Sound Of Sirens

dito.

Was bedeutet nachhaltig leben eigentlich wirklich?
Nachhaltig leben ist für viele ein abstrakter Begriff. Einfach übersetzt heißt es: im Einklang mit der Natur leben.
Die deutsche Sprache macht es uns mit dem Begriff ‘nachhaltig’ nicht leicht.
Im Englischen ist der entsprechende Begriff für Nachhaltigkeit ‘Sustainability‘ und das bedeutet: ‘die Fähigkeit etwas aufrecht zu erhalten’.
Und was im Zusammenhang mit Sustainability im eigentlichen Sinn aufrecht erhalten wird, ist nicht wirtschaftlicher Erfolg oder Wachstum irgendeiner Art. Es ist auch nicht die menschliche Gemeinschaft. Es geht um das Netz des Lebens, das aufrecht erhalten wird und von dem unser Überleben abhängt.
Nachhaltige Gemeinschaften zu schaffen bedeutet also Gemeinschaften und Gesellschaftsformen zu schaffen, die mit der Fähigkeit der Natur, Leben zu erhalten, harmonieren.

Ohne den ökologischen Kontext ist Nachhaltigkeit nicht nachhaltig.

Nach dieser Definition wird auch klar, dass ’soziale Nachhaltigkeit’, ‘wirtschaftliche Nachhaltigkeit’ und ‘ökologische Nachhaltigkeit’ einer Wahrnehmung und einem Denken entspringen, das die Dinge separiert. Und diese Art zu denken ist es, die die Probleme geschaffen hat, mit denen wir heute umgehen müssen.
Die Herausforderung unserer Zeit ist es, anders wahrnehmen zu lernen, anders zu denken und dadurch anders zu gestalten.
Man kann sich das Ausmaß eines solchen Paradigmenwechsels ein bisschen so vorstellen, wie zum Ende der Zeit, als der Grossteil der Menschheit glaubte (und dies an Schulen und Universitäten auf entsprechende Art gelehrt wurde), die Erde sei eine Scheibe.

Our prosperity and way of life are sustained by energy use. Energy security must be a priority of US trade and foreign policy. - National energy policy; The Cheney Report, May 2001

America faces a major energy supply crisis over the next two decades. The failure to meet this challenge will threaten our nation’s economic prosperity, compromise our national security, and literally alter the way we lead our lives. - Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, National Energy Summit, March 19, 2001

Zurück zu Deutschland: Wie bewusst ist uns diese Tatsache: ‘Unser Wohlstand und unsere Art zu Leben werden durch den Verbrauch von Energie aufrechterhalten…’ und dann die Tatsache, dass diese Energie in erster Linie durch den Gebrauch fossiler Brennstoffe erzeugt wird? Wieviele Kleidungsstücke besitzt Du, die nicht irgendwo in ihrer Herstellung auf Öl angewiesen sind? Wle gross ist der Anteil Deiner Ernährung, der in der Produktion ohne Kraftstoff auskommt? Wie sieht es mit deiner Mobilität aus? Oder mit der Heizung?

All die neuen grünen Technologien, die neue Art, grün und ethisch zu konsumieren, die neuen, zu erschliessenden grünen Märkte mit all ihren grünen Messen, die Lohas Bewegungen mit ihren Netzwerken und Blogs, all das macht mich mitunter etwas unruhig…Ich finde es gut, dass dadurch Netzwerke für Informationsaustausch geschaffen werden, aber solange das Denken ‘Wachstum’ im Vordergrund steht, solange wir nicht realisieren, dass unsere Probleme aus unserer Denk- und Wahrnehmungsweise entstehen und dass ganz einfach das Ende des Industriezeitalters eingeläutet worden ist, solange steuern wir auf einen Kollaps zu (und keiner weiss, wie der aussehen wird…).

‘The Schumacher College, in partnership with the University of Plymouth, is the first in the world to offer a post-graduate programme in Holistic Science.’

‘Das Schumacher College in Südwest-England ist eine der bekanntesten internationalen Institutionen für ökologische Studien und Nachhaltigkeit, wo namhafte WissenschafterInnen am Kreuzungspunkt zwischen Naturwissenschaften, Politik, Spiritualität und gelebter Nachhaltigkeit ihre Konzepte zur Zukunftsfähigkeit lehren.’

