The Future We Deserve/No Island is an Island - Lucas Gonzalez: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:36, 17 August 2010

Abstract

Asking "what if this patch of land were to become isolated" is only the start, because the fact is it's not isolated. So here we look for ways to do ++)++ (joy, skin, contribution) in space and in time, from an islander's perspective.

No island is an island

The challenge

At least for the time being, there's just one planet for all of us, including humans. But my 1500-gram brain has trouble visualizing even this single planet, with its zillion life-forms plus the relationships among them and the around-life molecules and energies. So I'll stick to my islands. (The author is based in the Canary Islands, but you can focus on any piece of land that you think you know well.)

To make the thought-experiment solid, I'll imagine there's no “away”. No food or other resources coming from distant coasts, and no place to dispose of our litter. When we do that, the “ecologic footprint” concept must be stared at eye to eye: our islands are all there is. As to information, we are not cheating if we consider all open human knowledge is close at hand for the 2 million humans living in these seven islands.

Can we get what we need, want and prefer from what we have? Could we do it now (to respond to a sudden supply crisis) and indefinitely (to develop sustainability) or simply if we wanted to? Can we survive, thrive, and even put our learning out there as part of the commons' treasure? Can we leave the camping site in a better condition than it was when we arrived?

How it's done

As I write this, the idea of gathering around a local-focus wiki [canaripedia.org] may be starting to get legs. Some of us intend to create a set of pages with the essentials for water, food and energy. We'll likely look at the full six basic causes we'll all die from: too hot, too cold, thirst, hunger, illness (including unavoidable aging) and injury (from nature or from human violence). Some domain experts will want to look into communications, transport, coordination and all the other elements essential for people to operate as groups and organisations.

To start with, we'll compile a set of 300+ questions (factual and exploratory), ask 30+ people to compile preliminary always-perfectible answers in 100 days, and publish that under an open license.

We'll look at the data we have, and include rough consensuous estimates when there's nothing more accurate. We'll convert macro-data to micro-data (grams of fruit produced or needed per person and per day, calories per square meter and per year) and back to macro. We'll ask about things no-one has asked for yet, even though they are important if we are to create a facts-based vision for our islands. How much mass of animal-edible weeds can grow per month in non-cultivated arable land? How many trees can we grow from a few branches from each of our existing trees, and what kind of trees for each place and purpose, and how?

We'll find guidance for thinking style – facts in numbers, then ideas, then muscle – in seminal works like “Without Hot Air” and “Back of the Envelope”.

We'll look at three levels. One is basic survival, of the kind computed for refugee camps, where we need to focus on people staying alive a few more days, months or years, and where if rice is all there is, then rice is what we eat. The next level is comfort and the resilience that comes from a certain degree of flexibility. The third is luxury and expansion through beyond-basic but also-human needs, such as creating and enjoying music. Hey, we may even find beyond-fossil-fuels ways to reuse the golden molecules someone inserted into our now-broken cell-phones.

The human factor

Not sure we want to tell anyone about this, but are we serving the wiki, or is the wiki serving us? You tell me. The wiki will be the (more or less structured) information space, and we'll grow it. But there's lots outside the information space, namely the conversation space (where we talk about what we need to write next, how to organise it, and so forth), and the action space (where we build physical workshops, water fruit trees and take care of each-other's injuries). We want to document the essentials, with video and audio and how-to pages and art. That way, others can join in at their own pace, with their own style, doing whatever they feel needs doing right now.

How do we start the job, and how do we keep it going? I guess it all starts with an invitation, drafted and crafted in the “open space” way. The invitation makes room for data, passion, lateral thinking, experiments, and generally lots of fun, both serious-fun and fun-fun.

'Cos, you know, life started already and some things we can't leave for later.

