Sustainability at Home and Away P art 1

1. Sustainability at Home and AwayPart 1 Dexter Chapin & 21 Acres

3. Introductions • Who are we? • Why are we here? • What do we hope to get out of this experience? • My objective: To increase your historicity. There are three parts to historicity Technical knowledge (how to intervene) Worldview that give meaning to the intervention (Social/fiscal capital to underwrite the intervention)

4. What does it mean to be sustainable? • What is unsustainability? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • What is sustainability? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. A Sustainable System • Produces 3 domains: Food, Water, Air. • Food is not just pancakes and syrup. It involves biodiversity, and is the crux of a food, water, energy subsystem of giant proportions • Water is water; it is food, and it is energy. It is old and it is rare. • Air is Oxygen, but not pollution; it is energy, but not climate change. • Has 3 legs, Ecology, Economy, and Equity. • Ecology asks if the system contravenes the Natural order. In a more positive light, does the system do Biomimicry. • Economy asks if the system’s long term payback is sufficient to offset immediate internal costs. • Equity asks if all the costs are internalized. • “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” Brundtland Commission of the United Nations ,1987

6. A Sustainable System Report of the IUCN Renowned Thinkers Meeting, 29–31 January 2006.

7. Measures of Sustainability GDP is Gross Domestic Product or in the equation, “Y” (Y) is a sum of Consumption (C), Investment (I), Government Spending (G) and Net Exports (X (exports) – M (imports) ). Y = C + I + G + (X − M) • GDP does not address Ecology nor Equity. • And according to JFK, it does not measure any of the things that make life worth living … the world’s economic superpower, the United States, has achieved striking economic and technological progress over the past half century without gains in the self-reported happiness of the citizenry. Instead, uncertainties and anxieties are high, social and economic inequalities have widened considerably, social trust is in decline, and confidence in government is at an all-time low. Perhaps for these reasons, life satisfaction has remained nearly constant during decades of rising Gross National Product (GNP) per capita. http://www.earth.columbia.edu/sitefiles/file/Sachs%20Writing/2012/World%20Happiness%20Report.pdf

8. Not-so-Random Factiods America uses about 15 times more energy per person than does the typical developing country. Americans represent only 5% of the world's population, but generate 30% of the world's garbage. http://www.sustain.ucla.edu/handbook/article.asp?parentid=3465 Two-thirds of the energy from coal, gas and nuclear power generation in North America is wasted in the form of heat that’s vented up smoke stacks and cooling towers. http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/05/six-surprising-sustainability-facts/ http://sayiamgreen.com/infographic/environmental-impact-of-cell-phones/

9. Not-so-random Factoids 2 http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/15/why-climate-deniers-have-no-credibility-science-one-pie-chart

10. How did we get here? www.storyofstuff.org/ Reductionist (Newtonian) Science has been a powerful approach to understanding the world. However, it ignores many questions and issues. An alternative is systems thinking, analysis, and dynamics focused on the interactions rather than the bits and pieces. What is the GHI? The Gross (National) Happiness Index does measure those things (making life worthwhile). Developed in Bhutan in 1972, the GHI uses nine domains & 33 measures of satisfaction with governance, the relationship with the environment, economic satisfaction, and a sense of cultural and national belonging to measure national levels of happiness. • GHI DomainsIndicators Psychological well-being 4 Health 4 Time Use 2 Education 4 Cultural Diversity & Resilience 4 Governance 4 Community Vitality 4 Ecological Diversity & Resilience 4 Living Standards 4

11. GHI Indicators • Economic Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of economic metrics such as consumer debt, average income to consumer price index ratio and income distribution. • Environmental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of environmental metrics such as pollution, noise and traffic. • Physical Wellness: Indicated via statistical measurement of physical health metrics such as severe illnesses. • Mental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of mental health metrics such as usage of antidepressants and rise or decline of psychotherapy patients • Workplace Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of labor metrics such as job change, unemployment claims, workplace complaints and lawsuits. • Social Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of social metrics such as discrimination, safety, divorce rates, complaints of domestic conflicts and family lawsuits, public lawsuits, crime rates. • Political Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of political metrics such as the quality of local democracy, individual freedom, and foreign conflicts.

