Open Source Education

The concept of Open Source is catching on. First there was Open SOurce software, then I read about Open Source building construction, yesterday I read about Open Source Education. MIT has opened up its course material and makes it available freely to anyone via the Internet. Of course, having the course material is not the same as receiving the class in person, but this is a gigantic step forward. Having access to world class teaching material is a great opportunity for a large pool of seriously interested students. The move of MIT to make this material available is admirable. Read more about it on the MIT OpenCourseWare site.

Gold at US$1,000

Gold has finally reached $1,000 an ounce. But why? Is it inflation on the dollar? An increase in the investment demand side? Here are some current thoughts on gold.

Yes We Can

"The Government Can" is a hilarious video. It is funny, but yet so true. One does not know if one should laugh about the humor or cry about its truth.

And if you think the video is far from the truth, here you can see some of the many ways the government is spending your hard earned money.

And if this still does not convince you have a look of how in the able government money just goes missing. People think of countries like Mexico, Zimbabwe, and China when they hear corruption. There seems to be more corruption in the US, with the only differnce that in the US there are better spin-doctors and the marketing, media and public relations department hiding corruption under nice words and images. 

Backwardation of Gold

Here is a set of interesting articles, all written by Antal E. Fekete. He is of the opinion that we are heading towards a situation where gold will disappear from the market, in particular from the supply side; prices of 6 or 12-month gold futures will continuously be below the spot price; and that gold will become unavailable at any price; and that the gold exchanges and markets will stop functioning.

Read these articles carefully:

• The Enormous Significance Of Gold Backwardation (from 2004!)
• Red Alert: Gold Backwardation
• Dress rehearsal for the last contango
  

Or in Spanish:

• La desconfianza en el dolar causara un colapso monetario
  
• Ensayo general para el ultimo contango de oro
  

I read all these articles at least twice. It was initially kind of hard to understand the logic, but after re-reading a sufficient number of times I think I slowly understand. On initial reading I found contradictions. I thought how can the gold price go down and gold lose value and at the same time gold is unavailable for purchase at any price. That seemed impossible. But I get it now. One has to clearly differentiate the gold future price and the value of gold. The future price might go down while the value of gold goes up. How so? If people are afraid that the future gold cannot be delivered they are not willing to pay a high price because there is high risk, the risk being that there is no physical gold available in the future. At the same time the perceived value of available gold goes up. So, the situation of backwardation of gold and the increase of gold value at the same time is possible.

If paper money becomes to worthless (imagine Zimbabwe-like worthless) nobody will want to sell their gold. The exchange and market close down because there is nothing to trade, there is no supply. Nobody sells gold at any price.

What the article does not say, but what I think is that people while not selling gold, people will be trading gold for things they need or want (food, gas, heating material, etc.).

Gold

As the times get tougher, the financial mess bigger, and the US dollar steadily continues to lose its value, politicians and financial decision makers might get desperate. What type of regulations do we have to expect? And how might that affect gold? Here are some possibilities, they seem far fetched, but they are all in the realm of possibilties:

• Confiscating the gold: The government decides that you have to hand in all your gold at a price conveniently fixed by the government.
• Making the sale of gold illegal: For example, in the past gold possession and gold panning was legal in Zimbabwe, but, by the Gold Trade Act, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had a monopoly on purchasing and exporting of all gold and silver produced in the country. 
• Making the possession of gold illegal: Zimbabwe then strengthened their Gold Trade Act making also the possession of gold by regular people illegal. Any gold found will be confiscated by the state.
• Making Smelting of Jewelery illegal: See Zimbabwe's Gold Trade Act.
• Artificially fixing the gold price: The government or IMF can set the gold price. This has also been done in Zimbabwe where they have tried about everything for some period of time. In 2007 the price was set to $64 per ounce (today's value on the London exchange is $1000). The conclusion was that all mines stopped working and that all gold disappeared from the market. Nobody wanted to sell gold at this price.  
  

Measuring Progress

In this earlier article on my blog on progress and values it became clear that we need new measuring sticks to evaluate our progress, personal as well as global.

The New York Times also had an article now on how outdated it is to measure progress or well being or economic health in terms of GDP. Have a look at this NY Times article that recommends the death of the GDP.

I wouldn't mind using some simple measures such as global surface area of forests, global surface areas of ecological farm land, or global tonnage of ecologic food to chart if we as a united people walk into the right direction.

Back to the Gold Standard

After leaving the gold standard, manipulation of the markets and abuse of financial regulations have mushroomed slowly leading to crisis after crisis with the current crisis just being the latest and biggest one.

