Dear Friends,
Welcome to my blog! I had imagined that I wouldn't begin it until well into our New Zealand adventure. However, an experience I had yesterday was so relevant, hopeful and fun that I'm happy to begin my blog with it. Read on.
Warm wishes,
Joanna
KIDS ENVISION SUSTAINABLE VILLAGES
For anyone who feels a little burnt out by efforts to promote sustainability (beyond the blue box), I would wish for them to spend time with groups of kids set the task of imagining a sustainable settlement. The enthusiasm, creativity and intelligence unleashed when I did this recently knocked me off my feet.
These youngsters, from nine to twenty, were participating in a camp for young social activists – ‘The Take Action Academy’ held annually in several sites in Canada and Asia. Several dozen of them spent a sunny August afternoon ‘constructing’ their own sustainable village last month. They began by meditating on a vision of the Earth:
You are an intergalactic observer approaching the solar system with its unusual array of planets, observing them over several million years. You focus on one of them that, unlike the others, seems to have a lot of movement and change on it. This will be worth a closer examination. In your immense galactic timescale you watch as mountains form, tectonic plates move across oceans. Now you realize you are looking at life processes – a rare or even unique phenomenon in the universe. Very simple forms develop towards tiny algae. The algae make oxygen, which makes it possible for more complex forms to grow, flourish and evolve into ever more complex and diverse species. Each species is dependent on a myriad others to maintain the atmosphere, to provide food and to dispose of waste. All depend on bacteria in the soil for the latter function. The whole intricate system is a cycle of growth, decay, recycling.
The spherical layer of plant and animal life on the surface of this amazing planet Earth (called the biosphere) is astonishing in its intricacy and interdependence. It can adapt to slow change, such as the coming and going of ice ages. When change is fast, such as a meteor hitting the Earth, there is a jolt in life processes. Many creatures die and entire species become extinct.
Furthermore, to your intergalactic eye, it is extraordinarily beautiful. The blue planet beneath its layer of swirling white clouds, has an awe-inspiring diversity of lovely landforms with soaring mountains, waterfalls, forests of many kinds, gorgeous flowers and fruits, stunning animals, insects and sea creatures. Alongside countless other species you see one very interesting one in the family of great apes. These creatures are more advanced in tool use than any others, are developing complex languages and elaborate communities, some of monumental proportions. They are very clever at using what Nature provides to fulfill their own needs. So skilful are they, that they multiply, slowly for their first million years or so. Once they discover the energy in fossil fuels and all it can do for them, their growth is exponential and very speedy. They quickly cover the Earth with their agriculture and domestic animals, their roads and their cities. They cut down forests fast, bring minerals and oil to the surface of the Earth from deep in its crust, burn the oil and gas, create new toxic chemical compounds and radioactive waste that Nature cannot process. You see then beginning this on a small scale and can see that the Earth can partially adjust. As the scale of human activity grows and grows, the Earth can no longer adjust. Things are out of balance. Humans and their domestic animals exceed in numbers all other animals, and use most of Earth’s photosynthetic activity in plants for their own purposes. They crowd out other species who, day by day, lose their last surviving members, and become extinct. Loss of species further unbalances the intricate interdependency of Nature. Humans need Nature. They cannot eat, be clothed or sheltered by money or gold, but they are destroying Nature. One billion of the 6 billion humans are using up the resources at a particularly fast rate, while billions of others use insufficient resources for their own needs. Not only are other species dying, but the heavy users of resources are, in effect, stealing from future humans’ chances of surviving and thriving.
Haven’t they noticed what they’re doing, you wonder. You can see that some have noticed and are trying to alert the others. The ones who have noticed are also trying to bring things back into balance and to work out how to live in harmony with Nature. They want to live in a way that is sustainable, that doesn’t hurt the Earth or the chances of future humans to thrive. This is quite difficult, as they have become used to many things that are unsustainable. You can see a little group of young people wrestling with this problem.
Next, the young people discussed principles of sustainablity, as follows:
· No fossil fuels
· No nonrenewable energy sources
· Nonrenewable resources only from recycling.
· Renewable resources to be used at rates below the rate of renewal.
· No adding compounds to the biosphere that don’t occur naturally.
· No garbage.
· Everyone must have sufficient for a dignified life.
Then, they set to work in small groups with cardboard, scissors and markers to construct their village, with the following instructions:
Your team is the planning group to develop a sustainable settlement for about 500 people. Everyone has agreed to stick as closely as possible to the principles of sustainability, even though it means a considerable
change in lifestyle.
Your resources:
· People with a great variety of skills.
· Enough good land for a settlement
· Good water. There is a river nearby and wells are possible.
· A forest.
· There are other settlements nearby working on the same principles. Some of them have small-scale manufacturing of needed commodities in accordance with the sustainability principles.
