I found out the about EcoCity World Summit 2008 through Scott Fossel. Scott as executive director of Green Century Institute is working with Berkeley based EcoCity Builders to organize the conference. In particular GCI’s Califia Sketchbook contest will be a contest that will feature several exhibit proposals for ecocities that will be featured at the Conference.

The Ecocity World Summit, (7th International Ecocity Conference) San Francisco, California, USA, will take place on April 22-26, 2008. According to Ecocity World Summit organizers Kirstin Miller, Conference Director and Richard Register, Conference Convener:

The event puts the largest things humans create – cities, towns and villages – squarely within the context of the triple crisis of peak oil, species extinction and climate change, and focuses on how we can redesign the built environment so that it works for everybody, not just the few, and is contributing to bio-diversity on the planet, not destroying it.

In order to communicate and further develop this shared vision of the city, town and village built in balance with nature, we’re assembling the world’s ecocity visionaries and thought leaders, plus the people, businesses and organizations out there working to build the better city right now.

Life-threatening global environmental problems and limitations on resource consumption demand a restructuring of cities and transportation systems worldwide for long-term energy efficiency and conservation. Concerned citizens in every community – in every city, town and village – must get involved in formulating and implementing new land use and transportation policies and practices, preserving and reclaiming agricultural lands and open space, and reclaiming natural habitat. More about the conference is here.

I was particularly intrigued by Featured Speaker State of California Assemblywoman Fiona Ma who is Chair of the Legislative High-Speed Rail Caucus She says that:

In order for our state to continue innovating to protect our environment and to stay economically competitive, California needs the vision to prioritize spending for the modern day transportation system that is desperately lacking. The cost of building the project is a small price to pay for the enormous environmental and economic benefits of high-speed trains. In California, the high-speed train system will combat global warming by saving the state more than 5 million barrels of oil annually and by reducing CO2 emissions by 12.4 billion pounds per year. High speed trains will also create jobs. Over 450,000 high-paying permanent jobs are estimated to be created once the system is up and running and these jobs cannot be sent overseas. The project also has the potential to provide thousands of construction jobs throughout the state, including a substantial amount in the Central Valley.

The system, which will carry 86 million passengers annually across the state, will be reliable and affordable. No longer will you have to wait in traffic, wait in long lines, or languish at the airport. A trip on a train, which will travel over 220 mph, from San Francisco to Los Angeles will only take 2 ½ hours and will cost about half the price of a plane ticket.

Chris Marco posting on the Permaculture-SF listserv reports on how City Repair’s community work in Portland changed his life.

Many folks I met while filming in Portland told me it had changed their lives as well. It sure would be great to have our own two-week Village Building Convergence here in the Bay Area someday. Go see him and be inspired!

Event Speaking Dates

• Saturday, Sept 29, 7:30pm- New College of California,  Santa Rosa, North Bay campus
• Sunday, Sept 30, Workshop with New College Students, Contact New College for more information.
• Monday, October 1st, 6-9pm, for Willits Economic Localization Initiative, Willits Community  Center, Willits, CA.
• Tuesday, October 2nd, Regenerative Design & Nature Awareness School with Jon Young & Penny Livingston, near San Gregorio, Evening Presentation,  at 415-868-9681
• Wednesday, October 3rd, Esalen Institute at Big Sur, Daytime workshop and evening community-wide presentation.
• Thursday, October 4th, in Santa Barbara: – Noon-1pm, “Nuts and Bolts of City Repair”, Public Library, Faulkner Gallery. and 7:45pm, “The Village Lives” Presentation, Public Library, Faulkner Gallery.
• Saturday, October 6th, UCLA Planning School, Graduate Student Conference, Presentation and Workshop in the Field. Call Ava at 818.939.9205
• Tuesday, October 9th, 7-9pm, Soulutioneers 2007 Speaker Series, 1950 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley.
• Wednesday, October 10th, 6:30-8pm, An Architects,  Designers, and Planners for Social Responsibility Event, Pacific Energy Center 851 Howard Street.
• Thursday, October 11th, Evening Event, in Point  Reyes, Time and Location TBD.
• Alternate Date: Friday, October 12th, 6-9pm, for Willits  Economic Localization Initiative, Willits Community  Center, Willits, CA.
• Monday, October 15th, 7-9pm, Lost Valley Educational Center, near Eugene, Oregon.

