CONCERNS & DEVOTIONS
Ecospace: To provide a space or sanctuary that inspires, challenges and supports individuals to slothfully cultivate and practice a sustainable lifestyle. A sustainable lifestyle can be cultivated by: slowing down (saving, reusing, reducing, energy); preserving peace (cooperating and sharing); greening (reconnecting with, restoring, revitalizing and regenerating our natural resources); recycling (on-site) and living simply, humbly and frugally.
Global Healing: To generate social profits to support or collaborate with: businesses, initiatives, projects or movements that are ecologically and socially conscientious and are dedicated to the quest for social and economic justice as well as global healing or earth stewardship. Philosophy & Strategy: They say the world will not be healed until me have filled the oceans with their tears (Anne Deveson). We believe the earth is a living system that is capable of healing herself with or without an ocean of men’s tears. However, Mother Nature has a mysterious and patient way of healing herself. The question is whether our habits and habitat (civilization) are behaving like aggressive tumors or cancers that spread as we speak on the skin of the earth. If we are behaving like tumors or cancers, is Mother Nature going to deal with us severely or compassionately? We may not be given a choice but most importantly, we still have a chance. A chance to start healing not the sickness of the earth but the sickness of human beings and habitats.
Social & Economic Justice: To educate and enlighten individuals about the reality of poverty and possibilities of how it can be reduced, eliminated and prevented. Philosophy: This earth is home to human beings living in different types of environments. Human beings living in impoverished environments have to endure, circumstantially, extremes of poverty on a daily basis. They are helpless because they do not have access to proper health care, basic sanitation, education and so forth. Their suffering can be alleviated if they are resettled in an environment that satisfies their basic needs or if their present impoverished environment is improved. Human beings who live in a modern society suffer, mostly, not from a lack of basic needs or dire and desperate circumstances, but from desires. They suffer form an unnecessary type of suffering and worst of all, most of the suffering is self-imposed. Human beings living in affluence and developed nations seem to suffer more successfully than those who live in an impoverished or developing nation. Their success is due largely to their ineffective strategy for dealing with or alleviating their suffering. So many of our modern suffering and ills are imagined and this elusive and intangible reality adds to the difficulty of dealing with our suffering in the modern and materialistic sense. Strategy: More attention and resources must be given to human beings that suffer because they lack certain essential needs and not the other way round. Unfortunately, most of our attention and resources seem to be invested in more distractions and desires. The tragedy is how easy it is for us to forget about the real suffering in this world.
So, how can we achieve social and economic justice in the shortest possible time? Enormous efforts will need to be undertaken and there is that temptation to civilize many of these human beings living in poverty and indoctrinating them with our political/social/religious dogma. Perhaps the middle or sustainable path would be to enrich their impoverished environments using sustainable technologies available and empower the inhabitants with the knowledge and experience on how to be self-sufficient based on the technologies/infrastructure provided. A system of permaculture will need to be developed and maintained. Peace must be established with neighboring communities and countries. Earth education or stewardship and learning to provide others with Hopefully, with a sustainable and peaceful foundation, the inhabitants will not exploit and negatively impact their environment in ways that modern consumer society does.
Note: There are cases where human beings live in impoverished environments but do not suffer from it. These indigenous people have found brilliant adaptations and strategies to cope with their harsh environment by using wisdom passed down from generations. The sad reality is that many of these isolated groups of human beings are beginning to feel the effects of the actions of modern consumer culture and there is nothing they can do to stop it. They are living examples of custodians of nature and lose such a group of human beings is really a tragedy.
Reducing Pollution: To reduce environmental, visual (media), electro (frequencies) and sound pollution. Strategy: The task of reducing pollution is to understand of what we consume and how it effects the environment and seeking ways to consume less. Reducing pollution can be practiced in many aspects of modern living: from transportation to communication to nutrition. Philosophy: We believe that reducing and reusing is preferable to recycling. Typically when we recycle an item it must be collected, transported to a facility, reprocessed and reproduced as a usable product. This method consumes a lot of energy compared to reducing or reusing.
Bottom-line: Prosperity or a big turnover is not our economic concern. Our economic concern is to be able to settle the operational and legal costs of managing and maintaining an ecospace. The success or wellbeing of the ecospace rests primarily on how we affect our environment and also the community – how we effectively perpetuate sustainability (which is a mindset). The business of the space is not about realizing its potential but about realizing the potential of those who visit the space. We cannot expect people to have a sudden change of heart. However, we can expect people to first start noticing and then start thinking and feeling and caring sharing and doing things that will benefit themselves and future generations. But raising awareness is not enough. How to maintain an awareness that has been raised is the real matter.
