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| <back | home SHORTS For the Future—a Progressive Think-Tank Our global human enterprise is beginning to encounter its limits. World oil production is about to peak, an event that will transform our current way of life completely. We’re faced with the necessity of adapting to this challenging situation. For the Future is a progressive think-tank formed to help meet that challenge. Our mission is to come up with new ideas for dealing with the era of limits, and to work with others who doing the same. If you’re interested in hearing more about our activities and ideas, and in sharing posts, articles, announcements and more, sign on to our listserve by sending a blank email to: forthefuture-events-subscribe@lists.riseup.net or, by visiting: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/forthefuture-events [See the panel at the Oil Depletion Conference on Nov. 27 at La Casa de Maria in Santa Barbara.] Sustainable populations by country... Ecological footprinting and the Living Planet Report Much of OPT’s research concerns the development of Ecological Footprinting , a technique used to measure the ecologically sustainable bioproductivity of Earth and calculate by how much populations are overshooting sustainable levels of renewable resource consumption. When used to measure the carrying capacity of individual countries it is a ‘broad brush’ treatment and a snapshot picture. Population estimates can be raised by incorporating realistic expectations of improvements in environmental technology, and by the capacity of some nations to live by international trade. Nations which ignore the question of what populations their country can sustain on a warming planet and in a post-fossil fuel world do so at high risk to their citizens and to others. To those who criticise these methods : we challenge you to argue the case on the basis of scientific fact, for the sake of future generations. Contributions, constructive criticism and analysis are welcome - please go to http://tinyurl.com/6eglp WHAT DID PEOPLE DO IN THE DEPRESSION? It would be worthwhile to collect ideas by interviewing the lucid elderly about their experiences before and after the Depression. They knew something about conserving household resources. Even people born in the 1950s would know some interesting things. What did they do? They saved energy. They saved materials, which also saved energy, as fewer new things had to be made as replacements. ENERGY—HEAT AND LIGHT: They closed windows and wore sweaters to keep the house warm. They went to bed when it got dark and got up at dawn. Therefore they didn’t need lights on all night. They used mirrors to spread the light farther. They opened and shut thick curtains to regulate the sun’s heat. ENERGY—TRANSPORTATION: They made FAMILY trips, in their ONE car, rather than having a separate vehicle for each family member as we seem to do now. They carpooled with neighbors. My family, in the 50’s, made approximately one group trip a month to the "big" town where we would accomplish several tasks. We had dentist and/or doctor appointments, bought groceries, went to the library, got bulk animal feed, bought tools and from the hardware store, shopped for clothes, got film developed, and visited thrift shops, the toy store, and with luck, the park. During the interim, we relied on a home garden and canned goods, and a huge freezer for our food. In my great grandmother’s day, a ride to town and back on the train would allow a person, however frail, to transmit milk cans, crates and boxes from one location to another without a car, since train personnel would load the cargo. Humans and cargo could be transported in the same train. ENERGY—TRAVEL: Vacations were not international affairs for most people. A two-hour drive might be followed by a stay at one lake. That seemed good enough, and preferable to the inevitable flat tire or mechanical problems encountered on longer trips. In addition, the resorts had rental items such as canoes, so that individuals weren’t required to own all the recreational equipment themselves. They didn’t waste anything. CLOTH: They patched their old clothes or cut them into rags. Rags could replace hankies, washcloths and they could keep the gate shut by tying a cloth or old belt around the post and gate. You could also braid them and make rugs. People were not ashamed of wearing old or mended clothing for working around the house. They saved up their "Sunday Best" for church, shopping and special events. PLASTIC: Since there was no plastic, they could have a garbage dump where everything would actually eventually decay. When plastic first came out, nobody expected it to be a throw-away item. I recall, during the 1960s, my grandmother sewing plastic curtains for her laundry porch, and later sewing me a clear plastic bag, with a pink flower print on it, to carry a wet swimsuit. This was intended for repeated use. My grandmother would have been amazed to see one-use plastic bags being dispensed in virtually every store in the country or later blowing down the street or floating in a stream. She