Lucas González Santa-Cruz, August 5th 2010

Links

Vinay Gupta: SCIM, Hexayurt, poverty, gupta option
Thomas Bjelkeman: back of the envelope, seawater greenhouses
Marcin: OSE wiki and blog
Appropedia and canaripedia
Dark Mountain
Reprap
Gunter Pauli: zeri, the blue economy, George Chan's dream farm
Complementary currencies
Smàri McCarthy: fablabs, democracy
Harrison Owen: open space technology
Edward de Bono: cort, six hats, lateral thinking

Some Questions

I intend to organise a set of 300+ questions, compiled with help from maybe 30 specialists, and turn it into a free-content PDF booklet in 100 days or so. Maybe it will be out there before the official celebration of the Canary Islands' day, and maybe we can send a number of copies to a number of people, just so some data and possibilities may have a better chance to enter the conversations.

I think I can pose at least 50 questions myself, and answer a bunch of them at least in fill-in-the-blanks template form. I have contacts with a number of domain-experts who would let us have some answers. We can expand within that style, and see what comes up exactly.

Having a deadline is a good thing, too. Release early, sure. And maybe release often, but that's not my problem. ;-)

What are your questions?

Questions

Some questions are more about facts. We'd like numbers and, if not, sensible estimates. If we don't know, we don't know, but the question is still worthy of some effort.
Some questions are more about exploring posibilities. But those posibilities carry the need to look at data: resources needed, people served, etc.
Many questions could be reformulated for different levels of land aggregation, as in how much water is used “per island”, and you can deal with that now or leave it for later.
Many questions can be reformulated, period. Please do so, maybe providing alternate ways to ask the same basic question. In the final document, the question may use a paragraph, followed by the more or less lengthy answer elicited by the question(s).

Water

Where do we get our water from and what are the paths for water?
How much do we use for each function (including irrigating golf courses)?
How much fossil fuel do we use for our water (desalination, movement, others)?
What are the basic needs of water per person and per day? Per kilo of crop?
How much water is wasted, and where? What could be done about it?
What's the volume of water deposits at different levels (the sum of all homes; agricultural tanks; municipalities)?
Who owns the water, and the land where much of the water falls?
Would seawater greenhouses work? What are the factors and the data about those factors?
What are the laws and regulations and bodies regarding water?
Who are the experts in water in the Canaries? Where are they (professional contact only)?
What are other questions regarding water in the Canaries?

Food

Where do we get our food from, what are the paths for food, and how much does it cost?
How much food do we grow here, and what are the inputs we use, and at what cost?
What's the seasonality of food, both in production and in consumption?
How far does our food come from, and what's the cost in terms of fuel and money?
How many people know how to grow food organically, and how long does training last?
How much land is available for growing food, and what are the features of that land?
How is the food growing (plants and animals) connected within itself and to the rest of the system (using food scraps for compost or animal feed, etc)?
What are the laws and regulations and bodies regarding food?
How does the price for organic and non-organic food compare at different times of the year?
Who are the experts in food in the Canaries? Where are they (professional contact only)?
What are other questions regarding food in the Canaries?

Energy

How much energy do we use, and for what uses?
What are our energy sources right now, renewables or not?
What's the daily and monthly rhythm in the use of energy?
How much energy is stored at any one time, in tanks and batteries?
How much energy is used for transport, and how much is transported and at what speed?
What are the potential energy sources, with data? Wind maps? Renewable forest mass, algae mass?
Who are the experts in energy in the Canaries? Where are they (professional contact only)?
What are other questions regarding energy in the Canaries?

Others

(maybe in groups, but always an “others”):

How much iron etc is there in our landfields, that would become our mines in the “unglobalised islands” thought-experiment?
What does our industry look like? Workshops? DIY clubs and networks?
What are other questions regarding the “unglobalised islands” thought-experiment?

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 === Abstract ===
 Asking "what if this patch of land were to become isolated" is only the start, because the fact is it's not isolated. So here we look for ways to do ++)++ (joy, skin, contribution) in space and in time, from an islander's perspective.