Achilles Heel: People do not appreciate being inconvenienced especially when their comfort is at stake. However, our main concern is not the general attitude of indifference but the attitudes we wish to cultivate in the young or the next generation. We should not focus on the attitudes that we condemn or do not appreciate. We can stimulate minds using hope or fear but hope and fear must be vivid and immediate if they are to be effective without making people weary (Bertrand Russell). Strategy: Our strategy lies in brainwashing or educating the children on how to wise up and start caring about the kind of world their children will inherit. We expect children to be conscious of the effects of the decisions they will make and actions they will take for the welfare of future generations. We expect children to be distracted by real issues and problems and not simulated ones that are offered in the curriculum or in computer games. We expect children to distract themselves early in life with projects that contributes to the betterment of human beings or the planet. Our expectations are futile if we do not set an example. Whether or not people wish to follow our example as a business or as a lifestyle or as a living philosophy depends on their belief system and vision in life. There may not be a generation of human beings that share a collective consciousness to save the earth (saving the earth means saving a home to billions of creatures and also saving us as a species), but there will always be individuals that will form communities and councils and actively pursue their vision for a better future.
Inspiration: This ecospace is inspired by the efforts and example of the Sloth Club (http://www.slothclub.org) and Slow Lab (http://slowlab.org) and other vanguards of the sustainability revolution.
PHILOSOPHICAL VISIONMost of us in the developed world take for granted the privilege of material security. But are your comforts at the cost of your time, life, energy, integrity, creativity, environment, autonomy and the future generation? Do you feel that you are forced into a state of dependency that makes you a slave to your material acquisitions? Do you feel that your responsibility rests solely on fulfilling the needs of those in your immediate environment? Or is there a greater responsibility that every single human being shares in common?
Embracing Slothfulness: As responsible human beings, we have the duty or obligation to preserve nature for the health and wellbeing of future generations. Nature generously nourishes and heals us in so many ways and it is this aspect of nature that future generations will need most. Now, can we live (feed, clothe, house or transport) ourselves without destroying or damaging our environment? Have the words “development” and “progress” been misused to mean the destruction or deterioration of life-support systems (eco-systems) and our health? What is the simplest and immediate form of action we can do to live more harmoniously with our natural environment?
The answer: Slowing Down. By literally slowing down we can begin to slow down the pace of destruction in our living world. Slowing down gives us the rare opportunity to deeply examine: our restlessness, mental mutterings and the easily distracted-and-seduced potential of the mind; our trivialized and material existence; our additions and greed; our visions and what we care about; and the important and simple things in life that make living meaningful. There are many stimuli and strategies that we can use (not abuse) to spontaneously slow down our consciousness and being without harming others or ourselves and staying sober.
When you cut off arterial blood to an organ, the organ dies. When you cut the flow of nature into people’s lives, their spirit dies. Our vision is to restore that flow of nature into people’s lives. We believe progress that is not pro-stress and ecocidal. We can fulfill our vision by providing a space for holistic thoughts to incubate and mature into ideas and actions. We can fulfill our vision by being slothful. We believe in the idea that one word, a single event, a person, a book; even a single thought is capable of changing the course of a person’s life. And it always has.
VALUES
Backbone: Many people these days will find every opportunity to slouch (to be in comfort). Are they slouching towards Nirvana? Probably not. They are slouching towards grouchiness, towards debilitation, towards dis-ease and stress and a bad posture. Cultivating a backbone or learning the art of sitting still and examining the restlessness of the minds is what Backbone is all about. Our present predicament is due more than anything else to the fact that we have learnt to understand and control to a terrifying extent the forces of nature outside us, but not those that are embodied in ourselves (Bertrand Russell).
Simplicity: To sophisticate means to complicate; to deprive of genuineness, naturalness and simplicity. The false delicacies, vanities and affections of the genteel and sophisticated or the elite in a modern society are often given too much notice and worth. Human beings have almost an infinite appetite for distractions. Much of the complexity of modern life is based on our strong attachment to comfort, prestige, money and praise. Yet none of these things, as many philosophers and individuals have argued and experienced, can in the end bring us happiness. The main reason being: these desires are inflationary. We keep wanting more comfort, prestige, money and believe that the more we have the happier we are. So how do we deflate our sense of self and desires? By knowing what is enough. Knowing what is enough requires us to examine our needs. Our needs are simple. Our wants are the ones that are bloated, sophisticated and complicated. The ever-increasing demands of a modern society are one of the major causes of stress and dis-ease. The medication is profoundly simple: to let go, to simplify, to slow down.
