Great article. I have a life-long fascination with the pockets of nature found in cities. Mostly, this has been the small patches of forests / wild areas left untouched as cities develop. My curiosity of what might lurk in those woods is always aroused. I grew up playing in an undeveloped section of land known simply as "the woods" to neighborhood kids. Surrounded by housing developments, this wild area stimulated my imaginaton, connected me to nature, and provided hours and hours of exploration. THere were trails worn by generations of kids, secret hideouts, fields, a creek, trees to climb. It was a magical place. Years later as an adult, I went back and discovered the area was really quite small. All kids should have access to such areas.
"A man that Gloria had never met stopped next to her seat in the Broadway co-op's cafeteria and put a small pressed paper tray in front of her."
The hyperlink does seem obvious, but it could have been added after the fact. As I was reading, the above sentence is where I suspected a shift, so I'll go with that.
Excellent story on many levels. I'll be sending people to it!
So the original Dungeons & Dragons would be a capitalist training game? Interesting notion... probably people at Steve Jackson Games in Austin would be more left winged with their GURPS.
I agree with a bunch of these. Please add "group facilitator" to your list, along with mediators and other peacemakers. I work in this field and i love it, and i can assure you that more skilled people with this calling are sorely needed.
Some of the kinds of jobs facilitators do are:
-- Help people and groups stuck in conflicts work things out with each other;
-- Support organizations to find a clear vision for what they want to accomplish in the world and how they will get there;
-- Design events where the participants can engage with each other instead of everyone listening to a few people at the front of the room;
-- Run meetings of all kinds so that decisions can be reached or feedback received;
-- Offer trainings in these and related skills.
I'm loving these articles. I have been thinking so much about how to save more resources sharing more in our community. Here in SF we pay so much rent, and own a car we use about 50% of the time, and yet we need as freelancers. I've gotten us to houseswap, which has been great for cutting our driving and having some fun. I'd like to take things up a notch and share more things with my community.
I live near the Logan Square Book Exchange, and vandalism has certainly been a problem in the past, but it seems like an inevitable cost of setting one of these up in an urban area. The people of Logan Square seem to value the book exchange and clean it up from time to time (the last time I passed it looked like there was a relatively new coat of paint on it, to cover graffiti). This may not be the case in all neighborhoods, but as Jeremy noted, if you have a community that values the exchange, people will take part in its upkeep.
Benjamin, you're right. For any of the modern conveniences (like the Internet... >.>), we pretty much need *some* industrial base. Point is, this industrial base could be much smaller than it is today, along with our dependence on it.
I like this, but I think you missed an important one. People need spiritual leadership more than ever. Counselors, chaplains, meditation instructors, yoga teachers, etc. are all in higher demand than ever before in the west - and for good reason, we are suffering as individuals maybe more than ever before.
I have the great joy of working a remote Buddhist Meditation center, and seeing the way that peoples' lives change due to their practice over the months and years I know them is spectacular.
If we do not dedicate more time to practice - as individuals and as a culture - how to be mindful and open-hearted with one another, then all these other efforts will retain their currently disarming rates of ending in burnout, failure, and pain.
Obviously, Mary switched before getting to "...the incident where they nearly lost the camera..." in this story, because typewriters can't do hyperlinks.
Frank, that's an excellent point. I think a lot about the Dunbar limit of 150. At the same time, we have evolved various tricks to supersede it, to scale the number of people we feel tribal association with upwards. One could even say civilization is a set of such tricks. One obvious such trick is to sort people into categories, so that one feels an identification with all Jews, or Manchester United supporters, or D&D geeks, or leftists, or Americans, which is akin to (and no doubt neurologically based on) the connection that monkeys feel with fellow members of their monkey troop. That this trick tends to also produce a rivalry against out-group members (or specifically defined anti-group rivals) is another issue. As is what new technologies and tricks might emerge to shift this.
Felix, the tricky phrase there is "out of ordinary electrical components". Those are what is produced by a vast network of workers entwined in modern capitalism. I'm even skeptical about pre-1900 technology: are you smelting iron ore and producing glass from sand in your backyard? Doing those things takes a tremendous collection of specialized skills.
Josef, thanks for the links. That is fascinating, and I am pleased to know that small farms are so efficient. A couple of qualms: first, they measure the efficiency of small farms in dollars per acre. I don't know about Turkey, but in Switzerland small farms tend to specialize in high-margin goods -- tasty locally marketed organic veggies, cut flowers -- and to be labor intense. So it would be interesting to see, for the purpose of this discussion, calories per acre, or calories per labor hour, or dollars per labor hour. I am prepared to be surprised even then.
