Re-localization of Economies: a Path to Greater Health & Happiness

Rather than view a degrowth economic model (due to peak oil, peak debt, climate change, and peak soil) as mere doom and gloom, re-localizing our economies represents an opportunity for healthier and happier living. Here's why...

Community: the interconnected nature of local economies means that we strive to use more authentic ways to communicate and interact. How do you feel about the current economic crisis sweeping the globe? What are some of your hopes and fears about the future? How can we come together in our communities to work together for the benefit of all involved? In order to answer some of these questions, authentic communication must become a prerequisite. Try communicating this way with your neighbors, friends or family and observe the way it brings you together to meet each others needs and enhance the sense of belonging and community inherent among you.

Well being: re-localizing our economies can have a significant impact on the way we live our lives. It gives us the opportunity to take responsibility for our own health and well being. No longer being reliant on big food corporations requires that you grow your own food or support local farmers. This produce, if organically grown, is much better for you. Likewise, using your bike in the neighborhood or walking and running instead of using your car which increases your dependence on expensive fossil fuels, means that you're living a more active lifestyle. Whether it involves eating nutrient rich, locally grown organic food or cutting dependence on fossil fuels to use your bike to get you somewhere, re-localizing our economies can significantly improve our health and well being.

Connection: the industrial growth economy was built on separation. Local economies need to be built on connection and trust. If we are to stand any chance of tackling problems like climate change, debt and high food and petrol prices, we need to cooperate more at the local level. This means banding together in our communities to see how we can use our unique skills and talents for the good of the whole. Whereas the industrial growth economy has been driven predominantly by ego, more local economies will be driven by networks of people who can work together. Not only are we tapping into a more resilient pool of resources, but we'll be learning how to communicate and build real connections to enhance individual, community and environmental well being. Is there any way you can build local, resilient connections with friends, family, your neighbors or people in your street?

Environment: I believe that coming together in local communities to best understand our impact on the environment is a critical first step to bridging the divide between humans and the environment made prevalent by the industrial growth complex. This could mean chipping together to get a good deal on solar panels or rain water catchment systems. It may mean car pooling so not everyone has to do the school run, thereby reducing emissions while saving money and freeing up time to work on other projects. It could mean creating a bike sharing or tool sharing program in your street. To reduce our global footprint on the environment we are going to have to learn what it means to live more economically at the local level.

The industrial growth system emerged out of the assumption that we need to continually work at amassing more wealth and power to the detriment of human health and ecosystems around the globe. Statistics show however, that this is not true. The magic number: $75 000 a year. Anything one earns above that doesn't actually serve to make one happier.

So what's more important: the destruction of forests, fisheries, the contamination of underground aquifers, the depletion of healthy soil, and the extinction of whole species of plants and animals for more money and power? Or, something more real, more beautiful, more connected and more alive for generations to follow?

Ecology and The Environmental Crisis

What can we learn from the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess's idea of deep ecology in relation to our current environmental crisis? His theory delves into the principles underlying the psychology of the environmental crisis (and this is perhaps what we need to comprehend the most in order to make relevant shifts in behavior - taking into account that cognition and behavior are not separate).

The environmental crisis is underpinned by the illusion of separation between humans and the rest of the world. An example of this might be our infatuation with shopping. Enough is never enough. We're always looking for the latest trends to satisfy our insatiable appetite for shopping when in-fact, we don't need such ego driven forms of consumerism. I would argue that it makes us miserable and destroys the planet too.

This particular way of thinking which drives pretty much all the systems of industrial growth stems from the idea that humans are at the center of everything. We are the crown of creation, the measure of all being.

On the one hand you have humans and on the other hand you have resources. The traditional way of looking at the relationship between the two is some-kind of pyramid with humans at the top. It's ironic that most, if not all corporations, have been built on the same pyramid scheme (a top down ideology).

I also find it ironic that this ideology is to be found in the Bible - "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26).

Whereas indigenous people and the science of ecology recognize a more useful metaphor is a web, with humans as merely one strand of that interconnected web. So as we destroy other strands, we essentially destroy ourselves.

This is becoming more and more apparent in the way industrial growth systems driven by non-renewable energy sources have raped the planet of it's biodiversity. As the climate changes and the arctic vanishes, as oceans acidify at alarming rates killing whole species of fish, as aquifers run dry, as the energy needed to keep the industrial food system afloat gets more expensive and destructive, so the very systems we have built on the premise of divide and conquer, fall under the microscope.