Many voices call for a return to the gold standard where paper money is redeemable for gold and backed by gold. This leads to stricter monetary policies and avoids escalation of debt as we see it right now. Without doubt regular citizens can reap benefits from the prudent return to the gold standard. Still, financial "experts" frequently call the gold standard unrealistic. In this article the top 5 myths about why we can't go back to a gold standard are debunked: Five Myths About the Gold Standard.

6 Billion Others

After the film HOME the new project from Yann Arthus-Bertrand is www.6billionothers.org. He raises 40 questions to people around the world. He collected several thousand responses already. You want to find out what other people around the globe think? What their first dream was? Their first childhood memory? Go have a look. Or sign up and answer the questions yourself.

Potato

The usual way to grow potatoes in Spain is as follows. Other countries like the USA surely follow similar processes:

• 2000 kg of chemical fertilizer is used per hectare
• one treatment of fungicides on the potato seedlings themselves to prevent rhizoctonia
• 2 to 4 treatments of fungicides on the growing crop to prevent mildew
• one treatment of insecticides at seeding
• 2 to 3 treatments of insecticides on the growing crop against beetle, gray worm, etc.
• in the preparation phase before seeding, herbicides are used to kill all plants
• herbicides in the growing phase of the potato to kill all competing plants so that there is no competition for resources (fertilizers, etc.)
• herbicides to kill the green part of the potato that is above the ground in preparation for the harvest
• anti-germination treatment of the harvested potatoes so that they can be sold later

I always thought that potatoes are a rather simple plant requiring a rather simple process. But in today's agro-industry even to grow potatoes we have 2 tones of fertilizers per ha, ca. 4 treatments of fungicides, 3-4 treatments of insecticides, 2 treatments of herbicides and 1 treatment of anti-germination. And we are not even talking about GM potatoes.

That certainly killed my apetite for industrial potatoes. (Data Source: EkoLurra Magazine, 33th edition, winter 2008, p.19).

Gardening Australia

Last week I watched a video which I believe was broadcast on TV in Australia. Peter Cundall gives a brief introduction and then Josh Byrne presents a complete permaculture project showing how one can turn a home with a mid-sized garden into a sustainable, healthy and productive environment. The video is 72 minutes and is entitled "Gardening Australia", professionaly produced in 2006. I found it a useful way to spend 72 minutes. It sheds a little bit of light on everything: water recycling, raised garden beds, small pond, chicken coop, etc. Here is the official site with the DVD: Gardening Australia, Permaculture.

Orwellian Agriculture

What's the objective of agriculture? Most people would say to produce food. In our Orwellian times we have distorted agriculture to such an absurd degree that today

• agriculture is worldwide the biggest consumer of water (13,000 liters of water are needed to produce one kilogram of meat)
  
• agriculture is worldwide the biggest polluter of water (insecticides, pesticides, fertilizers seeping into rivers and ground water)
  
• agriculture is worldwide the biggest cause for soil degradation and soil loss (removal of nutrients, erosion, salination of soil, deforestation for new agricultural plots)
  
• agriculture is a massive energy consumer (for every 1 calorie of food produced 9 calories of energy are put into the agricultural system, most products (fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides) come from the petrochemical industry, i.e. are derived from oil)
  
• agriculture reduces food diversity (75% of plant food seed species have been driven to extinction in the last 60 years, more than half of all food plants grown today are from only 4 species: rice, wheat, soy and corn)

So, what do you think now of today's agriculture? Agriculture which is supposed to give us food, is in reality destroying our water and reducing our capability to produce food in the future.

Bill Mollison once said: our current agriculture is not a system to produce food, it is a system to produce profits. Let me add to that: "... it is a system to produce profits at any cost, including sick people, sick water and a sick land."

Past Real Estate Downturns

Here is an interesting article from a leading Spanish bank on the European real estate downturns during the last decades. These are family homes, not commercial real-estate. While the article is in Spanish it is easy to read, just look at the table and the numbers:

• Finland: 1983-1993 --> 50% downturn
• Netherlands: 1978-1985 --> 49% downturn
• Japan: 1991-2007 --> 41% downturn

What goes up, must come down :)

Trees for your Home

Do you want a healthier home? Why not put 4 trees in your apartment or house? I think it is an easy step to improve living quality. Kamal Meattle tells you what trees are recommendable and about his success in India. Have a look at this 4-minute short TED video.

His key message is:

• put Areca Palm = Chrysalidocarpus lutescens in your living room(4x person)
• put Mother-in-Law's Tongue = Sansevieria trifasciata in your bed room (7x person)
• use specialist plant Money Plant = Epipremnum aureum to remove formaldehyde.
  

