Friday, February 6, 2009
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico

It's always nice to find commercial B20 biodiesel when out on the road. At this point most people recognize that biodiesel isn't going to satisfy the world's insatiable appetite for fuel, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't build it into our transition infrastructure. Real solutions still have to come from a rethinking and redesigning of our entire built civilizations. We need to re-create our world to be based upon local cluster economies where electric cars can be tied into a system of distributed generation. In this vision everywhere we go there would be solar, wind and geothermal systems generating power that we could plug into. We'd cover sun-laden asphalt spaces and rooftops with panels providing shade and energy. It's the transition of infrastructure that's difficult.. and it's difficult only because we have become complacent and comfortable with this outdated model based on hydrocarbons.

We must not forget that we built everything around us, and therefore it's within our grasp to tear it down and redesign the elements that no longer make sense. And in this process of rebuilding, we will also find ourselves rebuilding economies and redistributing wealth. But no one aspect of our reality can be looked at in isolation, no one problem can be resolved on its own. We must use our technological and human interconnectedness to create mass shifts in infrastructure, culture and thinking.

But then there another part of me that is thinking about adaptation and the fact that humans have a profound ability to adapt. And in with this idea of adaptation is the notion that if you build it, humans will gather around and adapt and eventually add to the processes already underway. Any mainstream technology today started out as one idea... and now years later we have a ubiquity of options to choose from. We must not forget that all evolution, be it natural or technological, moves, evolves and unfolds. Good things stand the test of time and even if they are blindsided by large corporations or opposing dominant forces, they always come back around full circle in time.

It is important to remember that technology like nature is also subject to entropy. All things have their relative lifespan.

This was a bit of a ramble session.. my thoughts aren't too clear today.. but there's something in here so I'm just taking notes.

peace,d