12. Thrivancyor Applied Happiness GHI indicators are great for Nation /States but what about smaller groups?Thrivancy is the ability to thrive, make steady progress; prosper, or flourish.Domains: appreciation, generosity, interest, lightness, and easy provide a framework for thrivancy indicators. Appreciation There are accessible spaces in the community that offer natural and crafted beauty. Community celebrations feature public appreciation for community success stories. Generosity People know others in the community they can offer help to and request help from People share and volunteer their talents and stories with others in the community. Interest There are always new things and people to discover in the community There are classes, workshops, and learning events available in the community Lightness There is evidence of spontaneous interactions and gatherings in the community It is common to see smiles, hear live music and see children playing in the community Easy People have easy access to good schools, health care, jobs, and fresh food and water in the community It is easy for visitors and residents to find what they’re looking for in the community.  http://joyofthriving.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/the-new-shift-in-community-happiness-indicators/

13. GNHI Resources http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/weekinreview/31uchitelle.html?_r=1 http://www.earth.columbia.edu/sitefiles/file/Sachs%20Writing/2012/World%20Happiness%20Report.pdf http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Short-GNH-Index-final1.pdf • Others http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/wellness/story/2012-06-20/gross-national-happiness/56669830/1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/may/22/better-life-index-oecd http://www.sustainableseattle.org/sahi/gnh-objective-indicators The Sustainable Economy, YvonChouinard, Jib Ellison, and Rick Ridgeway, Harvard Business Review, October 2011 The Economics Of Well-Being; Have we found a better gauge of success than GDP? Justin Fox, Harvard Business Review, January/ February 2012 ThrivancyResources http://www.thegreenskeptic.com/2012/01/thrivancy-practice-of-happiness.html http://joyofthriving.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/the-new-shift-in-community-happiness-indicators/ http://toanewfuture.com/the-design-of-group-thrivancy http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2675

14. Applications Mystery indicator: • http://daily.sightline.org/2011/07/01/the-mystery-indicator-of-sustainability/ More detailed evidence: • http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence • Applications • Compare the contributions of any large, chain supermarket to that made by a farmers’ market to the GHI. • Where do you land? Take a happiness survey at http://www.sustainableseattle.org/sahi • During the week, consider the role of food in the raising or lowering the GHI.

15. Food • Thrivancy is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition of a sustainable system. Sufficiency requires food, water, and air, supported by ecology, economy, and equity. • We may live without poetry, music and art.We may live without conscience, and live without heart.We may live without friends; we may live without books.But civilized man cannot live without cooks. Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton

16. Food 2 • Agriculture is an attempt to tame natural systems to produce inexpensive, nutritious, and sustainable food. • A simplified representation of the differences between a sustainable system and an unsustainable system at a macro level might be:

17. Sustainable

18. Unsustainable

19. Sustainable Vs Unsustainable • Off-site consumption reduces levels of soil humus and reduces water infiltration and holding thereby increasing nutrient loss. • Extensive and abundant use of inorganic fertilizers does not improve soil fertility and structure over the long term. http://people.oregonstate.edu/~muirp/orgmater.htm • Off-site consumption only makes sense with a monoculture that demands toxins.

20. Non random Factoids • And about 550bn cubic metres of water is wasted globally in growing crops that never reach the consumer. •  the demand for water in food production could reach 10–13 trillion cubic metres a year by 2050. • This is 2.5 to 3.5 times greater than the total human use of fresh water today. • http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/10/half-world-food-waste?intcmp=122

21. At Thanksgiving, many sat down to eat food that traveled between 1,500 and 2,500 miles. • Lettuce from the Salinas Valley and shipped to Washington, D.C. requires about 36 times as many calories in transport as it provides in food energy. • you can't grow food or develop water sources without energy which is why higher food prices and rapidly rising oil are tightly linked. • http://moneymorning.com/2012/08/07/u-s-food-prices-2013-jeremy-grantham-warns-of-coming-dystopia/

