Comments Bytesmiths has made

Dirty F*cking Hippy here

What are these "gas prices" you people are complaining about? Is that something like the voluntary contributions I ask for the excess biodiesel I make from local waste vegetable oil? I have noticed people are giving me more money lately -- I just thought it was because they were supporting a local energy producer, but it seems these "gas prices" may have something to do with it.

(Sorry, couldn't resist. Gloating is one of my weaknesses... :-)

I guess I just don't understand what all the fuss is about.

Yea, I would have preferred ESCAPE was different in some ways. But I'm glad Greg and Dara made it. Our portrayal in the film was not quite accurate, but much closer to the truth than David's review is. (By the way, Veggie Van Gogh is NOT an RV, and is highly insulted. :-)

The American Left is notorious for eating its young. The reason the US has had increasingly fascist governments since 1980 is because people like David Roberts finds it easier to criticize the twig in ESCAPE FROM SUBURBIA's eye than the log in the eye of the status quo.

Must everything be targeted to the least common denominator? "Average Joes" don't change the world; Geoffrey Moore calls these people "mice" and "laggards".

I'm proud to be criticized for not being an "average joe." Normal people don't chance things. Normal people don't change things. Normal people do as their told -- they live in Kuenstler's "concensus trance," having had, as Chomsky defines it, their "consent engineered."

Forget the "average joe." A basic tenant of social marketing (which is what ESCAPE is) is that you don't waste time on the unconvertable. Instead, you do "preach to the choir," knowing some of them will intensify their involvement and become choir directors.

I'm honoured if my portrayal in the film causes anyone to question their life. I'll bet if it does, it won't be someone whose greatest excitement is their team in the superbowl or winning $50 in the lottery or splurging by going to Olive Garden instead of McDonalds.

:::: Jan Steinman, EcoReality. ::::

Bundling Rocks!

"... and bundle shopping, shipping, and driving with others when possible."

YAY, UMBRA! That should have gone right after "reduce" in the lead!

We defer and combine almost all of our in-person shopping.

I used to do that with on-line shopping, as well, but I no longer trust them to "do the right thing."

I maintained a list of books I wanted next to the computer. When it got up to an amount I was willing to spend at once, I placed an order with Amazon, basking in the glow of knowing all those books would make one unified trip through the system.

Imagine my horror and revulsion when each of the dozen books arrived as individual shipments! So now I still maintain such a list, but I wait until I have at least several other reasons to go to Portland, Oregon, and then I satisfy my "book jones" with a trip to the wonderful, local, brick-n-mortar Powel's Bookstore.

(BTW: Powell's is a big "drop shipper" for Amazon. So cut out the middleman when buying used or out-of-print books and go right to the Powell's website.)On Umbra on online shopping posted 2 years, 6 months ago 22 Responses

Pee on a Tree!

The entire concept of modern human waste management is broken!

First, raise plants that take nutrients out of the ground. Then, eat those plants, utilizing some, but not even most, of those nutrients. Then, flush the remaining nutrients down your toilet OR your shower -- end result is the same for 99.9% of people in industrial countries. Now mix up that nutritious soup with heavy metals, old paint, solvents, caustic soda -- anything else people put in their drains. Now send it to a sewage "treatment" plant, where it is "treated" so it will not sustain life any longer, because it is then dumped in a waterway, and the nutritious cocktail would cause tremendous algae growth otherwise. Now replace the nutrients that were taken out the earth by food plants, with fertilizers made from natural gas.

What's wrong with this picture?

We must close the cycle! So the real answer, as far as I'm concerned, is none of the above!

If you're of a sex with external plumbing, "fertigate" directly on your nearest tree. If you are in a city or suburb, this may be frowned upon, but so are a number of essential earth-saving techniques.

If you lack convenient plumbing or are a bit too modest, it's very simple to collect it in small jars -- 500ml should do for most of us -- and later distribute it to your favorite needy plant or garden.

I won't get into what to do with #2 right now, but do read the Jenkins book to learn how simple it can be.

So toilet, shower, hot water, cold water, whatever -- they're all similar in the final analysis, because they all depend on a system that is fundamentally flawed in concept.

There's no doubt whatsoever that our current human "waste" (resource, actually) management is totally unsustainable. But western civilization is built around the current scheme, and it won't be easy to change. Peeing in a jar is a good first step!On Umbra on peeing in the shower posted 2 years, 8 months ago 18 Responses

Microwave tested

I performed a scientific test. I have a "Kill-a-watt" watt-hour meter. I plugged the microwave into it and made 500ml of hot water, measuring the temperature before and after. I did the same with a electric kettle, stopping the kettle when it reached the same temperature as the microwaved water. Anyone can repeat this experiment with a $40 "Kill-a-watt" and a thermometer.

I don't have my notes handy, but the microwave was quite a bit more efficient in this simple case.

Another thing in the microwave's favor is that you make exactly as much hot water as you want. In the electric kettle, you either measure and pour, take a chance at not having a full cup, or heat extra water, which ends up getting dissipated.

In the kettle's favor is (as you point out) the "phantom load" of the microwave, which uses energy just to show you a flashing "12:00", since the instructions got thrown away long ago and no one can recall how to set the clock. I search for old, thrift-store microwaves with mechanical timers -- no light show, but no phantom load, either.

Also in the kettle's favor is what I would assume is a higher embodied energy in the microwave. On a mass-basis alone, the microwave consumed more energy in its manufacture. Considering the electronic parts and special materials pushes the embedded energy up even more. Then there's the greater disposal problem, too.