Clinging is itself a stressful state, and everything that derives from it is also stressful. For example, try to clench your hand to make a fist. As soon as you start to clench your hand, you have to use energy to keep your fingers clenched tightly. When you let go of the clenching, you hand is free again. So it is with the mind. When it is in such a state of clenching, it can never be free. I can never experience peace or happiness, even if one has all the wealth, fame and power in the world (Thynn, Living Meditation, Living Insight)
There is a cultural barrier when it comes to simplicity. We do not have the intention of encouraging cultures or traditions to abandon their customs or heritage. But we have the intention of acknowledging the essence of their heritage and finding ways to lessen their impact on the environment. In a cultural sense, one way of simplifying would be to reduce the extravagances and vanities involved in a performance (i.e. slaughtering of animals can be replaced with representations of animals). We wish to point out to traditional cultures that some old ways of thinking about and practicing customs are not in the interest of the future generations. There are many ways to preserve the identity of a tradition without compromising health or wellbeing of the environment. Our main concern is not really with the traditional or indigenous cultures but with the modern capitalistic and consumer culture that works with the forces of globalization to sanitize and civilize traditional and indigenous cultures. Keep in mind that not all the activities of a modern capitalistic consumer culture are decadent and degrading the mental and physical environment. There are several forgiving and beneficial activities such as conservation of flora and fauna and protection of natural resources. Do not forget that there are aspects of modern culture that are positive, such as providing innocent outlets for our competitive instincts.
Note: Social elites are not our opponents but our proponents. They are especially important if we are to communicate our message to the masses. The youth these days depend so much on television and the Internet for clues as to how to respond to the world. Celebrities and famous people can be used as living examples and tools for mass psychology.
BUSINESS STRATEGY/THEORY
Alliances: Developing and reinforcing alliances with local nature groups/councils or businesses that are sustainable is one of the most important and simplest marketing strategies we can practice. Having an online presence(website) is our next marketing strategy. By being a thread that connects nature lovers and sustainable businesses locally we can start envisioning and promoting a sustainable future that every one else can adopt or integrate into their life/business. Our services may include eco-consultations for personal/commercial greening of spaces and lifestyle; providing a space to share ideas and thoughts as well as material possessions (bartering); promoting, displaying, publishing, environmental and social propaganda; offering organic, local cooked/uncooked delights; supporting and promoting local/sustainble organic farmers/farming; offering permaculture training, etc. Building a network of eco-warriors that are actively and peacefully protesting against the busyness of material consumption and advocating a simpler lifestyle is crucial to changing people’s mindset.
We wish to stress the importance of transcending the ‘Them’ against ‘Us’ duality and mentality. Conservation and business interest can co-exist and many companies are living and active proof of this. If eco-living and thinking can fit within the directives of powerful corporations, then eco-living and thinking would probably have a faster growth rate and acceptance. We have to seek new and sustainable ways to interact, cooperate and communicate with powerful corporations without disrespecting their establishment and getting sued. They need to understand our vision, we need to understand their vision and then re-vise our visions to form a new vision that is in the best interest of every single inhabitant of planet earth because every human being is our business or interest.
Space: This ecospace requires at least one hectare of land We do not wish to limit ourselves to a set of criteria for seeking potential or suitable land or sites. We hope we can ingeniously find ways to rejuvenate the land we are provided and make the best and sustainable use of its natural resources, however plenty or scarce. We hope that our proposal appeals to individuals, government organizations, non-government organizations, authorities, ministries who have a similar vision or interest.
Sustainability: Eco-friendly principles will be applied to the design (interior, architectural, engineering) and practice (operations) of the space. Permaculture specialists, Biomimicists (Biomimicry) and Slow Lab researchers will be invited to design the building/space both functionally and aesthetically. Renewable energies such as solar and wind will be installed and incorporated as part of the design. Water recycling strategies and facilities will also be incorporated. The interior will need careful sourcing of local or second-hand furnishings and decorations. We may commission designers to invent multi-purpose furniture or fittings from recycled/re-used materials or living units that accommodates spaces for many uses. All the materials used in the design and construction of the ecospace is eco-friendly, meaning that it can be recycled on site or it can be safely returned to nature.
The construction of this project does not involve slave or cheap labor. It has to be a community effort. Much of the labor of love and sweat will derive from the local alliances or affiliations we have with nature groups, individuals and communities. Ultimately, the space and all its activities will run on renewable energy and all waste generated from the activities at the space can be re-used.