I got an mass email from Marc Gottschalk who is a member of the Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Practice of the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Professional Corporation.

If anyone is interested the California Clean Tech Open final awards event will be held at The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco the afternoon/evening of Monday, October 29, 2007. At the current time some free organizational capacity building courses are being provided to the finalists to help them develop their business plans.

I would have liked to have participated, seeing it as an opportunity to feature the Integrated Farming & Waste Management System developed by ZERI volunteer George Chan, but I found the entrance fee of $250 too high for my budget.

The really useful news is on the solar front, a new $50M fund is being made available through California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to fund solar R&D and deployment.

For more information, please contact Peter Mostow at (415) 947-2051, Kevin Fox at (415) 947-2042, or Jason Keyes at (206) 883-2577.

More details here.

Here is an interesting group in the Bay Area. Like oneVillage Foundation the Pachamama Alliance appears to have a two pronged mission, promoting sustainable development in USA, while also helping helping the indigenous people in Equador.

Their upcoming meeting on the 14th features Lawrence Axil Comras (turns out he participated at planetwork 2004 see his bio there). He’ll be discussing what it means to be green in our consuming patterns. He will address how we can deepen the level of what we each are already doing to make changes in our everyday lives.

His background of expertise comes from his experiences as CEO of an online green products store – Green Home Environmental Store. An effort that grew out of the recognition that consumerism is one of the primary forces harming the world. However he like many of us began to realization that it was not enough to be against consumerism or the capitalist system but to cleverly redesign the systems that promotes waste and overconsumption, thus reversing those negative trends of overconsumption that are pushing the earth’s systems to the brink of failure through business evolution and innovation rather than social unrest (which is not to say that none of that will be necessary). When we recognize this paradox and respond as socially conscious consumers by buying well-designed, environmentally superior products, we can all make a difference in our own lives and in small way make the movement forward towards a better and more conscious global economy. To RSVP, click here…

This is another reminder of the good news is that the green movement has reached a tipping point and there’s a green alternative for just about every kind of product on the market.

What remains to be seen is:

• how these kinds of changes will manifest into wide scale social and economic and political changes
• what the potential implications will be on the status quo
• how those who have a vested interest to defend the status quo will react to this.

Currently critics seeing the current “green revolution” such as James Howard Kunstler can persuasively argue that the mainstream establishment has embraced green technologies because they are packaged in a relatively benign form that is not threatening to conspicuous consumption. Such a superficial, feel good green approach (often labeled as “corporate greenwashing” by progressives) as is now being packaged via the mainstream media will probably have a very limited impact in actually addressing the world urgent issue like global warming, decreasing water and oil supplies and increasing pollution.

Yet the key is in designing built environments and production system that offer a seamless approach to sustainable development that promotes relocalization in a way that is fun and exciting to the local people giving them the power to determine their destiny and to be innovators in their own lives. At the same we need to figure out how to do this in a way that provides a much higher quality of life than is the case with the mainstream lifestyle which increasingly seems to be reaching the law of diminishing returns.

The key for this to happen is for more people to make the connection between their personal health, their personal environment and the impact of those decisions on the larger world in which us 6.5 billion humans share with the rest of the world’s creatures.

I have been keeping track of this idea of “Singuality” a term and concept popularized by Ray Kurzweil. Building on this concept the Singularity Institute of Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) is planning a major two-day event “bringing together 16 prominent thinkers to examine a historical moment in humanity’s history – a window of opportunity to shape how we develop advanced artificial intelligence.”

Tom Abate of the SF Chronicle in a report from the Singularity Summit describes Singularity well:

Borrowing a term from physics, singularity suggests a horizon beyond which we can’t see. It describes the point at which some form of intelligence spawned by technology gains the ability to rapidly improve its own programming — becoming so powerful that we cannot predict what it might do. At that point, its capabilities could exceed even the power of our imaginations.

