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The ninth Continental Bioregional Congress took place at Earthaven Ecovillage this July 9-17.
The formal ceremonial opening of the Congress began at Hidden Valley on Saturday evening, July 9. Chanting "Earth my body, water my blood, air my breath and fire my spirit" in English and Spanish, we hiked the path magically lit with candle luminaria. The spirits of the 4 directions, of the sky and of Mother Earth, of the water, the trees, the future generations, the children, Thomas Berry, Stephanie Mills, and others were invited to be present with us. Each of about 200 people gave their names and bioregions, and each offered a silent prayer or intention while tossing a stick into the fire. Then came drumming, flute playing, dancing and celebration late into the night!
On Sunday morning, everyone gathered on the Village Green, where on the previous day the outlines of the continent had been traced in cornmeal and oat bran. Everyone went to their respective bioregion. It was so impressive to see that people had come from as far north as British Columbia and Ontario, Canada; and from the south, Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico. There were people from the Ozarks, Chesapeake Bay, Minnesota, the Great Lakes, Florida, California, Puget Sound, Texas, Mississippi, and Maine. The Katuah (Southern Appalachian) bioregion then began a spiral to visit each other bioregion and we chanted, "We are a circle within a circle." Gene and Joyce Marshall of Texas were the only participants to have attended all nine Continental Bioregional Congresses, and they were honored, as well as everyone else who had attended a previous Congress.
Inside Earthaven's earth-plastered straw-bale Council Hall, a huge patchwork turtle created by a previous year's Continental Bioregional Congress graced one wall. A team of some ten facilitators were prepared to lead the week's activities. Besides the scheduled speakers and workshops for Sunday and Monday, and the Council of All Beings to be led by John Seed on Thursday, a lot of time was left open for participants to structure as they pleased through "Open Space." A full schedule of activities for the children included plant walks, making a plant poultice, puppet making, qi gong, looking at creek critters, nature awareness activities, a visit to Rod Rylander's "Hobbit House" up the hill, peace crane origami, and singing.
A parallel schedule of healing and creative arts began taking shape, including yoga, massage, music jamming, tai chi, and plant walks and fermentation with charismatic local herbalist Frank Cook.
Workshops
Peak Oil - Tad Montgomery
The term "peak oil" means we've used half, not that we've run out; but, the low-hanging fruit has already been picked and the remaining oil will get more and more costly to extract. China has increased its oil consumption 30% last year. Demand worldwide continues to increase, while supply has now peaked or is close to peaking. In the 1950's, M. King Hubbert charted a bell curve of oil extraction. He worked for Shell Oil and predicted that the US oil production would peak in the 1970's; he wasn't believed in 1962, but the real peak in US production was about 1974. An Exxon CEO says 90% of all oil has been discovered.
Some say the peak won't come til 2040, but OPEC and especially the Saudis have been known to overstate their reserves. Dick Cheney estimates a 2% annual growth in oil demand and a 3% decline in production, hence by 2010 a 50 million barrel/day shortfall. Optimists point to Canadian tar sands, oil shale, and coal liquification, and reserves in Turkmenistan, etc.
There is resistance to developing alternative technologies, of course, from those who gain big wealth from existing technologies. Oil is very energy dense, versatile, and easily transported compared to alternatives. Supply and demand rose together, now they are diverging.
Energy ratio (net energy) is ratio of energy returned to energy invested. (If ratio is 1, there is no net energy). In the 1940's, oil and gas had an energy ratio of over 100; in the `70's, less than 30, and now, it's 7.5. Coal in the 1950’s: 80, in the `70's, 30. Tar sands require not only energy to heat them but huge quantities of water to melt the tars, and has an energy ratio less than 2. Coal liquification is expensive but has an energy ratio around 7.5. For renewables: Tidal: 15, hydro: 11, wind: 2-90, depending on location; geothermal: 2-13, photovoltaics: 2-10, biodiesel: 3.2 (10-15 if recycled grease is used); ethanol: 1.3 if corn is used, up to 7.5 with other feedstocks; fuel cells: less than 1 (more like a battery). Conservation dwarfs them all.
Implications for food supply: Costs will go up. The average food item in the US travels 1400 miles to table. There is 10 x food's caloric value in embodied fossil fuels (fertilizers, pesticides, trucks, tractors, refrigeration, etc.) = 1 quart of oil per American dinner or 5 barrels per person per year. Opportunity: buy local, organic, seasonal food, permaculture.
