You would think that with signals everywhere about how world energy production has peaked, there would be more rational discussion generally about how to prepare for the future. In some ways, our way of living is ridiculously wasteful of energy. At least ten litres of fuel are used to get the 50 litres of petrol to your local filling station and into your car. And when you go and pick up the shopping in the car, you use more energy in the transport to do that than is embodied in the calories in the food itself. In fact we are surrounded by huge amounts of energy in embodied form. To make a car uses nearly as much energy as the car uses over its lifetime.
Embodied energy – emergy – and why we need so much of it is an evolutionary conundrum
For scientifically minded people like myself who like to put things in spreadsheets and do back of envelope calculations this all seems like dysfunctional behaviour gone mega. You would think there would be a drive for all of us to live better on less energy, more equitably at that, which would reduce wars and crime. However, the biologist in me has another explanation. To understand this conundrum you need to think about evolution.
When you go and pick up the shopping in the car, you use more energy in the transport than is embodied in the calories in the food itself.
I remember being on a biology field-trip during my university studies way back in the 70s, and my lecturer pointing out the shape of one of the shells of the snails living in the woods.
“Isn’t evolution a mystery?” he said. “That large protuberance on the side of the shell has no function, and it has taken a lot of energy for the snail to make it. Still the snails survive. You would think evolution would make everything a lot more energy effective.”
At first thoughts one might be tempted to think that the snail shell shape was a snapshot in time of shells evolving towards a more energy-effective future and a better design. In fact, today, the discussion is very much alive in sustainability circles. The term emergy, short for embedded energy, means the energy required to get a product into your possession, for example for a car it could be from mine to driveway.
You might think mammals’ energy use is a snapshot in time evolving towards a more energy-effective future. You would be so wrong.
However, looking at the animal kingdom, mammals and birds especially, although nature is highly energy efficient, you see peacocks with giant spectacular feathers, lions with huge manes, elk with magnificent antlers etc. There is something more than energy efficiency behind all this; and it has to do with mating.
A theory of evolutionary biology says that animals, often males, develop features signalling they have an excess of energy. This makes them more attractive to the opposite sex. Crudely put, the female thinks “if he has all that excess energy to make those stupid antlers then he probably has enough to look after me and all the wonderful kids we are going to have”.
What does this all have to do with the peak of oil production? Well, humans work the same way too. We don’t develop protuberances or fancy feathers, but we are nuts about making things look really neat, shiny, straight, flat, fancy, big … you get the idea. I could go on for ages.
This drive to make great stuff, including clothes and running all the way up past yachts to skyscrapers is in part down to a built-in evolutionary drive to procreate. As we are flock animals, the position in the flock is important for the couple so both males and females drive the creation and acquisition of possessions that signal excess of energy.
We are not going to address peak oil until we address our own built-in natural drives.
By now you will probably realise this drive is comparative. For the couple to establish their rank in the flock they need to be a little bit better than others they see around them. Put another way, there is an evolutionary drive in humans to use excess energy to form the environment around them. In a way, this is forming themselves, the environment and possessions define who they are.
Stepping aside from the deeper discussion of how this drive operates in society, we turn to the incredulous scientists – standing with an advanced calculator in their hand wondering how the population of the Earth can use so much energy and get so little achieved.
Some examples: despite the fact we have used up around half of the world’s oil reserves, more people are in poverty, without food and water and education than ever before. Despite years of research and development we are still driving around in cars that give the same gas mileage as the Model T Ford. And the third largest cause of death is in the transport system.
A growing number of scientifically educated people, me included, are baffled by the apparent disinterest in doing anything about creating a standard of living using planet friendly levels of energy.
But of course we still love our shiny stuff, we scientifically minded still want to establish our position in society so we still exhibit high emergy behaviour. We have to find a way – and you could call it new technology of you like although not the kind of technology that requires machines – to act as responsible stewards of the planet whilst living with the genetic drives built in to us. We need if you like, an inner way to come to terms with these animal drives. We already have advanced practices to deal with aggression (laws, policing) and sex drive (moral codes, marriage). This technology (maybe I should use another term – like cultural value and practice) could include rites of passage into adulthood, ceremonies, training from elders, self-imposed limits, all kind of things.
