://worldsavvy.org/monitor/index.php?option=com_cont
ent&view=article&id=715&Itemid=1202
• Biofuels?
It takes 30 gallons of irrigation water to
produce enough corn ethanol in
Nebraska to drive a typical car one
mile. www.ucsusa.org/energy-water
• We never know the worth of water
till the well is dry. ~Thomas Fuller,
Gnomologia, 1732
Pure water is the world's first and
foremost medicine. ~Slovakian
Proverb
Energy / Air
• The connection between Energy
and Air is about pollution and
climate change.
• Pollution may be getting better.
• More than 3 million people, a
record number, suffered
premature deaths from air
pollution in 2010 Vs 800,000 in
1990.http://www.thelancet.com/themed/global-burden-ofdisease
Climate Change
• The United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC, see box 2.1)
defines climate change as, “a change of
climate which is attributed directly or
indirectly to human activity that alters the
composition of the global atmosphere and
which is in addition to natural climate
variability observed over comparable time
periods”.
Climate Change 2
Climate change is the perfect storm; it is
genuinely global, profoundly
intergenerational, and occurs in a setting
where we lack robust theory and
institutions to guide us.
e360.yale.edu/feature/the_ethical_dimension_of.../2456/
• Last full month in which the
average daily temperature did not
exceed twentieth-century
norms: 2/1985
Alternatives; Solar
Wind
• Congress passed a small-wind tax
credit that gives individuals and
businesses a $4,000 investment tax credit
for the purchase of turbines
• http://www.motorwavegroup.com/
new/motorwind/index.html
• More and more people are coming
to the realisation that
small domestic wind turbines fitted
onto the ends or roofs of properties
can never be economical, and that
turbine induced vibrations passing
through masonary are both
annoyingly noisy and potentially
structurally damaging.
Applications
• #1, get aP3 International P4400
Kill A Watt Electricity Usage
Monitor.
• Rewire your meter into the front
hall.
• Use switched power cords to
eliminate phantom loads
• Costco has rebates on LED’s
• Clean the refrigerator and fill with
water
Where have we been?
• Why talk about GHI and thrivancy
at the beginning?
• A sustainable system is a complex,
adaptive system with constant
trade-offs and compromises.
• All the simple answers (recycling
coke cans) are being done.
• The new answers are more
difficult (Do we really wish to use
valuable water to drive a car?)
Ashby’s Law
• If you wish to monitor a system
your variety must equal the
system’s variety. Variety and only
variety can absorb variety.
• At a small Scale thrivancy
provides the kind of variety
required to monitor the variety of
ways of being (un)sustainable.
• Consider, mutatis mutandis,
looking at thrivancy on a personal
level.
• What does this have to do with
your historicity?
Ref’s
•
Pesticides
– http://people.oregonstate.edu/~muirp/agpestic.htm
Food facts
– http://www.sustainablelafayette.org/?page_id=1015
Food Prices and social stability
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2012/0923/How-risingfood-prices-are-impacting-the-world
Climate Change = global food
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-0705/drought-stalks-the-global-food-supply
Gardens against climate change
http://www.ecologicalgardens.com/climate-victorygardens
King County Extension
http://county.wsu.edu/king/Pages/default.aspx
Will Allen; Urban Farmer
http://vimeo.com/15997939
Valuing Natural Capital
http://www.corporateecoforum.com/valuingnaturalcapital
/offline/download.pdf
•
•
Climate Change and Water
http://www.wateraid.org/documents/climate_change_and_water_r
esources_1.pdf
•
Water food energy nexus
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCAO8yga5NM&feature=player
_embedded
Washington water readiness
http://www.nrdc.org/water/readiness/files/water-readiness-WA.pdf
Harvesting water for landscaping
http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/water/az1052/harvest.html
Water conservation (you know this)
http://eartheasy.com/live_water_saving.htm
Energy without hot air
http://www.withouthotair.com./
Carbon Footprint
http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/?s_eng=googl
e&s_ce=normal&s_med=ppc&s_dis=search&s_cs=text&s_cid=Carbo
n+Calculator++Carbon+Related&s_ag=Carbon+Footprint&s_kwd=carbon%20footp
rint&s_mt=p&gclid=CPGg86eF0acCFQM6gwodvjo3Dg
1 block off the grid
http://1bog.org/blog/
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