also bought a package of plastic straws and gave each of her grandchildren ONE straw to use at Grandma’s and then to be washed and used again next time. We each had our own color. It would have been just as strange to throw away a new straw as to throw away a new toothbrush. Of course, we can also make use of newer ideas and technology, such as solar ovens and solar panels, but it’s also worth noting what worked in the past. I suspect there are many more stories like this. --Kathleen Harness State Sustainability Strategy In Western Australia the state government actually has a State Sustainability Strategy and are moving ahead with it: http://www.sustainability.dpc.wa.gov.au/ Surviving Peak Oil: a new book by Dale Allen Pfeiffer The response to the essay A Call for Action has been tremendous. We received numerous submissions in the months following the release of this essay, and articles are still trickling in. In general, we are very pleased by the quality of these submissions and the practical advice they contain. While we still intend to publish an anthology of the best submissions, we have also decided to put up all the articles which meet the submissions’ criteria on a web site, where they may be browsed for free. Our main reason for doing this is to disseminate this valuable material as widely as possible. The web site is now operating, and so far about half of the current submissions have been posted. You can find the web site at this URL: http://www.survivingpeakoil.com. Each article on the web site will have a "comments" feature at the end - similar to the comments features on the Indymedia web sites - where you can critique and discuss each article. We ask that you please refrain from flaming and stick to constructive criticism with documented critical assessments and practical advice. Additional submissions are also welcome. In time, we will put together a store in association with amazon.com, where people may purchase books mentioned in the various articles and other materials related to the pursuit of a sustainable lifestyle. Commissions from sales will help to pay for the web site. Sometime about the beginning of 2005, we will cull the best submissions for inclusion in a printed anthology. At this point, we are feeling much more confident that we will be able to find a major publisher for this book. Profits from the book will help finance the web site, provide funds for public education on Peak Oil & sustainability, and perhaps help to finance other sustainability projects. Here is a brief review of some of the submissions which have been posted to the site so far. The Simpler Way Ted Trainer provides us with an overview of what a sustainable and just society might look like in a post-hydrocarbon world. Ted is a lecturer in the School of Social Work, University of New South Wales, and was one of the first people to identify in print the approaching oil peak. Growing Security Richard Heinberg is the author of The Party’s Over and Powerdown. In this essay, he offers practical advice on growing your own food, based on personal experience. Until the Last Drop This is a large article containing practical advice on every aspect of sustainable survival. It is written from the perspective of a complete collapse of civilization and a die-off of humanity, where many of the survivors will develop predatory instincts. While we hope that the situation will not sink that far, the advice offered here is applicable to less extreme scenarios. The author, Ronald Greek, is a lawyer and a specialist in sustainable building. The Effects of Oil Depletion on Global Warming, and what we can do about it Dan Robinson gives us an overview of the problems and possible scenarios, and then offers advice about politics, population, CO2 emissions, wealth, sustainable energy, transportation & food. Dan is an amateur engineer with a background as a chemical technician. Reverse Industrial Revolution Alan Leishman discusses how energy depletion will lead to a reverse of the industrial revolution. He also gives a brief discussion of the probable economic effects of Peak Oil. Alan is retired in Switzerland after being forced out of a career in international commerce by a globalization takeover. He has a degree in chemistry from Edinburgh University, and his collection of minerals was on display until recently at the National Museums of Scotland. He is a supporter of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (http://www.gata.org/), and he is a regular contributor to Bill Murphy’s daily Midas column at www.lemetropolecafe.com/. Crap, Third Worlders, Food Preservation and Bio-Immunity An unconventional essay by Monkey. After starting with a poem, this essay offers advice on small scale sewage treatment, living on the land, pre-refrigeration food preservation, and bio-immunity. The article ends with some general observations based on history. Easing the Transition, simply stated for us with limited means In a short essay, Robert Gregory discusses several steps that people can take to become self-sufficient and wean themselves from hydrocarbons. Homeland Security Equals Free Range