Which brings me to my final reflection: these things are probably to be found in ancient tribal cultures. Tribal cultures appeared in a context where the amount of energy available was constant (for example what the forest, in walking distance, gave in terms of fruit and animals). Let us find the bearers of these cultures and go and talk to them before they disappear from the face of the earth, killed by fast food, runaway trucks or fossil-fuel powered war.
The experience of presenting and being part of the sustainability conference 17-18th July at Mundekulla was quite amazing. So amazing that I’m putting together a longer reflection. For now, a video from the speakers.
2nd Sustainability Conference 17-18 July in Mundekulla, near Emmaboda, Sweden.
This year’s theme: “Man and Nature”
“Think seven generations forward in every important decision”
Native American proverb
Scientists, business leaders, politicians and ordinary people are increasingly beginning to question our lifestyle.
How has it become the way it is and what can we do about it? How can we create a sustainable future?
These questions are vitally important and affect us all. The change begins with each of us and together we can make a difference if we take these issues seriously ….
The conference takes place in conjunction with the annual Circle Way Camp
Inspiring lectures, meetings and talks!
Welcome to experiential events where you get inspiration to take steps towards your vision of how to live, work and live. Over the weekend, involved representatives from different parts of the world will give their perspective on the human attitude towards nature. After each lecture small groups will gather where everyone can express their own thoughts and attitudes. The weekend concludes with an “Open Space Forum” in which all participants are invited to share their thoughts. On Saturday night, we offer film shows, slide shows, dance, movement and mingling. Lectures are held in simple English and translated on request.
From the programme: -The Original Instructions
Has the man lost his original relationship with nature? Is there a way back?
Listen to a fascinating lecture based on the original Indian wisdom
Indian Medicine Story, 81 years (USA) & Ellika Linden -Transition Towns / Transition Sweden
A unique worldwide initiative to meet the challenges of peak oil and climate change. It starts with you and me and local initiatives!
Stephen Hinton (England), author of the book “Inventing for the Sustainable Planet”
Eco-philosophy
From mechanical to ekocentrisk worldview! What do the ancient and modern philosophers (Aristotle, Descartes, James Lovelock and Peter Singer on our relationship with nature.
Tania Rebel (Holland) MD in Ethics, Religion, Society
-Permaculture and The Cuban Way
A fascinating lecture on Sustainable Development in South Africa and Cuba! Be inspired by the basics of Permaculture – an approach that includes everything from farming to urban planning.
Ezio Gori (SA) Sustainable Development Consultant -Auroville – A Sustainable Example
Auroville is a unique eco-village in India where people from all over the world live and have created a common vision and a sustainable example
DATES
Saturday at 09:30, 17 July – Sunday at 17:00, July 18 (Arrive Friday evening)
Accommodation
Stay in tents (for free), mobile home, dormitory, single electricity. doubles.
Food
All meals are included such as lunch, dinner on Saturday and breakfast, lunch and refreshments on Sunday.
Price including food
1600: – in your own tent
Reduced rates for children and adolescents and the possibility to rent rooms
Extra night
We offer the opportunity to arrive a day before according to the pricing below.
100: – in your own tent
150: – on the mattress in the dormitory
250: – in double room with shared shower & toilet
350: – in double room with private shower & toilet
500: – single room with private shower & toilet
Read more about our rental rules and how the notification works. Click here
Registration is done online as below link or by phone: 0471-50450 alt info@mundekulla.se.
Yesterday, the Swedish National Institute of Economic Research issued a forecast of growth of 3.7% to 2012. In a manner rather atypical for the newspaper, SVD today slams into the Institute with an article heavily criticising them for measuring the wrong things. “They measure the trees but forget to assess the woods” says reporter Jacob Bursell. (my translation).
The article goes on to state how the clinical, detailed and lifeless analysis diverts attention from people and the real problems facing us.
