November Greetings, Integral City-zens and Friends of Integral City Today's Integral City Sparkie for the City Brain : … a tension in favor of the values and behavior that are most coherent with the current life conditions will tend to be maintained. The flip side of this behavior is that the dominant culture will protect itself against [...]
I have been watching the outcome (or not?) of the recent Australian election with some interest. I have been thinking about swarming (as in what can we learn from the bees when they swarm?). My bee sources (books, articles, movies) tell me that the swarming process is a kind of hive decision. That when it [...]
This artcle in Vancouver gives updated information about the role of honey bees in human systems -- particularly the food system. It points out the disrespect we (the most evolved species of vertebrates) pay the species that is the most evolved species of invertabrates. You can learn more about the lessons bees have for humans in [...]
If you want to find out how complex the relationship between ecology, water resources and human food supplies is becoming, check out this item on Endangerd Species Act Ruling and food production in California. In order to even grasp the players in this scenario one has to gain some altitude and look at it systemically. It [...]
I am always on the look out for blogs and writers who can write dispassionately about the issues that affect cities. I just discovered this one by Dr. Joe Romm today. It has a great archive and the following quote from the blog can be fully read at www.climateprogress.org Climate Change Progress. Thanks to the [...]
This article published early in December 2009, reveals the biases of the voting blocks at Copenhagen, based on their emissions, GDP and % of world population. The spectrum of intelligences hidden inside these numbers does not reveal who the complex thinkers are in each block -- those people who can think at a geo-centric level and [...]
As we are in the stage of chaos in our international community -- what voices of intelligence point to evidence-based information that we can continue to learn from? Bill McKibben uses 4 numbers: 350 degrees target, 100 countries, 4% and 770 degrees actual!! Read below for background behind these feedback loops. http://climateinteractive.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/bill-mckibbens-guardian-uk-article-features-climate-interactive/#more-2214 Bill McKibben’s Guardian [...]
Look at the stats at the world clock here http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf
From the Eco-Cities Emerging Newsletter November 14, 2009: Greetings, Welcome to the mid November 2009 edition of Ecocities Emerging, an initiative of Ecocity Builders and the International Ecocity Conference Series. I'd like to share something inspiring that just happened. I had dinner with a man who saved the world! No exaggeration. Proves it can be [...]
New Standard Addresses Social Justice, Urban Agriculture and Community Scale Impacts Download the challenge 2.0: www.ilbi.org (International Living Building Institute) Story: http://www.cityfarmer.info/?p=2643(Phoenix, AZ) Nov. 10, 2009 The newest iteration of the Living Building Challenge was released today at Greenbuild, the U.S. Green Building Council’s annual conference. The International Living Building Institute (ILBI), in conjunction [...]