Chickens and a Good Dog Contributor Jim Hogue writes about Carl Hammer’s thriving business Vermont Compost, which is tied to his ranch of 600 free-range, egg laying hens. Drawing Lessons from Experience, Cuba Originally published in FTW, this article about Cuba’s agricultural miracle holds valuable lessons. Sociocracy Sociocracy is a system of government developed by a Quaker in the last century. Theoretically it allows for the interests of all members of a society or business to be served equally. Author Ted Millich practiced Sociocracy during his 12 years as a member of Twin Oaks intentional community. Leveraging Commonplace Assets in a Co-operative(s) to Prepare Us Masses for Collapse Gregory Dean describes a democratic alternative to corporations, based on co-ops. Gregory Dean has worked on various eco-village and eco-activist projects in Canada and Australia. He was one of the organizers of the J18 protest in Sydney, and he was one of the first blockade tacticians analyzing the WTO location in Seattle. Currently he is pursuing a degree in business and communications. A Workable Transition to Democratic Retirement Systems Harel B. offers a plan to transition from corporate fascism to a truly democratic economy, while at the same time offering retirees and prospective retirees an alternative to the current market based retirement schemes. Holding a Ph.D. in mathematics from Cornell University, Harel has been an electronic activist since the 1980s. Harel is on the faculty of Z magazine’s Left Online University. In 2004, he received tenure at Salisbury University in Maryland. Cashless Society Shakti offers some reflections on Michael Albert’s system of participatory economics. Shakti is a classical and Spanish guitarist living in Australia. A 12-Step Journey to Oil Free Travel Guy Dauncey, President of the BC Sustainable Energy Association, offers a plan to wean our transportation system from oil. How to Transition from the Car Culture to the Bike Culture Paradigm Curt Sommer is a bicycling advocate in the Portland, Oregon area. He is currently running for the office of State Representative as a Pacific Green Party nominee. So far, this has been a very positive experience for all of us. It has provided a breath of fresh air amongst all the doom and gloom. We are confident that through the efforts of all of these contributors and the many others yet to come, we can make a difference. So welcome to a site which offers hope, practical advice and a helping hand. http://www.survivingpeakoil.com. The Firemaker: A Journey Marina R. Walker, Ph.D. My intention in writing my forthcoming novel, "Seven Doors of The Firemaker," was to create a foundation for a new kind of healing methodology that wasn’t based in traditional psychotherapy. But the details, adventures and insights of my heroine, Helen Brower, and the rest of the characters and events came as daily revelations. Most days I was on the back of Helen’s little yellow bike shooting down the hill in the rain, holding on for dear life. It’s been an amazing ride that’s delivered up lessons for Helen, and anyone seeking an alternate path to self-understanding, including me. In the present, we amount to our experiences and beliefs about who we are, but we are also always evolving into what we conceive ourselves to be next. The Firemaker process focuses on that transformation, on transcending past and present barriers to arrive at a place of joy, light, and wholeness. Traversing the Seven Doors offers renewal and access to peace of mind, self-love, cosmic perspective, and more— all already existing in each of us. I believe this is the quest we’re all on — to find our complete selves, following an inner map to who and what we genuinely are. That tsunami of horror on TV — vile acts against each other and the common good, the mindless destruction of the planet — defies comprehension. Malevolence and madness ooze forth from some split in human consciousness we simply cannot grasp. But countering that is a constant, mysterious light in the world, healing, cleansing and lifting us up when we let it. It is as available to us as the air we breathe if we will extend our reach into that finer, purer essence apart from the darkness. Goodness awaits right where it’s always been — inside all of us. Marina R. Walker teaches writing, art and psychology at the University level and holds a Ph.D. in Human Behavior. A practicing psychotherapist, professional writer and working artist, she is also degreed in Art and Clinical Psychology. Dr. Walker makes her home on the West Coast where she trains and guides individuals and groups in The Firemaker Method™ IRV already exists Utah Republican primary uses IRV, as well as the Academy Awards, and many sports votes. http://www.fairvote.org/irv/ IRV is not too complicated for Australia and Papau New Guinea, so why should it be too hard for America? I think it is simple. You just tell people you get a first choice, a second choice and a third choice. And you don’t have to list any 2nd or 3rd choices if you don’t want to. Surely that simple instruction can be translated into other languages. People