Fritjof Capra is a renowned systems thinker, educator and author has been a scholar-activist for 5 decades. Here I talk with him ab0out his reflections about what is going on in COP26 and the conversations he feels we need to be having, and the shift in thinking and action needed to address the multiple crises humanity faces this decade and beyond.

This is a time to be listening to the elders of the ecological movement, First nations leaders, and connect elders with the youth activism movements.

ABOUT FRITJOF

Fritjof Capra, Ph.D., physicist and systems theorist, is a Fellow of Schumacher College (UK) and serves on the Council of Earth Charter International. Fritjof is the author of several international bestsellers, including The Tao of Physics and The Web of Life. He is coauthor, with Pier Luigi Luisi, of the multidisciplinary textbook and from this created an associated online course, The Systems View of Life . I mentor a group of young people through this 12 week program (designed for university and professional development) each time it is offered, along with students and complexity teacher from Brockwood Park School, and direct sessions with Fritjof too.

TRANSCRIPT

Fritjof Capra Reflections on COP26

I am very happy to give you my perspective on the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. Before I do so I want to say that I share this perspective with many scholars and activists. Among them, I want to acknowledge especially Hazel Henderson, Bill McKibben, George Monbiot, Vanda Shiva, and David Korten who have strongly influenced my thinking.

The latest climate report by the IPCC has told us that we need to cut emissions in half by the end of this decade to have any hope of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees, as pledged in the Paris Agreement. At COP26, we have heard about complex promises and mechanisms for reaching this goal, but the basic requirement is very simple: we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

In spite of this clear goal, and in spite of the fact that we have the technologies and the money for the transition to renewable energy sources, most governments with major fossil-fuel reserves plan to continue exploiting them, thus threatening the very survival of human civilization. This is true even for nations, such as the United States, claiming to be leading the transition to renewables.

In 2020, governments around the world spent $450 billion in direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, while investments in clean energy by that industry amounted to only 1% of their total expenditures. This means that almost everything said by powerful governments at COP26 is a distraction from the crucial task of leaving fossil fuels in the ground.

So, why do our political and corporate leaders spend all those billions of dollars on the destruction of life on Earth? The reason is that politics in most parts of the world is dominated by corporate interests (in other words, there is widespread systemic corruption), and at the core of corporate interests there is an obsession with growth — with the irrational illusion that perpetual economic and corporate growth are possible on a finite planet.

Economists identify economic success with GDP growth, regardless of whether real value is created or destroyed in the process. Money, rather than the well-being of people and the community of life, has become the defining measure of value in our global economy. In this economic system, perpetual growth is pursued relentlessly by promoting excessive consumption and a throw-away economy that is energy intensive, generating waste and pollution, depleting the Earth’s natural resources, increasing economic inequality, and driving the climate crises.

In the words of activist and author David Korten, “money is useful as a tool, but becomes dangerous when embraced as a purpose… We will prosper in the pursuit of life, or we will perish in the pursuit of money. The choice is ours.”

Now, growth is a central characteristic of all life. But growth in nature is not linear and unlimited. While certain parts of organisms, or ecosystems, grow, others decline, releasing and recycling their components which become resources for new growth. This kind of balanced, multi-faceted growth is well known to biologists and ecologists. I call it “qualitative growth” to contrast it with the concept of quantitative growth, measured in terms of the undifferentiated index of the GDP, used by today’s economists. Qualitative growth is growth that enhances the quality of life through generation and regeneration. Qualitative growth includes an increase of complexity, sophistication, and maturity.

Today, we have the science, the technology, and the financial means to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, from quantitative, extractive growth to qualitative, regenerative growth. Let me give you just two examples.

The most effective way to reduce emissions is to replace the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas by electricity, generated with solar energy, for all our energy needs. Totally electrifying the United States, for example, would reduce our energy use by about one half because electricity is far more efficient than combustion. It would also safe money because renewable energy is now the cheapest energy source; and it would create millions of jobs.

My second example is about planting trees. A recent study by scientists at the prestigious Swiss University ETH has shown that there is enough suitable land around the world to plant 1.2 trillion trees, and that this would remove two thirds of all carbon emissions in human history from the atmosphere.

But advancing scientific arguments and documenting technological achievements is not enough, because our so-called world leaders are not interested in reason and evidence; their only interest is in money and power. This means that we also need political activism.

