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luminous:reader_2010 [2010-07-21 12:57] – 83.101.5.51luminous:reader_2010 [2010-07-21 16:00] – maja
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 Resilience theory, first introduced by Canadian ecologist C.S. “Buzz” Holling in 1973, begins with two radical premises. The first is that humans and nature are strongly coupled and co-evolving, and should therefore be conceived of as one “social-ecological” system. The second is that the long-held assumption that systems respond to change in a linear, predictable fashion is simply wrong. According to resilience thinking, systems are in constant flux; they are highly unpredictable and self-organizing, with feedbacks across time and space. In the jargon of theorists, they are complex adaptive systems, exhibiting the hallmarks of complexity. Resilience theory, first introduced by Canadian ecologist C.S. “Buzz” Holling in 1973, begins with two radical premises. The first is that humans and nature are strongly coupled and co-evolving, and should therefore be conceived of as one “social-ecological” system. The second is that the long-held assumption that systems respond to change in a linear, predictable fashion is simply wrong. According to resilience thinking, systems are in constant flux; they are highly unpredictable and self-organizing, with feedbacks across time and space. In the jargon of theorists, they are complex adaptive systems, exhibiting the hallmarks of complexity.
 +
 A key feature of complex adaptive systems is that they can settle into a number of different equilibria. A lake, for example, will stabilize in either an oxygen-rich, clear state or algae-dominated, murky one. A financial market can float on a housing bubble or settle into a basin of recession. Historically, we’ve tended to view the transition between such states as gradual. But there is increasing evidence that systems often don’t respond to change that way: The clear lake seems hardly affected by fertilizer runoff until a critical threshold is passed, at which point the water abruptly goes turbid.  A key feature of complex adaptive systems is that they can settle into a number of different equilibria. A lake, for example, will stabilize in either an oxygen-rich, clear state or algae-dominated, murky one. A financial market can float on a housing bubble or settle into a basin of recession. Historically, we’ve tended to view the transition between such states as gradual. But there is increasing evidence that systems often don’t respond to change that way: The clear lake seems hardly affected by fertilizer runoff until a critical threshold is passed, at which point the water abruptly goes turbid. 
 Resilience science focuses on these sorts of tipping points. It looks at gradual stresses, such as climate change, as well as chance events—things like storms, fires, even stock market crashes—that can tip a system into another equilibrium state from which it is difficult, if not impossible, to recover. How much shock can a system absorb before it transforms into something fundamentally different? That, in a nutshell, is the essence of resilience.  Resilience science focuses on these sorts of tipping points. It looks at gradual stresses, such as climate change, as well as chance events—things like storms, fires, even stock market crashes—that can tip a system into another equilibrium state from which it is difficult, if not impossible, to recover. How much shock can a system absorb before it transforms into something fundamentally different? That, in a nutshell, is the essence of resilience. 
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-"A dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC, DSC or DYSC[1]) is a relatively new  +"A dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC, DSC or DYSC[1]) is a relatively new  class of low-cost solar cell, that belong to the group of thin film solar cells.[2] It is based on a semiconductor formed between a photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte, a photoelectrochemical system. This cell was invented by Michael Grätzel and Brian O'Regan at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 1991[3] and are also known as Grätzel cells." 
-class of low-cost solar cell, that belong to the group of thin film  +
-solar cells.[2] It is based on a semiconductor formed between a  +
-photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte, a photoelectrochemical  +
-system. This cell was invented by Michael Grätzel and Brian O'Regan at  +
-the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 1991[3] and are also  +
-known as Grätzel cells." +
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dye-sensitized_solar_cell  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dye-sensitized_solar_cell 
- 
- 
  
 Change in Numbers [anfischer.com] is an informative extension of an existing public display that features the actual ambient temperature in the city. The additional display calculates and shows the difference in temperature to historical statistical weather data of the past. In this case, the display calculated the difference of the month February to the same month about 50 years ago. By doing this, it aims to raise the public awareness of anthropomorphic global warming.  Change in Numbers [anfischer.com] is an informative extension of an existing public display that features the actual ambient temperature in the city. The additional display calculates and shows the difference in temperature to historical statistical weather data of the past. In this case, the display calculated the difference of the month February to the same month about 50 years ago. By doing this, it aims to raise the public awareness of anthropomorphic global warming. 
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-via: http://www.longnow.org/seminars/02009/oct/09/rethinking-green/  
 Globalizing Green  Globalizing Green 
 Stewart Brand built his case for rethinking environmental goals and methods on  two major changes going on in the world. The one that most people  still don't take into consideration is that power is shifting to the  developing world, where 5 out of 6 people live, where the bulk of humanity is getting out of poverty by moving to cities and creating  their own jobs and communities (slums, for now).  Stewart Brand built his case for rethinking environmental goals and methods on  two major changes going on in the world. The one that most people  still don't take into consideration is that power is shifting to the  developing world, where 5 out of 6 people live, where the bulk of humanity is getting out of poverty by moving to cities and creating  their own jobs and communities (slums, for now). 
 +http://www.longnow.org/seminars/02009/oct/09/rethinking-green/ 
 +
  
