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permaculture - RE: [permaculture]Hydrogen, wood, peace, justice

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  • From: "John Schinnerer" <john@eco-living.net>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [permaculture]Hydrogen, wood, peace, justice
  • Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 11:39:14 -0700 (PDT)

Aloha,

> Some interesting thoughts on hydrogen from Amory Lovins...

I have realized what's been bugging me about this whole thread...Lovins'
article and Toby's contribution on wood catalyzed my thoughts...

Wood can be a locally sourced, locally sustainable, locally appropriate
and extremely 'low-tech' way of converting long-term solar gain into
intermittent heat production for human needs.

At the same time, the forest ('woodlot') can 'stack' (that word is too
linear IMO, let's change it to 'synthesize' or 'integrate' or something,
and while we're at it start using 'ecotone' instead of 'edge') dozens and
dozens of functions, probably hundreds or thousands, from critter habitat
to food/medicine forest to drought/flood mitigation to water storage to
stress reduction for humans to building materials to climate moderation to
yada yada yada, y'all know what I mean.

Hydrogen power, on the other hand, is essentially business as usual for
the technocrats of the world (which includes afaik most of us on this list
- or at the least we're their pampered pets). Given the level of
technolgy and manufacturing required to do *anything* with hydrogen as a
power source, it will *never* be a locally controllable resource. This is
due to political, economic and cultural factors as much (probably more)
than purely technical factors.

Likewise, hydrogen energy systems are industrial non-living monocultures;
they don't 'stack' anything, and they consume great quantities of
non-renewable resources to (supposedly) benefit a small percentage of a
single species.

So implementing hydrogen as power source for those of us who *can* play
with these new toys leaves the majority of the world's people in the same
situation they're in relative to energy (and other) production systems -
poor, disenfranchised, exploited, co-opted, marginalized, used, ripped
off, colonized, whatever their various situations may be.

Apply PC skills of protracted and thoughtful observation of patterns and
relatings to our existing systems of industrial energy production, control
and distribution. Notice how those systems work, who they aid and who
they abuse - because there is *no* change in *those* systems proposed in
any of this 'new hydrogen economy' hype.

People care is supposedly a fundament of PC. So what do we mean in PC
when we say "care of people?"

Do we mean the technocrat spin of "...this *new* technolgy will benefit
the *whole world*...", that lie that's as old as all the times it's been
told?

To me it means working for justice and peace among human beings first and
foremost. It means people are *more important* than tools, techniques,
methods and technologies, and more important than my attachments to any of
those. To that end, the forest looks like a much preferable design.



John Schinnerer, MA
-------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
People - Place - Learning - Integration
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net




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