Artificial Intelligence and Network/Human Augmentation
The book What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer by John Markoff, discusses a major break among the computer geeks in the 60s. The dichotomy can be seen as a debate between:

1. Technology Augmentation - Inspired by Venevar Bush’s 1940s vision and more recently with Doug Engelbart’s HyperText Device as a practical attempt to realize that vision or his theory Network Improvement Communities or NICs. Transcending a purely technological approach the augmentation school seeks to design a social architecture to promote higher levels of Collective Intelligence.
2. Artificial Intelligence – AIers seem to put a lot of focus on when computers will overtake human intelligence and the rise of AI as a governing force in our society. However the development of the Singularity Thesis by Kurzweil seems to be an holistic understanding of the changes associated with humanity’s movement towards AI.

Accelerating Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence
The “AI” in the title of his blog site suggests Ray Kurzweil’s work in “artificial intelligence,” however according to the About section of the KurzwellAI.net site it also is seeking to encompass a more integrated and holistic perspective: “referring to the far broader world of “accelerating intelligence” in all of its diverse forms” and “The quickening pace of our knowledge and intelligence will ultimately alter the nature of what it means to be human.”

Kurzwell and others like Stephen Hawking, Douglas Hofstadter, Bill Joy, and Martin Rees) do not necessarily advocate AI so much as see it as an inevitability that we must prepare for. In the Singurality Institute’s blog post “about why we exist and our short term research program” they note that the “advent of advanced AI as a plausible possibility, should serve as a “wake-up call” to anyone seriously concerned about the future of humanity.”

While the Augmentation and AI groups have similar goals, there do appear to be major philosophical differences. Even though I sympathize more with the augmentation ideas of Engelbart, at the same time, I appreciate the dialog that AIers put forward. Especially with regards to how KurzweilAI.Net sees the “exponential growth of intelligence, both biological and machine, and their merger, as humans transcend biology.” Yet I cant help but wonder if our ability to manage this exponential growth and build truly sustainable societies will most likely be an issue several years before the predicted date of the AI revolution put forward by Kurzweil.

The revolutions in the fields of biotechnology, nanotechnology, molecular electronics, computation, artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, virtual reality, human brain reverse engineering, brain augmentation, robotics all have to be effectively incorporated into a process of sustainable development and responsible stewardship of the planet’s resources.

Most important but seemingly overlooked by the “Singularists” is the very basic revolution in our understanding of how things in the planet holistically interconnect to impact biological as well as human systems. The assumption seems to be that the merger of human intelligence is something new as we transcend biology and embrace singularity.

Essential Singularity as Something that Transcends a Conscious Human Action and becomes a Transient Esoteric Reality
“Essential Singularity” (if I understand the word properly) and interconnectedness of systems is a very basic fact of all life and indeed the idea of singularity has been used by philosophers for many years to describe the essential oneness of all things in the universe. Our inability to see Singularity as something that goes beyond ourselves is therefore surprising.

• Could it be that we are seeing a superconsciousness as an articifical entity created by humans driving or being driven by ever advanced forms of technologies, when it is in fact all around us in the complex systems we are rapidly developing in the modern world?
• Could it be that is also everpresent in nature in the form of Gaia?
• Could it be that what is really remarkable is not so much this future singular event in 2029 but the unfolding reality that we are evolving right as we create biointegrated systems that interact with nature in new and innovative ways? The idea of terraforming allows us to visualize an highly integrated socioeconomic network of global innovators rapidly regenerating ecosystems that have degraded through the flawed notion of the modern. For it is that artificial notion of the modern and idea of human being separate and at war with nature that is the root cause of the current challenges that we face in considering pressing world issues and also the concern of how technology might overthrow its human ruler.

Human BioAugmentation as a Singularity Event
What’s truly revolutionary is that the whole notion of what it means to be civilized, modern, advanced, evolved and developed is being remade with our new ecologically augmented mindsets. Emerging from all this chaos and uncertainty is the birth of a new postmodern/post-industrial human consciousness with a new and enlightened ability “to think like an ecosystem” and to in this process create a truly new of living on this planet.

The reality of Singularity in our ever increasingly complex worlds and systems is just too powerful and obvious to ignore. Collectively we are beginning to see ourselves in the forest amongst the trees, but we still are slow to see that singularity goes way beyond our perception of it and/or modification of nature that we extrude and evolve into the modern world.

