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KC Climate Protection Forums » Vision

1. MartyKraft
   

   Neighborhood Centered Community

   This is a brainstorm opportunity. Let’s change and add to this piece of vision and then institute the changes in law and funding necessary to support it.

   SERVICES CLOSE - As we move into a world without abundant fossil fuel it is logical that the neighborhood will again become the center of community. It takes a lot of energy to get us from place to place using automobiles. We will need to get our food within walking distance from markets, small stores, backyard and community gardens. See http://kcfoodcircle.smn-rab.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=140 Pharmacies, hardware and drygood stores too will have to be sited close to where we live. Schools could again become real community centers for larger evening events. Some thought too should be given to having a house on every block become a block gathering place for neighbors to dine together, have meetings or receive food deliveries. These converted homes could also be the place for the block automobile and pickups that could be checked out for longer trips or hauling needs. These block centers could be places for neighborhood artisans and musicians could meet to share their works.

   INTERNET - Computers could be used to connect neighborhood carpenters, painters, electricians etc. to their very local customers. E-bulletin boards could carry news of the larger neighborhood and connect neighborhoods together from all over the world. The internet could also be used to learn forgotten skills and the block center could become a place to practice these reacquired skills with others. Communiversity could be used as a model. See http://www.umkc.edu/commu/Catalog%20index.asp

   PLANTS & GARDENS- Every piece of pavement could be shaded by a tree to diminish the heat island effect and make summers livable. At the same time we must be mindful of the need to have sun for food gardens. Native plants will become the fashion because of their beauty but also because they need the least energy and water use for survival. Their extensive root systems sequester much more carbon than turf grass with shallow root. See http://www.grownative.org/ No till gardening would be favored because it encourages the natural soil communities to flourish sequestering carbon and tilling exposes the soil and the loss of stored carbon. See http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/sep02/soil0902.htm

   SOCIAL CAPITAL - Block and neighborhood social capital should be invested in through the funding of block parties especially with sustainability themes that would get people thinking about simple abundant living. One idea about how this might happen can be found at this link. The city could also fund the Ecoteam program that they discontinued several years ago. See http://www.empowermentinstitute.net/ There is another similar program that should be looked at as well. http://www.enactwi.org/ UMKC’s Communiversity could be used as a model for neighborhood based classes for neighbors to teach neighbors on a wide variety of subjects.

   EXPERIMENTAL SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES - UMKC and Rockhurst could become leaders in neighborhood community building classes, using their holdings in the neighborhoods surrounding their institutions as experimental sustainable community building centers. An earlier proposal to do that exists at this location. See http://www.allspecies.org/bbs1/messages/68.htm

   WALKABILITY - The whole city should be redesigned to promote walkability and bicycling. See http://www.allspecies.org/forum/topic/10?replies=5 And http://carfree.com/

   Posted: 2007-01-31 13:06:28 #

2. Akasha
   Member

   Great ideas, great vision. Thanks for all the links. This is the kind of visioning that inspires. The internet can also serve to keep us connected to the whole human family when our traveling options diminish.

   Posted: 2007-01-31 14:45:17 #

3. patspring
   Member

   Localized energy production:
   Here's one small idea that came to mind as I read your posting, Marty. The internet reduces the need for transportation -- we can transmit our thoughts without moving our bodies to meet with other people. But it won't work without electricity. So a neighborhood might want to generate its own electricity for that, and for other uses as well.

   How about a community gym where the treadmills & other machines are all hooked up to a power storage device? I know very little about electrical power management, but I do know that individuals can generate electricity to feed back into the larger grid ("run the meter backwards"). I certainly would exercise more if I knew I was creating electricity for my neighborhood!

   If I could, I would make some watts right now sitting on my bum at the computer. I picture a little treadle device under my feet, which I could happily pedal as I read, or write, or do otherwise stationary things. Some people might prefer a rocking chair.