Winning the Oil End Game

There is a thought-provoking video on peak oil on TED. Armory Lovins talk about Winning the Oil End Game. I do not agree with all his points. In my opinion he is too optimistic about the government response to the transition. I also doubt that the government being steered by lobbyists and big business interests has the right intentions. His proposed solution is also heavily dependent on technology, which I also see as a possible weakness or at least a factor of risk. I would prefer simpler solutions more in line with nature. Nonetheless his option is a positive step forward and the video is worth watching. He gives a lot of numbers and presents possible approaches for tackling peak oil. Here is the Winning the Oil End Game talk video. Background data on the presentation can be found on his dedicated web site and his book with the same title. The Winning the Oil End Game book is free and a lot of research has gone into it.

Home

The video "HOME" by Yann Arthus-Bertrand is out. It is available in HD (5G!) 1920x1080 for visual pleasure. There are also smaller versions. When I saw an intro on TED to it I was close to crying. Definitely a must-see. Get all the details on the official home page of HOME. YouTube has a channel dedicated to this project. Get downloading and watching!

In the last part of the movie (last 10 minutes), the author wants to make a point that we already have the solutions to improve our self-created deteriorating situation. A list of positive implemented actions is given and the movie shows geothermal power plants, solar panels, etc. Most of these provided positive examples focused on renewable energy. These are without doubt part of the solution. But, as part of the solution I would have liked to see more emphasis on a) reforestation and b) a change from our mono-culture industrial agriculture to sustainable agriculture such as permaculture.

In my belief these 2 steps are essential to the survival of our species.

Personal Aspiration

Having just done my little self evaluation regarding our heavily changing times, I also started to wonder about the purpose of life, and all this good philosophical stuff. In what direction should I go? How can I take my loved ones with me on this journey? It is good to stop once in a while to smell the roses.

I figured it is time to think about and set myself a new personal aspiration. What is a goal? A goal is a desire or an intention that one acts upon in order to achieve it. What are some of the most popular goals people have? Look at this informal list of popular goals. Or this one. Plant a garden is not in the top 100. There is not a single goal regarding the environment, like reducing the carbon footprint, using less resources, recycling more. Words like "nature" or "environment" don't show up anywhere on these lists. There are some goal lists of higher quality.

What is my general goal? I wrote the following sentence down to help me as a guideline in steering through the coming months or years.

"Create and maintain a healthy environment and lifestyle where work done is satisfying and balanced with family, pastime and rest."

I can embellish on this simple sentence to derive:

"Create and maintain a healthy environment around me, live a healthy lifestyle in tune with nature and sustainability where work done is satisfying and balanced with family, pastime and rest; where money is a resource not an objective; where inner peace, searching and seeing the positive, and openness to learning are the principle values."

This personal aspiration sentence will remain a subject to change. Nonetheless, it is good to write it down to make the goal firmer and more present in your mind and actions.

Evolution of 6 Months and Counting

It's the beginning of July. It is "TC + 6 months". I use Jan 1, 2009 as the rough date when I realized that we are in Times of Change ("TC") and awakened to a new viewpoint. In short, a bit more than 6 months have passed since I started this journey. It is time to make a little self assessment. What have I achieved since my last self evaluation on May 1, 2009?

• I brought my finances in order. That also simplified my life as a welcomed side effect.
• I still read a lot of alternative news, watch alternative video documentaries, etc. And I am always aware and treat all information with a healthy dose of criticism.
  
• I have decided on living healthier, paying more attention to food products and processes. E.g. performing the extra step to avoid GM food; eating more vegetables and fruits and less meat; and very slowly we are on the way to incorporate more organic food into our diet.
• I have produced my own first food preserves, in this case 3 jars of seasoning (basil, chives) preserved in olive oil. I know this is just a drop in the ocean, but I have to start somewhere.
• Mentally I have embraced permaculture and I have obtained theoretical exposure to it via videos and books. I am still looking for the right place (land plot) where to put it into practice.
• I have gone through an evolution. I have evolved from fear, to action, to slowly changing my life values and ethics. What does that mean? My initial reaction to all the perceived change was negative surprise and fear. It was clear that the occurring changes are massive, touching everything from politics, economy to culture and social behavior. My first thought was about how to act in order to prevent further financial loss. From there the thought process evolved to providing myself and my family with a sustainable home that protects and shields us in the long term through increased resource independence. That lead to the interest in a home with wood burner, solar water heating, etc. and a garden for growing some food. [I plan to turn this interest into reality in 2010/2011.] The next step in evolution was a closer study of the permaculture concept. I found myself agreeing vastly to its driving forces and the underlying ethics. In short, I got infatuated with permaculture. The next step in my evolution was to see permaculture as a desirable personal philosophy; a set of ethics to guide my daily life decisions. My path of finding sustainable living seems to be upside down. Most people have a certain ethics (Taoism, Buddhism, Greenpeace generation, green activists, etc.) that leads them towards permaculture and similar sustainable concepts. My path was the opposite. I saw that permaculture would become something increasingly valuable. And from that I first learned, then started to appreciate and lastly slowly started to adapt the permaculture ethics into my life.

