As Bucky Fuller, might have put it: We must learn again how to steer our little “Spaceship Earth“…
This article is in regard to the Zero Carbon Caravan (ZCC) and related ideas in lead up to COP15, in Copenhagen December 2009,which will be one of the most important times in our collective human story. The creator of the ZCC idea is Chris Keene, supporter of CAT (centre of alternative technology) in Wales. CAT are responsible for the ZERO CARBON BRITAIN project.
The article written here, arises from email to Chris and it will change as our ideas do. This very exciting project, of critical value, simply adresses the pressing issue of our time…. Adapt or Die
Hi Chris, good to hear from you. apologies i was distant for last few months, was focusing on things here in BCN.
As you may or may not remember from our radio days at last years climate camp on transitioning, i am an architect eco-urbanist (examples: Dublin | Barcelona), with that im working in the world of transforming cities to more sustainable systems. Im lucky to be working with EIG (eco intelligent growth) and we offer LEED systems for spain and portugal, amongst other things. We are also collaborating with one of our gurus and whose practical design philosophy, C2C (cradle to cradle) we support and base our thinking / action on, 1999´s TIME magazine “hero of the planet” Bill Mc Donough. Regarding human poo and how it can be used, view old vid of plans with chinese government for using it on urban scale, as part of plan for 12 new eco cities there, Im assuming his team explored issues of the bad elemants that you refer to and have sorted how to treat them (this is type of question modern science thankfully is adreessing) William McDonough on Ecocities in China. I will ask around at work for more on that.
You can view the other half of C2C in talk the german chemical engineer, greenpeace activist and creater of EPA (environmental protection agency) gave here in BCN recently as part of the first GEF (global eco forum) : Michael Braungart, design and responsability (part 1)
Regarding electric cars, in full agreement, not only cars, elec bikes and motos too. we are currently exploring these themes for Barcelona, where, due to success of the public biking system BiCiNg, they might well take off
Regarding the immediate dismassal of the idea etc regarding biogas workshops and projects for the zero carbon caravan, im not so sure, as all our actions, i think are based on sensible little steps (untill big quick ones come, if and when they do), so, untill we reach the utopia of full elec and clean transport, little steps which are positive should, i feel, be explored and supported…
Apart from the somewhat beneficial steps toward eco living, in physical terms, any real project which moves beyond mere talk is, in my opinion, positive, it can act as catalyser in communities and from that we move toward our goal(s).
On that note, as im sure you know, there are many people with many views, in terms of end goals, organisational structures, views on how to get there. the key is inclussivity and working together. i know its far from easy, but to be succesful, this has to be appreciated and continually explored, re-assessed, worked on (as always, work in progress….)
regarding the stereo world zero carbon gig: YES YES YES.
multi stereo events in physical world, all connected together in 1 global interconnected network, is for me, THE KEY TO CHANGING THE WORLD!. ive previously experimented and created spaces (in that mix of local here, global everywhere via web radio stream etc)
2 experiments:
Indymedia radio support for WSF 2007 from Kenya (world social forum, 3 way radio show focusing on theme of “housing”)
“Streaming from the gaff” (4 min documentary of Indymedia Ireland’s first live stream for “future of digital media” forum in dublin 2005)
finishing off id like to bring it back again to urbanism and another song, perhaps the second last: the model urban city, re sustainable design, is for me, and many more: Curitiba, in South Brazil, its success is due to the then mayor and architect Jaime Lerner. hes says “cities are not the problem, they are the solution. Each city can be sorted in 3 years” he proscribes urban acupuncture and smart systems thinking. He finishes off many of his talks requesting the “audience” to help him sing the Sustainability song, see it here at end of his TED talk.
I feel things are growing, i feel we will get there, i have HOPE that this is the case, its what drives me!
I think the key for us, is that we have a road map, a design idea that we feel works and from that we work toward getting there, so there in full agreement of critical things like CAT´s ZERO CARBON BRITAIN,
Anyway, keep it up, let me know more about how you feel about the project, are people starting to roll into the idea, what problems to you see, how do we get around them, what about tek end?? id suggest hooking up with hamish and richard who ran climate tv last year at climate camp, they were / are still part of the undercurrents vid activist network. the indymedia network, i think, will play critical role in the global network side of thing, im connected a bit there, but im far from a tekky, but ive mates who will support. also i think the key will be the radio side of things, getting as many stations around planet to tune into and play our transmissions, either live or archived, this is the type of project which can go viral, ie, explode, once the basic structure is there, its simple and it works, once one can click and participate, more can and will, this amplifies the whole thing… in time (still a few years away) it will be the norm!
Regarding radio network, id suggest the AMARC ( World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters) network too, at the G8 in scotland 05, we did live radio project with them from edinburgh direct to african communities. They are currently broadcasting from the current World Social Forum from Belém in Brazil. Id also suggest looking at the very successful INDYMEDIA tv network from g8 at germany in 06: G8-TV. Another team we should connect up with are the radio team from London who were responsible for Climate radio last August, Dissident Island.
Id like to propose to the transition town network the idea, i think that would be nice and do-able, both benefit, both actually same thing, more or less. on that note we are currently working on translation project for transition films at present.
Im cc-ing a few people on this mail, in hope that they might be excited about these ideas, maybe add their inputs, and from that, be invovled in very exciting action soon for global ecological change.
Regards from BCN
dunk
Now back to Bucky…
Buckminster Fuller TV interview 1974 – World Game Synergy Anticapatory
Posted by fuspey 
Posted by fuspey 
Posted by fuspey 
100 – 175,000 march in Barcelona against Gaza massacre and call for Israeli boycott. Due to the ongoing massacres being carried out in the Gaza strip at present, 700+ Palestinians killed, mostly women and children, the protest in the streets of Barcelona was attended between 100 and 175 thousand people, thats about 2 full Croke Parks. Activists, at some stage, mounted a construction scaffolding and attached a banner in Catalan which was a slight modification to the famous poem “First they came…” about the Nazis coming for, removing and disappearing all those they then opposed: the communists, the jews, the trade unionists, the Catholics, the intellectuals, the last of which was the poems author, Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), was part of. Yesterdays banner included “Now they are coming for the Palestinians”
