{"id":9460,"date":"2019-10-14T16:43:15","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T16:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/?p=9460"},"modified":"2019-11-01T22:05:47","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T22:05:47","slug":"9460","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/2019\/10\/14\/9460\/","title":{"rendered":"Establishing fossil-fuel free (FFF) Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Establishing fossil-fuel free <\/strong>(FFF) Communities <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emanuel Pastreich<\/p>\n\n\n\n

October 14, 2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We came away from the climate march, the climate\nstrike and the enormous swell of political commitment among ordinary citizens\nin the week leading up to the United Nations<\/em> Climate Action Summit with\na new mandate for action.  Even the\ncommercial media which had previously ignored this climate catastrophe was\nforced to face the music. Whether it is the strikes at high schools or the\ndeclaration of a climate emergency by local governments, we are witnessing a\nfundamental shift in consciousness in all corners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even the positive turn cannot erase the dread of\nimpending catastrophe adumbrated by forest fires in Siberia and the Amazon, the\nheat waves sweeping India and Europe and the complete failure of the central\ngovernments of any major country to make a fundamental commitment to the\nelimination of fossil fuels even in the face of overwhelming scientific\nevidence of impending doom.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The emphasis so far has been on appealing to top\ngovernment officials to recognize climate change as a crisis and change policy.\nPerhaps that was the appropriate first step. But the time has come to move to\nthe next stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, the most committed climate activists, after\nthey are dragged away to prison for their civil disobedience, find themselves washing\nwith warm water heated with coal or natural gas, or even nuclear power and\neating vegetables that were shipped on cargo ships and trucks powered by fossil\nfuels, and wrapped in plastic produced from petroleum. The components in the\ncomputers and cell phones they used to coordinate the protests, or write moving\narticles, were produced using coal and other noxious chemicals in India, in China\nor in Thailand and the power that drives most internet networks is similarly\nunclean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specialists who conduct research on the impact of\nclimate change have retirement funds tied up in companies with direct, or\nindirect, ties to fossil fuel profits (often links that are not disclosed to\nthem). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is to say that protestors may raise attention\nabout climate change to the highest levels, but they return home to a nightmare\nworld wherein there is no escape from the fossil fuels. The individual may have\nthe choice of whether to eat meat, or whether to protest, but he or she has no\nchoice about whether to participate in an industrial economy run according to a\nbankrupt ideology of consumption and growth. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activists can block traffic, or lie down on train\ntracks, to force politicians to pay attention to their demands, but the vast\nmajority of their actions, from the moment they turn on the lights in the\nmorning and check their email to the last plastic wrapped snack they eat from\nrefrigerator before bed, are tied to fossil fuels. Moreover, they can fight to\nget articles about climate change in the existing corporate media, or in public\ntextbooks, but there is no broadly circulated newspaper or television news that\nfocuses on climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if there were a choice, even if the scale was\nsmall at first, it would be possible to make every aspect of one\u2019s life into\nprotest action by participating in a global economy, a global intellectual\nnetwork, which is from start to finish 100% fossil fuel free (FFF). Although\nbravery and sacrifice are required, such FFF communities are entirely possible.\nBut we are rather told that we must put up with the existing system of\ndependency on petroleum and coal until such moment as the entire country is net\nzero. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if we create large parts of local economies that\nare 100% fossil-fuel free (FFF), those communities themselves will become\npowerful economic players that can go toe-to-toe with investment banks and oil\ncompanies. Imagine if you had people knocking on your door regularly asking you\nto become a part of a FFF community which would guarantee that all the energy\nyou use, all the food you eat and all the items in your home are produced\nwithout fossil fuels? When that starts to happen, we will have started the real\nrevolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Establishing a fossil fuels free <\/strong>(FFF<\/strong>)\nCommunity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general assumption among the vast majority of\ncitizens who are even aware of the threat of climate change is that we will all\nwait until 2050 and then the government, which has been entirely gutted and\nprivatized) will determine through laws that the entire economy of each nation\nis transformed into a sustainable. The amount of reporting in the commercial\nmedia proposing such a solution is so overwhelming that most people, awash in\nthe half-truths that flow through the smart phone, take this proclamation at\nface value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scientific data shows overwhelmingly that 2050 is\nfar, far, too late. But equally importantly, the current power structure is\nsuch that although there are media events about climate change from time to\ntime, there is zero change in your neighborhood. There is no option to select\n100% renewable energy, no option to purchase food wrapped in plastic and no\nmeetings of the local citizens to discuss climate change, dependency on\npetroleum or the other serious problems that we face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom will start when we have a choice and that\nchoice will only exist if we establish 100% fossil fuel free (FFF) communities\naround the world on a small