He goes on: “Economic thinking is putting the whole world into debt. The cheques being written today cannot be paid either by coming generations or in Earth resources. We go running towards the abyss hoping someone will invent a parachute, not pausing once to consider if we are measuring the right things”.
We choose to measure our society against one single axiom -the indisputable good of economic growth.
I agree, and applaud the newspaper SVD in speaking up against the work of the Institute – accepting of course that the Institute is only doing its job. It is assigned to measure and forecast using GNP by a government who should know better. Furthermore, its assignment does not include discerning between good growth (i.e. sales of food ) and “bad growth” (i.e. economic activities that that harm humans or the environment – for example by churning out massive amounts of carbon dioxide ).
More critical thinking is needed if we are to develop society to be able to show resilience to the challenges ahead – including our climate, energy depletion and economic difficulties.
Transition Conference Day Three Day three was rather diminished as I had to get to London to catch the last flight back to Sweden the same day. I did manage however to attend the Web meeting with Ed Mitchell.
What Transition are doing is truly revolutionary, While most charities would aim to set up websites that mirror the look and feel of the central organization, Transition in the UK are taking a strictly “hands off” approach. Countries, continents, cities, districts and neighbourhoods may set up their webs as best they will. On the other hand, every transitioner in the world is welcome to sign up on their site, (and post links to their own) as is every initiative and project. This way, the central site will connect people, initiatives and projects without having to host them.
The same applies for International subject groups and discussions, which the new site will host. I love the open, hands-off, yet coordinating and networking role Ed and Transition have been able to create. I wish them luck with getting funding for the next project, which will pill all these things together real time via a giant RSS aggregator. In the meantime, I will be carrying on with the Transition Sweden site on the NING platform, hoping to take some inspiration from the UK site and linking in where I can.
We are in dire need of a paradigm shift. One that brings us into sustainability. Before I explain what this shift could entail I need to spend a short time talking about paradigms.
The word first entered more general use in 1962, when Thomas Kuhn released the book The Structure of the Scientific Revolution. For him a shift of paradigm was a change of one way of thinking to another when “one conceptual world view is replaced by another”.
In business, the concept has been used to explore ways of thinking and working that are so common and ingrained in the organization that staff probably do not know they are using them. In this respect, a paradigm gives a HOW often phrased in everyday terms as “the best way to…… is to ….”.
Consultants work to identify the paradigm and bring it to the surface, to examine how functional is it given the new business reality.
So a paradigm shift occurs when there is a major change in circumstances or attitudes.
Take the paradigm “The best way to calculate sums is to use one of our mechanical adding machines”. This paradigm became obsolete when they invented electrical calculators.
Here are some other paradigms that have shifted
The best way to discourage murder is to hang murderers. (Changes when taking human life is valued differently and research into prevention reveals other possibilities.)
The best way to keep in contact electronically is by e-mail. (Changes when social networking sites blossom.)
What situation do we have today that is different from say, ten years ago? Well, we have a growing awareness of the downsides of environmental depletion and destruction caused by our way of life. Emission of carbon dioxide are over the 350 safe limit and oil production has probably peaked. For more on this see my “back of the envelope” explanation of the end of the oil age. We have to explore the paradigms underlying the set-up.
The following text borrows from work done by SURE on the Krakow declaration, soon to be released.
The current paradigm holds that the best way to provide daily needs is via a system that stimulates global human attachment to consumption and to economic growth (as measured by GDP and other indicators). We are convinced that this paradigm is essentially unsustainable and counterproductive.
The system involves human actions that contribute to climate change and to the drawdown of the world’s limited resources. This further limits the capability of ecosystems to provide valuable services for future generations and reduces their access to mineral and biological resources as well.
The application of this paradigm results in:
• Unlimited emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
• Unrestricted depletion of non-renewable (fossil and nuclear) fuels
• Deforestation
• Reckless management of water resources with scarcity of drinking water on one hand and accumulations and flooding on the other
• An economic system that invests in operations with high amount of external burden on the environment
If this paradigm continues to be the main driver of human activity, it will lead to continuing acceleration of climate change, to devastation through flooding, weather extremes, rises in sea level, loss of biodiversity and desertification; to the drawdown of natural resources of all kinds. Furthermore, and equally important, it will not deliver that which it is set up to do, failing ultimately to tackle widespread poverty and human suffering.