Housing, industry: In the northeast, the cost of home heating is already more than is spent on transportation. Suburban commutes and single occupancy vehicles will be obsolete. Energy intensive industries like aluminum, ceramics, paper, may close down.
Transportation: Gas is already $6/gallon in Germany and costs will rise here; public transit yields 250 passenger miles per gallon, cf. 25 for the average U.S. car. Carpools, vanpools, rain, bicycling, walking can catch on. Biofuels will increase. It's better to buy an old car than a new hybrid in terms of embodied energy.
Other implications: every $1 per gallon increase cost Massachusetts $5 billion a year. Electric rates and fertilizer rise with the cost of natural gas. There will be pressure to use coal & nuclear. Wood stoves will increase in Northeast.
Cuba had to decrease petroleum use by 75% when the Soviets cut off their supply; now they have the most sustainable food production system in the world, the best healthcare.
Ecovillages - Albert Bates, of The Farm, and co-founder of Ecovillage Network of the Americas, gave a PowerPoint presentation. Wealthy people are imprisoned in their cars and the poor live in the shadow of great wealth. Ecovillages represent another way. Robert and Diane Gilman's definition: "An Ecovillage is a fully featured human settlement in which human activities are integrated into the natural environment in a way that is sustainable into the indefinite future."
In 1991-94, the first international meetings were held of representatives of ecovillages in Denmark, Germany, and Scotland, forming the GEN (Global Ecovillage Network).
Ecovillages are driven by: 1) Social egalitarianism 2) Economic and land use efficiency 3) Spirituality, eco-idealism 4) Now, peak oil (by 2007, $60 a barrel projected)
Peak oil: Economic dislocations are expected since we haven't done mitigation. The U.S. Dept. of Energy recommended "mitigation should take place more than 10 years in advance of the peak." According to Matt Simmons (Cheney's energy task force vice chair, member of Council on Foreign Relations, and author of Twilight in the Desert), Saudi oil reserves are vastly overestimated. Richard Heinberg, author of Power Down and The Party's Over, suggests that there are 4 possible responses to peak oil: "last one standing" (fight over dwindling reserves), "magic elixir" (dreams of a hydrogen economy or other fix), "power down" (world wide rationing and sharing), or "build lifeboats" (community solidarity, preservation, and ecovillages).
"Compost Modernism" is the era in which we re-use all our junk in a more sustainable way.
Iceland has an Ecovillage which is 75 years old, completely off grid, with greenhouse gardens, and responsible for planting a million trees on land which was deforested in the 17th century. They use geothermal energy.
Berea College Ecovillage in Kentucky is one of 20 or so colleges where, driven by student demand, courses in sustainable living are offered and the school itself has aspects of an Ecovillage, such as growing some of their own food. Gaia University gives course credit for students visiting and working at any Ecovillage in the world.
Any Ecovillage must fulfill its members' needs for food, water, medicine, sanitation, energy, buildings, waste treatment, local employment, civil order, communication, governance.. The Farm in Tennessee needed to make soil for its depleted 200 acres; in 3 years they became agriculturally self-sufficient (for 300-500 people); however, they decided later to buy their soybeans from the Mississippi Delta rather than grow them in their own environment.
At Crystal Waters in Australia, a dry environment became so rich in water, through cisterns and dams, that 200 species returned to their land.
Rural access to medical services is needed; The Farm trained many midwives. Many ecovillages grow medicinal herbs, as Cubans do now. The Gesundheit Institute started by Patch Adams is a 40 bed facility in rural W. Virginia, where doctors can rotate in for their own rejuvenation and provide free care for patients.
Sanitation: the Dowmus Biolytic Toilet has won an award. It uses both wet anaerobic composting and dry composting with the help of earthworms. Blackwater goes to subsurface drip irrigation for fruit tree roots. Camphill (Steiner) communities for the developmentally disabled do good wastewater management. Reeds growing in gravel beds clean gray or black water, plus cat tail stalks are a great ethanol source.
Cooking: Inexpensive Fresnel lenses concentrate sunlight tenfold; vegetable oil can be run through tubes, heated to 200 degrees C (twice boiling temperature) with the lenses, then stored in a tank; this superheated oil can boil 5 gallons of water in 5 minutes, and can also be used for heating and cooling buildings.