scale that will permit committed citizens to opt\nout of the corrupt system that forces us to use fossil fuels, whether we want\nto or not. Once there are small communities which are literally 100% FFF (no\nfossil fuels used in the production or transportation of fabrication of\nanything employed), there will be the choice for those of conscience to choose\n(at an initial sacrifice) to join these communities. Without any doubt, many\nwill join. And over time these communities will expand until they become a\nsubstantial part of the domestic, and international economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, it is possible to participate in protests\nabout climate change. But when the protest is over, for most it is back to\nnormal life in an industrialized society. If we have fossil fuel communities,\nhowever, the protest can go on 24 hours a day and a real positive step can be\nmade to stop destroying our Earth now, and not when some politician decides so.\nWe do not need the approval of business leaders or politicians to start that\nprocess at the local level. All we need is the will, the vision, the motivation\nand the tenacity. Such FFF communities give us more than just a good feeling.\nThey bring with them economic independence from a corrupt fossil fuel economy\nwhich influences every aspect of the political economy. Those FFF communities\ncan serve as the base for numerous other political, social and educational\nmovements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step for creating FFF (fossil-fuel free)\ncommunities at the local level is to gather together a small group of people\nwho pledge to support the community, and each other, for the long term, and to\nsupport themselves exclusively on the FFF products produced by this community.\nThere are now, among those willing to be arrested at protests, those who are\ndeeply committed to being vegan. If we have a critical mass of them willing to\ncommit to these FFF communities, and to sink what assets they have into the\ncommunity in the understanding that those communities will pledge to support\nthem going forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a few basics for a fossil fuel free\ncommunity, and they may not be perfect at first, but can be made 100% in a\nshort period of time. The core for our new economy is the establishment of\norganic farms that produce 100% organic food and transport it without the use\nof fossil fuels to those who will eat it. At the beginning, those who join\nthese groups will encounter a significant drop in the diversity of their diet,\nbut they can be certain that they have established the foundations for a truly\nfossil fuel free economy. The food may be grown locally, or brought in from\nlocal farms, or grown at home. The point is that fossil fuels do not intrude at\nany point in the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food can be sold at communal markets in which the\ncollaboration between producer and consumer is a core feature. That is to say\nthat the markets are jointly owned and that the act of buying is linked to a\ncultural and political act of stepping out of the fossil fuel economy. We can\nstart with one such communal market and then expand them out around the\nworld\u2014what is important is that people are invited to join. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The model of the Amish or the Mennonites is worth\nconsidering here. Although we do not have to accept every aspect of their\nproduction systems for food without fossil fuels, they offer us best practices\nthat we can use. What we need to make sure is that our communities are\nexpansive and invite in all those who take an interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can create FFF gardens in every corner of the city,\nlike victory gardens in our struggle to win back our economy from the\nagricultural and transportation corporations who want to make us slaves to\npetroleum and petroleum byproducts. Give the youth who create this food jobs\nand pay them in food and currency for their efforts (like the growing of food\nduring WW II but even more extensive). Within a month, we can get a significant\nchunk of the UK economy made of FFF communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be critical to come up with fossil fuel free\ntransportation for food and other goods immediately, rather than waiting for\ncorrupt politicians to provide it and to make it clear that making do with\nlimited FFF transportation is not an unpleasant inconvenience for the citizen,\nbut a form of moral bravery, the front line of the battle against climate\nchange. The first step is not technological, but rather attitudinal. If working\nall day shoveling mulch, or transporting food by cart, or generating\nelectricity on an exercise bike (which is good exercise) is seen as an ethical\nimperative, much will become possible. If these actions are treated as\nsecondary, something to be left to others, and the narcissism of posting on\nInstagram dominates our culture, we will not get very far at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transportation reform means reform of the concept of\nreal estate and of community. That we must become social beings again who can\nshare everything and we must give up our private land in order to support\nourselves and our community through local food production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another critical part of the FFF community must be\nmanufacturing. Establishing FFF manufacturing is an enormous challenge. First\nyou must start making everything yourself, in your community, make it without\nusing fossil fuels. Products, whether desks and bookshelves, or shirts and\nsweaters, or cups and pots must be made to last for 20-50 years. That means\nthat they must be well-made, that the culture of consumption and constant\nreplacement must be replaced with a culture of sustainability within the FFF\ncommunity, and we return to local production for most everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting our own stores that sell only products\nproduced without any fossil fuels and offering jobs to our children and the\nchildren of our neighbors in those stores, which we patronize because we are in\npart owners of them, it is key to creating FFF communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It goes without saying that this move is the end of\nthe global trade that we have staked our economy on for the last hundred years.