Integral Practice

Now THIS is an environmental home I could live in!

ebuddha — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:01:51 -0700

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.

What's Next at WorldChanging - 32 Perspectives Look Ahead

ebuddha — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:50:02 -0800

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!

Michael Crichton - Gracious and Civil Global Warming Critic

ebuddha — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 08:57:46 -0800

Or maybe not...

Arctic ice could be gone by 2040

ebuddha — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 14:33:08 -0800

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

Phillipines, Typhoon Durian, and Infrastructure

ebuddha — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 09:40:32 -0800

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.

Smart Energy Efficiency

ebuddha — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:16:47 -0800

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.

Global Warming Accelerating

ebuddha — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 10:09:54 -0700

Artic ice melts shocks scientists.

Health Care! An actual policy debate, resilient communities and integral values

ebuddha — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 12:51:07 -0700

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

Integral Options on Global Warming

ebuddha — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:25:01 -0700

A great post on Global Warming.

A good response to C4 as well.

Help me convince C4Chaos that the climate crisis is real

ebuddha — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 21:41:09 -0700

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.

An Inconvenient Truth

ebuddha — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:48:27 -0700

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.

A Big "Uh Oh" article on the End of Cheap Oil

ebuddha — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 14:23:28 -0800

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.

Thaw Gains Momentum

ebuddha — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 13:07:52 -0700

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.

Personal Power Generators

ebuddha — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:14:51 -0700

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.

The Get-Ready Men

ebuddha — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 11:00:45 -0700

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?

On The Global Warming Front - Not So Good News...

ebuddha — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 17:42:51 -0700

Great news to hear, heading into the weekend - this article says Global Warming Past the Point of No Return.

Lovely.

It's all about the sea ice - and how the sea ice is disappearing rapidly.

"Sea ice keeps a cap on frigid water, keeping it cold and protecting it from heating up. Losing the sea ice of the Arctic is likely to have major repercussions for the climate, he said. "There could be dramatic changes to the climate of the northern region due to the creation of a vast expanse of open water where there was once effectively land," Professor Wadhams said. "You're essentially changing land into ocean and the creation of a huge area of open ocean where there was once land will have a very big impact on other climate parameters," he said."

That doesn't sound good.
"The greatest fear is that the Arctic has reached a "tipping point" beyond which nothing can reverse the continual loss of sea ice and with it the massive land glaciers of Greenland, which will raise sea levels dramatically."

Hmm.

As I live on a city surrounding on three sides by water, I will be paying attention to these things...

Integral Service in the Bay Area

ebuddha — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 10:42:56 -0700

Saw this post from Kathryn, and it reminded me that I had planned on posting on this previously.

ANY type of volunteering or service is, in a very real way - integral. However, this particular organization (Hands On Bay Area) serves as a "meta-service" organization providing:

a. Integration of very diverse needs, from different communities, different populations, and different types of service. (Elderly, children, environmental, etc.)
b. Very flexible programs, to volunteer as makes sense in your life.
c. Thinks "locally", to show that YOUR service makes a difference.
d. Provides a mode for ALL of these differing communities to come together to form a larger whole.

So go take a look, and volunteer!

To do List for Sustainable Civilization

ebuddha — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 10:10:13 -0700

Came across this post at World Changing. A "To-Do" list for a sustainable civilization.

Along with this, I thought I would post a couple of links to eco-careers. As, hopefully, society is able to engineer a soft transition rather than a hard transition away from fossil fuels, there will be a huge need for competent people in these fields. You may as well be saving the planet, as part of your career, while at the same time you save your soul.

Ecojobs

Ecoemploy

A little bit of friendly advice to anyone pursuing an environmental career - while absolutely and completely necessary, it seems the deeper you go into the field, the more research reveals dire and bleak scenarios. Too often, my "earth first" friends lack any sense of humor, and carry the weight of the world on their shoulders literally. (Going to an eco-party is somehow reminiscent of going to a Miss Manners party, for some strange reason - maybe someone else can clue me in on why this is...)

At any rate, politically, the first step is a pragmatic, politically and technologically savvy, and economically sound way of weaning the world away from oil. This requires as much political, marketing and communication skill, as it does technical skill.

A World Changing Post to Read

ebuddha — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 21:53:47 -0800

Follow this link, or simply go to World Changing on the right, and link.

The Millenium EcoSystem Assessment is out. It's not good news, at all.

"Overall, the story isn't good. Of the 24 key "services" provided by the environment, 15 have "degraded over the last 50 years--most notably fresh water, fisheries, air and water purification, and the regulation of climate, natural hazards and pests. Only four have been enhanced, and three of those pertain to food production."

Practices much change, and technology is as much a part of the solution as part of the problem. However, the current world economic engine, powered by oil, cannot continue.

I recently had a post about "missionary work". This fits, I think.

There's a quote somewhere, a Tibetan Buddhist quote. Something like, "for the infinite, no separation, for the world of form, infinite discrimination".

Or something like this - I know this is way off...

Mastering this contradiction, between opening to the formless, and having skilled discrimination and right activity/service towards form, is the ongoing challenge.

A great place for information on Sustainable Communites

ebuddha — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 16:12:48 -0800

While not so much focused on the spiritual side, in other respects, Dave Pollard's "How to Save the World" weblog is a must read. Combining community analysis, technical know-how, communication theory and practices, with a passionate advocacy of green/connected values and business, this is a must place to check in, research with, use, for many integral insights and recommendations of how to live in the world.