The Evolution of Silicon Valley through the Paradox Conferences
At Arcosanti a concept similar to Singularity emerged as early as 1997 when the first Paradox Conference was held there. Paradox was distilled from Paolo Soleri’s idea that within the development of technology was a series of human paradoxes. The conferences were seen as a way to raise funds from the SV community to support Arcosanti’s development as a center of innovation for the future.

How we addressed these paradoxes determines our future. Soleri described the rising influence of technology as most likely eventually rivaling and overtaking humanity’s ability to govern itself. Soleri referred to the age of homo siliconis and predicted that human technology inventions would eventually exceed human beings in general intelligence. Kurzweil, has estimated 2029 as the approximate time for this transformation.

Bay Area Social Networks Build on the Paradox Theme
The Paradox theme was evolved by Michael Gosney and Ron Anastasia. It and similar Bay Area events like Planetwork, and the recent 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth are attempts to visualize the most important component of Singularity, which is not AI but rather the practical and wide scale deployment of technology augmentation tools in the service of human collective intelligence. A common misconception among the technologists is that we need to invent and develop technologies to make the world more sustainable. What’s needed is a mindset shift to focus on collaborative efforts to channel individual intelligence towards the greater social good – Collective Intelligence. Such a approach is the only way we can effectively address the rising tide of world urgent issues that seem to increasingly be interconnected with each other.

Technology, Singularity and Human Scale Social Architectures
A key component of building a sustainable human civilization is the consideration of human scale. We might see human scale technologies as a way to build sustainable built environments and production systems that involves the leapfrogging of existing inefficient industrial models of development, creating a sustainable world that balances high tech with some residual historic and cultural precedent of what it means to be human. The term social architecture considers how we design technology to serve human needs with specific regards to the architecture of the mind and how that interacts with the architecture of the mass mind on a collective level.

We must if we are truly committed to democracy continue to strive to design of human habitats and governance systems that validate the human potential of every human being. An important question is whether we are driving technology or technology is driving us? Indeed that really begs the question: does AI already exist on some organic level with the rise of complex systems and technologies increasingly seamless linked by the Internet?

The Challenge of AI vs Ecological Sustainability
It is likely that various ecological “shocks to the system” will probably affect our ability to reach 2029 as stipulated in Krzweil’s AI thesis. Thus the real challenge may be not so much dealing with AI, but about learning to design sustainable and highly integrated bio-cybernetic systems.

Singularity though, because it goes beyond AI and embraces the idea of integration and convergence of human knowledge, could involve exploring how technology can augment the human ability to solve complex and interconnected challenges at the small scale. That focus on the small scale is important to develop a authentic process to scale up from the bottom of humanity and firmly root real reform in the governing dynamics of modern systems in the everyday realities that humans face.

For those interested in more community oriented living, a tour in the North Bay Area on Saturday, August 11th, from 9am to 4pm will feature 3 Co-housing commuities in Petaluma, Cotati, Santa Rosa and cost 35 dollars.

The Communities included in the tour are:

• 40 Oaks Cohousing Community with resident, Claudia Cleaver, architect/designer of green and natural building. The clustered homes development includes edible landscaping. Construction is cutting edge, using straw bales, Rastra, natural plasters, concrete floors, recycled and reclaimed materials, etc.
• Frog Song Cohousing in Cotati a town about an hour north of SF on 101 with about 8000 people is a real novelty. This community is located in historic downtown Cotati and combines lovely home sites and storefront rental properties for communal income.
• Yulupa Cohousing in Santa Rosa. This creative and beautiful endeavor represents Sonoma County’s most recently finished cohousing project. Yulupa Cohousing offers a high density approach with 29 homes on 1.65 acres, a viable alternative to what some social critics see as endless “urban sprawl.” Michael Black, architect and community resident will be the host.

The tour includes a chance to participate in these community’s consensus decision processes and discuss the practical steps taken to begin a cohousing community, learning from those already doing it.