I do think historically, factory farming vastly increased the efficiency and yield of food production. I don't know if it did per acre, but it certainly did in absolute terms -- between, say, WWII and the 1970s the absolute production of calories in the world expanded by vast amounts, largely do to factory methods. That doesn't mean I think factory farming is nice and cozy -- I think it's a horror in environmental and ethical terms. But just as "unsustainable" means "cannot be sustained" rather than "not nice", "vast increase in production" means "there are many more calories produced afterwards", not "and this was good for the earth, the workers, human rights, animal rights, democracy, etc."... it wasn't.
I certainly agree that factory farming is unsustainable, in the sense of "cannot be sustained". But the question is what the transition looks like. As I say, I am a big fan of small-farms, organic locally grown food, and the like. But if, one year, all twelve million inhabitants of New York City were to decide only to eat locally grown small-farm food next year -- not as an occasional treat but as the source of all their nutrition -- what would, technically, happen? Note that I don't ask this polemically, as an opponent of such a development -- on the contrary, I ask it in genuine curiosity, not only as a supporter of such a development, but as a science fiction writer in the midst of revising a story for shareable in which something of this order happens. What would it take to make this a mainstream rather than a fringe phenomenon? At first glance it seems like the above thought experiment would result in a massive depopulation of NYC -- which might not be, on balance, a net environmental positive.
I definitely need to follow up your other links... thanks!
Hi Felix. I lived for a while in Eastern Europe, and I'm inclined to agree that vandalism might be a problem. The success of projects like these depends on context: I think you'd need to really embed the box in a neighborhood or community whose members would value it and keep an eye on it, and I suspect that it's not enough to just put the thing there--you'd have to educate and organize a bit.
I've seen one of those booths at the largest library in Bucharest, but it was during a book fair, and I still didn't notice anyone using it. Not sure if it's still there. In any event, that wouldn't work on the street here, vandals would ruin it in no time. Oh well...
Great article. I have a life-long fascination with the pockets of nature found in cities. Mostly, this has been the small patches of forests / wild areas left untouched as cities develop. My curiosity of what might lurk in those woods is always aroused. I grew up playing in an undeveloped section of land known simply as "the woods" to neighborhood kids. Surrounded by housing developments, this wild area stimulated my imaginaton, connected me to nature, and provided hours and hours of exploration. THere were trails worn by generations of kids, secret hideouts, fields, a creek, trees to climb. It was a magical place. Years later as an adult, I went back and discovered the area was really quite small. All kids should have access to such areas.
What a beautiful post/love letter to NYC! The magic of a big city is something wonderful to experience. Thanks for this.
I really like this idea! But devil's advocate: isn't that like moving Model Ts into horse & buggy showrooms?
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I would love to learn to skateboard! Great pics!
"A man that Gloria had never met stopped next to her seat in the Broadway co-op's cafeteria and put a small pressed paper tray in front of her."
The hyperlink does seem obvious, but it could have been added after the fact. As I was reading, the above sentence is where I suspected a shift, so I'll go with that.
Excellent story on many levels. I'll be sending people to it!
There is a HUB in London now too!
So the original Dungeons & Dragons would be a capitalist training game? Interesting notion... probably people at Steve Jackson Games in Austin would be more left winged with their GURPS.
Bernard, I agree. I nominate festival organizer to the list.
A good list, though a bit short on music and the arts. Food for thought.
My guess: somewhere around "By pooling our resources and our talents, we can create things that no individual can, but it depends on trust."
I agree with a bunch of these. Please add "group facilitator" to your list, along with mediators and other peacemakers. I work in this field and i love it, and i can assure you that more skilled people with this calling are sorely needed.
Some of the kinds of jobs facilitators do are:
-- Help people and groups stuck in conflicts work things out with each other;
-- Support organizations to find a clear vision for what they want to accomplish in the world and how they will get there;
-- Design events where the participants can engage with each other instead of everyone listening to a few people at the front of the room;
-- Run meetings of all kinds so that decisions can be reached or feedback received;
-- Offer trainings in these and related skills.
Cheers.
I'm loving these articles. I have been thinking so much about how to save more resources sharing more in our community. Here in SF we pay so much rent, and own a car we use about 50% of the time, and yet we need as freelancers. I've gotten us to houseswap, which has been great for cutting our driving and having some fun. I'd like to take things up a notch and share more things with my community.
I live near the Logan Square Book Exchange, and vandalism has certainly been a problem in the past, but it seems like an inevitable cost of setting one of these up in an urban area. The people of Logan Square seem to value the book exchange and clean it up from time to time (the last time I passed it looked like there was a relatively new coat of paint on it, to cover graffiti). This may not be the case in all neighborhoods, but as Jeremy noted, if you have a community that values the exchange, people will take part in its upkeep.