Ich mochte den ersten Eindruck, den ich vom Schumacher College bekam, als wir von Toni Spencer, Researcher und Project Developer des College, empfangen wurden und zusammen aßen. Das Gebäude war kleiner, als ich es mir vorgestellt hatte, die Leute schienen freundlich und offen. Ich sah den Tagesplan, der jeden morgen an eine Tafel geschrieben wird und auf dem unter anderem steht, wer an diesem Tag kocht. An diesem Tag war dafür Satish Kumar zuständig, der Programme Director des College…

Nach dem Abendessen trafen wir uns im Garten mit einigen Studenten zu selbstgemachtem Apple Cider. Die Gruppe des Master Programms für Holistische Wissenschaft ist klein (maximal 13 Teilnehmer) und international. Die Dozentenliste für das Programm ist sehr ausgewählt und inspirierend. Ich kann mir vorstellen, dass dieser Studiengang eine sehr intensive und besondere Erfahrung sein muss.

Read this article about a meeting with James Lovelock, one of the most visionary climate scientists around. Lovelock comes across quite controversial at times. He seems to shift between a pure statement and personal, emotional reactions and interpretations. However what he says definitely needs to be considered, and it can be pretty inspiring: Lovelock is stating that global warming has passed the tipping point and that catastrophe is unstoppable. So: Will we be able to understand and integrate what that means, and will (much fewer of us) finally understand that this is not our planet and learn to live with it? What do you think?…

‘Enjoy life while you can’, by Decca Aitkenhead, The Guardian, Saturday March 1 2008

By the way: James Lovelock is a regular teacher at Schumacher College which is one of the places we visit on our trip. Check out the ‘Sound of Sirens on Tour’ posts.

• Anthropocentrism
• Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
• Deep Ecology
• Ecocentrism
• Ecological Footprint
• Gaia Theory
• Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)
• Greenwashing
• Leapfrog Hypothesis
• Lifestyle Of Health And Sustainability (LOHAS)
• Paradigm Shift
• Peak Oil
• Permaculture
• The 5 Rs
• Sustainability / Ecological Sustainability

A

Anthropocentrism:
Very crucial term / way of perception to examine for yourself.

“Anthropocentrism (greek:anthropos, human being / kentron, center) is the idea that, for humans, humans must be the central concern, and that humanity must judge all things accordingly: Human beings must be considered, looked after and cared for, above all other real or imaginary beings.” (via Wikipedia)

One alternative to this way of perceiving offers Ecocentrism and the Gaia Theory, which understands the earth as a self-regulating system, similar to a living organism, thus the human being as an integral part of the whole system, being embedded in it and dependent on it. You find this understanding also in many indigeneous cultures.

The anthropocentric way of perceiving must ultimately lead to self-destruction, since it results in separation and isolation from nature / the earth, and the earth forms the very basis of our existence.

deutsche Wikipedia: Anthropozentrismus, Gaia Theorie

C

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA):
Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a relatively new socio-economic model of food production, sales, and distribution aimed at both increasing the quality of food and the quality of care given the land, plants and animals – while substantially reducing potential food losses and financial risks for the producers. It is also a method for small-scale commercial farmers and gardeners to have a successful, small-scale closed market. CSA’s focus is usually on a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables, sometimes also flowers, fruits, herbs and even milk or meat products in some cases.

via Wikipedia

CSA Artikel in ‘Lebendige Erde’/pdf (deutsch)

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):
To tell the truth - it’s just a marketing-concept. But the first one, that forces companies to seriously get involved in doing ‘good things’ for society, because the risk of massive damage to a company’s image by not fulfilling the public expectations is too high. It’s the advancement of the german phrase: “Tu gutes und rede darüber!” (Do good things and talk about it). More officially:

“Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, employees, shareholders, communities and the environment in all aspects of their operations. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with legislation and sees organizations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large.”

via Wikipedia

D

Deep Ecology:

Deep ecology is philosophical movement that considers humankind as an integral part of its environment. The term was introduced by the norwegian philospher Arne Naess.
‘Yet, in deep ecology we ask if a society meets the basic needs of mankind, like love, security and access to nature. We ask what kind of society, what kind of education is beneficial for life on this planet as a whole, and then we ask what we have to do to impose the necessary changes.’ - Arne Naess

