SHC ENVIRONMENTAL PRINCIPLES
ENVIRONMENTAL PRINCIPLES
- The problem with the environmental debate is that participants are arguing from different points of view. Environmentalists argue what is good and bad for ecosystems while the opposition argues what is good and bad for economic systems. Ultimately, there is only one system, composed of many subsystems, all interconnected in complex ways. Any substantial change to the system as a whole will cause hardships to some of the subsystems. Those who would be harmed by the changes will obviously oppose change. It would seem more practical to grow new subsystems with a view to replacing those subsystems that are destructive or inefficient. To design such subsystems, I propose the following principles.
- A healthy environment requires a diversity of species. Providing for a diversity of species will require more than mere coexistence with the natural world. Instead, humans must be integrated into ecosystems and ecosystems must be integrated into economic systems. I do not advocate radical or rapid change. I do not advocate confiscation of property. Rather, I believe that the following principles should be implemented, as things change, over the next one hundred years. If that happens, the earth will be able to support human life for millennia to come.
- One factor in the depletion of the complexity of ecosystems is the rural poor. Many poor people have no option for food and fiber except depleting the environment around them. If the poor organize to utilize the environment in sustainable ways, and to improve habitats, they will begin increasing the complexity of the ecosystem and provide opportunity for themselves.
- The first step in integrating humans into ecosystems is to segregate the human activities detrimental to complexity from areas suited to complexity. Transition zones between forest and plain, plain and water, forest and water, etc. are the most productive areas for biologic complexity. Flood plains provide the best opportunity to create transition zones. Therefore, humans should not build homes or factories or plow in flood plains. Flood plains should be reserved for trees, grass and fish. Protected flood plains would provide a habitat for a greater variety of species, serve as both sponge and filter for our water supplyand provide a sustainable supply of wood, hay and fish.
- Human feces should be composted or digested for methane locally rather than mixed in water and flushed down the toilet. By treating human waste locally, the high nitrogen material is kept out of the water supply, the oxygen in the river is not depleted from algal bloom and the nitrogen is available for use in agriculture.
- Wastewater without feces (gray water) should be biologically filtered locally prior to reintroduction into the river system. Sending gray water into the river directly can pose many of the same problems as feces. High phosphate detergents can cause algal bloom and oxygen depletion. Those same phosphates can be a fertilizer for your lawn. Particularly in dry climates, it makes more sense to use the gray water locally and filter it through biological systems before it returns to the river. In wet climates, the same beneficial effects can be obtained through draining the water through specially designed pond systems.
- Land that is marginal for farming or prone to erosion should be permacultured. A permaculture is an arrangement of plants that will grow without much attention but still provide useful food or fiber. See Permaculture the Earth . Almost any environment has native species that will annually produce fruit or seed that can be used for human consumption or fed to animals. See [ Biological Potential Project ]. If the participants in a self-help corporation were assured that they would be able to annually harvest this material, it would make sense for those participants to invest the labor in establishing the permaculture.
- Animals for human consumption should be raised in structures (not confinement) so that the manure can be collected for methane production and so that there is more space for wild animals. Another factor in loss of diversity is the uncontrolled grazing of animals. If all domestic animals were removed from grasslands, those grasslands would support large numbers of native species. The ungulates could then be harvested as a source of additional protein and the land would have potential for tourism.
- In dry areas rainwater should be collected and stored locally and used in drip irrigation systems to support a permaculture that resists desertification and increases biological diversity. When it rains in a semiarid climate, particularly where the land is overgrazed, the water runs off quickly taking topsoil with it. If we retain the water high in the drainage, that water can be used to support plants that will hold the soil and provide additional habitat for additional animal species. Further, the seed and fruit of those plants could be used to feed people and animals.
- It may also be possible, depending on the geology of a region to utilize shallow aquifers to store rainwater and make permaculture feasible over a wider area. In this scenario, rainwater would be retained high in the drainage, filtered through hay meadows to remove sediment and then injected into the aquifer. The water could then be withdrawn from the aquifer where the land was flatter and the soil more fertile.
- It is equally important to control the flow of water in a wet climate. Wherever the forest is cut, wet lands will erode. As organic matter deteriorates quickly in a wet climate, the soil does not contain many nutrients. Therefore, when the forest is cut, it is often difficult to reestablish a new forest. Wet hillsides should be terraced and water retained in the terraces to grow water plants. The water plants can then be harvested to mulch new trees. The better practice is to avoid clear cutting and slash and burn agriculture. Instead, forest should be thinned and the types of trees manipulated to maximize food and fiber production on a sustainable basis. (i.e. permacultured)
- Oceans, rivers, lakes and ponds could produce much more protein than they now produce. The first step is to stop polluting the water and allow the pollutants to be flushed from the system. Once the water is clean, the diversity of species and the number of individual fish can be dramatically increased through the development and maintenance of fish breeding habitat.
- Climate change is potentially a problem for all species, including our own. Assuming that we will continue to use carbon combustion for a substantial portion of our energy needs, it makes sense to use renewable sources of carbon. That carbon is available in manure as discussed in the [ Methane Project ] and in overgrown forests as discussed in the [ Methanol Project ]. Manure produced in feedlots currently produces large amounts of methane that is released into the air. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The manure can be digested for methane and the methane burned for energy. Overgrown forests tend to burn in wild fires releasing carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming. If the forests are thinned, they become better habitat for wildlife. The wood thinned from the forest can be cooked in the absence of air to produce methanol and charcoal.
- In addition to using renewable sources of energy to limit greenhouse gases carbon sinks should be built. One way to remove carbon from the air to grow more plants, particularly trees. That is another reason to permaculture marginal lands.
- Many people will agree with these principles and that the proposals I have made are a good idea. The sticking point is who will donate the land and who will pay for the labor. It is my proposal that no one need pay for the labor. There are billions of people on earth living in poverty that could provide the labor in exchange for access to the land. If that labor will improve the land, the land increases in value. Increasing land values will give people access to land. See [ Rural Plan ].
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