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In Praise of Sweet Darkness
Shepherd Bliss, Dissident Voice
In recent years I have written articles with titles like “Dark Clouds Over America” and “Torture Memories.” Our nation’s war-making and other threatening behavior have disturbed me. My study of Peak Oil and Climate Change has convinced me that we are in for a dark time as we run low on fossil fuels and over-heat this special planet. At first, I found this depressing. I have come to see that the loss of cheap energy can also be a great opportunity, depending on how we respond.
In addition to our external responses of doing things such as conserving energy and being more efficient, making a transition to renewable energy sources, and relocalizing, there is much that we can do mentally to prepare for post-carbon societies.
One opportunity is to re-consider the role of darkness and down times as part of a natural cycle. Everything that lives perishes — individuals, relationships, nations, empires, species, even planets. Other living things combine from what remains of the departed to replace them. It’s a natural cycle. I see it everyday on my organic Kokopelli Farm in Sonoma County. My lively compost piles are full of spent plants, chicken manure, kitchen scraps, and a wide variety of once-alive but now-decaying organic matter. That compost nourishes my berries, apples, and other fruit and plants, giving them life.
Endarkenment is an essential, often-maligned aspect of that cycle, which frightens some. What goes into my compost pile has many colors, including green, yellow, red, and even purple. What comes out is darker — brown or black. I regularly bring in manure as fertilizer to feed my soil. “Shoveling shit,” as farmers call it, has been a pleasure. This “brown gold” will bring forth tasty fruit. Darkness can be fruitful, in various forms, which some people shy away from.
I write in praise of certain kinds of darkness…
Industrial societies tend to light up the night with headlights, streetlights, houselights and many other lights, rather than relish the dark’s unique gifts. In contrast to contemporary Western attempts to ignore and deny the dark with its abundant refreshing qualities, indigenous people and some religious traditions tend to embrace it…
Shepherd Bliss is a retired college teacher who now farms in Sonoma County, CA. He has contributed to 19 books, most recently to Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace,” edited by Maxine Hong Kingston (www.vowvop.org ). He can be reached at: [email protected].
(11 Dec 2006)
EB contributor Shepherd Bliss is usually about 10 years in advance of the rest of us. Ill have to read the essay several times to more fully understand it, but I think Shepherd is developing an aesthetic for the post-carbon future. -BA
Composting Toilets Offer Solution to Water, Sanitation Problems
Alana Herro, WorldWatch Institute
Predictions of more-severe droughts and worsening water shortages as the Earth’s climate changes have led to an increased interest in composting toilets. These toilets, once deemed just for “hippies” or for areas without access to municipal sanitation, have evolved into sophisticated machines that many now prefer to conventional toilets. In addition to potentially saving the planet billions of liters of water a day through no-flush or extremely low-flush systems, composting toilets can provide nutrient-rich compost and even fertilizer for crops and other vegetation.
According to the advocacy group Composting Toilet World, the basic practice of composting human waste has been used in China for centuries, and it is still prevalent in some rural areas today. Historical as well as modern composting toilets function much like conventional flush toilets, but they use little or no water. Instead of sending waste into the municipal waste stream, composting toilets store it in an on-site compartment to facilitate natural aerobic decomposition, eventually producing a nutrient-rich compost. When used properly, the systems are odorless and kill any waste-borne pathogens. Some systems separate liquid from solid waste to create a liquid fertilizer in addition to the compost. Toilet designs range from the relatively simple, do-it-yourself bucket or bin systems featured in The Humanure Handbook, to hi-tech patented systems like Biolet, Envirolet, and Sun-Mar.
Typical “low-flush” toilets in the United States and Canada use 6 liters (1.6 gallons) of water per flush, notes Scott Smith, vice president of Canada-based Sancor Industries, which manufactures Envirolet Composting Toilet Systems. Thus, by switching to a no-flush composting toilet, a person can save more than 8,000 liters (2,000 gallons) of water per year, assuming an average flush rate of four times daily. “In 25, 50, 100 years, we probably won’t have…the luxury of using clean water to wash away waste,” Smith observes.
(27 Nov 2006)
How to give up cycling
Bob Williams, Culture Change
Following the shocking revelation that heat generated by vigorous exercise is a major contributor to global warming, we are all having to reassess our own activities. It comes as a major surprise to many of us that storing energy in human fat is actually a valuable way of reducing our impact on the environment. Government may be introducing plans to extract this fat by large-scale liposuction programmes and storing it underground, but we all have a responsibility to reduce our participation in ecologically hazardous physical activity.
Looking at my own lifestyle, it was easy to identify my cycling habit as a major problem. I’m only too aware of the amount of heat that cycling can generate but cutting down was not going to be easy, so six months ago I turned for help to my friend Jeremy. He has not cycled since he was a child and is a respectable three stone heavier than me. He now runs a consultancy helping people like me to face up to and overcome our environmental deficit.
I explained to Jeremy that I had been trying to reduce my cycling mileage:
“I’ve been trying to keep it down to 10 miles a day but it just keeps creeping up – sometimes I’m doing 20 or 30 a day. And the weekends are the worst; when the sun is shining I just can’t resist heading for the hills.”
Jeremy explained that there were different approaches to the problem:
“Some people can gradually cut down their cycling but that doesn’t work for everyone. People like you probably need to just decide to stop cycling entirely one day. I’d suggest you just get rid of your bikes and buy a car.”
“Buy a car? But that’s such an unreliable way to travel around town. You never know when you are going to arrive because of congestion and problems with parking. I mean, I have work to do and people who rely on me being on time for my appointments.”
(5 Dec 2006)
