[Pil-pc-oceania] coms infrastructure -was great animation on carbon footprints ...

[alasdair stuart]

Russ,
	As usual you've hit a lot a nails in one fell swoop.

Just a point on mobile phones -
While I'm not much of a telephone fan at all ,I think we can get a tad
parochial about technology.
  
In most of the developing world ( Africa ,India in particular ) celluar
telephony is it - its the only telephone that's widely available outside
cities. Land lines in private houses are up there with chook dentistry. 

In terms of resources they can be quite low maintenance - only trunk
lines - no subscriber spagetti to go wrong
 
Regards
Alasdair 
   
On Fri, 2008-05-02 at 12:40 +1000, RussGrayson wrote:
> 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
> 
> 
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