 He noted that history has always been driven by the world's largest cities, and these years they are places like Mumbai, Lagos, Dhaka, São  Paulo, Karachi, and Mexico City, which are growing 3 times faster and  9 times bigger than cities in the currently developed world ever did. The people in those cities are unstoppably moving up the "energy  ladder" to high quality grid electricity and up the "food ladder"  toward better nutrition, including meat. As soon as they can afford it, everyone in the global South is going to get air conditioning.  He noted that history has always been driven by the world's largest cities, and these years they are places like Mumbai, Lagos, Dhaka, São  Paulo, Karachi, and Mexico City, which are growing 3 times faster and  9 times bigger than cities in the currently developed world ever did. The people in those cities are unstoppably moving up the "energy  ladder" to high quality grid electricity and up the "food ladder"  toward better nutrition, including meat. As soon as they can afford it, everyone in the global South is going to get air conditioning. 
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 Research at Uppsala University: Research at Uppsala University:
  
-"This study offers valuable evidence that green space does more than  +"This study offers valuable evidence that green space does more than 'pretty up' the neighbourhood - it appears to have real effects on health inequality, of a kind that politicians and health authorities should take seriously."
-'pretty up' the neighbourhood - it appears to have real effects on  +
-health inequality, of a kind that politicians and health authorities  +
-should take seriously."+
  
-When the records of more than 366,000 people who died between 2001 and  +When the records of more than 366,000 people who died between 2001 and 2005 were analysed, it revealed that even tiny green spaces in the areas in which they lived made a big difference to their risk of fatal diseases.
-2005 were analysed, it revealed that even tiny green spaces in the areas  +
-in which they lived made a big difference to their risk of fatal diseases.+
  
-Even small parks in the heart of our cities can protect us from strokes  +Even small parks in the heart of our cities can protect us from strokes and heart disease, perhaps by cutting stress or boosting exercise.
-and heart disease, perhaps by cutting stress or boosting exercise.+
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7714950.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7714950.stm
  
