[Pil-pc-oceania] great 1 min animation on carbon footprints ...

[RussGrayson]

Hi Fern...

On 1/5/08 9:27 PM, "permaculture at apollobay.org.au"
<permaculture at apollobay.org.au> wrote:

> hi dan
> i think we have enough telecommunications infrastructure (mobile phone towers
> everywhere...) 

> how are they going to fair, what use will they be and how will
> we maintain these structures in an age of energy descent? L

This is a good question and one I wonder about. The telecommunications
infrastructure is extensive and expensive of energy, including that used by
space agencies to boost communications satellites into orbit.

I guess your view on the potential use for this infrastructure, which you
write about, depends on how you see life in the future. And that affects how
you think about where societies should allocate funding (itself a form of
energy through which things can be made to happen - investment) and energy
resources.

In carbon conservation terms, telecommunications such as video conferencing
and high speed broadband reduce the need for personal travel, thus reducing
the consumption of transport fuels and their emissions. That's why, at last
year's Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network national
conference, we had overseas speakers appearing on screen, via realtime
video, rather than flying across the world.

In our own lives here, we find that telecommuncations reduces the need to
commute to a distant workplace. When Fiona works from home she not only gets
more done but saves up to 1.5 to 2 hours daily travel. Time saved counts for
a lot and brings a calmer state of mind. It also saves money otherwise spent
on public transport via ferry and bus.

If we are to maintain communication with each other, and have all the
benefits that brings (such as access to current research and the ability to
mount near-immediate responses), then I suggest that maintenance of cheap,
high speed telecommunciations channels be a priority for a post-peak oil
society. 

I think back to the era before we had online communciations and recall how
the simple transfer of news and information around the country - between
permaculture groups, for instance - took months, as it was based on the
printing and distribution of magazines and newsletters. Now we do that in
minutes and, to judge from the people who have met via the Oceania list,
that's been, overall, a gross benefit.

As for the mobile phones mentioned, I was something of a late adopter,
acquiring one only in the late 90s when family needs made it not only
convenient but also a very positive move. Looking around at the multiplicity
of uses people in this city put them to, I suggest that they are an
established part of the culture, as you might expect in a technical
civilisation.

I think worldview plays a role in the questions Fern asks. Some see
post-peak oil society devolving into more or less isolated and small
communities. This is what happened after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Unfortunately, when this happens you lose all of those services that the
bigger civilisation has developed, such as medical care and education, and
you lose your knowledge base - all this as quality of life declines.
Telecommunciations, its boosters have said, allows us to decentralise but
stay in contact. That, I think, is good.

> local community infrastructure is what we need more energy put into. Our
> society has got too tied up in telecommunications... I know, I'm one of
> these... if I don't go through my email everyday there's a backlog... I didn't
> check it for a couple of days and now I've got 400 to go through (and that's
> just on this email...) cheers Fern

A lot of problems people have with email comes through having no system to
deal with it, no way to categories email as to immediacy, that that you will
deal with within the week, that which you can file away in a 'perhaps' list
to look at again later, and that of no interest, which you delete.

...Russ