Fortunately, there are now millions of activists around the world who have chosen the pursuit of life rather than the pursuit of money — from youth movements like the Sunrise Movement, Extinction Rebellion, and Fridays for Future, to the fossil-fuel non-proliferation treaty proposed by thousands of scientists, to movements like Europe Beyond Coal, or the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. These movements are making their voices heard at Glasgow, and they need our support. They embody the political will and leadership we need for overcoming the climate crisis and protecting the continuation and flourishing of life on Earth.

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To help raise awareness for the importance of this day, I would like to share a very relevant conversation.  In this video, I talk with Wiruungga Dunggiirr, an Indigenous Australian Elder from the Namba Gumbaynggiirr Nation (Nambucca Heads NSW). We discuss the issues faced by Indigenous Australians in today’s society and talk about how we can all be the change we need to see in the world. 

Come for a walkabout conversation with Wiruungga, an indigenous Australian elder.

Together we explore climate, culture, food and the future. We also talk about the issues that are being faced by Indigenous Australians in today’s society. Each of us are sisters and brothers on this planet and together we – the youth, the elders, all of us – need to speak loudly with love for the earth.  

We actually filmed this video almost a year ago, but I believe it is very relevant to today’s climate and culture. During our discussion, we walk through the rainforest at Little Yabba Creek on Gubbi Gubbi Land. This is located near Conondale QLD, Australia – just half an hour from the ecovillage where I live.

This video is a shortened version, but you can find the full-length video (43mins) by clicking here.

Actions you can take to support:

DONATE: To support important Wiruunggs’s work, please donate generously via Ethos Foundation. https://ethosfoundation.org.au with a note that you’d like us to direct it to his project. We will send every dollar directly to his programs. Your support gets directly to where it is needed – to indigenous children and communities in the centre of Australia that Wiruungga personally delivers to – clothing, food, books, gardens.

LEARN: Learn Permaculture with Morag Gamble at the Permaculture Education Institute. https://permacultureeducationinstitute.org 

GARDEN: Why not participate in Morag’s permaculture gardening course: https://ourpermaculturelife.org/the-incredible-edible-garden/ 

READ: Check out Morag’s Blog with 400+ articles https://ourpermaculturelife.com 

Thank you for your support of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

The post Creating Change – International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

The post Social Permaculture and Community: Morag Gamble in conversation with Robina McCurdy (9 mins) appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Me threshing grain in Ladakh, India in the early 1990s – here I learnt the importance and significance of local food.

The film touches on many of the issues caused by and impacting upon our current unsustainable food system including climate change and peak oil, and points to the relocalisation of food systems as a key strategy for working toward a more ecologically sustainable, healthy and socially just society.

I made this film in 2008, but I find the issues all are still very current and the examples of ways forward possibly even more pertinent now. I will be following up each of the key themes introduced in this film in the short films I am making each week and posting on my youtube channel: Our Permaculture Life. You can subscribe there so each week you’ll get another short film about permaculture, ecovillage living and sustainable local food systems.

PEOPLE INTERVIEWED

Fritjof Capra (source: www.fritjofcapra.net)

There are interviews with:
• Dr Fritjof Capra – Author, Physicist, Educator, Activist
• Morag Gamble – Permaculture/Community Food Educator, Designer, Writer
• Evan Raymond – Advisor, Climate Change Adaptation
• Kirsten Lyons – Associate Professor  Social Science (incl. Food Politics)
• Les Nichols – Community Supported Agriculture/Farmers Market
• Anaheke Metua – City Farmer/Farmers Market Organiser/Weaver
• Sequoia River – Farm Shop
• Isabella Siodmak – Natural Health Practitioner, Natural Attitudes
• Chris Bond – Chef

COUNTRIES VISITED

The film includes footage and images taken over a 15 year period in 15 countries by Morag Gamble and Evan Raymond:
• Australia
• Bulgaria
• Bahamas
• China
• Cuba
• Denmark
• Germany
• India
• Indonesia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• South Korea
• Turkey
• United Kingdom
• USA

Maple Street Cooperative – my favourite local food store.

ABOUT THE FILM

This film was made in 2008 with the support of the Maleny Film Society and launched at the 2008 Maleny Film Festival (hence the many examples from Maleny). Since then, it has been screened around the world by community groups looking to cultivate change in their local area, and in schools to raise awareness about local food issues.