  
 +Podcast on planetary boundaries: http://www.nature.com/nature/podcast/index-2009-09-24.html
 +
 +The benefits of future predictions may be more in thinking in the larger scope/scale than in the accuracy of any one prediction. This is like the idea that planning is worthwhile even if a specific plan need to be taken with a significant quantity of salt. -Bruce Sterling 
 +
 +Permaculture design principles: 
 +  *[1] Observe and interact; beauty is in the eye of the beholder
 +  *[2] Catch and store energy; make hay while the sun shines
 +  *[3] Obtain a yield; you can't work on an empty stomach
 +  *[4] Apply self regulation and accept feedback; The sins of the fathers are visited on the children unto the seventh generation
 +  *[5] Use and value renewable resources and services; let nature take its course
 +  *[6] Produce no waste; a stitch in time saves nine / Waste not, want not
 +  *[7] Design from patterns to details; can't see the wood for the trees
 +  *[8] Integrate rather than segregate; many hands make light work
 +  *[9] Use small and slow solutions; the bigger they are, the harder they fall
 +  *[10] Use and value diversity; don't put all your eggs in one basket
 +  *[11] Use edges and value the marginal; don't think you're on the right track just because it is a well beaten path
 +  *[12] Creatively use and respond to change; vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be. -David Holmgren
 +
 +Things should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. -Albert Einstein 
 +
 +Much of the current thinking about the sustainability of our lifestyles is predominantly future focused – in 2020, by 2050, in 5, 15 or 50 years – things will change for the better (according to neo-liberal optimism), or for the worse (according to some scientific projections, or deep green pessimism). In the mean time, the future has arrived and begun to unravel into the past, quietly and unnoticed. In the rush to predict or change the future, we all too easily neglect the present, the only time in which we can actually influence and exercise our possible futures. By becoming more consciously present in the 'here-and-now', we can begin to discern a continuous string of present moments stretching into the mythical 'long term'. We cannot sacrifice the present for an unattainable future, yet we cannot retreat into an 'innocent' past which spawned our present problems. So, the question becomes; what can we do to live more fully in the present, work toward a more luminous future, while drawing inspiration from the past? http://lib.fo.am/luminous_green_mediated_environments
 +
 +We have come to the point at which there is no other way than to bring about a movement to bring nothing about” - Masanobu Fukuoka
 +
 +A working eco-travel monitoring system will resemble a sort of stock market. It can be a way of increasing the perceived value of pristine nature, whose only value at present appears to be seen just in terms of its natural resources. Realising the enjoyable assets of nature can drive conservation forward. http://lib.fo.am/luminous/kaario_jouka_responsible_tourist_communities
 +
 +The Barefoot college in Rajasthan, India is a unique place, run by unique people. It is rooted in tradition, with a vision that reaches far into the future. It is an embodiment of Gandhi’s philosophy – a place where education is distinct from literacy, where women flourish, children run a parliament, and people with handicaps are not disabled. On Barefoot campuses there is no waste, water is harvested and sunlight turned into power (literally and metaphorically). In Barefoot campus programmes traditional crafts meet information technologies, while environmental and ethical sustainability are at the core of everyday life. http://lib.fo.am/luminous/kuzmanovic_shankar_barefoot_college
 +
 +What would the impact be if categories of human explorations were seen not as “economies” – or systems of exchange – but ecologies, in which we played a rightful part? What if, in place of technological categorizations of human activities, we reflected on our lives through a social lens? http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/006498.html
 +
 +The first and probably most precious resource that people can share is time. A quite successful effort in the exchange of “free time” has emerged in Italy, mediated by public institutions, called La Banca del Tempo (The Bank of Time). You donate one hour of your time doing something useful for somebody else (such as teaching a foreign language, painting a wall, etc.) and in return you receive a reciprocal service from someone who’ll spend one hour doing something for you. It’s an invisible network that makes time free from a quantified economic value, testing a different type of economics. http://lib.fo.am/luminous/ludovico_free_online_exchange
 +
 +Frugal life, mother, simple life, conservation, recycling, raw materials, essence, substance, fulfilling, elegance, mindset change, highest output and lowest input, fragility, using less, participation framework, 21st century cradle-to-cradle, impermanence, autonomy, scale… http://lib.fo.am/luminous/nandi_fragile_frugality
 +The possibility of marrying craft with computerisation, past with present with future, the tacit with the virtual, contains the seeds of a new way of apprehending our relationship to all of these fields, inclusive as much as it is combinatory. http://lib.fo.am/luminous/craft_after_virtuality
 +
 +“We’d tried Pepsi and Virgin Cola and various others too,” says Brandon, “but they weren’t really a positive alternative. They were acceptable, but they weren’t Coke. And people really want Coke.” After conducting various taste tests, they felt the preference had less to do with flavour than the power of the brand. (…) “Given that most of the Cube’s customers come because they like the place’s DIY attitude,” Brandon explains, “one way of doing that was to make the cola ourselves.” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/jul/28/foodanddrink.shopping)
 +
 +Today I witnessed a municipality truck with five officials in South Delhi, picking up vendor carts at random. They took away the utensils and the stock. Other officials decided to use their sticks to beat up vendors and break their eggs. They finally drove away with apparent glee. I had been acquainted for several weeks with one of the vendors they attacked. (…) Meanwhile, my vendor is back the next morning. I am impressed and inquire how many times this has happened, and he says with defiance, “three times in the last two months.” (…) The cart is from his friend, a fresh juice vendor. The fresh juice business is not very popular in winters. There are no eggs today since all were broken in the clash. I am told that the eggs will arrive soon. Meanwhile he lights a fire with the waste paper lying around to warm up the place for everyone. http://lib.fo.am/luminous/shankar_where_is_my_chai
 +