22. Wasted Food • We throw away food; the estimate is about 50 percent more food per person than in the mid-'70s, or about 40% of the total harvested or produced. • http://www.npr.org/2012/09/21/161551772/the-ugly-truth-about-food-waste-in-america • http://www.foodtechconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/FTFin-FoodWaste.jpeg

23. Not just veggies • it's estimated that one-third of all fish stocks globally have collapsed--having less than 10% of their maximum observed population--and that at current fishing rates all fish stocks worldwide will collapse by mid-century. A full three-quarters of the world's fisheries are now either collapsed, over-exploited, significantly depleted, or recovering from being over-exploited. • http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/how-bad-is-overfishing-what-can-we-do-to-stop-it.html

24. 64% of U.S. agricultural land is dedicated to livestock feed. • Top five Global Crops: Corn, Wheat, Rice, Potatoes, Cassava, Soybeans. • Top four U.S.: Corn (80% for livestock), Soybeans (over 50% global production, for livestock, oils, etc), Hay (livestock), Wheat (13% global production, 22% for livestock) • Nearly three-quarters of U.S. farm workers earn less than $10,000 per year …ranks in the top ten of most dangerous jobs in the U.S.

25. 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles,… • http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-greenhouse-hamburger • Top five Global Crops: Corn, Wheat, Rice, Potatoes, Cassava, Soybeans. • Top four U.S.: Corn (80% for livestock), Soybeans (over 50% global production, for livestock, oils, etc), Hay (livestock), Wheat (13% global production, 22% for livestock)

26. Farms are exempted from federal water-pollution regulation. • Agriculture (live stock) is the biggest single reason America’s rivers and streams fail to meet Clean Water Act standards http://www.invw.org/ • California officials identify agriculture, including cows, as the major source of nitrate pollution in more than 100,000 square miles of polluted groundwater.http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/ffarms.asp

27. So what do we do? Why bother? • The why bother question comes down to a moral imperative: “Once our personal connection to what is wrong becomes clear, then we have to choose: we can go on as before, recognizing our dishonesty and living with it the best we can, or we can begin the effort to change the way we think and live.” • http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/why-bother/

28. History gives us an alternative: • During WWll, Victory Gardens provided about 40% on our food. • It is all about taking back responsibility and control of our own food supply.   Each effort represents one step towards freeing ourselves from the forces that would keep us dependent on a system of petroleum fueled and factory farmed food.   • http://www.modernvictorygarden.com/

29. Potato Box • Grow 100 lbs in 4 sqft • tipnut.com › DIY Projects

30. Straw Bale Garden • http://www.growandmake.com/straw_bale_garden

31. Window Gardens

32. Honey Bees • http://www.genehanson.com/photos/otherbugs/honeybee_031005_05.jpg

33. Summary • It’s estimated that the way we feed ourselves (or rather, allow ourselves to be fed) accounts for about a fifth of the greenhouse gas for which each of us is responsible. • http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/why-bother/

34. Applications • http://www.supercook.com/ Recipes for what you have • http://www.oakparkcropswap.org/ • http://www.victoryseeds.com/gardencan_packlist.html • http://www.seedsofchange.com/

35. Water • Water is Life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water. • Albert Szent-Gyorgyi • The source and age of the Earth’s water supply is constantly being revised. But much of today’s water is 4.3 billion years old. • New water seems to come from Volcanoes, lightning, and comet snowballs.

37. Where is the Water? • 70 percent of freshwater is locked in ice caps • Less than 1 percent of the world's freshwater is readily accessible • 6 countries (Brazil, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, China and Colombia) have 50 percent of the world's freshwater reserves • One-third of the world's population lives in "water-stressed" countries, defined as a country’s ratio of water consumption to water availability. Countries labeled as moderate to high stress consume 20 percent more water than their available supply. • There is much more freshwater stored in the ground than there is in liquid form on the surface, according to the USGS. • http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/328-how-much-water-on-earth.html