Building: natural building uses local materials which are abundant, creativity, and is sensitive to the local ecology. Terra Viva uses tires and cans to make Earthships; in Peru, they build with stone. Invite the local code officials to a tuition free class! Dignity Village in Portland is a settlement for the homeless built with strawbale, cob, etc. where the homeless work alongside volunteers. In Mexico, woodfired bricks. In Auroville, India, a giant parabolic mirror for ovens. At Twin Oaks, VA, solar heated water. In Gaviotas, Colombia, discarded fluorescent tubes were converted into solar water heaters. In Israel, sewage sludge is used to fertilize date trees.
Local economy: The standard of living is not a function of the total amount of wealth but how many times money cycles within a community.
Civil order: Christiania, Denmark has a common law contract.
Communications: The Farm has its own printing press. The methodology for successful meetings and consensus is crucial.
The Chinese government now wants to build ecovillages; with 60,000 births per day there will be a need for 150 new cities a year. To minimize resource use, ecovillages are a great idea.
The Farm hopes to acquire a watershed. It now has a land trust; there is a goal of 25,000 acres (10 square miles). Where timber companies have clearcut, they will reforest with native species.
Challenges faced by ecovillages: - financing (especially startup) - community "glue" and vision - business support - whole systems need to be put in place - disincentives (financial, cultural, government) - living on the edge.
It helps to network with others! Hence, Ecovillage Network of the Americas.
Watershed Organizing with Barbara Harmony. Barbara has written a pamphlet, "We All Live Downstream," promoting composting toilets; she helped stop a sewage treatment plant from going into a wildlife area. Also, at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, they invited dowsers to bring a larger quantity of water to the springs. She has also written "Aqua Terra" and does water blessings. Torrential rain poured down all during this workshop!
The Water Committee of the Bioregional Movement has met since 1984 and passed resolutions at each Congress. See www.nationalwatercenter.org. Barbara read each of these resolutions to the group. Summary: In 1984, water was declared the basis of life, and the resolution was to protect its quality. In 1986, water was called the living blood of the Earth. Human waste must be kept out of the water, water should not be used as a waste carrier, dilution is not the solution. Industry should recycle water, wetlands should be protected, and transport of water between watersheds should be prohibited. In 1988: No inter-basin transfer of water, urge participation in watershed organizing, don't pump faster than groundwater can recharge, no pollution of aquifers, clean toxified aquifers, form a water workers network. In 1990: Give thanks to the water. 1992: Trips to the headwaters of the Guadalupe River. In 1994: Thank water whenever we drink. 1996 (no resolutions, but a workshop on restoring the watershed) In 2002: ratification of the Cochabamba Declaration.
Others present shared: Juan Tomas works with water utility in San Francisco; he is associated with Planet Drum(.org) and Peter Berg, who are creating a "Green City Program" near Guayacil, Ecuador, an area devastated by quakes and El Nino. Hills have been re-vegetated, small bioregional businesses begun including a recycling industry, with mayor's blessing.
Resources: There is a rainwater harvesting listserv. Write to peace@ipa.net, Barbara Harmony. The National Water Center has a good web page and links. See www.planetaryhealer.net for prayer. Videos: "Thirst" covers privatization in Cochabamba, Bolivia and Stockton, CA. "Mother Water" by Luann Lucero tells the story of Peabody Coal using Hopi water for slurry. Books by Masaru Emoto (website: www.hado.net) for images of water crystals and how we influence water. See Maude Barlow's book Blue Gold and Vandana Shiva's Water Wars to learn about water privatization.
The World Water Forum (privatizers) is coming to Mexico City in March, 2006. What should be done? In Mexico City, many residents have no water but rainwater to drink. Arnold Ricalde (attending the Congress), formerly a Green Party member of Parliament, is now directly helping people create ferro-cement cisterns and biological filters. Their bioregion including Mexico City, was once a lake in Aztec times, but the Spanish drained the water, calling it an "enemy of progress." Now, aquifers have been so over-pumped that sections of the city have collapsed; pipes have broken, leading to 30% water loss. Rivers are now underground sewer systems; only one is alive and well. People are forced to pay for trucked or bottled water. 30% of all garbage is plastic bottles, and 50% of illnesses are due to bad water quality. The Water Act for Mexico, passed in 2002, is based on respect for the water cycle; it should protect watersheds from logging and building, but the law is not enforced. Coca Cola is buying springs in Mexico. Now Coca Cola is often cheaper than water.
Members of the group later drafted a resolution on water which was adopted in part by the Congress.
Next: reports on Los Angeles Ecovillage, Economic Globalization, and more.
Cathy Holt
"Kindness is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families, and nations." - Paramahansa Yogananda
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