Transparency & Ethical Consumerism: What exactly are you paying for when you buy something in a shop? Everything from transportation, duty-handling charges, to monthly operational costs of the shop will be declared as a percentage of the price. We will put suggested donations for every item in the space. As a consumer it is important to know where the products come from, how it is made, what materials were used, who or what makes it, what impact making the product has on the environment, how you can re-use or recycle the product afterwards or once it expires and why you should support the people behind this product. All of these details are important and will be shared with our clients. This enables our clients to intimately connect and establish a meaningful relationship with the individuals or communities that make the products.
One of our objectives is to redefine consumerism and retail therapy: it is not about what you can consume in the space we provide but what kind of difference you can make as a consumer or human being or citizen in your environment. We do not wish for our clients to replace every single possession in their house with an eco-alternative. Ultimately our wish is to make our clients wise and sensible consumers: ask for less, not more; do more with less; simplify their lifestyle and be satisfied and happy when they walk out of the space empty handed. We hope we can make our clients disappointed by never getting what they want than to be disappointed when they have got what they want.
Documentation: This ecospace will be documented (visually and written form) off-line or online so that we can continually update our clients with the development of the space. This documentation may one day be published online and may serve as a case study for eco-entrepreneurs and others.
PRODUCTS & SERVICES PROVIDED:
Living Space: The ecospace is a living and breathing space that continuously evolves in appearance and setting based on feedback from the public. We will assess and incorporate as best we can ideas that will make the space more accommodating, inspiring and heartening to the public. People are free to contribute aesthetically and artistically to the development of the space to forecast the imaginative needs of the community. In this sense the space is constantly evolving. A space that is constantly evolving will facilitate the evolution of those that embrace or use the space. Such a space, in theory, continuously breathes and so continuously gives.
It is not what people do in the ecospace that matters, it is what they do beyond or outside the ecospace that matters most. We wish to develop a new perspective with regards to the limitlessness and sacredness of space. This new perspective, hopefully, will make our clients aware of how sacred the spaces in their lungs are. And so, equipped with this perspective they can start designing and using spaces more carefully and holistically.
Here are just a few examples of what this ecospace is favorable for: healing – for absorbing sounds, visuals, energies or frequencies that activates the body’s natural healing system; organic gardening and permaculture, establishing eco-hostels or cottages for tourists and artists (conceptual, environmental, installation artists); on-site education programs like composting, recycling and other children/adult activities with environmental and sustainability themes; DIY (Do-It-Yourself) projects; opening an organic or slow food cafe; establishing an eco-friendly Service Provider (solar powered).
Living Library: Our living library will provide a great deal of audio-visual resources (book, journal, recordings) as well as objects (instruments, paintings, sculptures) as well as novelties (dream-machine, kinetic sculptures). Praxis (experiential learning and not knowledge) is the educative them of the library. We are more interested in cultivating people’s awareness, which requires patience. The library lends its space to story-makers and tellers to create narratives (art, music, poems and stories) to heal, share and inspire. Without narratives life has no meaning, without meaning, learning has no purpose.
Some Educational offerings: learning: to reduce/re-use and recycle material/immaterial things; how to cook (regional/local) foods; how to garden/herbs; how to meditate; how to heal ourselves and others (naturally); how to sail a boat (rather than fly); how to lucubrate (use candle-light) and make your own candles; how to play music; how to fish; the art of mooching or walking or strolling (putting a tortoise on a leash); how to breathe; how to smoke a pipe; the art of drinking tea and water; how to sleep; and how to look at stars.
Products: Our products range from locally produced and grassroots goods to internationally imported goods. Once our permaculture site and organic farming is active, our produce may include and not be limited to: fresh organic fruits and vegetables; bamboo and other natural materials; seeds, young trees or saplings belonging on the endangered list. Some examples of products offered are hammocks, eco-fabrics and wear, eco-footwear, office supplies, amenities (portable eco-toilets, solar-powered appliances, etc.), audio-visual materials (books, journals, recordings), furniture, gardening supplies and equipment, personal care and hygiene products and pet food and hygiene products. Ultimately, we hope that our clients can learn how to make and provide for themselves many of their basic and bare necessities (i.e. soap, shampoo, toilet paper, etc.) through our DIY workshops.