Let me know if you'd like me to dig out my notes for exact kilowatt-hour consumption of both devices.On Umbra on boiling water for tea posted 2 years, 9 months ago 23 Responses

It *is* important, because...

"peak oil has been one of the biggest wastes of intellectual energy- it adds essentially nothing to the debate of CC and energy- let's put it aside and move forward"
I disagree. If we don't have this debate, all we have is Exxon saying oil will last forever, and that we should just go out and buy the biggest car and drive as far as we can.

"Peak Oil" theory hits the public in ways they can understand. It shows the relationship between energy and food, medicine, life-style, and numerous other things.

Most people don't get this. They think they'll get a Prius and everything will be okay. They don't understand that their shopping cart at the grocery store is saturated in petroleum. They don't know that human population growth correlates exactly with the growth of fossil fuel -- and haven't even had to think of the subsequent implication of decline of fossil fuel.

We need a carrot and a stick. The carrot hasn't worked by itself -- outside of a small percentage of humans who view themselves as "do gooders," the vast unwashed masses have yet to do anything that their wallet has not forced them to do. For most people, the rewards have just not been there.

Peak Oil is the stick. If people know that energy will, on average, cost them more next year, they will use it more carefully this year. Peak Oil is the absolute. It is the injection of basic physics and the Laws of Thermodynamics into the unreality of economics and the false joyride of consumerism and endless growth. It says, "You'd better do something meaningful with this gift of ancient sunlight, because it's going away." People can understand that.

On a grander scale, fossil energy decline and climate change are irreconcilably intertwined. This could be a "win-win" situation here. Any meaningful work on one must include the other! While one may choose to concentrate on one aspect or the other, it makes no sense for the two camps to start throwing darts at each other. Let's find an integrated solution to both problems!

People who are living alternative life-styles shouldn't be too smug, either. I don't think any human on earth is really free of by fossil fuel, and everyone will be impacted by its decline.

For those who aren't really sure what energy really is, and what all the fuss is about, I've written a brief primer that appeared in Communities Magazine.

:::: Jan Steinman, Communication Steward, EcoReality ::::

:::: Jan Steinman, EcoReality: http://www.EcoReality.org ::::

Great thread, Jan!

There is a bit of dis-information going on here about "ecovillages" that people are passing off as fact.

There is a great film called "Visions of Utopia", by Geoph Kozeny. It is full of stories of successful intentional communities and ecovillages, both religious and non-religious. There are ecovillages that have been functioning for decades, such as Findhorn in Scotland, and The Farm in Tennessee.

You can find many more examples in the Federation of Intentional Communities website. And yes, many, many of those claim to be "forming", but that is more a matter of humility than reality: Permaculture teaches us to pursue "transition strategies", rather than complete, immutable solutions that will last forever and ever. If I ever settle myself in a community that is not "forming," then it's time to put on that wooden suit!

But for every world-famous, long-term ecovillage, there are a hundred that operate informally, below-the-radar, "off grid", if you will. (Ecovillage aficionados  use "off grid" to mean "done without permit or government scrutiny", rather than the more common meaning of "not connected to commercial electricity.")

This makes them nearly invisible, in many cases. Some are operating, certified organic farms, but have a dozen families working a large acerage. Some masquerade as retreats and conference centers. Others are simply a bunch of people living on a largish tract. They use various forms of governance, from "fiefdom style" landlord/tenent, to cooperating clusters of families, to full-fledged egalitarian communes, with income and even asset sharing. Most successful ones fall between the extremes, with formal consensus as the dominant decision making method.

Author Diana Leafe Christian (Creating a Life Together) does note that 90% of forming intentional communities fail. But do they really fail, or do their founders go on to do a better job next time? This is "the bible" for ecovillage founders, and the lessons are being documented for increasing the success rate.

The Art of Community Conference Northwest drew over 200 people, primarily from the US Pacific Northwest, who together probably represent at least 20, 000 others who are forming earth- or social-based intentional communities.

I believe these organization -- or "dis-organizations", since the movement is generally anarchic -- is what Richard Heinberg calls "cultural lifeboats". These organizations will exist, because they will have to, in the coming chaos. They may be civilization's best hope for keeping humanity alive as we return to an energy budget that we have not endured since there were under a billion humans on this planet.

You might not have a good handle for what an ecovillage is. The exact meaning of "ecovillage" is unimportant. The work being done by ecovillagers is!

In the interest of transparency, I will say that I am a columnist for Communities Magazine, the journal of cooperative living, and am a co-founder of a "forming" ecovillage, EcoReality. Take that either as bias, or as credential, as you will.

You might also enjoy the article that Diana and I did together, about the prospects for ecovillages in the coming energy decline. It's not all roses. There are serious challenges on the horizon for everyone; I remain convinced that the growing ecovillage/Permaculture movement is one of the best ways of meeting those challenges.

"Permaculture [and by implication, most ecovillages] is revolution disguised as organic gardening." -- Bill Mollison

:::: Jan Steinman, EcoReality: http://www.EcoReality.org ::::

Invaluable Reference!

Anyone who is considering intentional community should run, not walk, and get the book Creating a Life Together, by Diana Leafe Christian.

Diana, editor for a decade of Communities Magazine (itself a great resource), notes that only about 10% of such projects succeed, and thoroughly covers the pitfalls and pleasures of starting an intentional community.On Umbra on co-housing posted 3 years, 11 months ago 5 Responses