get it quickly, in my experience. I have led IRV demonstrations, albeit for smaller numbers of participants. I think IRV will increase turnout. Two-round runoffs, what SF used to use, are proven to reduce turnout. I don’t understand why, in the age of computers, you can’t instantly count the votes. I think I could write the program myself in Basic! But I can see how a manual recount would take time. Let’s talk about San Francisco: In 1998 when people (mostly Green Party folks) put a "public utility" initiative on the ballot, in PG&E’s home town, ballot boxes were mysteriously found floating in the Bay, and Marin boat dwellers were selling ballot box lids to tourists at the flea market! Maybe San Francisco could get the Utah Republicans, or the Papau New Guineans to provide help! Orval Osborne, http://orvalosborne.blogspot.com / SUSTAINABILITY at Cal Poly: The new Sustainability Advisory Committee has been formed and will be meeting throughout the year. This committee, which is focused on facility projects and utility usage, is a broad-based group with representatives from students, faculty, and staff. To see more about the sustainability efforts on campus, please visit the Facilities Planning and Capital Projects website at http://www.facilities.calpoly.edu, and then click on the Building For Sustainability icon. Why We Cannot Win by Al Lorentz Before I begin, let me state that I am a soldier currently deployed in Iraq, I am not an armchair quarterback. Nor am I some politically idealistic and naive young soldier, I am an old and seasoned Non-Commissioned Officer with nearly 20 years under my belt. Additionally, I am not just a soldier with a muds-eye view of the war, I am in Civil Affairs and as such, it is my job to be aware of all the events occurring in this country and specifically in my region. I have come to the conclusion that we cannot win here for a number of reasons. Ideology and idealism will never trump history and reality. http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/lorentz1.html Soldier Investigated For Disloyalty After Criticizing Iraq Situation An Army Reserve staff sergeant serving in Iraq may face up to 20 years in prison after the publication of an article he wrote titled "Why We Cannot Win" about the situation in Iraq. The soldier, Al Lorenz, has told Salon.com that his commanders are investigating whether the publication of the article constituted disloyalty and insubordination. If charges are filed, Salon reports the case could mark the first disloyalty prosecution since the Vietnam War. In his article that appeared on the site LewRockwell.com, Lorenz wrote, "I have come to the conclusion that we cannot win here for a number of reasons. Ideology and idealism will never trump history and reality." He then gave four key reasons for the likely failure: a refusal to deal with reality, not understanding what motivates the enemy, an overabundance of guerrilla fighters, and the enemy’s shorter line of supplies and communication. Lorenz has served in the military for over 20 years. http://tinyurl.com/4nnq6 Living in the Suburbs Can Make You Sick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Living in the suburbs may have once been part of the American dream but it can lead to nightmares such as high blood pressure, arthritis and headaches, researchers reported on Monday. An adult living somewhere like Atlanta, with its spread-out suburbs and car-heavy culture, will have a health profile that looks like that of someone who lives in Seattle — but who is four years older, the study found. |And the culprit seems to be exercise, or the lack of it, the researchers report in the October issue of the journal Public Health. "This is the first study that analyzes suburban sprawl and a broad range of chronic health conditions," said Roland Sturm, an economist at the Rand Corp.’s Rand Health unit who helped write the study. "We know from previous studies that suburban sprawl reduces the time people spend walking and increases the time they spend sitting in cars, and that is associated with higher obesity rates. This probably plays an important role in the health effects we observe." http://tinyurl.com/55a7n Coalition Urges Radio Station Listeners to Beware of Toxic Broadcasts in County The Toxic Radio Awareness Coalition is a public service organization encouraging people to guard against the debilitating effects of unhealthful broadcasting. The Coalition’s current campaign focuses on hate-filled, fear-mongering and scapegoating talk radio programs proliferating in the United States. Formed in 2004 in San Luis Obispo County, California, the Toxic Radio Awareness Coalition grew from community upset following programming changes at several local radio stations. The programming of negative, nationally-syndicated, non-local radio talk shows has had a deleterious effect on the community. These broadcasts promote antagonism and divisions, fear, anger, and hate. Many listeners are literally sick from these broadcasts. Just as other public service organizations work diligently to educate the public about the the effects of tobacco, alcohol, drug