Notable advocates of deep ecology are amongst others Stephan Harding, Dolores Lachapelle and Joanna Macy.

deutsche Wikipedia: Tiefenökologie

E

Ecocentrism:
Ecocentrism is a philosophy that recognizes that the ecosphere, rather than any individual organism, is the source and support of all life and as such advises a holistic and eco-centric approach to government, industry, and individual.
The root of “eco” is “home,” and the ecosphere is the home-sphere. Ecocentrism puts the ecosphere first. It recognizes the importance of the environment and the web of life and realizes that no single organism is more important than another. Ecocentrism does not even distinguish between animate life and inanimate matter or process. The entire “sphere” of life is important. (via wikipedia)

Ecological Footprint:
Ecological Footprint analysis attempts to measure human demand on nature. It compares human consumption of natural resources with planet Earth’s ecological capacity to regenerate them. It is an estimate of the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate (if possible) the resources a human population consumes and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste, given prevailing technology and current understanding. Using this assessment, it is possible to estimate how many planet Earths it would take to support humanity if everybody lived a given lifestyle. (via Wikipedia)

Global Footprint Network (lots of info)

Measure your Ecological Footprint (international)

deutsche Wikipedia: Ökologischer Fussabdruck

101 things you can do to reduce your ecological footprint!

G

Gaia Theory:
The Gaia Theory understands the earth as one living organism, thus the human being as an integral part of the whole system, being embedded in it and dependent on it. You find this understanding also in many indigeneous cultures and you could say that it is part of our original, intuitive way of perceiving.

deutsche Wikipedia: Gaia Hypothese

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO):
A genetically modified organism (GMO) or genetically engineered organism (GEO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. Effects of genetically modified organisms are, next to the loss of biodiversity and possible, not yet known effects on our health, the dependency on GMO-corporations and their products.

More info: www.saveourseeds.org

Great documentary: Life Running out of Control / Leben ausser Kontrolle (e+d)

Greenwashing:
One of the dark sides of fake CSR:

“‘Greenwash’ is a pejorative term that some environmentalists and critics use to describe the activity of brands and corporations that portray a positive public image of putatively environmentally unsound practices. Greenwashing can take many guises ranging from lies of ommission to misleading labelling systems; from empty mission statements and voluntary codes of conduct to sustainability reports that offer only partial disclosure and transparency right through to the arbitrary sponsorship of good causes and events. […]”

take a deep dive at: psfk

L

Leapfrog Hypothesis
bases originally on a classical marketing term called “Leapfrog Strategy”.
Wikipedia says:
“This strategy involves bypassing the enemy’s forces altogether. In the business arena, this involves either developing new technologies, or creating new business models. This is a revolutionary strategy that re-writes the rules of the game. The introduction of compact disc technology bypassed the established magnetic tape based defenders. The attackers won the war without a single costly battle. This strategy is very effective when it can be realized.”

Ezio Manzini adopted it onto the 3rd world technology-development and named it “leapfrog hypothesis” in which developing countries jump over the environmentally most damaging stages of industrial development.
It’s about soft infrastructure - such as, especially, mobile phone networks - which is installed despite the absence of hard infrastructure (such as roads, or nation-spanning power grids).

Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS):
LOHAS can be be described as the result of different movements around the world, which try to improve the quality of life in a holistic and sustainable way - i.e. Slow Food. Yet, LOHAS is not a people’s concept but rather a marketing-term. It is a term seen from the point of view of an advertising agency, that understands LOHAS-consumers as a demographic. However, LOHAS is not an advertising fake at all, but can meanwhile be seen as a growing community of ‘green’ consumers. It might open venues for the flow of information and knowledge concerning sustainability, which inevitably will bring up the confrontation with the nature of consumerism itself.

That’s what Wiki thinks:

“LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability that refers to a demographic defining a particular market segment related to sustainable living, “green” ecological initiatives, and generally composed of a relatively upscale and well-educated population segment. The LOHAS market segment in year 2006 was estimated at $300 billion, approximately 30% of the USA consumer market. According to the New York Times, a study by the Natural Marketing Institute showed that in 2000, 68 million Americans were included within the LOHAS demographic. Author Paul H. Ray, who coined the term “Cultural Creatives” in his book by the same name, explains that “What you’re seeing is a demand for products of equal quality that are also virtuous”.”

via Wikipedia
deutscher Wikipedia Artikel (etwas kritischer)

P

Paradigm / Paradigm Shift, (deutsch: Paradigma/Paradigmenwechsel):

“A paradigm can be seen as an entire constellation of beliefs, values and techniques, and so on, shared by the members of a given community” (Kuhn) Thus a paradigm shift will change the way the individual perceives reality.