\nShipping goods across the Earth does tremendous damage to the environment and\nalso to encourage the inhuman mass production of foodstuffs and other products\nin certain regions to supply the world. That approach to production and\ndistribution has destroyed local economies and distorted the global economy. It\nis possible to have trade using entirely renewable energy in the future, but\nthere is no need for it ever to be on this scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some might take this statement as an\nanti-internationalist, or even anti-Chinese, statement. Nothing could be\nfurther from the truth. It is essential that local communities work in an\ninternational manner to address climate change long-term. That will be an\ninternationalist project, but it will have nothing to do with global capital\ninvestments by the wealthy. It is not anti-Chinese to suggest that China must\nreinvigorate its local economy and stop the large scale exports that damage the\nenvironment by switching back to local, non-polluting manufacturing and\nagriculture. New technologies can make this process far easier and more\neffective than was true in the 19th<\/sup> century. Moreover, the shift\nwill make China more independent and more self-sufficient. The same hold true\nfor other nations who have staked their futures on global trade. We must\nrecognize, quickly, that this system is finished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finance and Currency<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end of a consumption culture driven forward by\ncorporate advertising must be coupled with a drive to restructure finance and\nlending to meet the needs of this new community. We must create local banks\nthat lend out money to purchase these products by means of 30-year loans. That\nis to say that if you buy a shirt, or a desk, that will last for 50 years, it\nwill take a lot of work to make and it will be expensive. But if there is a\nbank that will lend you money for the purchase immediately using a loan over\ntwenty years to purchase that product, then the product becomes affordable\nimmediately. The same is true for solar or wind power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a tremendous burden to suddenly go out and buy\nsolar panels and have them installed. But if the whole package is funded using\na 30-year, or 50-year loan, then it is immediately competitive with paying your\nmonthly bill from the very start. Most people would start using\nrenewable energy immediately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to completely restructure banks, starting with\nlocal banks and the banks established by FFF communities. The primary function\nof banks will be to make rapid conversation to 100% renewable possible. That\nmeans that finance must be focused on the small item, not the big\ninfrastructure programs that investment banks love. For example, if a pair of\npants that will last for 40 years (and can be passed on and on to the next\ngeneration, and is made locally, ends up costing $150, the bank should offer\nmicroloans that will make that product cheaper than a pair of pants imported\nfrom Vietnam that will last for six months. The bank will serve, starting from\nthe FFF community, to reshape the nature of economics so that loans are\nprimarily concerned with distributing cost for critical investments for\nsustainability so that those investments are never avoided because they are too\nexpensive. The bank will be cooperative in nature, owned by the members of the\ncommunity and will not have profit as a goal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the very nature of the economy, whether at\nthe bank of in the newspapers circulated at the FFF community, must fall on\nlong-term development (50-100 years) so that the true cost of petroleum, coal\nand consumption is manifest. That requires that we transform the study of\neconomics, policy, security and welfare so that all disciplines focus on the\nlong term. We can start this transformation of education from elementary school\nin the FFF community and quickly expand it around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the process can be the establishment of an\neco-currency, a form of money that is completely detached from the fossil fuel\nbanking-industrial-military complex and that ties the state of the environment directly to the\nvalue of money. Such a currency can start at the local level, and be expanded\nin its use at a later date (See \u201cEcocurrency\u201d<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education\n  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More often\nthan not, the solution to the climate catastrophe is presented to us as a\nmatter of technology. Although there are certainly critical new materials that\ncan help us to create energy more cheaply from wind and sun, and that\nsatellites allow us to study the state of the biosphere, it will be the\nhumanities that will be decisive in the response to climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The much-neglected\nfield of philosophy will be central. We need to make study of philosophy\ncentral to all of our plans for the future and to recognize that it was the war\non metaphysics, epistmelogy and moral philosophy which has brought on the\ncurrent intellectual crisis that has permitted climate change to reach this\nstage without any response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nprivileged feel entirely at peace with themselves consuming goods that are\nproduced using fossil fuels in other countries while living in comfortable home\nwith minimal pollution. They are happy to have cheap energy produced by coal\npower plants as long as those power plants are far away. The ability to conceive\nof that which is not immediately visible as atrophied for the vast majority of\nthe population. Discussions about philosophy, philosophic topics and scientific\ndiscussions about the nature of our human experience should be expanded to be a\ncentral part of our lives, replacing the commercial consumption dominated media\nthat takes up most of our lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only\nstrong foundations in philosophy will allow our citizens to step back from the\ndrive to make a profit right now, to satisfy their desires immediately, and\nthink about the long-term. Philosophy does not mean, however, that we must bury\nourselves