But the time we have to examine such disastrous implications is running out. Either we change all the systems so that they fall in harmony with the environment, or the planet will shake humanity off its surface the way a dog shakes fleas off its body. The clock is ticking. Can we question or contradict the notion of endless growth so as to have a significant effect on our behavior before it's too late?

How to Live with More Peace & Joy

In this post I outline some ways to live with a greater sense of peace and joy in your life.

• Live in the present moment: if you're not present then your attention and energy is bleeding elsewhere. The Taoists are masters at conserving energy and placing it where their attention is focused. We can learn to channel our energies into the present moment through awareness and breath. Focus on the sights and sounds around you to bring yourself back into the present moment and realign your focus for where it needs to go (vision).
• Connect with your value system: your value system can be shaped by culture, parents, schools, corporations, friends or media. Your value system plays an important role in forming your identity. But at the same time it's easy to become disconnected from what's important to you. For example, a mundane job in a corporate environment can very quickly severe you from your true values. To rebuild the connection gain perspective on what's important to you; do you value honesty, integrity, sincerity, creativity or do you long to make a difference in some way? Outline a set of values that hit a home run for you.
• Create a unique vision for your life: I like to work with vision instead of goals as I think goals are a bit outdated and limiting. Here's why; goals tend to require that you "tunnel" your vision. However, success rarely follows a straight line from A to B. It's a lot more messy. Our evolution is littered with the corpses of all the failed experiments that went before us. We don't notice this however. We focus instead on what's worked. Goals therefore are a bit too one dimensional. Working with vision is more malleable. Like an artist chipping away at a block of wood or a piece of clay. He may make several mistakes along the way but this just serves as part of the learning process. When we "tunnel" our vision into the future by working with goals, we make it business as usual. Things are in a constant state of flux however. The future is more dynamic and vibrant than ever before. Vision allows you to be more relaxed, open and intuitive to the creative process.
• Develop a sense of purpose: do you feel like your life lacks purpose? Well as soon as you find yourself engaging more with your vision and identity, you'll be able to align with your higher purpose. This may mean doing something that is greater than yourself. It could mean giving back, cooperating with your local community, working for the good of the environment or helping people find their own purpose. Whatever it is becomes more meaningful once you know who you are, why you're here and what you want to create with your life. 

I hope these help you develop greater peace and joy in your life!

The Effects of Sustainability on Agriculture

In this post I examine what some of the effects sustainability will have on agriculture.

Large industrial agriculture systems have been built on things like mechanization, cheap fossil fuels, the increasing use of chemicals in the form of pesticides and fertilizers, and the need to maximize productivity.

While these factors have driven the machine that is industrial agriculture, there have been some detrimental side-effects. These include things like the depletion of healthy topsoil, water contamination, increased inequality and a decline in labor standards, the loss of family owned and run farms, increased costs of production, climate change (agriculture is responsible for one third of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity), and a decline in living standards in rural communities.

So how does sustainability impact these detrimental effects? It does so in 3 primary ways; environmental health, economic profitability and social and economic equity.

When viewing the topic of sustainability in relation to agriculture it is useful to look at it from a holistic systems perspective. Thus, farms are not separate from ecosystems which are not separate from communities in those ecosystems. All these aspects are inter-linked and play a vital roll in sustainable agriculture.

However, there are 4 fundamentals that need to be considered when making the transition from industrial agriculture to sustainable agriculture. These include....