abuse, driving without seatbelts and other health dangers, the Toxic Radio Awareness Coalition is urging the public to be aware of the negative consequences of tuning into certain types of broadcasts. As medical science has made clear, negative emotions promoted by anger and fear-mongering is hurtful, both physically and mentally. In addition to causing stress, depression, and other mental and physical maladies, these broadcasts break down community spirit, and discourage cooperation and respect for diverse viewpoints and cultures that are vital to the positive functioning of modern society. The Coalition is education- and awareness-oriented and does not promote boycotts of hate radio broadcasts nor does it promote government sanctions against irresponsible broadcasters. The Coalition instead asks that radio listeners be aware of the unhealthful aspects of various broadcasts and to either cut back or eliminate consumption of such broadcasts, just as health-conscious individuals voluntarily cut back or eliminate junk food and dangerous drugs from their diets. We encourage businesses to do the right thing and put community health and well-being above short term profits by voluntarily cutting back or curtailing advertising or sponsorship agreements connected with broadcasts that promote hate, fear, anger and scapegoating. We also ask that radio programmers and sales professionals reconsider the value of hate radio programs and take personal stock of the sickening legacy they are perpetuating in their community, their own lives, and in their families. To contact the Toxic Radio Awareness Coalition, RadioAwareness@sbcglobal.net The Neighborhood Produce eXchange ("NPX") The Neighborhood Produce eXchange ("NPX") will be an online resource. Home gardeners will use the NPX web site to create a profile for themselves and register their excess produce. The information will go into a database which will be accessed by other members using the web site. The database will offer contact information, and will be searchable by various criteria, including neighborhood zone, produce category, growing method, and grower. For example, a resident of the Old Town area of SLO could locate a source for tomatoes grown without commercial fertilizers within walking distance, while offering oranges and persimmons to others. Other items could also be registered, for example, seeds or plants to trade, cut flowers, etc. A volunteer will serve as Project Manager. The site will be a model for other communities, and details of the completed program will be made available to those interested in starting a similar program in their regions. Participants may also choose to participate in scheduled backyard exchanges, where people bring their excess produce for trading. We hope all people will be able to assess the value of their goods to allow for fair exchange. However, if the initial month of the program shows flaws in this system, we will move to a script system with point values assigned to each product. An online bulletin board will also be available for people to share ideas and information. The NPX will be a great way to meet neighbors, eat well, and have some fun contributing to a community project. Volunteers are needed. Volunteers will receive acknowledgment online and in media releases, letters of reference, and sincere gratitude from other participants. Volunteer opportunities: Database design and building, web design, Public Relations & Outreach. This project is in the planning and design phase, with hopes it will be active in time to assist with summer bounties. To volunteer or be put on the project update e-mail list, please contact volunteer project manager Susan Coward at susan@mrcoward.com. From the dieoff listserv: [mailto: stevanz@melbpc.org.au ] Hi all, Personally I find the following book quite interesting, but 2 weak points are glaring in our face: 1. America halving it’s exorbitant use of energy, how can that be done under a president who declares, "The American way of life is not open for dicussion" and who see frugality as impinging on that way of life. Frugality has to be taught and imprinted in the psyche of a population, but there are not enough teachers and those who are there are not taken serious and laughed at. For me, who vividly remembers the last winter of W.W.II, the Hunger Winter in Holland, even throwing away a piece of old bread is still difficult. As long as one can not demonstrate that there is MONEY in being economic and frugal, no hope in hell that Americans will change their way of life........Don’t touch their SUVs! 2. There will never be enough land available to grow all that biomass AND enough crops to eat. LAND, ENERGY AND WATER: THE CONSTRAINTS GOVERNING IDEAL U.S. POPULATION SIZE by David Pimentel and Marcia Pimentel http://www.dieoff.com/page136.htm "Yet at our present population level, to sustain our lives and activities we are burning 40% more fossil energy than the total amount of solar energy captured by all plant biomass (ERAB, 1981)... The inevitable conclusion is that the availability of land will be the major constraint to the expanded use of