From Plenty Magazine:

3000 square foot home
Hydrogen run car
Hydrogen run golf car

And only 500K to build.

Shoot, in the San Francisco, you can't find a studio apartment with 750 square feet, under 500K.

True to it's groundbreaking nature, WorldChanging has published an end-of-the-year "What's Next", for 32 of their contributors.  True to form, the articles tend towards the informative, without being overly long.

While there is some repetition - lots of "this will be the year", I definitely got a lot of reading this articles. 

This one from Gil Friend:

The key words I'm watching for 2007: generative feedback. Performance feedback that doesn't just track behavior; it drives it.


I think this also tracks with any "spiritual science", and tracks with integral feedback.

Also, from one of the articles, found the site Instructables - collaborative web 2.0 site for How-To.  Looks interesting!

Or maybe not...

here is a link to a good video, on projections of arctic ice disappearance.  Only 2 minutes long.

This weekend, the effects of Typhoon Durian is assumed to have killed 1000 people in the Phillipines.

These type of tragedies, are simply pointless, given that smart infrastructure can mitigate the damage and death that comes from these type of natural disasters.

Take a look at this list of severe European windstorms.  Notice, as time progresses, the lesser number of deaths.  This is mainly due to stronger infrastructure, buildings, tolerance testing in architecture, canals for decent runoff, etc.

I simply cannot comprehend the type of value system that spends 3 billion on a destroyer, as well as other military boondoggles, when the opportunity exists to sow UNIVERSAL good will, by utilizing these funds for helping nations out with good infrastructure.

Perhaps that is naive - but I do believe that this creates both:

a. Goodwill
b. Economic partners that are more interested in productive commerce, than being a "bad" neighbor.

NOTE:  This of course doesn't mean that ALL the effects of natural disasters can be mitigated.  But some can. 

Of course, we see this same type of blindness with global warming - and the exact same poorer countries will suffer the worst effects.

Good World Changing Article on saving energy, using technologies we have - some decades old:

The world is ripe with efficiency opportunities. ("The low-hanging fruit," as Lovins puts it, "is mushing up around our ankles.") His Rocky Mountain Institute points out that in industrial settings, "there are abundant opportunities to save 70% to 90% of the energy and cost for lighting, fan, and pump systems; 50% for electric motors; and 60% in areas such as heating, cooling, office equipment, and appliances." In general, up to 75% of the electricity used in the U.S. today could be saved with efficiency measures that cost less than the electricity itself.

The post goes into how the incentives to adopt these measures, just aren't there - energy costs still are a low percent of overall costs, even at 70%.

If this becomes a priority, regulation would have to be adopted, for this to happen.

Artic ice melts shocks scientists.

I'm continuing this series on integral values - even though this is a rumination of one.

One of the most urgent issues in the United States, is the issue of health care.  At one last count, there exists 46.6 million, or 15.9 percent, of citizens who do not have access to health care.

The article I point to above, shows that even of those who attempt to access private health, 9 out of 10 do not choose to - because of course, expense, not getting full coverage, all the exceptions for previous conditions, etc.


How would lack of health care, in such a rich nation, be viewed through the lens of integral values?

When a nation becomes wealthy enough, every nationa - EXCEPT the United States - has chosen universal health care. 

And you can see why -

a.  Practicality - health care is either crisis, or is fairly unnecessry.  At any one time, 90% of  people don't need health care.  They just need to be taken care of when accidents happen, when they fall sick, and as old age approaches.

Given this, a shared pool of risk, is always the smartest way to go. And of course, a nation is a very large pool. 

There are also a lot of savings in billing, dual coverage, fights with care provider, etc, that make private insurance simply impractical and expensive.  This is borne out also, in the fact that the United States pays more per person than any other country, but in terms of overall health, is less healthy than the average person in other countries.

Ths particular analysis, looks at INTEGRAL cities - in some sense incorporating "green" values, into looking at how to build "resilient" cities, and then creates an "Urban Bill of Rights", that attempts to stand in for integral values.

Here is the Urban Bill of Rights:

The Urban Bill of Rights

1. The right to see significant greenery, the sky, and the sun from within one’s home.

2. The right to natural cross ventilation in one’s home.

3. The right to enjoy peace and quiet within one’s home with windows open.

4. The right to sleep at night without excessive artificial ambient light.

5. The right to be free in one’s neighborhood from pollution of air, water, soil, and plant life.

6. The right to be free from undesirable local environmental change caused by poor urban design, such as wind, shadow and noise canyons, excess heat caused by overpaving, etc.

