Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

That British town's "Energy Descent Action Plan" is open for discussion, esp 
as it applies to how we live on the land. All our resources ultimately come 
from our land. We live on land in every way imaginable. There'll be 
disagreements and points I miss, but a lot of material on this subject has 
come across my screen and applies to this.

My main problem with their Plan is they see total catastrophe around the bend 
but try to sugarcoat it with academic-speak and ignore contradictions in 
their own plans that doom it. We may or may not agree about catastrophe, and 
that's ok. Here's now they see a future if we "do nothing":

   "Business as usual or willing to change?
   If we continue to ignore the problems facing society and continue Business 
as Usual in Totnes and District, by 2030 we are likely to see decreasing 
happiness and personal respect, and increasing fear, denial, austerity, 
poverty, climate chaos, severe environmental degradation, over-crowding, 
civil strife and an acceleration towards chaos, fragmentation and the decline 
of civilisation as we know it. The symptoms of a society in collapse will be 
clearly upon us. Most of society will be living in extreme hardship and ill 
placed to take responsibility or actions to reverse the impacts of climate 
change. If we are willing to change we can initiate and build on a strong ray 
of hope and positive visioning that can guide us to a better life. There are 
many unresolved issues and problems to be dealt with. The biggest challenges 
are relearning to live within the carrying capacity of one earth; stabilising 
population growth, reducing energy and material consumption, and repair and 
regeneration of biodiversity and ecosystems."
http://totnesedap.org.uk/book/part3/vision-totnes-district-2030/business-as-usual-or-willing-to-change/

So they have a Plan to solve the End Of The World As We Know It. They work on 
it and produce a document. What has actually changed? Nothing, but they have 
a document.

In their Plan they completely miss figuring in the growing financial decline 
of the western world. This is public knowledge; it's happening now and can't 
be reversed.  That means they can forget governments paying for their 
massively expensive transitions to alternative energy, mass transit, and 
conservation.  The widening destruction of the middle class means most people 
will only be concerned with paying the bills and getting by, and not with 
paying big bucks to make homes energy efficient. They also seem to think 
people will magically learn low tech skills to survive with local industry 
and food, when no money or credit is available for startup "green" business. 
Those skills have been mostly forgotten for two generations now. Who knows 
how to cook on a wood stove? They think people will pull together like in WW 
II against a common enemy. I think they will look for the enemy and find it 
in all those who have more. That thin veneer of civilization breaks down 
under stress. We aren't all nice small towns either.

To me their plans obviously don't add up to saving the world. I've promoted 
localizing esp in food for years. But that was just sharing among those who 
want more community self sufficiency, not some grandiose and unrealistic plan 
for everybody:

   "The concept of localisation is about shifting the focus of production 
closer to home. It is not something that can be done overnight, it is a 
long-term process that requires planning, design and innovation. In many 
ways, the area is poised to take a national lead here, being home to a strong 
local food culture, and many innovative businesses. Localisation is a 
powerful concept. Clearly Totnes cannot become self-sufficient, nor would it 
want to be. It will never be able to make computers or frying pans. However, 
as the oral history section of this report shows, it used to be far more 
self-reliant than it is today"
http://totnesedap.org.uk/book/part1/localisation/


paul tradingpost@lobo.net


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 5/10/2010 at 3:09 AM Zachary Domike wrote:

>I have been active in our local Transition Town, and the future does look
>alot like the early 1900's.  This link has brought together lots of
>planning for 2030; my favorite section has photos of the past, present,
>and a possible future 2030 (Photoshopped.)
>
>Totnes have just released their EDAP (Energy Descent Action Plan). You can
>look at it online here
>http://totnesedap.org.uk/
>
>
>Regards,
>Zack
>
>> Date: Fri, 07 May 2010 22:10:31 -0600
>> From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
>> Subject: [Livingontheland] like the early 1900's?
>>
>> Bottom line: everything that raises the cost of oil raises
>> the cost of chemical farming and long supply lines.
>> Fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides are all fossil fuel
>> derived. General price inflation will <<<
>
>