solar energy systems because land is needed for solar energy, and this need cannot encroach on that needed by agriculture, forestry, and natural biota in the ecosystem. Our expanding human population can be expected to put increasingly great pressure on land availability and use." Urban ecovillages If like many of us, you are interested in moving toward sustainability in your life, but still need to or want to live in or near an urban area, consider San Mateo Ecovillage. If you are interested, write me directly. Sanda http://www.greensolutions.org/smcc.htm Let’s Talk America Let’s Talk America is a nationwide movement that will bring Americans from all points on the political spectrum together in cafes, bookstores, churches and living rooms for lively, open-hearted dialogue to consider questions essential to the future of our democracy. Let’s Talk America reconnects with the ‘town hall’ meeting spirit that’s the lifeblood of our democracy. Let’s Talk America is where everyone can talk about America’s promise, about what freedom, democracy, unity and equality mean to us — to "we the people." Let’s Talk America is a meeting ground where we can come together to listen, speak, ask and learn — without being forced to agree, change or bite our tongues. If you’d like to be part of this growing movement to take American politics from diatribe to dialogue, there are many ways to get involved — from attending a discussion in your neighborhood, to organizing citywide and regional events in your area. In the next few days, we will unveil many new features on this website, including downloadable discussion guides, tools that let you find events in your area or post one of your own, and an online voter registration system. Click here to join our email list now , and we’ll keep you posted as things develop. go to http://www.letstalkamerica.org/ California’s Food Economy I’m writing to let you know that our recent publication, Ripe for Change: Rethinking California’s Food Economy is now available online in PDF format, via www.isec.org.uk/ripeforchangepage.html . Hard copies can still be ordered through ISEC (see below) and a factsheet summarizing some of the main points can be accessed at http://www.isec.org.uk/articles/RipeForChangeFactsheet.pdf . Please help us to let others know about these resources by including relevant information or excerpts in your publications, web links, listserves, and other outreach materials. For those who are not yet familiar with this publication, Ripe for Change provides a critical assessment of California?s food economy, investigating the impacts of the globally-oriented food economy in California, and making the case for building strong local food economies before looking to trade . It highlights the structural connections between industrial agriculture, long-distance transport and retail giants, offers a coherent framework linking the various problems related to food and agriculture in California and proposes key leverage points for addressing these issues systemically. The report reveals the relative effects of global vs. local food systems on California?s economy, social welfare, ecological systems, food security and health, and crucially, shows how the policy and regulatory environment keep the Œplaying field? tipped against the local. Ripe for Change is important not only for advocates of sustainable food systems in the state, but also serves as an important case study for other regions currently moving toward globalizing their food and agriculture sectors. Please feel free to contact me for additional information about Ripe for Change or our Local Food Program (including the Local Food Toolkit, Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness, and additional information). Katy Mamen Local Food Program Coordinator The International Society for Ecology and Culture PO Box 9475 Berkeley, CA 94709 Tel: (510) 548-4915 www.isec.org.uk / or e-mail california@isec.org.uk for more information. KCSB-FM (91.9) is a goldmine History that isn’t recorded and preserved is quickly lost. People behind events are forgotten, and important stories too easily erased from the public mind. Without media, our voices cannot enter the pubic record and debate. But inclusion requires access, and there is no medium that permeates public space more equitably than radio. KCSB-FM (91.9) is a goldmine of history-in-the-making as well as a rich source of activist history. The station houses the only live-recorded coverage of the Diablo Canyon anti-nuclear protests of 1978-79. According to Corey Dubin, the longtime activist and host of Latin American Journal who initiated much of KCSB’s public affairs programming as a student then, KCSB has a deeply embedded tradition of spawning cutting edge journalism in service to social justice. Dubin recalls that when proposals were cast in 1977 to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on sacred Chumash land — the Western Gate now called Point Conception — KCSB was the station of record: "When Chumash resisters set up an encampment, we were there." Likewise, a few years later when thousands of people converged in