I'm not going out to buy the book, but here is my comment on Daniel:
The capacity to coordinate appropriately and resiliently does exist in potentia. Douglas Engelbart said that the knowledgebase is the ultimate tool for humans. The knowledgebase that can solve the problems you're addressing is the Geographic Information System. The best way to use it is to use it to design sustainable economies at the eco-region scale. An eco-region is a consistent cluster of ecosystems. The World Wildlife fund says there are 867 of them. The knowledgebase needs to be structured consistently, but with an unlimited range of variations within categories, to allow it to reflect 6,000 different cultures and their worldviews, which evolved to reflect 10,000 ecosystems (then there were 10,000 cultures and languages). Each design process for an eco-region starts with how to use the surplus of the region to meet most human needs, and how to manage it to increase the surpluses. That is organized by what each ecosystem in it produces, with local trade to meet needs. Then trade among adjacent eco-regions to meet more needs. Then trade among eco-regions in a larger area, the biome to meet more needs. Then trade between biomes.
Doing this requires ending the power of large corporations to force their way into markets -- or everyone votes with their wallets in a context of full disclosure, and defeats those dominator corporations, giving the market to local suppliers in a Partnership paradigm. Hat tip to Riane Eisler's work under that name.
Ok good thoughts but where next? I once participated in a project with Gifford Pinchot on watershed politics. People deeply identify with their watershed and are sensitive to proposals for its well being., more-so than to other ways of dividing up the land. So watershed proposals look like good strategy for engaging people for Gardenworld.
A problem of course is how many eco-regions are sufficient in possibilities for self sustaining agriculture?
There are 867 terrestrial eco-regions according to the World Wildlife Fund, and they probably include upwards of 10,000 ecosystems, though many of them have probably been 'paved over' by cities or industrial agriculture. There were 10,000 languages 10,000 years ago, thus 10,000 cultures, thus 10,000 effective relationships with the land for acquiring food.
They don't all look like western small farmer agriculture, let alone industrial ag. We have to change how we get food in most places, to conform to what the land provides, and / or what we can make in controlled environments. Much of the food will come from food forests and other sources used and developed by indigenous cultures. Eventually, relative abundance can be restored as we learn how to live as stewards.
However, because of renewable energy, battery storage and electric vehicles (including cargo bicycles) we can trade among ecosystems and eco-regions to gain access to nutrients that the plants in our place don't provide in needed density, even as fresh food. And we can use telecommunications to organize deliveries that match supply with demand.
I'm not going out to buy the book, but here is my comment on Daniel:
The capacity to coordinate appropriately and resiliently does exist in potentia. Douglas Engelbart said that the knowledgebase is the ultimate tool for humans. The knowledgebase that can solve the problems you're addressing is the Geographic Information System. The best way to use it is to use it to design sustainable economies at the eco-region scale. An eco-region is a consistent cluster of ecosystems. The World Wildlife fund says there are 867 of them. The knowledgebase needs to be structured consistently, but with an unlimited range of variations within categories, to allow it to reflect 6,000 different cultures and their worldviews, which evolved to reflect 10,000 ecosystems (then there were 10,000 cultures and languages). Each design process for an eco-region starts with how to use the surplus of the region to meet most human needs, and how to manage it to increase the surpluses. That is organized by what each ecosystem in it produces, with local trade to meet needs. Then trade among adjacent eco-regions to meet more needs. Then trade among eco-regions in a larger area, the biome to meet more needs. Then trade between biomes.
Doing this requires ending the power of large corporations to force their way into markets -- or everyone votes with their wallets in a context of full disclosure, and defeats those dominator corporations, giving the market to local suppliers in a Partnership paradigm. Hat tip to Riane Eisler's work under that name.
Ok good thoughts but where next? I once participated in a project with Gifford Pinchot on watershed politics. People deeply identify with their watershed and are sensitive to proposals for its well being., more-so than to other ways of dividing up the land. So watershed proposals look like good strategy for engaging people for Gardenworld.
A problem of course is how many eco-regions are sufficient in possibilities for self sustaining agriculture?
There are 867 terrestrial eco-regions according to the World Wildlife Fund, and they probably include upwards of 10,000 ecosystems, though many of them have probably been 'paved over' by cities or industrial agriculture. There were 10,000 languages 10,000 years ago, thus 10,000 cultures, thus 10,000 effective relationships with the land for acquiring food.
They don't all look like western small farmer agriculture, let alone industrial ag. We have to change how we get food in most places, to conform to what the land provides, and / or what we can make in controlled environments. Much of the food will come from food forests and other sources used and developed by indigenous cultures. Eventually, relative abundance can be restored as we learn how to live as stewards.
However, because of renewable energy, battery storage and electric vehicles (including cargo bicycles) we can trade among ecosystems and eco-regions to gain access to nutrients that the plants in our place don't provide in needed density, even as fresh food. And we can use telecommunications to organize deliveries that match supply with demand.