• Water: water is the primary resource that enables agriculture and society to prosper. However, when agricultural practices are mismanaged to the detriment of the environment, then water systems tend to deplete. For example, the advent of industrial agriculture has seen the depletion of many of our underground aquifers. Droughts mean that crops and livestock can be severely impacted. Sustainable farming methods take into account water depletion and work to prevent future droughts by improving water conservation and storage (such as rainwater catchment systems). They use reduced water irrigation systems or manage crops to consume less water. Another factor sustainable farming takes into consideration is water quality. There needs to be a move away from chemicals found in pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers that contribute to water contamination. 
• Energy: as mentioned earlier in this article, the industrial system of agriculture has been driven by cheap fossil fuels, particularly petroleum. The continued use of such non-renewable resources will reduce farms to barren wastelands while contributing to global warming. Thus, in sustainable agriculture systems there has to be a reduction on the reliance of non-renewable energy resources. Instead, we need to focus more on taking energy directly from nature with the use of wind and solar as 2 primary examples.
• Air: there are numerous industrial agriculture activities that have reduced the quality of air. These include things like smoke from machines and agricultural burning, dust from tillage and harvest, pesticide drift from spraying and nitrous oxide emissions from the use of fertilizer. Sustainable practices to improve air quality might include less reliance on mechanization, fire breaks to reduce smoke, appropriate amounts of tillage and the planting of cover crops or perennial grasses to reduce the amount of dustbowlification. 
• Soil: the depletion of healthy topsoil is one of the major threats to our ability to produce adequate food. Soil management is essential to the system of sustainable agriculture. Healthy soil ultimately means that you will not have to use any pesticides in your crop management. Agriculture systems that impair soil quality result in higher inputs in terms of pesticides, water, nutrients, and energy for things like tillage. The aim of sustainable agriculture should be to produce soil with enough organic matter so that ulterior inputs are no longer required.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to transition away from industrial agriculture to more sustainable practices. It requires that responsibility be taken at every level of the system from producer, to retailer, to consumer (A 2011 study reported that as much as 30% of all fresh produce is lost between the farm and the retailer. This means that retail stores must charge higher prices to recoup these significant losses). As with so many aspects of the new social/connection economy much of it depends on cooperation... and awareness!!

Resilience: Why's It Important & How to Build it

The idea of resilience intrigues me and guides me more and more. Why is resilience so important when shaping who we are? I've outlined 4 major reasons below.

1.  Peak Oil: The industrial growth economy was built on cheap, excess energy. We have plucked all the low hanging fruit off the tree. Mining oil is now getting more expensive as we have to use more energy to mine it. I don't think we're in danger of running out of oil anytime soon, but the process of oil extraction is getting increasingly complex. This has further reaching effects on the price of oil.
2. Peak Debt: Our money systems are driven by debt. Since the financial crisis in 2008 more people have been plunged into debt than in the history of mankind. Money is created out of thin air by banks as interest bearing debt. With the money system we've created it's almost impossible to escape this from the time you take out a student loan to the time you buy your first car/house.
3. Peak Soil: Industrial agriculture, with it's use of heavy machinery and chemical fertilizers and pesticides has ravaged the soil of all its nutrients. Furthermore, 24% of greenhouse gas emissions come from industrialized agriculture, encompassing methane from livestock, nitrous oxide from fertilizers, carbon dioxide from machinery and fertilizers, and land change. There are other factors to consider like deforestation, rising sea levels, mass slaughter of ocean life as a result of industrial fishing and increasing water demands due to rising population (the UN projects global population will grow from 7 billion today to 9.3 billion mid century.)
4. Climate change: climate change is occurring 10 times faster than at any time in the past 65 million years. If this rate of change is sustained it will put severe stress on ecosystems world-wide. In the wake of climate change, global weather patterns (heat waves, rainfall) will become more extreme and more frequent. The risks of advanced climate change can be mitigated though. However, this wholly depends on how we respond. And this doesn't take into account the lag effects of for example CO2 emissions.

So how do we respond to such radical signals that our systems are spiraling out of control, gorging themselves from the inside out. Rather than occupy a dooms-day prepper mindset, we can instead work smart in a resilient manner. What does this mean? It means...

• Produce your own energy: the price of electricity (coal, oil, gas) is getting exponentially more expensive. You can rewire the way you think about energy production by producing it yourself for free from mother earth. In other words use solar, wind, water (rain harvesting) to generate your own sources of energy production.
• Grow your own food or support local farmers: instead of purchasing food from large retail outlets who use vast amounts of energy and chemicals to get the food to you, start a veggie garden at home or in your neighborhood. Producing your own food is not only better for you, but you can actually generate a surplus for friends, family, neighbors or farmers markets.
• Create community exchange systems: these could be money systems. For example, Bristol in the UK has created its own Bristol pound, so when a global financial melt-down occurs, they won't be effected. You can also create sharing programs such as bike or car share systems, or instead of booking into a hotel, hire a room in someone's house for the night like Air BnB. There are infinite ways to re-localize our economies and work together for the good of people and planet alike.