protest at the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor, KCSB sent three reporters into the mountains aside the protesters to transmit live reports. Today, KCSB is making national as well as local news. Over the last year alone, station staff - all trained in news production at KCSB - has produced 13 editions of the nationally distributed program SPROUTS: Radio from the Grassroots. Station Advisor Elizabeth Robinson says "it valorizes what we’re about, that local origination is happening here." Geoff Green, local activist and host of Grassroots, sees KCSB as "the single most underutilized community resource in Santa Barbara. When it comes to local progressive actions, KCSB always provides the best local reporting." In the past 2 years, record numbers have attended station recruitment meetings, and outreach is growing. News Director Keith Rozendal currently leads media workshops every Saturday at La Casa de la Raza, training mostly Latino youth and local residents in program production. The goal, he says, is to "give people access to the airwaves, to promote suppressed voices in pockets of the community that don’t make it into media in other ways." To help out, call 893-2426. KCSB also sponsored the appearances Amy Goodman and Michael Moore, and does so with community support. Their annual fund drive starts Nov. 8. Become a member, and become the media! www.kcsb.org Using the internet to create neighborhoods? As some of you may be aware, over the years I’ve been involved in a couple of local attempts, ‘unsuccessful’, to collectively birth the development of portable web technes supporting local neighborhoods. Patience, laddie. A raather interesting arrival on the scene, just gone live, is I-Neighbors.org, a social networking site based on geography, rather than affinity. It’s the creation of a team outta MIT with support from the National Science Foundation, among others. The design metaphor is both adroit and, whaddayaknow, gratis. http://www.i-neighbors.org Unlike other websites that allow global, national, or city-wide communication, I-Neighbors links members of a single neighborhood, defined by the people that create them. This service went live last month. Within a matter of days, there are already three neighborhood websites up and running in my local zipcode. For background on wot neighborhood websites can do for local ‘hoods, check out: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/ineighbors.html "Within a year the study found measurable increases in the number of local social ties and the sense of community in two of the three areas where I-Neighbors web sites and messaging were introduced. The changes included the formation of new neighborhood social ties and higher levels of community participation, both on and off the Internet." Enjoy. The black spot sneaker The black spot sneaker finally emerges!! We dared to think outside the activist box. And we came up with an ass-kicking shoe: Classic design. Organic hemp. Fair labor. Hand-drawn anti-logo. And a red toe tip for kicking Phil’s ass. It’s all part of a radical new strategy for cleaning up sweatshops and dirty CEOs — and just maybe, transforming capitalism itself. Go to < http://blackspotsneaker.org > and experience The Blackspot Anticorporation. Read the mission statement and take a peek at the actual shoe. Then, order your pair and become a shareholder in the cooperative. Your member number will allow you to cast votes on the design of future prototypes, factory options, and how to spend any profits. Mind control and our freedoms: We hold these freedoms to be self-evident... Do you want to block traumatic memories from scarring your mind? Perhaps you do, but would you be happy if someone else did it for you? Or how about receiving marketing messages beamed directly at you in hypersonic waves? Mind control is getting smarter by the minute, says Richard Glen Boire, co-founder of the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics in California. And, as he told Liz Else, we ain’t seen nothing yet... For the entire story in the New Scientist go to http://tinyurl.com/6hzer An excerpt from the interview: "Aside from memory control, what other neurotechnologies are you looking at? Hypersonic sound. This is a focused beam of sound used to deliver marketing noises or other messages in a very personal way. The sound is inaudible unless you walk into its narrow path. It sounds entertaining. Yes. It does have fun possibilities. But it’s also invasive. It’s sudden and it acts inside your head, as if you’re hearing something through headphones. And Forbes magazine reported last September that American Technology Corporation, the company that invented hypersonic sound, is installing this in soda machines right now on Tokyo’s streets. As you walk past, you’ll suddenly hear inside your head the sound of the ice cubes dropping into the glass and the soda making that "psst" can-opening noise. You are going to be startled, you won’t know where the sound came from and then you’ll realise, wow, I was just hijacked by an advertisement. go to http://tinyurl.com/3udtd for details. <back | top^ |