Directed by: Morag Gamble and Evan Raymond
Editorial Director: Gregor Gamble

The post Think Global: Eat Local – a short film by Morag Gamble appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

“Biochar may represent the single most important initiative for humanity’s environmental future. The biochar approach provides a uniquely powerful solution, for it allows us to address food security, the fuel crisis, and the climate problem, and all in an immensely practical manner. ”  

Prof. Tim Flannery, Australian of the Year

Biochar is a type of charcoal, a carbon-rich material produced by burning biomass in the absence of oxygen – slow pyrolysis.  (Image: Hans Erken)

Simple home-made biochar maker – the flame cap kiln. Design and Photo: Hans Erken

Boichar made in the the flame cap kiln. Design and Photo: Hans Erken

THE BENEFITS OF BIOCHAR

THE USES OF BIOCHAR

How to activate your Biochar  (Image: The Biochar Project)

LEARN TO MAKE & USE BIOCHAR

BIOCHAR WORKSHOP
Teacher: Hans Erken, Earthcare Enterprises
When: August 20, from 10am – 4pm
Where:The workshop will be at Maleny in the morning to see Han’s innovative technologies and learn how to use and cook with biochar, and we’ll move to Crystal Waters in the afternoon to learn how to make biochar.
Who: Anyone interested in biochar for growing and cooking
Cost: $85, includes a lovely lunch
Bookings: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/permaculture-life-series-biochar-how-to-make-and-use-tickets-26626576808

About the workshop:
I have been fascinated for some time with biochar and have wanted to learn how to make it. I’ve invited Hans Erken, a local biochar enthusiast innovator to lead a workshop with the Ethos Foundation to share with us what it’s all about. He will explore:

• what is biochar
• the benefits of biochar
• ways to use biochar in the garden
• how can you use the energy created during biochar production
• how do you make biochar while cooking
• how do you make biochar on a small and medium scale

Making biochar in the flame cap kiln: Image and design: Hans Erken

Here are some photos from the workshop he ran in 2012. Biochar Workshop Images

Meet Hans Erken and see a little bit of what you will learn in this 2 minute clip:

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BIOCHAR

Biochar – DPI NSW
What is Biochar? – Biochar International Initiative
Biochar Basics – ANZ Biochar Researchers Network
Soil and Water Benefits of Biochar – US Biochar Initiative
Biochar Project – Australia 
55 Uses of Biochar

The post Improve Your Garden Soil and Food Quality with Home-made Biochar & cook with it too! appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

The koala is the focus of our World Environment Day discussions. The koala was hunted almost to extinction in Australia by 1925. Conservation efforts have helped to protect and restore populations, but in Queensland they are officially regarded as ‘Critically Endangered’. Our son, Hugh has decided to focus on how to help the Koala as part of his homeschooling from now.

‘The booming illegal trade in wildlife products is eroding Earth’s precious biodiversity, robbing us of our natural heritage and driving whole species to the brink of extinction. The killing and smuggling is also undermining economies and ecoystems, fuelling organized crime, and feeding corruption and insecurity across the globe.

This year’s theme for WED – Go Wild for Life – encourages you to celebrate all those species under threat and take action of your own to help safeguard them for future generations. This can be about animals or plants that are threatened within your local area as well as at the national or global level – many local extinctions will eventually add up to a global extinction! Whoever you are, and wherever you live, show zero-tolerance for the illegal trade in wildlife in word and deed, and make a difference.’

www.WED2016.com

Let’s just take the last one from this list – the Rhino.  Rhinos have been killed their horns which are mostly used in medicine.  For a huge fee, you can buy it ground, mix it with water and swallow. People believe that rhino horn can treat a vast array of ailments including cancer. 

Hugh’s New Homeschool Focus: Our Local Endangered Species – the Koala

In the 1950s , my grandmother identified that Raymond Island in Victoria had suitable protected habitat for Koalas – a colony was relocated from another part of Victoria where they could no longer survive. We visit these Koalas every year and continue to support the protection and maintenance of their habitat . They live across the island and are relatively undisturbed by dogs or development.

Let’s consciously make every day an Earth Day.

The post Earth Care Day: World Environment Day 5th June: A Global Day of Positive Action appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

In making Think Global: Eat Local our aim was to celebrate local food systems in communities around the world – farmers’ markets, food box systems, food coops, community farms, community gardens, school gardens and home gardens.

Meeting with Cuban community gardeners in Havana.

While exploring the ways many communities are meeting their food needs locally, the film touches on many of the issues caused by and impacting upon our current unsustainable food system including climate change and peak oil. The film points to relocalisation of food systems as a key strategy for working toward a more ecologically sustainable, health and socially just society.