Register at: www.daily-acts.org 707-789-9664

The San Francisco Bay Area is a hot bed of activity for the Burning Man crowd. Recently Katherine Steele of the Urban Permaculture Guild posted something in the Permaculture SF Discussion Group about the Green Man Pavilion at Burning Man. This led to an interesting debate about the merits of Burning Man and those who participate in it at the Permaculture SF yahoo discussion group. Indeed many are critical of the fact that the event is a huge effort that climaxes with the destruction of a massive wood structure – Burning Man. The more conservative and prudish greens see Burning Man as a wasteful celebration of hedonism, while more uninhibited, free living folks see it as a way to “retribalize” – if but for just a week – and take some time out from their modern lives escaping into the desert.

Regardless I appreciate the statement and energy put forward at Burning Man, despite not being a big fan of the event.

I particularly am impressed by the eco innovators who has a history of making a splash at the event with their wonderful and intricate contraptions which often melt technology with art in new and inspiring ways.

A city is in many ways analogous to a body, and certain areas perform specific functions. The center of Black Rock City is like the solar plexus. Here, within a civic plaza, our community converges, sharing a rich and nourishing flow of constant interaction. The heart of Black Rock City might arguably be found in the Temple, far out on the open playa. This architectural marvel is devoted to the remembrance of the dead. Between these two impressive nodes may be found the base of the Man. This central landmark of our community may be likened to the mind.

In 2007, we will expand the pavilion that surrounds the Burning Man into a 30,000 square foot exhibition space that combines art, earth sciences and technological innovation. Traditionally, this space has been exclusively devoted to art, but the Green Man Pavilion will be different. Our goal is as simple as it is profound: create a visually and sensory rich space where breakthrough ideas and proven environmental technologies can be displayed and interacted with against the backdrop of the world’s largest participant-created event. We believe this exposition may well be the only place in the world where such a wide range of technologies and solutions can be displayed in an interactive environment.

Already, many artists are creating works intended to address these issues. Some projects will be small and intimate, while others will be huge. One example is the Mechabolic, a large-scale bio-imitative installation of hydrocarbon based fuel production and transformation. In the artist’s words, this piece will, “…take the form of an exploded assembly of digestive and respiratory organs, laid out across the desert floor, and mashed up with their associated mechanical metabolic machines (i.e. internal combustion engines, refining gasifiers, anaerobic digesters, liquefiers, process tanks, condensation towers, etc.)”. From the maceration of organic matter to the actual production of fuel that will power some of Burning Man’s mutant vehicles, this project will engage the public in compelling ways.

Mechabolic
Exploring the site Green the Man section of the Burning Man site It appears that the Mechabolic, a “large-scale bio-imitative installation of hydrocarbon based fuel production and transformation” fits with with the evolution of towards more comprehensive and integrated approaches to development (Arcology, ZERI, Califia, Permaculture, Living Machines, SolaRoof, etc).

Hexayurt
Vinay Gupta explains in the Global Villages discussion group that his open source Hexayurt (link to his wiki) approach has certain applications such as in relation to disaster recovery and temporary settlements. The wiki includes pictures of his recent trip to Burning Man 2006 in which he showcased one of his Hexayurts and a manual on how to build one.

Hexacomb Cardboard can be used to construct Hexayurts. The material used to be used for structural insulated panels for building regular houses in California and can be filled with blown cellulose. Vinay says there are some approaches there where you use, say, 1 mm thick aluminium, then four or so inches of hexacomb and blown cellulose, then some human-friendly interior material.

Hexacomb is similar to a building technique called Captive Columns by Larry Bosch and promoted by my colleague Mark Roest. My assumption is that both emcompass a similar design process so that they are able to incorporate materials such as cardboard into buildings that we might not otherwise expect to be strong enough to provide structural support as actual structural members in the building.

Workshop: Biodynamic Composting Saturday, July 21st, 12pm to 3pm, $35
Location: Petaluma
Register at www.daily-acts.org or call (707) 789-9664

Learn the fundamental theories behind Rudolf Steiner’s Biodynamics, which is the oldest organized system of organic agriculture in the West, while learning a hands-on method of making restorative transformational compost. Harness methods to produce compost that serves not just as a practical medicine for the garden, but as a manifestation of our deeper spiritual beliefs – allowing for a healing of not just the earth but ourselves. A well made tablespoon of compost contains over six billion micro-organisms, but it also contains insights into Eastern and Western perspectives; the four-fold human body; overcoming death and disease and the miracle of nature. Instructor Chas Moore is a Biodynamic practitioner, gardener,
Permaculture designer, consultant, and educator.