Building resilience gives you the opportunity to reconnect with what's truly important to you. The industrial growth complex has been so driven by the need to exploit cheap energy and make money, that we've lost our sense of identity and community. Building resilience not only requires that you realign with your own well being, but also how you relate to your community and the planet at large.

Attitude: an Integral Piece of The Mindset Puzzle

Your attitude is determined by your state of mind which in turn, determines the amount of tension you carry. There is both healthy tension (excitement) and unhealthy tension (fear). The trick is to be aware of which one is driving your behavior. How do you do this?

The only way to do this is to become acutely aware of your state of consciousness. A state of consciousness is a subtle feeling (not to be confused with emotion. Emotion is derived from your state of consciousness). There are 3 states of consciousness which determine your overall emotional well being. These are;

1. Contracted: this may be experienced as mistrust, apprehension, foreboding, dread, sadness, anger, annoyance, aversion, overwhelm, confusion and disconnection to name but a few.
2. Neutral (Relaxed): experienced as peace, calmness, clarity, equanimity, serenity, empowered, gratefulness, refreshed or revived.
3. Expansive: excited, engaged, amazed, vibrant, passionate, alert, curious, exuberant, radiant, joyful, open-hearted, inspired, amazed...

These emotions are related to a feeling, which is merely a state of consciousness (ie. your overall body/mind state). Often though, these subtle states can have significant impacts on the way we project of ourselves or perceive of others. In other words, I can't tell what you're thinking but I can remain open to your behavioral feedback loop, which is often shaped by your attitude. This is shaped at a subtler level by your state of consciousness.

If you wish to be free from excess tension so you may carry more self-confidence into whatever situation you're looking to excel at, observe your subtle state of consciousness. If you find that you're too contracted, spend some time grounding yourself (for example through deep breathing/meditation/visualization). Then reconnect with what's important to you and hold your vision very lightly as you move forward with a renewed "winning attitude." 

Attitude is not the whole pie though. It merely forms an integral piece of the mindset puzzle. The other parts are things like skills, talents, experience, identity (knowing who I am and what's important to me) as well as understanding of context. This is mindset mastery.

Taking Responsibility...

for your thoughts, feelings and actions is one of the key aspects of a growth mindset.

Absolving responsibility for your behavior results in patterns of thinking, behaving and communicating that are reactive, judgmental or justification-based. Words like, "it's not my fault," may show up in your communication (this is a product of victim thinking).

How do you build new ways of thinking more suited to personal growth? 

One way is to become more self-aware by noticing any limiting patterns of thought that keep you stuck. Noticing and dissolving negative self-talk such as, "I'm not good enough," or "I can't ..." or "you don't understand me," is a great first step towards taking responsibility for your thoughts and actions. 

Whenever you become aware of such limiting self-talk, instead of reacting to it, shifting the blame, or becoming judgmental, observe in what other areas of your life this attitude plays itself out. 

Once you've become more aware of how this mindset limits your development, you can begin to transform it for thinking more aligned with your "new identity." Taking responsibility for how you show up at work or at home enhances your spiritual and psychological growth, however difficult that may be.

Through this reflection process you can transform any limitation. What you're doing is essentially re-wiring your brain for new, more useful patterns of thinking. 

Changing old habits that no longer serve you for new, more useful habits that stem from your intuitive self becomes a lot easier through this process. You can then tap into your creative talents to shape the outcomes you desire.

3 Superpowers to Guide your Intuition

Awareness, focus and attention (mindfulness) serve as the building blocks to self mastery. Without these we have diminished powers over our who we are and what we want (identity). Our minds may drift or attach on to things that aren't in alignment with our vision.

But begin to sharpen your focus and expand your awareness and soon you'll find yourself more easily able to tap into your intuition. 

This provides more perspective on where you're at and where you would like to go. I spent years drifting from job to job and from career to career. I was constantly dissatisfied with the work I was doing. It was devoid of meaning or purpose. 

Only once I started to deliberately develop my powers of awareness and focus did I begin to align with what's truly important to me. Finally I could begin to make the transition from career to calling, shaping my knowledge and skills accordingly. 

These superpowers are unique in that they guide your highest intuition (calling). Without them it's difficult to create a life of meaning or purpose.