FOCUS

Reflecting on the limits of technology symbolized in the year 2000 problem.

Exploring "alternative" technologies that support community and reduce the human "footprint" on Earth.
 

READINGS

"Tyranny of Technology," Jerry Mander, Resurgence, No. 164.

"How Do We Love All Our Children?", William McDonough, EarthLight, Winter 1998-99.
     (see also:"The Next Industrial Revolution," The Atlantic Monthly, October 1998.

"Colombia's Model City," Alan Weisman.

"Ecological & Economical Design," Larry Santoyo.

"Eden in the City," Regina Hugo.

"Greywater and Your Garden," Ecology Center, Berkeley, CA.
 

OVERVIEW

Has our dependence on technology brought us to the brink of Y2K? Can we make Y2K an opportunity to shift to technology and practices that are more friendly to Earth and humans alike? This session examines our relationship to technology and describes a few examples of "appropriate" technology.

Y2K or not, Jerry Mander believes that our technology-based society will fail. He asserts that everyday life is dominated by interactions with human-created artifacts and the processes they engender. The separation from the natural world, he says, makes us vulnerable to confusion and bad decisions.

Architect William McDonough offers an alternative way of designing products and cities as if "Öall the children, of all species, for all time" matter to us. Alan Weisman inspires us with the incredible Gaviotas story of building a sustainable community in a very hostile environment, based on the invention of technologies and agricultural practices appropriate to that place.

We are invited by Larry Santoyo to imagine what it would be like to live in a way that is based on the principles of permaculture, a wholistic approach to the design of human habitats, food production and the use of sustainability-friendly technologies with mindful attention to place. Regina Hugo tells an "appetizing" story of Cahill, who tends permaculture-based gardens in Seattle. Asheville, NC has opened the nationís first "edible public park," and an office complex in British Columbia uses composting toilets and greywater recycling.

Planet-friendly technologies can be simple and inexpensive, even homemade, such as the "do-it-yourself" instructions for greywater irrigation, a solar box cooker, using passive solar energy to pasteurize large amounts of water, and sprouting seeds at home.  Information on composting and systems for off-the-grid power generation (including California's rebate program for renewable energy) are further examples of sustainability-supporting technology that is now available. The Resources & Links section provides sources of further information: The Solar Cooking Archive is an excellent source of do-it-yourself passive solar cooking technology; Real Goods, Jade Mountain and Lehman's offer a wide range of "green" technologies as well as information; the Ark Institute is a good source of seeds and related information. Some of these sources offer sustainability-friendly recommendations for Y2K.
 

OPENING THE CIRCLE

ENTERING THE CONVERSATION (Each person responds)

QUESTIONS TO DEEPEN THE STUDY

 
WHAT ACTIONS COULD BE TAKEN?

 REFLECTING ON THE CONVERSATION (Each person responds)

CLOSING THE CIRCLE OR RITUAL (See "Ritual Resources")
 

RESOURCES & LINKS

Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World, Alan Weisman, Chelsea Green, 1998.
How to Grow More Vegetables, John Jeavons, .
Why Things Bite Back, Edward Tenner, Fourth Estate Limited, 1996.
Introduction to Permaculture, Bill Mollison, with Reny Mia Slay,
Home Power Magazine, P.O. Box 520, Ashland, OR 97520. www.homepower.com
Real Goods, 555 Leslie St., Ukiah, CA 95482-5507, 1-800-762-7325.
Solar Living Source Book, John Schaeffer, ed., 9th Edition, Real Goods.
Jade Mountain Catalog, 717 Poplar Avenue, Boulder, CO 80304. 1-800-442-1972.
Lehmnanís Non-electric Catalog, P.O. Box 41, Kidron, OH 44636, 330-857-1111.
The Cobberís Companion, Michael Smith, Cob Cottage Company, P.O. Box 123, Cottage Grove, OR 97424, 1997. (541) 942-2005.
Voluntary Simplicity, Northwest Earth Institute (NCEI, 415-785-1056).
Solar Cooking Archive, http://www.accessone.com/~sbcn/
http://solstice.crest.org/index.html
http://www.jademountain.com
http://www.lehmans.com
http://zapbikes.com
http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/index.html
http://www.y2kcentral.org/electricity.html
http://www.arkinstitute.com/seed.htm