About Sustainable Community


Sustainable Community Network mer. 19/12/01 14:00 Dr A.J. Lewis Friends, I am basically ignorant of what is happening in Sustainable Community website. How can I update myself? My interest in S.C. was piqued by the Michele-Eagno exchange. I agree with Michele's beautiful statement re community. I am a psychotherapist/.hypnotist/color therapist/former psychology professor/now totally dedicated to saving All Life on Earth by personal/social transmutation(or whatever you want to call it). We are at a crucial point in Life's creation/evolution on Earth. The "civilization" developed since the Neolithic Revolution gravely threatens All Life on Earth. Twenty six or more civilizations have disappeared t hemselves (Mohenjo Daro, Harrapa, Mesopotamian, Nilotic, etc). But they did not threaten All Life. Ours does. It is based on (1) exploitation of Earth resources without compunction (2) development of a human system based on exploitation of the many by a few (arguably 1% of the global population controls 92% of all wealth ) (3) thereby controls all of the Institutions forming consciousness---school, church, mass media, hence a highly sophisticated system of deception My view is that we are in the midst of an revolutionary/evolutionary leap in evolution of All Life on this planet. Hence in a Cosmic School trying to prepare us for the personal/social/consciousness leap required. The immediate threat that must be dealt with is the already well known fossil fuel crisis Well founded predictions are that we will be running out of fossil fuel at an increasingly rapid rate between 2003-2009 (cf: RunningOnEmpty@Yahoo.com). Fossil fuel is the very foundation of our civilization, e.g. agriculture, industry, transport and production of half a million chemicals. Known energy alternatives such as wind/water/hydrogen/solar etc.cannot be developed rapidly enough to replace it. Hence I am convinced that our sole alternative is to immediately start building small locally/bioregionally based communities that are almost totally self-sufficient and probably reduced to using human power for production. Even so, a giant die-off in the billions can be anticipated. And the communities that develop cannot be just "sustainable". To survive we must RESTORE the fertility of the soil, the purity of the water, atmosphere, etc. And above all take care as a community of ourselves, each other and all other life forms and inorganic matter that healthy life depends upon .The exploitation of the Earth, other life forms, ourselves and each other must become past history...FAST. There is precious little time left (Source: dpeter [dpeter@free.fr] ) about AUROVILLE Arief Rahadi and Medhbh,Warm Greetings, We live in Carson NM, 120 miles north of ABQ, off the grid for water and electricity but using wood for heat and butane for cooking. We are cerca 8k feet elevation. So we during grow in the sunshine during 90 days and use moveable cloches during the winter. We think it most urgent to develop small local and bioregional self-sustaining communities of 1-2 k with their own money, educational, health systems etc. Non-dogmatically Spiritually based with guided/managed concensually with its food production designed to simultaneously and gradually restore our damaged eco-systems. We have so far been unable to influence our rural neighbors to undertake such project, but have established a weak but functioning community association. All visited Auroville community in Pondicherry Province in India for five weeks a year ago and was quite impressed with the progress they are making. He also participated in a week-long ecological workshop in which experts in various fields reported, and learned a bit about the Gandhian movements efforts to solve the problems there on a community level. The Auroville community has restored a significant part of 25 square miles of land whose fertility had been destroyed into a veritable rain forest and is in the process of abolishing money as the basis of exchange. Source: dpeter