Working with the community to collaboratively design and construct a new community garden in Balcova, Turkey.

Leading permaculture classes for young Korean student activists.

Over a fifteen year period, we collected includes footage and images of local food systems in fifteen countries including: Australia, Bulgaria, Bahamas, China, Cuba, Denmark, Germany, India, Indonesia, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, South Korea, Turkey and the USA. The footage and images were taken as part of our action research over 15 years into systems that promote sustainability, a core part of our international permaculture adventures.

Exploring urban agriculture zones in the middle Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.

Children tending to their Peace Garden on Eleuthera Island, The Bahamas

I remember the premier screening so well – I was heavily pregnant with Hugh and it was just five he as was due.  Climbing up onto the stage to introduce the film was quite a challenge!

We received support from the Maleny Film Commission, and arm of the largest Film Society in Australia, to make this film. So while we maintained an international focus throughout the film, there is a strongly local Maleny thread too (Maleny is in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland).  I found out about this small grant from another mum at the Maleny Playgroup – that was such a hotbed of creativity – all those fabulous mums joining forces and doing projects they could while their kids were really little.

The links here are to the youtube versions my brother uploaded for me some time ago. It’s not high resolution for screening, but OK for personal viewing.  If you’d like a copy send me an email.  I still have some DVDs remaining and I am planning to get it onto Vimeo in better resolution soon.

The film has been screened in many parts around Australia and internationally as a short introduction to the issues to stimulate discussion. It has been particularly popular with schools, local action groups, transition groups environment groups and the like.

You can watch it here in 2 parts. (NB: you can tell that we did the final couple of interviews in Queensland summer – the cicadas are ever-present during the daylight hours! I’ve always wanted to re-record those bits, but new projects beckon).

PART 1: THINK GLOBAL: EAT LOCAL

PART 2: THINK GLOBAL: EAT LOCAL

The post Think Global: Eat Local – a diet for a sustainable society. Our film. appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

We can become caught up in day to day actions – I know I do with three children, a big teaching garden and lots of interesting projects always on the go. It’s important though to remember to take a step back, take some deep breathes and look at the bigger picture – rethink why we do what we do, look closely at what change is needed, and how we can realign our work and life to contribute more positively to this.

Taking part in this online course is a way to start 2016 with this positive approach and see how perhaps I can be of greater service and use my energies even more effectively this year.  I just began listening to the first and second lectures yesterday I am absolutely engrossed.  I love being immersed again in the world of Fritjof Capra’s clarity of thinking and perception.

Image: www.fritjofcapra.net

From the first lecture I took some notes. I thought I’d share just this little snippit…. Fritjof asserts that all the problems we face in the world today are interconnected and that we are suffering from a crisis of perception. There ARE solutions to the major problems of our time, some even simple, but finding the solutions requires a radical shift in our perceptions, thinking and values.  Fritjof believes we are in such a shift – but that the realisation has not dawned on key decision-makers who continue with a peace-meal approach.  What we need rather are systemic and sustainable solutions – we need to build and nurture sutainable communities – designed to respect, honour and cooperate with nature’s coherent ability to sustain life….

My notes are so copious and the lectures have only just begun. My mind is abuzz with ways to refine, improve and add to the the programs we run here at the Ethos Foundation​, through SEED International, and in my personal life and work.

When I first studied with Fritjof Capra in 1992 on a 5 week program at Schumacher College​ it changed my life and set me on my current trajectory. The framework of thinking that is presented here in Fritjof’s new online course is the latest version of his thinking – a way of ecological thinking that has inspired and guided my life and work for the past 24 years. I returned again to Schumacher College in 2000 for a 2 week Capra Systems thinking reunion course which renewed my clarity and focus.  I can feel already that this new online course is going to do the same.

I have met with Fritjof and his amazing wife Elizabeth in Berkeley a couple of times and interviewed him for our short film Think Global: Eat Local – A diet for a sustainable society which Evan and I made in 2007. Only a small segment of the interview was able to be included in the 15 minute film, so we hope to release the whole interview shortly. We hope also to be able to visit him again soon.

I wish Fritjof all the very best with this new program.  If you are interested in joining his next online course, which begins in April, take a look at www.capracourse.net

Here is part one of our 15 minute film: Think Global: Eat Local – A diet for a sustainable society.  It features projects and people we visited in 15 countries over a period of 15 years.

Here is part 2:

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