38. Where is the Water? • 70 percent of freshwater is locked in ice caps • Less than 1 percent of the world's freshwater is readily accessible • 6 countries (Brazil, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, China and Colombia) have 50 percent of the world's freshwater reserves • One-third of the world's population lives in "water-stressed" countries, defined as a country’s ratio of water consumption to water availability. Countries labeled as moderate to high stress consume 20 percent more water than their available supply. • There is much more freshwater stored in the ground than there is in liquid form on the surface, according to the USGS. • http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/328-how-much-water-on-earth.html

39. Where is the Water? • 70 percent of freshwater is locked in ice caps • Less than 1 percent of the world's freshwater is readily accessible • 6 countries (Brazil, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, China and Colombia) have 50 percent of the world's freshwater reserves • One-third of the world's population lives in "water-stressed" countries, defined as a country’s ratio of water consumption to water availability. Countries labeled as moderate to high stress consume 20 percent more water than their available supply. • There is much more freshwater stored in the ground than there is in liquid form on the surface, according to the USGS. • http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/328-how-much-water-on-earth.html

42. Depressing Facts • America must spend $255 billion in the next five years to prevent deterioration of water infrastructure. We plan to spend half that amount. • Parts of America use up to 80% of their available freshwater resources. • Californians look forward to a fourth straight year of serious drought. • Transporting water is impractical, even within the U.S. The process of delivering water from the San Francisco Bay-Delta to Southern California uses 2 to 3 percent of all electricity consumed in the state. (http://www.nrdc.org/water/conservation/edrain/execsum.asp) • Globally, 1.2 billion people live in areas with inadequate water supply. • 1.6 billion live in areas where there is water, but they can't afford to drink it. • Water use is increasing much faster than population. • Global water demands will increase by 40% in the next ten years.

43. continued • By 2025, two-thirds of the world will live under conditions of water scarcity. • Two-thirds of the cities in China suffer from water shortages. Clean water is even more rare. • India WILL run out of water in the near future.Desalination is only practical for small countries with extreme wealth. • Green tech may provide a way past peak oil. There is no escape from peak water. • http://www.businessinsider.com/15-facts-about-the-coming-water-crisis-2010-3

44. "A shortage of water resources could spell increased conflicts in the future. Population growth will make the problem worse. So will climate change. As the global economy grows, so will its thirst. Many more conflicts lie just over the horizon." -- Ban Ki-Moon

45. Water and Energy • Average household uses 127,000 gallons per year. Most in the form of energy costs. • Under the Bush administration, fracking was granted an exemption from federal clean water regulations and disclosure rules, making it virtually impossible to quantify risks and impacts beyond local, anecdotal evidence. Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1kr6e) • Can you do this with your tap waterhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U01EK76Sy4A

46. Investing in Water • T Boone Pickens etc • The world uses 2.1 trillion cubic meters of water every year. That's 17.5 million gallons of water every second.  To put that in perspective, we use 41,000 gallons of oil every second.  • North Americans use 1,280 cubic meters • Europeans and Australians use 694 cubic meters • Asians use 535 cubic meters • South Americans use 311 cubic meters • Africans use 186 cubic meters • http://www.energyandcapital.com/resources/water-investments

47. Climate Change and Water • Although responsibility for the causes of climate change rests primarily with the developed and industrialised nations, the costs of climate change will be borne most directly by the poor. • http://www.wateraid.org/documents/climate_change_and_water_resources_1.pdf • Climate Change Impact

49. Salt Water • Fish provide over 2.6 billion people with at least 20% of their total animal protein intake. • it is the ocean that makes our planet habitable. Without the ocean as a heat sink, our days would be unbearably hot, and our nights would be freezing cold. • The Pacific patch is 1,700 miles across at various depths and located between the California Coast and Hawaii. The smaller Atlantic Patch is located between Bermuda and the Azores.

50. Salt Water 2 • Phytoplankton, half of all plant matter around the globe, have been dying off for at least a century, with a staggering 40% decline since 1950. • The harvest in Alaska represents about 80% of the total wild-caught North American harvest of salmon, harvests from Canada representing about 15%, and harvests from Pacific Northwest states representing about 5%.[1]