 +I once read that about 70 per cent of textile designs are floral prints. Most certainly, the history of textiles showcases the visual representation of nature as a primary creative inspiration. With recent developments in material science we can now move away from iconic representations of nature and start to design, fabricate, and recycle as efficiently as nature. The world of biomimicry has become a key inspiration for the future of design strategies and methodologies… http://lib.fo.am/luminous/what_is_beauty
 +
 +We propose that the current climate of industrialized destruction be countered by industrialized reseeding of the oceans. Our work particularly examines the technologies that should exist to carry out this wish. The primary idea we are researching is the construct Bio Ocean Balls(BOBs). Consisting of a mass of larvae from micro to macro sized organisms, BOBs are released into the marine environment where they melt and disperse. This influx of biodiversity into once sterile areas rapidly creates a complete ecosystem. http://lib.fo.am/luminous/bobs
 +
 +The accelerating crisis in climate change and the realization that humans are the primary cause of this change has raised questions about ownership and responsibility. Who ‘owns’ the climate change crisis and who is responsible for mitigating and reversing it if possible? The overwhelming response to these questions by governments internationally has been to propose a market solution—in essence, to sell the atmosphere. http://lib.fo.am/luminous/who_owns_the_air
 +
 +The Glistening Dew by Michael Filimowicz
 +
 +Sometime later
 +The bomb craters
 +Made good fish ponds
 +
 +
 +====Viridian Principles 2.0 (abridged)====
 +
 +===Futurist Principles===
 +
 +  * **Embrace Decay** - Entropic processes should be closely studied, harnessed for industrial use, and even aestheticized.
 +  * **Planned Evanescence** - the product and all its physical traces should gracefully disintegrate and vanish entirely.
 +  * **Eat what you Kill** - take pains to fully comprehend the thing you have rendered obsolete.
 +  * **The Future is History** - Be when you are.
 +  * **History Accumulates** - invent better ways to manage our increasing wealth of history
 +
 +===Moral Principles===
 +
 +  * **Look at the Underside First** - point out malfunctions, bugs, screw-ups, design failures, side effects, and the whole sad galaxy of trade-offs and failings inherent in any technological artefact.
 +  * **Design for Evil** - Every design process is incomplete unless it takes into careful consideration what could be done with the product by a dictatorial megalomaniac in command of a national economy, secret police and large army.
 +  * **Design for Old** - The 21st century will have a historically unprecedented demographic structure.
 +  * **Superstition isn’t Inspiration** - There’s no effective substitute for experimental verification and verifiable results.
 +
 +===Political Principles===
 +
 +  * **Viridian Inactivism** - Activism is an attention hog. Find the things you are doing that intensify problems, and cease doing them. Seek command of your own life.
 +  * **Do Less with Less** - We should struggle valiantly to find alternative sources of energy, but it’s just as gratifying to simply become less frenetic. What exactly are we doing at the moment that is worth ruining the climate for? Relax.
 +  * **There’s No One so Green as the Dead** - If you feel helpless with guilt because of your bad environmental habits, pause and think of the very brief time in which you employ the Earth’s resources, and the long, long eons in which you’ll just be raw material again.
 +  * **The Viridian Grandfather Principle** - Viridians prefer to carry out green activities than living people can do well
 +
 +===Principles of the Avant-technogarde===
 +
 +  * **The Biological isn’t Logical** - The living world was not designed by a teleological, rationalist, reductionist process. The living world grew irrationally through nonsystematic, genetic exploration of niche possibilities, pruned back by natural selection and occasional massive disasters. 
 +  * **Augment Reality: Aestheticize all Sensors** - Sensors, instrumentation, and mediated monitoring systems of all kinds are the next aesthetic frontier. Sensors must interact with the human sensorium, and are properly seen as not primarily technical, but aesthetic.
 +  * **Make the Invisible Visible** - Advances in instrumentation can be used to change the zeitgeist
 +  * **Less Mass, More Data** - If you always know where something is, you don’t have to chain it up. Physical resources should be replaced with information where possible.
 +  * **Tangible Cyberspace** - introduce computer generated artefacts and processes into the deepest and most intimate textures of the physical world. Make the screen permeable, and turn ‘computers’ into worldly, sensual entities. 
 +  * **Seek the Biomorphic and the Transgenic** - “Nature” is over. What does it mean when you look into the garden and the garden looks back?
 +  * **Datamine Nature** - There is a wealth of aesthetic novelty to be found in previously invisible aspects of nature, such as cellular metabolism, noninvasive medical imaging, hybridomas and chimeras, artificial life entities and chemosynthetic life forms.
 +  * **Grow Complexity** - look for patterns that are both tasteful and previously impossible. With computers it is absurdly simple to create any level of busyness and complexity. Without human aesthetic intervention, this art is puerile and ugly.
 +
 +===Research Principles===
 +
 +  * **Walk Through the Walls of Knowledge Guilds** - The boundaries that separate art, science, medicine, literature, computation, engineering, and design and craft generally are not divine. These boundaries are socially generated. Research techniques are not identical, nor are results all equally valid under all circumstances; quantum physics isn’t opera.. There exists a sensibility that can transcend intellectual turf war with no loss of rigor. If you choose to do it, you can step outside the boundaries history makes for you. You can walk through walls. http://www.viridiandesign.org/principles.html
 +
 +A Luminous Green gathering is neither a radical environmentalist camp, nor a glitzy, self-congratulatory, green-gold business event. It is an edge habitat - like a coastline where marine and land-based eco-systems meet - a fertile and diverse, yet often contradictory space of inconsistencies; an entangled, productive chaos, designed as such to provoke discussions and questions that otherwise rarely get raised. The selected participants rarely mix in their daily lives and we don't expect everyone to agree with each other, but a respectful questioning of each other's practices and beliefs is a healthy thing to do - it can dissolve arrogance, isolationism and xenophobia. http://lib.fo.am/luminous_green_mediated_environments
 +
 +
 +Related reading suggestions from workshops in 2007, 2008 and 2009: 
 +http://lib.fo.am/luminous/recommended_reading
 +http://lib.fo.am/luminous/sampler
 +http://lib.fo.am/luminous/
  
  
-http://www.nature.com/nature/podcast/index-2009-09-24.html 
-Podcast on planetary boundaries  
  
  
  
  • luminous/reader_2010.txt
  • Last modified: 2010-08-19 07:48
  • by nik