[p2p-research] Fwd: Doors of Perception: June 2010 - Whole, whole on the range

Tue Jun 8 00:27:23 CEST 2010

excellent as usual, a must read on agrifood developments,

michel

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Doors Report <doors-report at list.doorsofperception.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 4:31 AM
Subject: Doors of Perception: June 2010 - Whole, whole on the range
To: Doors Report <doors-report at list.doorsofperception.com>

Doors of Perception Report
by John Thackara
June 2010 - Whole, whole on the range

This free monthly newsletter starts conversations on issues to do
with design for resilience, and announces Doors of Perception events.
Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://www.doorsofperception.com/mailinglist/
Back issues: http://www.doorsofperception.com/mailinglist/archives.php

THIS MONTH'S HIGHLIGHTS
The James Lovelock of grasslands - - From green revolution, to brown - -
Feet in
the field - - Telling porkies: the big fat lie about food production - -
Food
Loop - - Peoples Supermarket - - De-Growth - - Economically viable local
food
- - Local money - - Net Change Week - - What should design critics write
about?
- - Green ships for billionaires - - Museums of social hoo-hah - - Making
good
in the gift economy

WHOLE, WHOLE ON THE RANGE
A quarter of the land area of Earth is turning into desert. Three quarters
of
the planet's savannas and grasslands are degrading. And because the main
activity on rangelands is grazing livestock, on which 70% of the world's
poorest
people depend, grassland deterioration therefore causes widespread poverty.
Enormous research efforts have been made to understand and reverse
desertification but, until recently, and with one remarkable exception, to
no
avail. That exception, Operation Hope, has transformed 6500 acres of of
parched
and degraded grasslands in Zimbabwe into lush pastures replete with ponds
and
flowing streams - even during periods of drought. Allan Savory, who's behind
the
programme, is a kind of James Lovelock of rangelands management: ridiculed
by
the scientific mainstream for decades, he is now achieving recognition.
Savory
is the winner in the year's Buckminster Fuller Challenge, for which your
correspondent was a jury member. Read more at:
http://www.doorsofperception.com/archives/2010/05/whole_whole_on.php
http://tiny.cc/z5d5f

FROM GREEN REVOLUTION - TO BROWN
Savory's work has far wider implications than desertification alone. His
approach contains the elements of a new approach to agriculture. The Green
Revolution was based on high input, industrial agriculture. It involved
massive
inputs of petro-chemicals and herbicides, monoculture cropping, excessive
use of
water, and confinement animal feeding operations. Yes, it increased global
food
production tremendously; but, charges Savory, "the Green Revolution has not
been
characterized by ecological or social integrity—quite the contrary. Horrific
soil erosion, dead zones at the mouths of rivers, severely depleted levels
of
biodiversity, impoverished rural communities, soil fertility loss, and
oxidation
of soil organic matter, have been exacerbated by the Green Revolution".
Savory
promotes the necessity of a new 'Brown Revolution', based on the
regeneration of
covered, organically rich, biologically thriving soil, and brought to
fruition
via millions of human beings returning to the land and the production of
food.

FROM KNOWLEDGE CENTRAL, TO FEET IN THE FIELD
Staying with green vs brown revolutions: Grameen Foundation has been
developing
a distributed network of intermediaries, or Community Knowledge Workers
(CKWs)
in Uganda. The initiative uses mobile devices to "extend the reach of
centralized expertise" to "feet in the field". The project begs a heap of
important questions about the nature of that centralised knowledge. It's
funded,
for a start, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has been heavily
criticised for its focus on high-tech and monocultural solutions to the food
issue. Writing in Grist, Tom Philpott says that although the Gates
Foundation
"has been very careful not to associate itself too closely with
patent-protected
biotechnology as a panacea for African farmers", Gates himself has "chided
the
critics of GMOs" and declared that "some of our grants [in Africa] do
include
transgenic approaches, because ...they have the potential to address
farmers'
challenges more efficiently than conventional techniques." Grameen insists
that
its CKWs are "crucial for contextualizing knowledge" and that they provide
"a
channel to represent the voice of the farmer". But Kenyan biodiversity
leader
Josphat Ngonyo, thinks the Seattle philanthropist is pursuing a strategy
that
will largely help corporate agricultural interests and hurt smallholder
farmers.
http://grameenfoundation.org/sites/default/files/Grameen-Foundation-Community-Knowledge-Worker-Pilot-Report.pdf
http://tiny.cc/7zv7n
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-10-21-bill-gates-reveals-support-for-gmo-ag
http://tiny.cc/r1j3s
http://www.seattleglobaljustice.org/2010/04/april-29-dysfunctional-aid-and-misplaced-philanthropy-african-farmers-responses-to-the-green-revolution-in-africa/
http://tiny.cc/vxb3r

TELLING PORKIES: THE BIG FAT LIE ABOUT FOOD PRODUCTION
Statistics about the need to increase global food production by fifty
percent by
2030 and for it to double by 2050, have been widely used by scientists,
politicians, agriculture and GM industry lobbyists. These apparently
scientific
statistics dominate policy and media discourse about food and farming.
However,
when the Soil Association looked into the reported sources for these
figures,
none actually stated that global food production needs to increase by these
amounts. Read the report - Telling porkies: The big fat lie about food
production - here:
http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=qbavgJQPY%2fc%3d&tabid=313
http://tiny.cc/2nt23