7. The right to adequate space for storage, hobbies, and other personal activities in and around each dwelling unit, including play space for children in family housing.

8. The right to mobility, regardless of income. If automobile use is discouraged by prohibitive pricing, public transit must be adequate and low cost.

9. The right to parking space for each household.

10. The right of convenient access, on foot if possible, to basic daily needs, such as good quality food at reasonable prices, daily household and medical supplies, laundry facilities, etc.

11. The right of convenient access, by foot, private vehicle, or transit, to places of employment.

12. The right of equal access to the commons and to taxpayer-funded and other public facilities, such as government buildings, libraries, museums, bridges, and roadways.

13. The right of access within walking distance to nature, recreation, outdoor exercise, and discovery, including parks, open space, and areas inhabited by wildlife.

14. The right to equal and adequate police, fire, and emergency services, which shall not be infringed on the basis of income or neighborhood character.

15. The right to participate in and guide, through equitable, representative, democratic processes, land use decisions that affect oneself, one’s neighborhood, and one’s community."

So this is one communities attempt to be integral, which takes in a whole host of individual, environmental, social concerns, while keeping the eye on longterm practical survivability of a community. 

Too pie in the sky?

Also posted at zaadz

A great post on Global Warming. 

A good response to C4 as well. 

As it seems he still isn't sure.

This makes me wonder how we (average informed people) pick sides on this important and critical issue.  Do we take Al Gore's (and the PRO) side? Do we take Michael Crichton's (and the CON) side? Do we take BOTH sides? If we do take BOTH sides, how do we INTEGRATE them?  These are the questions that I think we need to honestly ask ourselves before we decide and take sides on this issue. And this is the premise by which I started ZPod:CLIMATE CHANGE.

So I invite everyone to JOIN IN so we can all make ourselves more informed on CLIMATE CHANGE whichever side we choose to lean on to.

Now, this might be the C4 generating discussion - but at this point, we really should simply shut down this debate, since there is no scientific controversy at this point - there is only what are the best things to do.  So let's generate discussion, by dismissing the doubters!

And the obfuscators need to be treated like flat-earthers, because the possible effects are very worrisome.

At any rate, here is Pew Center site on Global Warming.

I saw An Inconvenient Truth this last week.  My thoughts?  It is an amazing film.

There is a lot to be said about how society values things, how the media intreprets, etc, but this blog isn't an exercise in media criticism.

As for a review, I recommend Daniel O'Connor's, as his review is as wonderful and deep as it gets.

The graf and summary is at Daily Kos, which then points to the meat of the article.

Here's the basics on Peak Oil.

I wonder though - with the oil that can be extracted from shale, although again NOT cheap at all, in the success of biodiesel in South American (can't find a link right now...), with the ability to harvest "clean coal" in Montana (Note: I'll believe it when I see it), there are alternatives, but  again, the alternatives mean the end of CHEAP oil.

Saw this article at the Times.

This article is about change at the icecaps, that they are melting, and will continue to melt.  The "point of no return" is almost upon us. 

There is still debate on whether this all man-made, or whether some of the effect is a warming that occurs naturally.

At any rate, things are different now at the polar icecaps, than they have been, and will be more different in the near future.

These type of products look amazing.  Welcome to the world of personal power generation.

I find them interesting not only because of the lack of batteries, but also because of the Do It Yourself aspect.  Like "personal publishing", if these type of products are done right, it's another area of life that - easily - comes under one's personal control.

I'm seeing Hurrican Rita bear down on Texas, and it reminds me of a lot of the energy and resource questions that are looming over modern civilization and how we power ourselves AS a civilization.

An article from Technology Review, presenting some of the apocalyptic views of James Howard Kunstler, proprietor over at Clusterfuck Nation.

This review article is pretty balanced, giving seriousness to the views of Kunstler, without - in the end - buying it.  For those concerned about Peak Oil, give it a read.

Also, a good article by the science writer Darksyde over at DailyKos, that is more topical, on how oil rigs around the ports of Texas and Louisiana work.

Vomitting Confetti has been talking about this topic a bit as well recently.

Anyone else have some thoughts on this?