The term originates and was bound to science, but you will hear and read it more and more often referring to the shift from a reductionist, linear way of perceiving towards a holistic, systemic way.

Auf deutsch kann ein Paradigma als ‘vorherrschendes Denkmuster einer bestimmten Zeit’ bezeichnet werden. Ein Paradigmen Wechsel verändert somit die Art und Weise, auf die das Individuum die Realität empfindet.

deutsche Wikipedia: Reduktionismus, Holismus

Peak Oil:

Peak oil is the point in time at which the maximum global petroleum production rate is reached, after which the rate of production enters its terminal decline. If global consumption is not mitigated before the peak, the availability of conventional oil will drop and prices will rise, perhaps dramatically. M. King Hubbert first used the theory in 1956 to accurately predict that United States oil production would peak between 1965 and 1970. His model, now called Hubbert peak theory, has since been used to predict the peak petroleum production of many other countries, and has also proved useful in other limited-resource production-domains. According to the Hubbert model, the production rate of a limited resource will follow a roughly symmetrical bell-shaped curve based on the limits of exploitability and market pressures.

[…]

Optimistic estimations of peak production forecast a peak will happen in the 2020s or 2030s and assume major investments in alternatives will occur before a crisis. These models show the price of oil at first escalating and then retreating as other types of fuel and energy sources are used.

Pessimistic predictions of future oil production operate on the thesis that the peak has already occurred or will occur shortly and, as proactive mitigation may no longer be an option, predict a global depression, perhaps even initiating a chain reaction of the various feedback mechanisms in the global market which might stimulate a collapse of global industrial civilization.”

via Wikipedia
deutsche Webseite zum Thema: Peak Oil - das Ende des billigen Erdöls

Great documentary: www.crudeimpact.com

more links to: Energy & Resources Supply / Information (e)
mehr Links zu: Energie & Resourcen Versorgung / Informationen (d)

Permaculture:

Permaculture is a creative design response to a world of declining energy and resource availability. - David Holmgren, Co-Originator of the Permaculture Concept

‚The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions, rather than asking only one yield of them; and of allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions.’
Bill Mollison, Originator of the Permaculture Concept

The permaculture concept offers a path to a simpler, more sustainable and better-quality life.
The idea of permaculture integrates a great variety of knowledge and provides very practical tools that are useful for/can be applied by everyone and in everyday life.
It integrates a way of (systems)thinking and the use of design principles in order to create sustainable systems in a wide range of fields, be it in nature or society.
The Australians Bill Mollison und David Holmgren developed the permaculture concept in the 1970s. In 1981 Mollison received the Right Livelihood Award–the Alternative Nobel Prize–for his work in environmental design.

Excerpt of Permaculture Principle Summary

Permaculture at Wikipedia
deutsche Wikipedia: Permakultur

more info to permaculture / more links to permaculture (e)
mehr Info zu Permakultur / mehr Links zu Permakultur (d)

R

The 5 Rs:

Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle.

Meaning: refusal of consumption, diminution of consumption, reusing, reparation, recycling. These are basic general behaviour guidelines for living in a sustainable way.

S

Sustainability / Ecological Sustainability:

‘The key to an operational definition of ecological sustainability is the realization that we do not need to invent sustainable human communities from scratch but can model them after nature’s ecosystems, which are sustainable communities of plants, animals and micro-organisms. Since the outstanding characteristic of the Earth household is its inherent ability to sustain life, a sustainable human community is one designed in such a manner that its ways of life, businesses, economy, physical structures and technologies do not interfere with nature’s inherent ability to sustain life. Sustainable communities evolve their patterns of living over time in continual interaction with other living systems, both human and nonhuman. Sustainability does not mean that things do not change: it is a dynamic process of coevolution rather than a static state.’

out of ‘Hidden Connections, a Science for Sustainable Living’ by Fritjof Capra, Harper Collins Publishers 2002