Technocracy

Two things from the web- This was a movement from the 1930's- yet it resonates with todays world pretty accurately- especially with the world view of the separation of classes-

"The social and economic system proposed by the Technocratic movement and the organization Technocracy, Inc., which believes that modern technology and a government organized on a scientific basis can lead to a society of abundance."

We have made a commitment to technology and we are living this abundance, it has paid handsomely- but at what cost? What cost to our planet, our children's lives and our future as a race?

Another clip that came to my attention:

"Like an Old Testament prophet, David Walker has been traveling the country, urging people to "wake up before it's too late."

But David Walker is no wild-eyed zealot. David Walker is an accountant, the nation’s top accountant to be exact, the comptroller general of the United States. He has totaled up our government's income, liabilities, and future obligations and concluded the numbers simply don’t add up. And he’s not alone.

Its been called the "dirty little secret everyone in Washington knows" – a set of financial truths so inconvenient that most elected officials don’t even want to talk about them, which is exactly why David Walker does.

"I would argue that the most serious threat to the United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Afghanistan or Pakistan but our own fiscal irresponsibility," says Walker.

The entire story below- Why isn't anyone talking about this?

http://cbs2.com/topstories/topstories_story_063203213.html

ZEH- Zero Energy Homes

Almost 50 percent of a houses energy cost is wasted on heating. It all goes up and out the roof. The shame is that energy, these molecules were brought to us from coal mines and gas resevoirs from thousands of miles away have an incredible cost to all of human kind. It's not just the check you write out to the energy company, but why that check isn't five times higher that should worry you. Why is your heating bill only $125 a month, when it should be for all intensive it should be $600? That cost is being aborbed someplace. Where?

A shower in Los Angeles, just to get the water there and heat it costs $35 per shower. But the cost is about 1/100th of that cost. Where is that extra cost going?

Zero Energy Homes are here. The science is here and now- The problem is that the immediate resources and the momentum to change are not.. The UK is ahead of the USA in this, with a mandate that says all new home in the next 10 years need to be ZEH. That is the on-going frustration. Why are we behind? Why doesn't this make sense to people here in this country?

The reasons to do it are all sound. The reasons why we don't can be boiled down to a single reason- complacency.

It doesn't make sense to people because this energy costs almost nothing for the American people. Our government has found "creative accounting" ways to subsidize this cost- That is the reason the USA has almost $8.7 trillion in debt right now. It has been trading money from one pocket to another- selling our national and the worlds security for low energy costs and cheap crap from Walmart.

Part of it is the science. It sounds like something out of a science fiction comic book- Argon and Krypton gases entrapped in double pane glass. R-factors and K- factors. The marketing of it hasn't been very cohesive. There is a need, but no one knows about it yet.

Here is an article done by a guy that works for Oak Ridge talking about ZEH. More on this later.

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/005948.html

The Mayberry Solution

I went to a seminar yesterday about Sustainable Living. The speaker was a teacher at a college aboiut 100 miles from here. He drove a Prius to the lecture- He gets 48 miles to the gallon.

Smart guy- Spent the first 10 minutes explaining about Peak Oil, National Debt, Hurricanes, Global Climate Change and how we are all in the shitter- or soon will be.

Oh yeah, Walmart is bad- Bad, bad, bad.

These are all things I pretty much agree with. Peak Oil- The end of fossil fuels and their use in the world is at an end in next 20 years. Check. National Debt- currency trading- China has more of our bonds than we do- not a good thing. Check. Global Climate Change- all the big brains agree, it's our use of fossil fuels. Check.

I don't like Walmart. I don't shop there- mostly because they treat their people like crap. I also think that importing $15 Billion a year in goods from China through a single distribution arm is wrong for the country and the world.

His solution- We have to go back to real honest to gosh neighborhoods. Where all the people have vegetable gardens in the backyard. Where you walk to work. Where the dollar you spend stays in the local area. Where you buy stuff from a local grocery store, not a place like Walmart (remember, Bad) where your dollar goes to Arkansas- or worse China. Where you don't buy new bright shiny stuff from big places, but you trade stuff with your commnity.

In otherwords- Mayberry. He see's the solution to the world problems is turn back the hands of time and have everyone move back to Mayberry.

He might be right. From a social perspective, if you think about all of our fears- all the pressures of modern society- It's because we go outside of our neighborhoods way too often- We don't stay on our city block. We shop in far away places for stuff from far away lands. We work far away from home. We take our kids all over the state for sports competitions on the weekends- we have become this strange race of stressed out nomads- mostly because we aren't on our own turf, with the people who we live with and hopefully trust as neighbors.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a Floyd the Barber, Aunt Bea, an Andy and a Barney, a Goober and a Gomer? All people we knew and trusted with our lives? Church Socials and picnics, gazebos and the corner grocery store.

But we won't invite Goober- He always creeped me out.

Leave Floyd out too- He was always "Oooohing and Ahhhhing" too much.

There was other stuff that he metioned- more practical stuff, like insulation- Heat loss from poor insulation makes up for 43% of wasted energy in a home. Apparently there was a study in Colorado that said with the new materials avaiable to keep heat in your house- You really shouldnt ever need a furnace- That you could keep your house warm with the junk mail you get through the post. Also, Energy Star appliances- front load washing machines-florecent light bulbs use less than a quarter of the energy than old light bulbs. All good things.

But coming away from the discussion in my head was the Mayberry Solution. The ultimate answer. Turn back the hands of time- shun this Global ecomony as a sad experiment. Embrace your neighbor. But that requires that you take a hard look at your neighbor, which means that they have to take a hard look at you.

I have four vegetable beds in my backyard. Should I go to my neighbors and offer to build them a couple? Should I plant a fruit tree in everyones yard- (these were some of the suggestions he made to me after the meeting)? They already think I am kind of a nut anyway (because of being Vegan) . This would solidfy their thoughts- but if it helps save the world? Isn't it worth it?

Of course I am not naive enough to believe that- I know that changing my neighbors mindset is almost impossible.

In the meantime, I will be calling insulation people and getting estimates. I plan to start planting a couple of fruit trees this spring.

Maybe a another vegetable bed?