A Story About Storeys

This link tells a big story:

http://www.urbanindy.com/2013/01/09/the-genius-of-traditional-buildings/

About Stuff

There are two ideas that encapsulate for me the year 2012. One is the idea that using less is the only practical truth of environmental responsibility. The other revolves around quality, what its definition is and to what it applies, and the result.

The idea of using less is not news, it is housed in the first ‘R’ of the three as Reduce followed by the other two. Reduction is simply the act of using less natural resource in an action over a defined time period. The act of driving to work at a reduced speed is a simple act of reduction. The act of reduction is instantly complicated when one chooses to employ technology to reduce consumption. It is the control and understanding of the complication that using technology to reduce resource use represents. As technology requires human and natural resources then it becomes by its existence a drain on our world. A judgment of the quality of a technology would be to evaluate the total drain it causes in opposition to what it saves.

If I buy a new electric car to do my daily commute I will conserve an enormous amount of fuel daily. The result when isolated to a single action (driving) during a time (to and from work) is without question, but what about the whole picture? What if the car I replace with the electric car had good life left in it, what is the total environmental cost of creating the new electric car and driving it over 5 years as opposed to driving your current vehicle reasonably over the same period of time?

The installation of windmills and solar farms seem to make sense. Power from renewable sources rather than coal or natural gas would seem to be ideal. Again the situation becomes complicated, what is the total cost of a windmill and how much power will it produce in opposition to its total drain of resources? How does solar farm and windmill installation and maintenance compare to say the reduction of the size of the houses we build Canada? We are increasingly living in larger dwellings that require more raw material and the increased space requires more energy to heat and light.

What is the true wisdom of using technology to affect reduction in resource use? What about reducing technology as a means of saving resources?

The discussion of total cost of technology when used as a means of reducing resource consumption is a prime example of the need for a quality goods and services definition. The cost of manufacture, transportation, installation, configuration, maintenance and disposal of any item has to be considered.

Without going into statistics and poring over data about the processes of manufacturing and delivery of goods and services we may be able to generalize some portions of quality to satisfy the conversation.

Need is one good starting point, is the item or service proposed needed? If we look at houses how much space does one person actually need for comfort physically and psychologically? It might be considered that families need lots of space to live in harmony, is this true? Can that need for space be accomplished in other ways like being outdoors? Look around your house and ask yourself how many of the things you need and how much space is needed for only the things you need?

I have central air in my house, in Canada the total number of days a year that I need protection from heat for the good of my health would be minimal almost nonexistent, yet I have spent resources in purchasing this manufactured item and having it installed and it will have to be disposed of someday, and even though I run it minimally I probably still run it more than my health needs dictate. Do I need air conditioning in my house at all, is air conditioning in Canada a quality technology?

What about quality actions? I know a man who goes to the gym daily in his car and works out. This man also uses a riding lawnmower to cut his lawn and a snow blower to clean his driveway. What is the quality of the service the gym provides if the man could get exercise by cutting the lawn with a non-powered push mower and a shovel for snow? Add a pair of shoes for walking or running, and a soccerball, basketball, and so on for further exercise and the companionship the gym provides. What has been eliminated in this scenario? If everyone uses another means of exercise other than the gym and the resources to build it and maintain it are reduced, the need for all the gym users to travel to the gym by car is reduced, the manufacture of riding lawnmowers and snow blowers and the gas and oil they use is reduced. If the shoes, non-powered push lawnmower, the shovel and the soccer ball are all quality items that can be maintained and used for long periods of time the cost to the environment in there manufacture is reduced. The need to dispose of these items is reduced.

The full consideration of the quality of goods and services seems to automatically cause a reduction in the use of resources. There are two other reductions in the full consideration of the quality of the stuff in your life one is money and this is important of all of us, the other is time.

Time may be the single most important savings we get by having less stuff. Each item you own requires maintenance, cleaning, storage, and disposal when you are done with it. These actions take time if you do them and money if someone else does them for you. The higher physical quality of an item and the greater simplicity the less time is spent in its care of course, but time is used for each item you possess.

So what about jobs? The manufacture of large houses, snow blowers, air conditioners and riding lawnmowers provides jobs and if we all change what will become of those families?

If we buy less we need less and as such we require less income. Each family then saves more time as they require less working hours to maintain their stuff. The distribution of the available jobs changes when you remove those seeking employment for unneeded things. The ability of the person to pay attention to family and the community they live in increases as you reduce the stuff they have and the income needed to purchase and maintain it. The quality of families and the community increases adding to the overall quality of life. The time families don’t have now to feed themselves quality homemade food and going outside to play is regained increasing health. This increase in family and community involvement and the increase in health lowers the total cost in running our communities, or province and our nation. This is a broad and simple view, the merit will be in the long term detailed implementation.

Sometimes when the snow is really heavy and the street plow throws 5 feet of the heavy stuff at the end of a 60 plus year old person’s drive then what? Right now that person goes to their garage and gets their snow blower out and the drive is cleaned. In the changed scenario when the drive is just too much it is handled in one of two ways. First is the employ of community snow services that can come by and take care of the really tough drives on the worst snow days as a paid service. This provides employment and requires the manufacture of only one quality snow blower or plow. The other scenario is a service in a neighbourhood, a company builds a shed and fills it with tools the tools are signed out by the neighbours as needed and the service is paid for much like rental centres. Two snow blowers provided and maintained for say 50 houses as a service.

So this is simple and complicated, the incentives of resource, money and time savings are there.  The use of windmills to save energy or the use of snow blowers to save time are equally at issue. The reduction of stuff regardless of the implied savings seems to save everything.

As for 2013 and beyond?  Picture a world similar to what it is today but with adjustment. The adjustments cause a huge reduction

Ask Questions

A liar asked enough questions will eventually change his story. Someone telling the truth cannot change their story no matter how unlikely it may be. This is a line from a movie but it strikes me that in a relationship with an unknown person it may be a useful tool. The prospective business or social partner if time and the right questions are asked will reveal their true self. If their story is true or false it will be revealed in time and one may then forge or not forge a relationship. This is where intuition comes in. Some may have a good sense very early in an interaction and make accurate judgement of a prospective partner. Many have made a great deal of money on intuition, I only wish I had such a power.

I might however suggest that intuition not be used in matters of the heart. The injection of emotion into the prospective relationship may damage the power of intuition. The use of time in the crafting of solid personal relationships may be the only key.

The human need for personal relationships is a huge part of peace and happiness.