Benjamin, you're right. For any of the modern conveniences (like the Internet... >.>), we pretty much need *some* industrial base. Point is, this industrial base could be much smaller than it is today, along with our dependence on it.
I agree in an age where we have to change everything for a better future we cannot exclude religion or fitness.
I like this, but I think you missed an important one. People need spiritual leadership more than ever. Counselors, chaplains, meditation instructors, yoga teachers, etc. are all in higher demand than ever before in the west - and for good reason, we are suffering as individuals maybe more than ever before.
I have the great joy of working a remote Buddhist Meditation center, and seeing the way that peoples' lives change due to their practice over the months and years I know them is spectacular.
If we do not dedicate more time to practice - as individuals and as a culture - how to be mindful and open-hearted with one another, then all these other efforts will retain their currently disarming rates of ending in burnout, failure, and pain.
Obviously, Mary switched before getting to "...the incident where they nearly lost the camera..." in this story, because typewriters can't do hyperlinks.
Frank, that's an excellent point. I think a lot about the Dunbar limit of 150. At the same time, we have evolved various tricks to supersede it, to scale the number of people we feel tribal association with upwards. One could even say civilization is a set of such tricks. One obvious such trick is to sort people into categories, so that one feels an identification with all Jews, or Manchester United supporters, or D&D geeks, or leftists, or Americans, which is akin to (and no doubt neurologically based on) the connection that monkeys feel with fellow members of their monkey troop. That this trick tends to also produce a rivalry against out-group members (or specifically defined anti-group rivals) is another issue. As is what new technologies and tricks might emerge to shift this.
Felix, the tricky phrase there is "out of ordinary electrical components". Those are what is produced by a vast network of workers entwined in modern capitalism. I'm even skeptical about pre-1900 technology: are you smelting iron ore and producing glass from sand in your backyard? Doing those things takes a tremendous collection of specialized skills.
Thanks, Neal!
Josef, thanks for the links. That is fascinating, and I am pleased to know that small farms are so efficient. A couple of qualms: first, they measure the efficiency of small farms in dollars per acre. I don't know about Turkey, but in Switzerland small farms tend to specialize in high-margin goods -- tasty locally marketed organic veggies, cut flowers -- and to be labor intense. So it would be interesting to see, for the purpose of this discussion, calories per acre, or calories per labor hour, or dollars per labor hour. I am prepared to be surprised even then.
I do think historically, factory farming vastly increased the efficiency and yield of food production. I don't know if it did per acre, but it certainly did in absolute terms -- between, say, WWII and the 1970s the absolute production of calories in the world expanded by vast amounts, largely do to factory methods. That doesn't mean I think factory farming is nice and cozy -- I think it's a horror in environmental and ethical terms. But just as "unsustainable" means "cannot be sustained" rather than "not nice", "vast increase in production" means "there are many more calories produced afterwards", not "and this was good for the earth, the workers, human rights, animal rights, democracy, etc."... it wasn't.
I certainly agree that factory farming is unsustainable, in the sense of "cannot be sustained". But the question is what the transition looks like. As I say, I am a big fan of small-farms, organic locally grown food, and the like. But if, one year, all twelve million inhabitants of New York City were to decide only to eat locally grown small-farm food next year -- not as an occasional treat but as the source of all their nutrition -- what would, technically, happen? Note that I don't ask this polemically, as an opponent of such a development -- on the contrary, I ask it in genuine curiosity, not only as a supporter of such a development, but as a science fiction writer in the midst of revising a story for shareable in which something of this order happens. What would it take to make this a mainstream rather than a fringe phenomenon? At first glance it seems like the above thought experiment would result in a massive depopulation of NYC -- which might not be, on balance, a net environmental positive.
I definitely need to follow up your other links... thanks!
I love your cute pink color design, I will probably do something very similar once I am done with my training at new place.
Thanks :)
Hi Felix. I lived for a while in Eastern Europe, and I'm inclined to agree that vandalism might be a problem. The success of projects like these depends on context: I think you'd need to really embed the box in a neighborhood or community whose members would value it and keep an eye on it, and I suspect that it's not enough to just put the thing there--you'd have to educate and organize a bit.
I've seen one of those booths at the largest library in Bucharest, but it was during a book fair, and I still didn't notice anyone using it. Not sure if it's still there. In any event, that wouldn't work on the street here, vandals would ruin it in no time. Oh well...
I forgot to put the link - http://www.ozrecycle.com
Hope this helps to reduce landfill and get rid of some unwanted reusable items.