“So Pávlos, you truly believe it is that simple? Just get consumption and power of the haves down to about 60,000 kilocalories per capita per day and an ecological footprint of two (2) hectares and transfer that power such that the have-nots attain that approximate amount. And you believe those levels will take enough pressure off of Nature in order for her to dynamically and continuously develop in beautiful biotic bliss.”
“Yes. But of course human population numbers have to be curbed also.
And truly, poet Wendell Berry’s simple essays and poetry often lay out the story of sustainability in an elegant manner. Here’s one of his salient quotes: ‘To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want.’ Increasing human population numbers and daily consumption in excess of 60,000 kilocalories, is ignorant, greedy, and/or clumsy, and is destructive and a desecration.”
“But how, Pávlos? How?”
“Well that’s not so simple! Pero: Agua blanda en piedra dura, tanto cavadura continua gotera cava la piedra.
My answer is to begin to educate through ecology across curricula and campuses of all schools, governmental entities, businesses, non-profits, and religious and non-religious organizations. I am going to steal with some modification from David Orr’s classic essay, ‘What Is Education For?’, and strongly emphasize that in order to achieve quality life for all, including other species, for as long as possible, every citizen should have a basic comprehension of:
• the basic principles and processes of ecology, carrying capacity, and steady-state economics;
• the second law of thermodynamics, energetics, appropriate scale, and least-cost, end-use analysis;
• sustainable agriculture and forestry, limits of technology, and how to live well in a place; and
• ecological ethics.
You can find a plethora of associated ideas for pedagogical strategies and tactics, policy implementation, and carrots and sticks for routes toward regeneration, conservation and development of sustainable community on the internet/in the libraries of information in this world. Finally, the ‘straight forward answer’ is that we’ll just have to muddle through toward achieving a lighter individual and collective footprint on the Land which is very respectful of Nature and its lovely homeostasis.
I call this quest for local and global resilient, sustainable community … positively ethical applied community ecology. And though we may not achieve nirvana collectively or even individually, it is the work toward realizing the journey to nirvana which counts.”
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http://blog.spu.edu/sot/2011/02/16/book-review-the-art-of-the-commonplace/