Sustainability 101 - Core Concepts
First Law. Non-renewable resources must not be used in a
manner that precludes their future re-use, and the maximum
sustainable level of renewable resource use is the minimum
reliable level of renewal.
Second Law. Achievement of sustainable society globally
requires that every definable area, whether natural or
political, maintain a population and consumption level
sustainable within the applicable borders, using the local
resources, or trade in a sustainable manner.
Third Law. Personal or societal experimentation and
development requires the availability of excess resources.
Fourth Law. There is no "away" where we can throw
things, or move to.
Fifth Law. An economic system becomes fragile when it
comes to depend on external exchange over which it has little
control. - Ekholm
Sixth Law. "If an ethical foundation is lacking, a civilization
collapses. Civilization exists in the effort to perfect
humanity, and originates when a population is inspired to
attain progress and to serve." Albert Schweitzer.
Seventh Law. "In our every deliberation, we must consider
the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations" -
From the Great Law of the Iroquois Nation
Eighth Law. Isolate Human Activity. An ecology optimized
for human habitation and life support is incompatible with a
natural state ecosystem.
Ninth Law. Protection of personal property rights is
essential. People are more readily willing to present their
surpluses for trade, if they are assured they are free to
negotiate the trade, or not, without fear that the "authorities"
will take their property.
Tenth Law. Survival of the fittest, but not perhaps what you
would first think.
Eleventh Law. "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a
day; teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”
Twelth Law. Deep-seated problems require more than a
positive mental attitude and collection of short-term success
formulas.
Thirteenth Law. Power corrupts, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely.
Fourteenth Law. Law of the minimum. There are critical
factors that limit living and non-living processes, regardless
of the quantity of other factors present.
Background on the Laws
These are presented not as arbitrary laws invented by society
and governments but as physical principles to apply to
human civilization. They may occasionally be "bent", with
consequences, but for the most part cannot be broken without
dire effect. In your own life, you must plan. What are your
desired results? What are your personal guidelines? Your
resources? To whom are you accountable? Who suffers the
consequences of your actions?
Discussion of the Laws
First Law. Non-renewable resources must not be used in a
manner that precludes their future re-use, and the maximum
sustainable level of renewable resource use is the minimum
reliable level of renewal. Living and non-living resources
can, given existing science, be renewable, or non renewable.
Consider aluminum scrap. It takes technology, and
electricity, to produce aluminum. In general though, once
we've produced metallic aluminum, it remains available for
re-use. Even if discarded in our garbage, it essentially
remains in a form that can be salvaged by simple human
activity, and with low-level technology re-melted and re-
formed into new useful items. Consider fossil fuels such as
oil or coal. If we use this resource as molecular feedstock to
create plastics, and many other physical objects, the
molecules essentially remain available to be recycled. If
however we burn the resource as fuel, we have effectively
destroyed it beyond our ability to recycle.
Second Law. Achievement of sustainable society globally
requires that every definable area, whether natural or
political, maintain a population and consumption level
sustainable within the applicable borders, using the local
resources, or trade in a sustainable manner.
Globalization is a mistake. Cheap (for most purposes, "free")
fuels have lead to a global network of supply and distribution
that is simply not sustainable when fuels return to being a
"currently" paid cost. An early 2006 advertisement by
Archer Daniels Midland could easily be considered the
"poster child" for peak oil. The ad shows an Asian teen, with
the text:
Somewhere west of Shenyang, a teenager is stopping for
dinner. Which is why the soybean harvest west of Peroria is
not stopping. And why a soybean processor west of St.
Louis is not stopping. And why a ship's captain on the west
coast is stopping but just for a while. Somewhere west of
Shenyand a teenager is stopping for dinner. A dinner rich in
soy protein.
Consider the implication. This youth, supposedly in China,
is apparently depending on a soybean crop in the United
States, and a network of fossil-fuel powered processing and
shipment industries, for sufficient dietary protein on his plate.
Third Law. Personal or societal experimentation and
development requires the availability of excess resources. At
an extreme example, if an upper limit large population is
living at a barely subsistence level, any crop failure will
result in famine. In that scenario, who can afford to
experiment on the hope of a better crop, while risking a
failure?
Fourth Law. There is no "away" where we can throw
things, or move to. The Earth is a finite area sphere. Absent
a scientific miracle, space travel, if we can maintain it, will
only be available for a minute portion of the population. It is
often tossed out that we should just send all of our
radioactive waste to the sun. Sending untold tons of mass, on
an ongoing basis, on a trip to the sun greatly exceeds our
present capabilities.
We are, for all practical intents and purposes, "stuck" on
Earth with whatever is here, arrives here, or that we in our
misguided efforts generate.
