Category: Ecological

Articles relating to ecological consequences

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The Incongruence of Government Departments

I was just watching a bit of a show on the ABC ( Australia ), in which they were talking about the recent fish kill in the Murray-Darling river system, and in which they were interviewing a guy from the environmental office of The Department of Primary Industries NSW ( www.dpi.nsw.gov.au ).

Now, think about that for a minute: here’s a guy whose role is supposed to be ecological concerns, but he works in a department which has an economically based prime directive. If that doesn’t scream incongruence to you, then you understand neither economics nor ecology.

Continue reading “The Incongruence of Government Departments”

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Yet more evidence capitalism will fail to achieve sustainability

More than a decade ago, maybe as much as 2 decades ago I heard of some European automobile manufacturers taking responsibility for the materials used in their vehicles, by way of recalling all end of life vehicles and recycling every single component. Now I don’t know how accurate the story was, as it was second hand information at best when I received it, and I can’t even remember where I heard it. But it gave me an idea.

More than 5 years ago I started suggesting ( and publishing ) the idea that manufacturers should be made to show technical cause for the use of any and all non-biodegradable and/or toxic materials — ie: they should be required to show that materials are chosen for technical not economic reasons, so that the best materials for the job are used, even if something else is cheaper, where those cheaper options are toxic and/or non-biodegradable — as this would ensure the maximisation of materials innovation for biodegradable and non-toxic options.

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Strategic transition vs. uncontrolled collapse

Many people advocate for the immediate collapse of the status quo of capitalism, without regard to the consequences of that collapse, so I want to go over the reasons why this is not a good idea.

In brief: we currently have organisations that are in control of such things as biological, chemical, and nuclear hazards;

— so ask yourself this:

  • IF wages cease being paid tomorrow because capitalism collapses;
  • THEN whom will turn up to work to decommission these hazards?

Continue reading “Strategic transition vs. uncontrolled collapse”

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Superbugs and flesh eating bacterium

I was reading an article the other day about a woman who died as a consequence of flesh eating bacterium, and it made me think a few things which prompted this article.

Firstly, I will guarantee you that the world will continue to take the wrong approach to this unless they think in the way I’m about to suggest — hence the motivation to educate them before they make matters worse as they’ve been continuing to do so far … secondly I’ll bet a lot of people will deny what I’m about to say, and then it will later be proven correct.

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Imagining waste

So you’ve just done Christmas with the family eh?

  • How many presents were bought by one family member or friend of the family for another ( on average )?
  • How much wrapping paper, synthetics, sticky-tape, ribbons, and other superfluous package was used per gift?
  • How many component parts of the present, and how much of the packaging & wrapping were biodegradable?
  • What is the lifespan of the utility of the gift?

Continue reading “Imagining waste”

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Natural state of being

I’ve read several people recently claiming that “poverty is the natural state of human beings”, and I’m not sure if this is new bullshit or just old bullshit being rehashed, but I am sure it is bullshit … allow me to explain.

Humans are just another mammal, that’s all we are, and prior to the invention of the gun and the industrial revolution, lets have a look at what was going on with our various species of sentient mammalian cousins.

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5 elements of systemic scarcity: objectives, process, resources, temporal, and spatial

This article originally came to me as an idea about how to simply distinguish the differences between property/trade/currency vs. non-property/trade/currency based economic systems – being that the former manufactures scarcity, while the latter removes it ( where possible ). Which in turn was inspired by a debate on social media about whether or not the world is over populated, what we mean by that, and how/why we justify such a statement.

It then occurred to me that for people to understand these issues, they must first understand what scarcity is, and how it occurs – ironically, the people who understand this the least are often the ones who should understand it the best ( economists ), and yet it’s quite apparent that many of them haven’t a clue. The reason for that being, scarcity is an ecological issue, but not an economic one within the confines of the capitalist economic paradigm ( though it should be ).

So let’s start at the beginning and look at what scarcity actually is.

Continue reading “5 elements of systemic scarcity: objectives, process, resources, temporal, and spatial”

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techno-permaculture: civilisation planning

First of all, let me begin this article by stating that I hate the word “pest” to describe POLLINATORS ( which is what many insects are, not just bees ), or to describe whatever else might be in your garden, orchard, or crop fields. I only use this word ( “pest” ) because it best grabs the attention of those whom I want to reach, and hopefully influence to change their practices with respect to “pest control” – particularly in agriculture – but more broadly this article is about the planning of a sustainable civilisation by a marriage of technology and permaculture on many levels.

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The “Leaf Blower vs. Broom” analogy

People often argue that capitalism is efficient, and that it strives for efficiency, but even a cursory glance at the reality around you should tell you otherwise. There are countless other examples of the inefficiency of capitalism, but I want to provide you with one detailed example first.

I was walking up the road from my house when I saw a man using one of my most hated devices, the leaf blower, a device which is a very common and typical example of the failures of capitalism … let’s take a look at exactly how redundant and wasteful this device is. Continue reading “The “Leaf Blower vs. Broom” analogy”

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