1. How will you feed yourselves?
2. How will you get water?
3. How will you house yourselves?
4. How will you clothe yourselves?
5. How will you get energy for heating, lighting, appliances, manufacturing?
6. How will you deal with waste?
7. How will you transport yourselves?
8. How will you entertain yourselves?
9. How will you organize health and dental care?
10. How will you deal with educational needs?
11. How will decisions be made, problems be solved and conflicts be resolved in this community?
12. What will be your job in this village?
The young people leapt into the task immediately. They created gardens, considered vegetarianism, organized crop rotation, grew crops for fibre (cotton, hemp bamboo), installed composting toilets and solar panels in their houses, built windmills, biogas tanks and micro-hydro installations for energy, worked out how to husband their forest resources carefully to supply housing, fuel and paper, created a hospital, school and recreation centre, used their grey water for their gardens. They laid out their housing and land with great thoughtfulness, and traded with neighbouring villages. They got around by foot, bicycle, horse and sparing use of a biodiesel-powered bus. They would hold regular town hall meetings for decision-making.
They asked remarkable questions, for example, ‘Could you explain the relationship between the exponential growth of fossil fuel use and of human population?’ (from a 14 year-old) and ‘How does methane degrade?’
They identified a great array of jobs for themselves, and arrived at the idea that one person might combine both intellectual and manual jobs. A young boy considered he might be a doctor and a blacksmith, and another very young boy also wanted to be a physician and hunt and fish for the community’s meat. A prospective midwife also wanted to care for animals. Another would combine building and accountancy. Others identified jobs of teacher, carpenter, botanist, farmer, baker, seamstress, maker of biodiesel fuel, manager of alternative currency system, environmental engineer, inventor, holistic healer.
When asked what they would like about living in the village the had constructed, overwhelmingly they identified the benefits of living in a community, helping each other, working on behalf of the whole. One girl thought it would be good to be unburdened of the anxiety of living unsustainably. They would enjoy the greater space to lay in, swimming in the river, being closer to the Earth. They thought this would be a healthier life.
What wouldn’t they like about this? Remarkably little, it seems. Having fewer children around, perhaps not having sports teams, carrying a lot of responsibility and needing to work hard were identified.
It was an exhilarating and hope-inducing experience working with these wonderful young people. We need to nurture this creativity and intelligence. It’s what is needed to construct a sustainable future.
Welcome to my blog! I had imagined that I wouldn't begin it until well into our New Zealand adventure. However, an experience I had yesterday was so relevant, hopeful and fun that I'm happy to begin my blog with it. Read on.
Warm wishes,
Joanna
KIDS ENVISION SUSTAINABLE VILLAGES
For anyone who feels a little burnt out by efforts to promote sustainability (beyond the blue box), I would wish for them to spend time with groups of kids set the task of imagining a sustainable settlement. The enthusiasm, creativity and intelligence unleashed when I did this recently knocked me off my feet.
These youngsters, from nine to twenty, were participating in a camp for young social activists – ‘The Take Action Academy’ held annually in several sites in Canada and Asia. Several dozen of them spent a sunny August afternoon ‘constructing’ their own sustainable village last month. They began by meditating on a vision of the Earth:
You are an intergalactic observer approaching the solar system with its unusual array of planets, observing them over several million years. You focus on one of them that, unlike the others, seems to have a lot of movement and change on it. This will be worth a closer examination. In your immense galactic timescale you watch as mountains form, tectonic plates move across oceans. Now you realize you are looking at life processes – a rare or even unique phenomenon in the universe. Very simple forms develop towards tiny algae. The algae make oxygen, which makes it possible for more complex forms to grow, flourish and evolve into ever more complex and diverse species. Each species is dependent on a myriad others to maintain the atmosphere, to provide food and to dispose of waste. All depend on bacteria in the soil for the latter function. The whole intricate system is a cycle of growth, decay, recycling.
The spherical layer of plant and animal life on the surface of this amazing planet Earth (called the biosphere) is astonishing in its intricacy and interdependence. It can adapt to slow change, such as the coming and going of ice ages. When change is fast, such as a meteor hitting the Earth, there is a jolt in life processes. Many creatures die and entire species become extinct.