in the abstract writings of Hegel and Heidegger. Rather the essential\nquestions about human existence and the meaning of our experience must be made\ncentral in all discourse and the consumer culture aimed at stimulating the amygdala\nmust be ended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconsumption culture that is destroying us creates profits\nbecause it encourages, stimulates, the individual to desire more and bigger, to\ncreate an imbalance in the individuals self-perception so that some exterior\nobject must be purchased in order to obtain wholeness. Whether it is the\nworship of growth or the praise of consumption, the blindness towards how our\neconomic assumptions feed climate change must be overcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One critical part of that transformation consists of the discovery of\nthe infinite within. As Leo Tolstoy noted in his masterpiece on this subject \u201cThe\nKingdom of God Is Within You\u201d there is infinite spiritual depth, infinite\nintellectual and artistic potential within us, within a blade of grass. Such a\nspiritual and philosophical understanding of human experience is essential to\nmoving beyond our self-destructive current culture and learning how to control\ntechnologies, rather than have technology control us. <\/em> <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The importance of the humanities goes\nbeyond philosophy. We must create a community in which all citizens can fully\nexpress themselves and live deep, meaningful and fulfilling lives without ever\nfeeling a need to do something that requires fossil fuels. Humans did it four\ntens of thousands of years before. They may have suffered as a result of the\nlack of modern medicine and they may have been malnourished, but we should not\nassume their experiences were less spiritually and intellectually. <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Odd though it may seem to people whose\nbrains have been rewired by computers and the internet to respond to instant\nmessages, it is possible for you to spend months reading books, writing\nletters, painting and sketching, exercising, playing music or dancing without\nemploying a single drop of petroleum. Moreover, your memory will improve and\nyou will find it easier to keep track of complex issues in your head as a\nresult. Making things with your hands from clay or wood gives a concrete\nquality to experience that is effective in addressing the alienation in our\nsociety.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

 The return of art, literature, and the public\ndebate will greatly improve the state of our society and make us better\nequipped to respond to climate change. It is hard to imagine such a shift, but\nwithin FFF communities we can start the revolution. <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

These fossil fuel free communities\nrequire a deep personal commitment. Like members of alcoholics anonymous, we\nmust pledge never to use fossil fuels and support each other so that we do not\nfall back to our old habit. We must feel a sense of shame, and we should spread\nthat sense of shame broadly. Every time you use fossil fuels to warm your\nwater, you should think that you are killing off children in Chad. Every time\nyou throw away a plastic spoon, you should feel as if you are dumping raw crude\noil in the ocean. <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Restoring the culture of modesty and frugality that\nhas made up much of human history is critical for our future. That will be part\nof our education programs, our media programs and our approach to evaluating\nhuman progress. We must reject the standards by which we have analyzed the\nworld for over a hundred years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shame must be a part of that education. Every citizen\nmust think about all the energy and the suffering that went into every drop of\npetroleum, the pollution and contamination that is behind every bite of\nprocessed food, and also the damage done by every little piece of plastic we\nthrough away, every piece of fish we waste. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education about\nclimate change should begin today, not for those who are reading this article,\nbut for those who live in blissful ignorance, or who have been denied\neducations altogether. We\nmust work outside of our FFF communities to tell every single citizen what is\nhappening to the climate and what needs to be done. We need to think that we\nare competing against the commercial media that seeks to lull citizens to sleep\nand render them as harmless consumers. We must, by contrast, must meet them on\nthe street with posters and other readily understood materials to tell them\nwhat is going on in terms they can understand. We must go door to door in every\nneighborhood and tell them the truth and invite them to join us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must not make\nthe mistake of assuming that climate change is an issue for the upper middle\nclass, or for progressives. We must seek out working class people, conservative\nChristians, everyone, and tell them how climate change impacts them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, we must make it clear that those\nwho commit to join the campaign against climate change are our friends. We do\nnot want people to just show up for an event, just vote for a candidate. If\nthey are willing to walk with us, and work with us, we will help them for a\nlifetime. If we have better educations, better connections, we will commit to\nhelping their families, to looking out for their interests, if they join us. It\nis that sense of community, of a true contract, that is at the core of a\npolitical movement that will last for decades. <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Establishing fossil-fuel free (FFF) Communities Emanuel Pastreich October 14, 2019 We came away from the climate march, the climate strike and the enormous swell of political commitment among ordinary citizens in the week leading up to the United Nations Climate Action Summit with a new mandate for action.  Even the commercial media which had previously ignored … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9296425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[651,184],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9296425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}