FOOD LOOP
FoodLoop a design-led social enterprise for the localized composting of
biodegradable waste on housing estates in London.The service, which is
staffed
by disadvantaged people, provides a door-to-door service among inner-city
flats.
FoodLoop workers learn gardening and landscaping skills, and use the compost
to
cultivate fruit and vegetable plants on communal areas of the estate. A
specially designed community composting machine, the Rocket Composter, is
installed on each estate and managed by local residents. The first FoodLoop
project is up and running on Maiden Lane in Camden Town in London.
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/011210.html
http://tiny.cc/072mk

PEOPLE'S SUPERMARKET
David Barrie writes to tell me that anyone can join The People's
Supermarket,
which has just opened in London - but as a member you must work in the shop
for
a few hours every month. Because the workforce is nearly all volunteers,
staff
costs are kept low - which means shopping can be cheaper; any profits go
back
into making the food even cheaper.
http://www.peoplessupermarket.org/?page_id=9
http://tiny.cc/3zm65

DE-GROWTH
The the new UK Business Secretary, Vince Cable, describes his department as
the
'Ministry of Growth'. And an increasingly deranged NESTA, the innovation
think-tank, calls economic growth "the universal solvent of politics".
Universal
dissolvent of life on earth, more likely. The True Cost Campaign describes
GDP
as a 'doomsday machine' because it rewards economic activity that destroys
the
biosphere. But new tools to measure economic progress are now emerging. In
Barcelona last month, 500 scientists, civil society members and practioners
discussed 'degrowth' and ways to change the relationship between paid and
unpaid
work. Among the terrific posters that may be downloaded are, "Less
consumption
more wellbeing: evidence from the policies of Italian Virtuous
Municipalities'
Association", and "Does consumption of market goods relates to well-being?
An empirical test in the Bolivian Amazon". On 19 June in Leeds, UK, a
similar
(one would imagine) crowd will discuss the idea of a 'steady state economy'.
http://www.degrowth.eu/v1/
http://steadystate.org/leeds2010/

LOCAL MONEY
In past recessions and depressions, a popular response from communities has
been
to create their own forms of money. An inspiring yet practical new
Transition
Book, Local Money, helps you understand what money is and what makes good
and
bad money; it also reviews how people around the world and in the past have
experimented with new forms of money that they create themselves.
http://www.transitionbooks.net/local-money-how-to-make-it-happen-in-your-community-by-peter-north/
http://tiny.cc/kfu4j

SWEATING PUBLIC ASSETS
>From vacant office blocks and unused green spaces to the schools, libraries
and
other public buildings which are too often locked up at night, more can be
done
to 'sweat' public assets. But the idea of the temporary use of land and
assets
by civil society has gained currency since the economic downturn. While the
private sector has had particular success bringing unoccupied shop fronts or
empty commercial office buildings back into use during the recession, unused
public sector assets have largely remained as such. A new report from The
Young
Foundation focuses on three examples:
community access to vacant land - perhaps to create a community garden or
play
area; empty building - temporary use of empty office spaces, disused
shelters or
community spaces by community groups or social enterprises; and access to
under-used spaces - for peer support groups or community partnerships to
easily
access schools, libraries or GP surgeries out of hours.
http://www.youngfoundation.org/files/images/Promising_Ideas.pdf

WHAT SHOULD DESIGN CRITICS WRITE ABOUT?
What issues should the next generation of design critics write about? Where
and
how should they do this writing? And, how will they get paid for doing so?
The
text of my keynote talk to Crossing The Line at the School for Visual Arts
in
New York is now online.
Text: http://www.doorsofperception.com/archives/2010/05/post_54.php
http://tiny.cc/389lc
Video: http://www.vimeo.com/11555673

GREEN SHIPS FOR BILLIONAIRES
The world's marine shipping fleet, which 60,000 vessels strong, moves 90
percent
of the world's internationally traded goods. The fuel these ships burn is
3,000
times dirtier than fuel burned in US and European diesel trucks. Can
anything be
done? 'Green Ship Technology' is being developed below the radar, especially
in
Denmark - but what about paradigm shifts in ship propulsion? One floating
test-bed could be Soliloquy, the world's first carbon-neutral super-yacht.
Fixed
sails will double as solar panels to produce enough energy to propel the
58-metre-long boat at a cruising speed of eight knots, and the hull will be
made
of sustainable timber instead of the usual more energy-intensive aluminium.
At fifty million euros, the design is pitched at the high end of the weekend
boating market, it's true - and there's a bit of a gap between eco
super-yachts
and vast freight ships. But Callender says the latter "is an area of design
that
I would like to get involved with, given the chance"..
http://www.cntraveller.com/magazine/innovation-and-design-2010/
http://www.callenderdesigns.co.uk
http://www.greenship.org/projekter/

