Sustainable Resource Use
Joe Polaischer
Friday, 10 June 2005
Format: Talk/lecture/slides/overhead projection.
Summary
Joe gave an overview of the current use of resources, pointing out our over-consumption of oil, water etc. He suggests that we need to decrease our environmental footprint, learn to think in terms of Emergy accounting, change our attitudes towards waste, and stop our use of non-renewable resources. Joe drew on examples from his own land in New Zealand and his experiences growing up in post-WWII Austria to demonstrate ways of decreasing our eco footprint and increasing our dependence on ourselves and our creativity/innovations/imagination.
Key Points
- We must (re)learn to save and trade seeds.
- Do MORE with LESS.
- Sustainable use of resources means that we create a system that functions like an ecosystem; one which recycles itself and creates no waste.
- Eliminate our dependence on oil/fossil fuels.
- Change our use of water to keep more of it longer on the land; extend the time between source and sink.
- Start thinking about/giving value in terms of Emergy - embodied energy (example of the supermarket vs PC egg).
- When designing, we should strive to eliminate “waste” by either using it or eliminating elements that lead to products that would be considered waste products, include Emergy account and environmental footprint.
- Grow your own resources: carbon materials for building soil, animals for heat, shelters, etc.
- We have to re-learn survival skills.
- Permaculture can be done (and beautifully) with no money by re-using others’ waste products and growing your own resources.
- Do not overlook animals as instrumental parts of a design.
- The descent (dissent) culture will need us.
[Scribe: Marina Michahelles]