   How much power could a rocking chair generate? I don't know. But I just bought myself one of those windup flashlight/radio thingies and it runs for quite a bit longer than the time spent winding it up.

   Pat

   Posted: 2007-01-31 17:30:57 #

4. katiegrotegut
   Member

   Howdy. I'm making up for lost time.

   Localized energy production is not only important but a necessary goal, and all these ideas are just wonderful. But remember that we are part of a vast system. Berkabile said that what happens in KC (and elsewhere) caused the problems in New Orleans. For example, planning on creating local energy to power something like the internet, relies on the ability of other communities around the world to send and receive as well. The point is that we must think and behave like a large organism when it comes to interacting with the global community. It's very different than being a self-sustaining small community. We are a society that depends on a grid. Perhaps "Neighborhood Centered Community" might be better described as a "Neighborhood Community Node" ?

   As you all know, the entire country, globe, must move toward alternative and benign energy to prevent collapse, or go back to developing the type of survival skills used by communities before the industrial revolution, when economies of scale didn't exist. But those skills depended upon known and for the most part predictable natural environments. Its very different when your wet region suddenly becomes drought stricken, runs out of water (depleted glacier melt and aquifers) or a warm region is suddenly too cold to grow things. We can't depend on technologies or skills that work in climates we are used to. We are already in the early stages of climate change and the science is showing it occuring much faster than expected due to unforeseen positive feedback loops. Shouldn't we begin to look further at technologies that have been used for survival in regions where ingenuity has overcome hardship? How do we grow local food if 80% of the weather is too cold or hot?

   Furthermore, can we expect anything to be predictable? Yes - the nature of man. We must avoid finding ourselves in a them or us situation. All must share. We can lose sight of this issue when we start thinking incrementally. I agree with the proposal that neighborhoods will become central to society once again. But we live in a different and interdependant world. Many mistakes were made back in the day, because other's needs weren't considered. This social issue is huge. I recently read that the difference between today's wealthy conservatives, poor conservatives and progressives goes back to social structures in England between the British and the Scotts/Irish, which were carried over and are manifested today in the US according to geographical settlement patterns 300 years ago.

   Again, we need to think globally while acting locally. While our community learns behaviors that might help it survive and slow further damage, the point of all this is to get the KC region to wake up, but part of KC's problem, is that it and other communities in the region, tend to be insular in the first place. I'm concerned that we don't lose sight of the big picture in the process.

   To see what the rest of the country is planning, may I suggest we get into those rocking chairs and read the brand new national carbon reduction strategy. Yesterday, the Sierra Club joined with the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), Representative Henry Waxman, and the nation's preeminent climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, to unveil a new report authored by ASES that outlines how America can reduce its carbon emissions by 60-80% by 2050. The peer-reviewed report, titled "Tackling Climate Change in the U.S." is now the official Sierra Club global warming strategy, and consists of 9 reports that cover topics ranging from hybrid vehicles to wind power. It is a huge pdf file, but very informative and a good primer for the workgroups. I don't have a URL. Google "Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.; Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by 2030"

   Pam is right. I mean Akasha. We need to get radical. But that means, to get off of fossil fuels, yesterday. To become climate neutral yesterday. The fact that the CEO of KCP&L is on the steering committee is a huge step. I wish our first goal is to help him see the error of implementing this new coal-fired power plant. An about face would make him famous! Set an example! And find an alternative that puts KC squarely on the path to sustainability.

   Perhaps one of the goals for our group, and which is doable with any luck, is to work on Bill Downy. Present him with alternatives that are too good to turn away from. If we could get him to sequester his carbon output, reduce his company's waste, would be a pretty significant chunk of "change". This idea is one of endless numbers of overlaps with other groups, specifically energy, that we are always faced with, and I wish this weren't the case, even tho manageablility is important. I'm glad we have this forum to share ideas accross the board.

   Katie

   Posted: 2007-02-01 13:38:05 #

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