We do not need to account for energy use in sustainable biology based systems.
We receive energy in plenty freely from the sun on our planet. It is dispersed in wind, evapotranspiration, heat, plant growth… and generally comes to equilibrium (though that is in question now over the long term). The earth receives all the energy we need for free and we give nothing back in exchange, therefore we don’t need to account for renewable energy use.
On the other hand we have finite resources on this planet that are required for life to multiply. We do want to multiply life on the planet (not necessarily human and livestock) as this is the best place to put the excess out of balance CO2, collecting in the atmosphere, into a vibrant and more massive biosphere.
The limiting resource is then not energy, but minerals for life. Obviously also water. So I feel sustainability accounting needs to focus on accounting for minerals-in minerals-out as a package. Sustainable cities receiving minerals in the form of food, fiber , wood… need to adapt to clean and refine a package of the same amount of mineral to send out to grow more. Two points here: “minerals for life” are not simply the 16 required for plant growth, but all of those required for healthy creatures or soil.
When cities take in product and send it out in equal proportion and in immediately farm or forest usable form, we have become sustainable in our cities no matter how much energy we use or don’t use.
BTW, it is up to the cities to send it out clean and usable, without toxins and heavy metal contamination.
Minerals of life accounting.
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Published by Occupyconscience
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I don't believe in destroying what is here today. I believe in building a future that outperforms and solved inadequacies and failures of present and the past.
My driving intent and focus goes to empower the agrarian reality. I dream of and believe in the need for agrarian renaissance.
Agrarians are those rooted and sustained by the local landscape and community.
I believe that through agrarian success, the world can see a major shift in the human inflicted global ecological effect. We can see a symbiotic future that embraces, feeds on, and promotes ecological and cultural diversity. We can see people, through the natural living of their lives, effecting a rapidly regenerating global environment and reversal of longstanding global desertification.
Since we can, we should. Social engineering? well kind of, yeah. It is intelligent strategic paradigm development. Our civilizational paradigm tends to orient any and all diverse cultures to effect environmental harm/footprint. Therefore, we need to reorient the paradigm to naturally effect regenerative and symbiotic relationships with nature instead.
Agrarian society is in free fall as the paradigm orients cultures and societies around global financial economy with built in rewards and penalties (remember agrarian by definition is place and community oriented).
I believe it is not only possible but crucial to resuscitate and accentuate the infrastructure for global agrarianism and to do it in such a way as to enable renaissance/flowering.
That is my life's work, my passion, and what I live for and would be happy to die for any day of the week. This blog is my rough and in many instances unedited writings on the subject. These are not refined articles. They are a semi-formal journaling to log ideas I find important.
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