Moving towards a sustainable Europe in a sustainable world
We offer a new paradigm: the best approach to providing daily needs to citizens is to configure the system so its capacity to provide services increases whilst at the same time biological and mineral resources stay available, and ecosystems that provide essential services remain intact.
This paradigm is characterised by
• High and visible degree of social equitability
• Limiting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
• Limiting depletion of non-renewable (fossil and nuclear) fuels
• Forest cover preservation and regrowth particularly of tropical forests
• Sustainable management of water resources throughout the world
• An economic system that enables investment in creation of daily needs services that work without unsustainable external effects
It’s nine o’clock in the morning at the Transition Conference and time for Pattern Language. This is what I came here for. The new Transition Handbook will be based around pattern language, and as a member of the steering group in Sweden I feel it is imperative I get a handle on it.
Although I must admit it got off to a strange start. Sitting in a circle, we were all asked to express our feelings about how it feels to be a man/woman and how in my case, being a man can contribute positively to Transition. I get overwhelmed by my experience of living in Sweden where you get the feeling from many a woman that your manly attitudes, ways of thinking, predilection to follow your hormones rather than feelings and inability to put the toilet lid down are the root cause of all of Sweden’s troubles today and that if we would just get out of the way and let women show us how to do it all would be well.
I open my mouth to blurt out my inferiority complex and realise I have come to the wrong meeting. I am in the one about gender issues. I mumble something apologetic and start to leave, being followed by a couple of others. So I am relieved at least I am not the only one. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
The end of the oil age is nigh, and politicians are working on their austerity measures and speeches about crisis. Everyone seems to have a good idea about how things should be done, but the illusion that it is working is fading as oil leaks decimate three US states, politicians are caught with their fingers in the till and the effects of global warming surprise even the most updated weathermen.
Enter the Transition Towns Conference. A huge undertaking, and mostly self organising. Three hundred and fifty people in one room organising themselves into 30 groups, follow up groups, expert groups etc. And then organising field trips and lectures and even an evening of impromptu entertainment. You just don’t do this, get people to travel thousands of miles to talk about that which they need to talk about without any prepared agenda. Or do you? Maybe this is a taste where we need to go. We know we have a problem, we know we want to solve it. We have some ideas maybe, but we need to get together. I guess it’s rather like the way doctors treat a patient lying like a lifeless package in intensive care. The surgeon, the internal medicine specialist, the anaesthetist, the neurologist, the oncologist all have to decide on the way forward in conference.
Most of us have never met before, but with some clever warming up exercises and formation of “buddy groups” we are all raring to go. The power of the open space technique never fails to amaze and astound me as before my eyes people rush up from their seats to start topics for discussion.
Later, in a theme session on national hubs I meet people from six countries who are going through the same process we are in Sweden, forming a national organisation to support local transition groups. Each shares their experiences succinctly, and the discussion moves effectively around the topics of our interest: the hub’s roles and way of working.
(I’ll be posting more on the national hub work from subsequent system.)
My open space group was to discuss local food supply systems. Again, we managed to produces a pretty good overview of the various options and group members were able to provide examples of most of them. (I’ll post on this group later.)
Follow up activities fell out of the group work, and the Transition network website will provide the discussion and information sharing platform after the conference is over.
And that is just day one. It really is a wonderfully positive experience to be a conference like this, with a bunch of diverse but very switched on and sincere people. And to be under the care of the Transition Network people, who have been meticulously developing the techniques behind the deceptively simple and smooth workshop methodology. Just like the doctors, they want the patient to live and want to do their bit. In this case the patient is the life support system we rely on and the social infrastructure placed on it. And getting the patient off intensive care is prizing society off the addiction to the oil that is flowing through every vein of the precarious set up that comprises up out living arrangements.
Acting in gratitude, appreciation and using all our gifts - intelligence, innovation, hope and determination - we can create a life for ourselves that is truly, inwardly and outwardly, a very beautiful place.
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