MUSEUMS OF SOCIAL HOO-HAH
What should design museums do, or be? Your correspondent joined a group of
writers and curators to discuss 'Reasons Not to Be Pretty: Symposium on
Design,
Social Change and the Museum'. We discussed the notion of design for social
change, its various forms and manifestations, and how best to exhibit,
acquire,
and preserve its artifacts in museum and non-museum contexts. Julie Lasky
wittily shortened this long menu to 'social hoo-hah'. Our group discussed
some
intriguing possibilities. First, there's a need for shared public spaces
that
are integrational of ideas and people separated by modernity and
rationalism.
Second, platforms are needed for diverse ecologies of ecology of actors to
engage with so-called wicked problems; could museums be this platform?
Third, we
all need time to think and reflect, and the museum could be the right place
to
do this. And fourth, the Hindi word for museum is "house of magic". On
reflection, there's a difference between what we might want a museum to be -
and
what it is now, or is likely to become. Perhaps we should let museums be
musems,
and leave them alone to do what they do best: collect, preserve, and present
artefacts. The event was produced by Winterhouse, with support from the
Rockefeller Foundation (at whose pad, Bellagio, we stayed).
http://changeobserver.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=13488
http://tiny.cc/af88b

]       FORTHCOMING EVENTS

ART, SCIENCE, HACK IN FRANCE
Autarchy, autonomy, self-sufficiency in the digital age, heritage and
development, digital artesans and DIY industry, digital democracy, energy &
environnement. These and other topics will preoccupy artists, engineers,
researchers, teachers, hackers, activists, thinkers and digital craftsman at
this Art, Science & Hack summer meeting. The summercamp will be held out in
the
wild, with no road access; everyone will be invited to participate to its
life
according to autonomy and environment concern principles. 20 to 26 July
2010, at
the edge of the National Park of Mercantour in the Alpes Maritimes, on the
Riviera. Péone, Alpes Maritimes, France. The organisers include the
fantastic
Jean-Noël Montagné.
http://www.estivenumerique.org/wiki/index.php?title=Digital_Peak
http://tiny.cc/nsbar

BARNCAMP 2010
BarnCamp 2010 is two days of workshops on topics ranging from renewable
energy
to foraging for food to citizen journalism to using free software for
activism,
up to three nights of camping, open space sessions, evening entertainment,
great
food on a beautiful farm co-op high in the Wye Valley.
http://hacktivista.net/hacktionlab/index.php/2010_callout

RURALITY 2.0
The Interferenze festival takes place 23 to 25 of July in the rural area of
Bisaccia - Irpinia Region, South of Italy. The the festival, whose theme is
'Rurality 2.0', engages with technology, tradition and rural landscapes. It
will
take place in the area of the Ducal Castle in Bisaccia, a little village of
the
Alta Irpinia. One of the most striking rural area of the entire South of
Italy,
it's 'enriched by landscapes full of abstract, wind and infiniteness,
steeples,
towers, narrow and quiet streets, place of an historical metabolism that is
slow
and almost solemn in its ancestral rituals'.
http://www.interferenze.org

ECONOMICALLY VIABLE LOCAL FOOD
Local Action on Food, London Food Link and SOAS Food Studies Centre
are organising a national (in the UK) conference to explore what steps can
be
taken to help community food growing projects generate income and become
economically viable. Friday 25 June 2010, 10.30 - 5.30 (doors at 10), Brunei
Gallery, School of African and Oriental Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell
Square, London WC1H 0XG
http://www.sustainweb.org/localactiononfood/local_food_events/
http://tiny.cc/tzqsh

PLUGGING LEAKS IN LOCAL ECONOMIES
The Transiton Towns conference will explore how to catalyse local Transition
initiatives and how to build stronger networks. Workshops span a range of
topics: Energy Descent Action Plans; running highly productive meetings;
facing
up to conflict and turning it around; plugging the leaks in local economies;
setting up local food hubs and CSAs (community supported agriculture); oral
histories; anatomy of a zero carbon farm; a wild food walk;  community
ownership
of local assets as a path to an equitable and resilient future; running
constellations. June 12-14.
http://bit.ly/9sKmol

NET CHANGE WEEK
How is technology impacting our education systems? How can the increasing
demands on our charitable natures be assisted by solution-based technology
development? What about our food systems? A panel of web technologists,
futurists, and culturists (among them your coprrespondent, who will join
remotely) will discuss the future of the web and the world on Thursday 10
June.
http://www.netchangeweek.ca/conference/speakers/john-thackara/
http://tiny.cc/jr7je

BE MODERN: JOIN THE GIFT ECONOMY
This free newsletter has been helping people make fortunes, find mates, and
save
the planet, since March 2002. We've waited sixteen years before seeking your
support - but now we've added a 'donate' button: it's on the lower left of
your
screen when you go here:
http://www.doorsofperception.com/

-----

This free monthly newsletter starts conversations on issues to do
with design for resilience, and announces Doors of Perception events.
Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://www.doorsofperception.com/mailinglist/
Back issues: http://www.doorsofperception.com/mailinglist/archives.php

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