What's next? I don't know. But I do know that there is still a lot of change ahead of us for all of us, some forced upon us, some voluntarily implemented by us.

No GM Food

I already blogged about Genetically Modified (GM) food here. Today I found additional convincing reasons to stay away from GM food even if you have to dig a little bit deeper into your wallet at the time of food purchase. Here are 65 reasons of why nobody (not even animals) should eat GM food:

• GM Potatoes Damages Rats
• Rats Fed GM Tomatoes got bleeding stomachs, several died
• Rats Fed Bt GM Corn had multiple health problems
• Mice Fed Bt GM Potatoes had intestinal damage
• Workers exposed to Bt GM cotton developed allergies
• Sheep died after grazing in Bt GM cotton fields
• Inhaled Bt GM corn pollen may have triggered disease in humans
• Farmers report pigs and cows became sterile from GM corn
• Twelve cows in Germany died mysteriously when fed Bt GM corn
• Mice fed Roundup Ready GM soy had liver cell problems
• Mice fed Roundup Ready GM soy had problems with the pancreas
• Mice fed Roundup Ready GM soy had unexplained changes in testicular cells
• Roundup Ready GM Soy Changed Cell Metabolism in Rabbit Organs
• Most offspring of rats fed Roundup Ready GM soy died within three weeks
• Soy allergies skyrocketed in the UK, soon after GM soy was introduced
• Rats fed Roundup Ready GM canola had heavier livers
• Twice the number of chickens died when fed Liberty Link GM corn
• GM peas generated an allergic-type inflammatory response in mice
• Eyewitness reports: Animals avoid GMOs
• A GM food supplement killed about 100 people

Jeff Smith has done excellent work and published a lot of free information in various formats on www.seedsofdeception.com. Here is a more complete list of why we should never ever eat GM foods. Bon apetit.

Permaculture Bible

I have started reading Bill Mollison's "Permaculture A Designers' Manual". Bill is a founding father of permaculture. This is a very profound book. First it impresses with its thickness, 600 pages. Second it impresses with it vision and history. The first edition dates back to 1988. It added new and additional shades to the term "permaculture" to me. I have seen a dozen or so permaculture videos and read two books touching onto permaculture, but these videos and books - using a visual comparison - seem to describe the leaves of a tree. Bill's book describes the tree with its deep often unseen roots. It starts with issues such as ethics. Permaculture is not about an ecological garden providing us our healthy food. All of this is good and worth encouraging of course. But to him permaculture starts with the fact that our planet inhabits thousands of species and we are just one one them. Our responsibility it to not interfere with any of them, our first job is to bring nature - damaged by us - back into a sustainable healthy state. Only thereafter can we think about reaping some secondary benefits from nature - such as the eco garden providing us with nutritious food. We have to be humble and go though a couple of "educational" phases first, including the feeding/healing of nature before we should set out to build our garden, orchard, forest or farm. The ethical guidelines underlying this book are so simple (we are temporary guests in this planet formed by nature and we should respect all life forms), yet so hard to live up to in our current world. Anyone trying to follow the presented ethics is easily seen as crazy or an extremist.

It is no surprise that this book is called the bible of permaculture, thick and profound.

Even though I haven't finished reading the book I can only recommend it to anyone. It will take you on a journey down into the deep roots of this majestic tree where sustainable gardening turns into philosophy and a scale on which to weigh all questions and decisions of life.

The book is of great value but a bit pricey. There is a very short and incomplete open source book on permaculture design available as a wiki book. It does not substitute Bill's book, but it is better than nothing and it is free.

Wrong Direction

Read the news on Obama's Financial Regulatory Reform lately? Have a look: news from Heritage, news from the Economic Populist, news from Washington Times, news from LA Times, news from Propaganda Matrix, ... We are going from bad to worse. From corruption-creating powerful to corruption-exploding powerful. From high risk to incomprehensible high risk. The Obama legislation is proposing (and in all likelihood will succeed in) to give even more power to the already most powerful institution in the US. Instead of diversifying, reducing risk, making policies simpler and control smaller and more local, the US policy makers are going in the opposite direction: giving unprecedented power to one single private company - the FED. A few private individuals (the ones that own the FED) will control even more of the economy and will turn their power into their financial gains. And the remaining population will pay for it. The middle class will disappear more rapidly.

And according to the BBC, the UK is following this example.

John Lennon had it right when he said: Power to the People - the citizens, the multitude, the common folks and away from the handful of super rich bankers.