The Green Building Exchange according to its organizers is a “55,000 SQUARE FOOT FACILITY ENCOURAGES BUILDERS, DEVELOPERS AND CONSUMERS TO ‘THINK AND LEARN GREEN.’”

On July 28 in Redwood City the 55,000 square foot marketplace facility will open to the public.

Its a way for the public to learn first-hand about everything from solar panels to bamboo flooring, energy-saving coil bulbs, and water-saving irrigation systems.

Green Seed Radio is hosted by Ginnie Waters and can be heard every Saturday, 2-3 p.m. on 960AM “The Quake,” which will be be broadcasting live from the grand opening. The Radio show is also produced by Green Building Exchange, and its apparently the first commercial radio show promoting ecological design and green building.

The center is designed to provide information on every aspect of green building, particularly content relevant to promoting sustainability in the Bay Area. Michael Schaeffer, President and CEO of Green Building Exchange says that “As someone associated with the construction business, I was quick to realize that there was a tremendous interest in environmentally friendly construction, but there was no single source that could provide information on all aspects of the industry.”

Achievement of Zero Waste is dependent upon the successful collaboration of businesses with businesses, businesses with government, and businesses with the public on programs that prevent waste and encourage sustainability. This workshop presents successful models of sustainability that have either achieved Zero Waste or are making significant progress on sustainability, extended producer responsibility, product stewardship, and takeback programs.

The South Bay Business Environmental Coalition (SBBEC, www.sbbec.org) invites you to attend this workshop at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Pedro, CA as part of the CA Resource Recovery Association’s 31st Annual Conference (www.crra.com).

12:45 pm 2:30 pm: “Models of Partnerships for Sustainability”
¨ Session Introduction: J. Michael Huls, Huls Environmental Media
¨ Keynote: Jeff Danzinger, Boardmember, CA Integrated Waste Management Board
¨ Moderator: Jill Brunkhardt, SBBEC Vice President, & Public Affairs Mgr. @ Chevron
¨ Leonard Robinson, Chief Deputy Director, CA Department of Toxic Substances Control on the California Take It Back Partnership.
¨ Eiko Risch, Division Manager, Sustainability Office, Ricoh Electronics
¨ Jaime Lozano, President, SBBEC & Env. Specialist II @ City of Los Angeles

2:45 pm 4:15 pm: “Business Success Stories for Sustainability”
¨ Moderator: Gary Liss, Gary Liss & Associates
¨ Bert Ball, LA SHARES
¨ Rodney Davis, MPH, Manager, Global Sustainability, Mattel Corporation
¨ Mark Yamauchi, Facilities Operations Manager, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.
¨ Roian Atwood, Sustainability Director, Sole Technology
¨ Clarence Smith, Operations Services Manager, Neutrogena Corporation

Bonus:
¨ Come early and attend CRRA Keynote Speakers (8 10 am):
§ David B. Jones, Associate Director, Waste Management Division, EPA Region 9
§ Greig Smith, Los Angeles City Council and author of RENEW LA Plan
§ John Myers, CA Integrated Waste Management Board
¨ Join the new Commercial Recycling Council for businesses, communities and service providers to help businesses expand reuse, recycling and composting, including SBBEC Board Member Grace Huizar of Redondo Beach sharing SBBEC success in recognizing WRAP winners locally (11:30 am 12:15 pm)
¨ Visit over 50 exhibitors with the latest tools to get to Zero Waste (10 am – 4 pm)

To reserve seating at this exclusive event, register on-line at http://www.regonline.com/Checkin.asp?EventId=124074 or call CRRA at (916) 441-2772. Seating is first come, first served and priced at $100 for the entire day.

Special Discounts for SBBEC Members and WRAP Winners: If registering as a SBBEC member, on the Registration form on-line in the agenda/fees section, input the code “disc1″ (case sensitive) and then, in the name box underneath, put “SBBEC”. If registering as a WRAP member when on the agenda/fees section, input the code “disc2″ (case sensitive) and then, in the name box underneath, put “WRAP”. These codes will automatically discount the registration fees by 10% upon checkout.

Gary Liss
916-652-7850
Fax: 916-652-0485
www.garyliss.com