Furthermore, to your intergalactic eye, it is extraordinarily beautiful. The blue planet beneath its layer of swirling white clouds, has an awe-inspiring diversity of lovely landforms with soaring mountains, waterfalls, forests of many kinds, gorgeous flowers and fruits, stunning animals, insects and sea creatures. Alongside countless other species you see one very interesting one in the family of great apes. These creatures are more advanced in tool use than any others, are developing complex languages and elaborate communities, some of monumental proportions. They are very clever at using what Nature provides to fulfill their own needs. So skilful are they, that they multiply, slowly for their first million years or so. Once they discover the energy in fossil fuels and all it can do for them, their growth is exponential and very speedy. They quickly cover the Earth with their agriculture and domestic animals, their roads and their cities. They cut down forests fast, bring minerals and oil to the surface of the Earth from deep in its crust, burn the oil and gas, create new toxic chemical compounds and radioactive waste that Nature cannot process. You see then beginning this on a small scale and can see that the Earth can partially adjust. As the scale of human activity grows and grows, the Earth can no longer adjust. Things are out of balance. Humans and their domestic animals exceed in numbers all other animals, and use most of Earth’s photosynthetic activity in plants for their own purposes. They crowd out other species who, day by day, lose their last surviving members, and become extinct. Loss of species further unbalances the intricate interdependency of Nature. Humans need Nature. They cannot eat, be clothed or sheltered by money or gold, but they are destroying Nature. One billion of the 6 billion humans are using up the resources at a particularly fast rate, while billions of others use insufficient resources for their own needs. Not only are other species dying, but the heavy users of resources are, in effect, stealing from future humans’ chances of surviving and thriving.
Haven’t they noticed what they’re doing, you wonder. You can see that some have noticed and are trying to alert the others. The ones who have noticed are also trying to bring things back into balance and to work out how to live in harmony with Nature. They want to live in a way that is sustainable, that doesn’t hurt the Earth or the chances of future humans to thrive. This is quite difficult, as they have become used to many things that are unsustainable. You can see a little group of young people wrestling with this problem.
Next, the young people discussed principles of sustainablity, as follows:
· No fossil fuels
· No nonrenewable energy sources
· Nonrenewable resources only from recycling.
· Renewable resources to be used at rates below the rate of renewal.
· No adding compounds to the biosphere that don’t occur naturally.
· No garbage.
· Everyone must have sufficient for a dignified life.
Then, they set to work in small groups with cardboard, scissors and markers to construct their village, with the following instructions:
Your team is the planning group to develop a sustainable settlement for about 500 people. Everyone has agreed to stick as closely as possible to the principles of sustainability, even though it means a considerable
change in lifestyle.
Your resources:
· People with a great variety of skills.
· Enough good land for a settlement
· Good water. There is a river nearby and wells are possible.
· A forest.
· There are other settlements nearby working on the same principles. Some of them have small-scale manufacturing of needed commodities in accordance with the sustainability principles.
1. How will you feed yourselves?
2. How will you get water?
3. How will you house yourselves?
4. How will you clothe yourselves?
5. How will you get energy for heating, lighting, appliances, manufacturing?
6. How will you deal with waste?
7. How will you transport yourselves?
8. How will you entertain yourselves?
9. How will you organize health and dental care?
10. How will you deal with educational needs?
11. How will decisions be made, problems be solved and conflicts be resolved in this community?
12. What will be your job in this village?
The young people leapt into the task immediately. They created gardens, considered vegetarianism, organized crop rotation, grew crops for fibre (cotton, hemp bamboo), installed composting toilets and solar panels in their houses, built windmills, biogas tanks and micro-hydro installations for energy, worked out how to husband their forest resources carefully to supply housing, fuel and paper, created a hospital, school and recreation centre, used their grey water for their gardens. They laid out their housing and land with great thoughtfulness, and traded with neighbouring villages. They got around by foot, bicycle, horse and sparing use of a biodiesel-powered bus. They would hold regular town hall meetings for decision-making.
They asked remarkable questions, for example, ‘Could you explain the relationship between the exponential growth of fossil fuel use and of human population?’ (from a 14 year-old) and ‘How does methane degrade?’
They identified a great array of jobs for themselves, and arrived at the idea that one person might combine both intellectual and manual jobs. A young boy considered he might be a doctor and a blacksmith, and another very young boy also wanted to be a physician and hunt and fish for the community’s meat. A prospective midwife also wanted to care for animals. Another would combine building and accountancy. Others identified jobs of teacher, carpenter, botanist, farmer, baker, seamstress, maker of biodiesel fuel, manager of alternative currency system, environmental engineer, inventor, holistic healer.
When asked what they would like about living in the village the had constructed, overwhelmingly they identified the benefits of living in a community, helping each other, working on behalf of the whole. One girl thought it would be good to be unburdened of the anxiety of living unsustainably. They would enjoy the greater space to lay in, swimming in the river, being closer to the Earth. They thought this would be a healthier life.
What wouldn’t they like about this? Remarkably little, it seems. Having fewer children around, perhaps not having sports teams, carrying a lot of responsibility and needing to work hard were identified.
It was an exhilarating and hope-inducing experience working with these wonderful young people. We need to nurture this creativity and intelligence. It’s what is needed to construct a sustainable future.
1 comment:
Hi Joanna ... Jill here
What a great experience for you. You can understand why I love to teach. Kids don't always have the knowledge base to attack deep problems but that is more than compensated by their open minds, freshness of approach, and lack of rigidity. Adults who listen can learn a great deal.
Warmest wishes and good luck. I will stay "tuned" ...
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