Welcome to the newest link in the Cuttlefish Lair! We’re expanding operations just a bit, with this site as an update and relay station of sorts. The old Blogger sites are still around and will continue to be linked, but now it’s time to move the message a little further. Once we get the hang of WordPress, we hope the message will also travel faster and into wider streams than those in which we’ve been swimming (or languishing, depending on your point of view.) The main impetus behind this move is to shed the slithering skin of the conspiracy syndrome. The basic premise is quite simple, even beyond the reach of the disputatious.
Here’s our starting point. If we assume that the world faces a series of unprecedented crises and that, despite the flurry of words and emotions which seem to suggest that the problems are too complex, too intractable for easy solutions, we believe that everything can still be fixed, then instead of arguing over the extent of our collective doom, we can quietly begin to implement the solutions we have already found.Only recently has any kind of consensus emerged as to the reality of climate change–will we wait as long to debate the possibility of confronting the the threat it poses? What if we had the means to reverse the present, unsustainable course, without any dire economic repercussions?For some perspective on our perspective, here’s the old intro to the Habitat & Environment link in the Cuttlefish Web:
Despite the enormity of the problems facing us today, we at tomorrow today are not only optimistic about the fate of humanity, we’re excited about the challenges we face.
The key is to find an area that has an obvious and workable solution…
When we face problems in our lives, it often appears impossible and overwhelming because a real crisis involves many problems that tend to snowball; one disaster always leads to another. While it is true that the individual problems are connected, the solution always begins with looking at just one aspect of the crisis. Once a solution is found in one area, it becomes much easier to address the rest of the crisis. The key is to find an area that has an obvious and workable solution; ideally the solution will have a ripple effect or at least suggest solutions to the other problems we face. As above, so below–which is to say that the same methodology is needed when we collectively (and calmly) face the looming crises which threaten mankind’s survival. So, where to start? It is our contention that the first step is the one closest to home. In fact, it is our homes. The central problem facing us today is our relationship with the environment and this begins with the architecture of our dwelling-places. Simply put, architecture has the most profound, immediate, and far-reaching consequences of any area of human activity. We suffer from a strange and unprecedented dislocation from the natural world, and it is this dislocation that allows for the massive and terribly short-sighted environmental degradation which we have visited upon our beautiful, life-giving planet.
We start be examining the root causes: Did you know that 45% of the greenhouse gases driving global climate change are the direct result of the architecture of our homes, our work and our schools? Not only is this statistic true, but there are actually a great many wonderful, affordable alternatives which will bring about consequences even farther reaching than the present crisis.In the coming days we’ll be featuring some of these changes and discussing their impact on our institutions and our way of life. Please stay tuned–it will be an eye opening adventure that you won’t forget. (Promise!)
December 29, 2006
(I’m going to just expand this introductory post, at least until I can finagle the elusive chronological order posting trick.)
Well then, quite some time has passed and I’ve done naught in the interrum to update this sadly neglected little experiment. Right! (But first I’m off on another errand…be back soon!!)
