Monday, September 28, 2009

Cities as living organisms



Cities can be viewed as living organisms which need clean water, food and transportation of waste from the city. But a city is not a well designed organism. We live closer to each other but the need to carry us increases. We rarely produces food or resources in the city itself, although the need for them increases. People living on less space, but their need for space at other locations, their ecological footprint is far much greater. This is unstable in a world with a growing population.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Communicate the future of mankind

I'm not a pioneer in this kind of things. I'm not even enough realistic for the serious people, not enough radical for the activist people. And neither it's my work to tell others what to do.

To know how to create a future society, we have to ask the people in the society what to do. What do they need? What is worth to fight for?

Environmental communication is about this, to make the people tell us what's important for them- not to tell them what's important -listening, before telling".

Every society struggle with different kind of things. If you have money, your problem is probably that you think you can do whatever you think you should do. SHOULD DO. Not what you selves wants to do, yes you think you have a free will, but have you? And if you are poor, you may just want this too. Dreaming of doing what the "rich people are doing".

How can we find the things we want to do, read again should do, in a good way also for the environment? We have to see what people really want to do. Needs. Not desires.

It's just about communication. Everything is. We communicate always even if we don't think so. We just have to. It's the society. How do you know where to eat if you don't communicate? You know it because you know the symbols on the signs. You know so much. Even if you don't think about it. Our society is in our minds.

If you go to another country that is quite similar to the society you are use to, you will see the difference in their way of thinking and maybe see how your own society is working. I got a feeling of this when I was in San Francisco for seven weeks in two different periods. I got the question how I like the city, and I said (very stupidly); "Yes.. you have restaurangs [like us], but everything is different into them, here.." I felt so bad after saying this, because it's not like I been in the same country, same city for my whole life, but in US everything was different. If felt being ignored or like they just didn't care.. which leads to my impression that American people are like you think they are; proud, not easy in feelings and they just fight for they own. In a Swedish way this would seem to be very egoistic. But for them- it work cause the environment is like that- they have to fight- or you will be in the street doing nothing. We- quiet Swedish people should learn a little bit. If we want something we should say so. But I also think that we Swedish people and also European people have something even more important, and that is passion and caring about other people.

It's what all is about- the best from the two worlds; we have to see what the people want and try to implement it in the best way for them, and as a result; the best for human future.

Why care when you can do other things?

Every human in this globalization world is affected by media and commercials, if not directly, by others. We just cares to much what other people do, to do something by our selves. This pants is not good to have in this place, this shoes can't be put with this socks.. Or my behavior is not as it should be, I should "behave"...

Of course we don't have time to be environmental correct. Maybe if the magazine says so. If the clubs, bars, restaurants do so. If our closest environmental do so. But why should we think our self? Why should we care? We have other things to think about. To fit to the society for example..

Information is not enough. We have known about the consequences for a long time. . But we just don't have time for it. We have to live in the society. To be correct..

Read the link to Herman Daly

One world. 6.8 billion people

One world. 6.8 billion people. 100 000 newborn every day. Who think in realistic thoughts that we can buy whatever we want and don't think about the consequences? What the fuck is happening in this world right now?
We are talking about finances crises but that will be OK. We just have to buy more. And more. And more. But people! Wake up! This is one world with a limited resources ground!

Cheap crap stuff is now in every store. Its even better if its just crap, so people can buy new thing again soon. It's perfect for the fashion in clothing. Who wants to have the old fashion any way? Better to let it be crap, so we can change faster.

I have an electric fireplace from the 80's and it working great. My grandma had a dishwasher that I guess was more than 30 years old, perfect until recently. They change it and the new dishwasher brooked down, two years later. A small piece was broken and it was cheaper to by another, new dishwasher.

The fashion to eat meat have increased by 50% in Sweden in the latest 15 years (http://stallom.se/2009/09/17/vill-du-kora-bil-eller-ata-kott/) and (http://www.sik.se/archive/pdf-filer-katalog/SR794.pdf). How is that even possible? Do we have that much land to give to the animals, when we in the same time are talking about a world in hunger? The debate about energy is also present here. An animal use 90% of what it is eating by itself- to warm up itself. If only 10% of the food that an animal eats goes to produce meat- it is needed a high proportion of plants. But that's the fact. In Sweden 70% of the agricultural land (not pastureland included) is used to produce/farm food for animals and we import soybeans to give to the animals.. with an loss of 90%, its not so well investigate, when soybean are perfect even for humans to eat..
And then we don't talk about other impacts from meat, for example cut down rain forest and destroy climate. What to do then? Buy more stuff? Eat more meat?

Reality please!

Economy and/or reality

Come on all economist.. Can we think in a sustainable way for instance? A little bit in a more realistic way? The economics isn't all about stuff.

We change the government party here in Sweden, and now they will lower the taxes. For some, its great. But they do it because they want the Swedish people to have more money to buy things for. What kind of things?

It's clear that the world is going more organized and more and more institutional, which is great in a way when it's creating a lot of jobs. But the great organization is not so much about other but things. Information trading, spreading, marketing, subworkers in a chain with to many companies. They just want us to buy things, and that means more stuff. STUFF!. We have all what we want already! We don't need more stuff. We need a society where people can live. And what a society need is; health care, educational centers and schools, culture, social things. We need a society where people can relax and have great fun!

Not worry about the latest trend in shoes or pants. This society now, makes me sick and the planet sick, cause we just have a limited amount of resources. But who cares?

Monday, September 21, 2009

San Francisco one month later

Reading a book. "To play a fool" from Laurie R. King. Everything is happening in San Francisco and the streets and the people, the mood feel familiar. The book told me that "it's hard to build away the bay and the hills here" "-Yes, San Francisco is domed to never be a modern city". In this way a modern city seems to be a city with high buildings and nothing more than walls and street down down there.
I would like to say that we are going back to (with all this modern thinking about green cities and green neighborhoods) the "old" city again cause we have to. The city was growing to fast. Without the human spirit and without a thought that humans should live there. But the city is for the humans. So we have to build.

San Francisco is great in that way, with soo many big parks in the city. But a bit too many cars too. And a lot of other problems.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Lack of nature where nature should be, is not nice

Lack of nature where nature should be, is not nice. You can see that it should be there but what happen?

I have a neighbor, a family actually, two doctors with two kids and two dogs and a big 2-floor- house. The house have two windows to the sun, the rest is a bathroom, and this old windows with colors that you can't see threw. To have more light, this family decided to take down three big oaks (probably more than 200 years old). Clever? They are doctors...

I see a hill with a gymnasium school at the top. Now they took away all the trees at the hill. But why? It just look awful. And you don't have to be an ecologist to understand that the trees do some good things there at the hill. Holding both water and soil together.

There is a daycare center next to the bus stop here and they are doing something very strange; blast away a rock, the kindergarten have to be flattened out. Can we do something better with our tax money???!