Earlier, limited geographic scope civilizations, even Rome,
still only occupied a limited area of the globe. It was, if
essential, possible to physically walk away from a collapsing
society. We've created a high energy, intensely
interdependent global society. When the collapse reaches
some critical point, anyone and anything still dependent on
the infrastructure at that time will most likely fall with the
rest.
Fifth Law. An economic system becomes fragile when it
comes to depend on external exchange over which it has little
control. - Ekholm Similar to the above "away" discussion,
but limited to the financial aspect. Even if you have a
reliable local food system, and can obtain your other essential
life support locally, what happens to you if you have a need
for a continued flow of funds, customers for your goods or
services, who are not local? If you're in debt, and cut off
from cash flow, is someone going to foreclose on your
homestead?
Even when local food, water, housing, etc. have remained
viable, with labor needed to keep life support processes
properly going, history has shown that there have at the same
time been vast amounts of idle labor. Examples would be
when a national currency fails, whether from hyper-inflation,
or extreme devaluation, such that it is no longer trusted as a
medium of exchange. Those who do not personally know
and trust each other, find themselves reluctant to enter into
financial arrangements with a cloudy future, and local
activity fails for want of a questionable larger scale economy.
Informal local barter programs are a start, but a local stable
and accepted means of exchange can be a significant tool in
reducing the local effect of a large sector economic
downturn.
Sixth Law. "If an ethical foundation is lacking, a civilization
collapses. Civilization exists in the effort to perfect
humanity, and originates when a population is inspired to
attain progress and to serve." Albert Schweitzer.
I need to trust you, and you to trust me, if we are going to co-
exist without some third party that we both either trust, or
that is imposing control, monitoring and ensuring our
interactions.
Seventh Law. "In our every deliberation, we must consider
the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations" -
From the Great Law of the Iroquois Nation
Depending on the average age for giving birth, 7 generations
is something between 96 and 240 years. If a per person
resource use can be continued for seven generations without
measurable diminishment , or intrusion into nature or
forceful intrusion on another person, start to consider it
sustainable.
Eighth Law. Isolate Human Activity. An ecology optimized
for human habitation and life support is incompatible with a
natural state ecosystem. We need nature, nature does not
need us. A garden alone can example the need to keep
"undesired" critters out to optimize our food production, yet
if we intrude further on remaining nature we risk causing
extinctions.
Ninth Law. Protection of personal property rights is
essential. People are more readily willing to present their
surpluses for trade, if they are assured they are free to
negotiate the trade, or not, without fear that the "authorities"
will take their property. If ownership is not protected,
envision the lazy who decide they have the right to move in
and take from the innovator and builder. Such a threat
destroys incentive, and stagnates civilization at the least
common denominator. Scientific and other discoveries and
breakthroughs in history are, for the most part, individual
achievements, with the "assistance" of a stable surrounding
and supporting community. Protection of property rights is a
primary purpose, if not THE purpose for governments to
exist.
Tenth Law. Survival of the fittest, but not perhaps what you
would first think. Early tools, stones and knives required
physical strength, and hand to hand combat ability was
essential to survival. The bow, a more refined tool, allowed
for lesser strength but a distinct skill to provide distant
neutralization of an adversary or animal. Our continued
progression has made mind and precision more important
than strength, in a feedback loop. The drive to overpopulate
was early on another survival trait, as many died as children,
or before they had their own children. Like other early
"cave" aspects, given the now global coverage of humanity,
the drive to populate is obsolete. The "gene" for prolific
procreation is now a threat to the entire race.
Eleventh Law. "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a
day; teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a
lifetime”. A handout of some of your excess food may
provide someone a meal, but it does not turn them into a
valued member of society. In a period of falling stores of
food, those unable to provide any valued service should
expect to be left without resources.
Twelth Law. Deep-seated problems require more than a
positive mental attitude and collection of short-term success
formulas. The only quick-fix for overpopulation is slaughter.
For the end of cheap energy it is reworking the infrastructure.
Thirteenth Law. Power corrupts, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely. Taxation to buy votes, criminalization of
victimless activity, and eminent domain property
confiscation are tools to substitute a politicians plan for
yours.
Fourteenth Law. Law of the minimum. There are critical
factors that limit living and non-living processes, regardless
of the quantity of other factors present. As exampled in
protein discussions, the protein balance of an egg is
essentially ideal and able to be fully used by a human body.
Reduce or eliminate any one of the complimentary proteins,
and in the case of eggs the rest of the egg is processed by the
body as fuel, rather than tissue building proteins. On a macro
scale, being in a remote warehouse full of dry food is of little
value to you, if there is no water.
Discussion forum: Location Specific - Tucson, AZ, USA
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SustainableTucson/
Discussion forum: Implications, action:
www.egroups.com/group/RunningOnEmpty2
Printed Monday, July 17, 2006
COPY THIS ITEM FREELY