DEVELOPMENT PLANS/MILESTONES:
Here are just two examples of plans that will be developed in the ecospace
Media Production: Investing in technologies for media production. The space can host multiple DIY multimedia projects and workshops that will enable our clients to practice a form of activism and journalism that will be crucial in spreading awareness in society. This will require investment in technologies that may not be available locally or may just require us to cooperate with media institutions and borrow and maintain their equipment.
Indigenous Wisdom: There are remarkable people and cultures in this world that are so deeply embedded in nature and possess an impressive understanding of the natural world. If they lose their connection to nature, they cease to exist as unique and special people. There are important messages and holistic worldviews coming from indigenous people. In so many ways they are whispering to us: please take care of the earth. We hope our living library will encompass the wisdom of indigenous people from every corner of the earth and possibly engage our clients in projects that will help sustain their livelihood and culture before it completely vanishes.
FUTURE VISION (Raw & Incomplete)
A challenging yet promising future is ahead of us. What is the next step towards a sustainable resurgence? Perhaps we will culturally evolve to become eco-nomads dedicated to global healing or stewardship. It is not a matter of modifying our conveniences so that they become environmentally neutral or friendly. It is a matter of inventing new ways of living and thinking in balance and harmony with the planet and using innovative and sustainable technologies that consumes and releases energy that benefits planetary healing. There is already so much waste and pollution at this present moment. Now all the waste and pollution will either be discarded into the solar system or it will be entirely re-used or re-cycled or re-innovated to create technologies that does not generate pollution or effluence but generates affluence. Such affluence can be termed ecollutions (eco-solutions). These ecollutions help restore the balance that previous generations and technologies have disrupted.
The development of living and breathing mobile-bio-support systems may be one small step towards a more sustainable future. These systems are personal dwellings that directly interact, replenish and restores the balance in their environment. Everything that is produced in the system directly contributes to supporting the system. Just breathing in that space creates energy that can be used. Lighting is not powered by electricity anymore, instead, reflections of the sun and moon are manipulated (magnified – maximized or minimized) using special lenses or mirrors to suit our needs/purpose. There will be technologies that can generate a liter of water from a single dewdrop. These mobile-bio-support-system units are just one of the possibilities that we can realize or envision for the future.
Human beings will not abandon technology but will use technology with increasingly greater care and concern for the environment. Such technologies will mimic nature. Biomimicry and sustainable technologies will be some of the industries that will flourish. With regards to culture and lifestyle, human beings will continue preserving the past (destructive) traditions, customs and cultures only in the form of audio-visual materials. These materials are not merely books or videos; they are multi-experiential stimuli/data that documents every tangible and intangible aspect of the culture. As a species we will not be culturally diverse like before. The essence of all cultures will remain but we will transcend all the destructive superfluities: the rites and ceremonies, the architecture, the clothes, etc. All of these aspects will be sacrificed for global healing. Much of our time and energy will be spent on activities like planting trees and supporting eco-systems. Activities that heal the planet. Previous generations have been exploiting nature. Now we become her servant. We start the long process of reversing the damage or impact previous generations have accumulated.
Is it really possible to reverse climate change or other environmental disasters that are a threat to us and other living creatures? It is possible if we are willing to make sacrifices as a species. All the social and economic injustice in this world will one day evaporate. There will not be poverty anymore. There will not be any need for geopolitics and political agencies driving a sustainable earth revolution. The sustainable earth revolution will be driven by individuals with self-awareness, wisdom and compassion.
In the future, education will not be confined to the classroom. A living classroom is the place where children learn. Important skills like making your own clothes from renewable/organic materials; maintaining and repairing your mobile homes; producing your own food sustainably; learning and practicing eco-philosophy; and healing yourself and others are taught in this living communal classroom. Satisfying universal needs (food, shelter and clothing) is the main focus of the curriculum. Another important aspect of the curriculum is spiritual cultivation. Our social status will not be defined by how much wealth we accumulate but it will be based on how much we contribute to the betterment of the planet and our society.
Presently, almost every person in society needs to be reminded that they are not merely consumers dedicated to materially improving their present condition. Almost every person in society needs to be reminded we have a responsibility as keepers or guardians of this planet for future generations. Every generation hands over the planet to the next – one generation borrowing the earth for a period of time and taking care of it in the interest of those that will succeed them. Sometimes the interest becomes too material or too political, sometimes the interest is not in the best interest of the future generation. Generationally the interest changes. People today have to ask themselves what should we do when we borrow something as generous and life supporting as planet earth? Should we senselessly pollute and make the condition worst for the future so that the next generation will have the challenge of trying to repair or restore the balance?
