Using Nature's Genius In Architecture

[DeSwiss]

Run time: 16:56 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QZp6smeSQA   Posted on YouTube: February 10, 2011 By YouTube Member: TEDtalksDirector Views on YouTube: 18643   Posted on DU: February 13, 2011 By DU Member: DeSwiss Views on DU: 3451

 

[BREMPRO]

1. absolutely brilliant. Solution to our major problems:

energy needs,fossil fuel emissions,climate change,resource depletion, food shortages, clean water shortages, cycles of production and waste, desertification. Nature's brilliance is at our fingertips if we respect and learn from it.Bio-mimicry. This is the future. It's a sustainable approach, clean, restoring.

Why are we not hearing this on the news every day.
Are we doing any of this here in the states?
This is the type of innovation and development we need NOW.

Feel like we are living in the dark ages here after watching this.

[SkyDaddy7]

2. We are in the DARK AGES!!

This is the kind of technology we should be investing in & President Obama got ridiculed for simply wanting to begin investing in such technologies...Without spending the money, we will not create the technology, will not create the future industries that create the future jobs we so desperately need!

Plus, China & Europe will dominate the markets & we will still be here arguing with the "Drill Baby Drill" crowd!! SAD!!

[DeSwiss]

3. "Why are we not hearing this on the news every day?"

In a word: CAPITALISM

Because in order for CAPITALISM to function it must create and maintain the illusion of scarcity or at the least, incorporate planned obsolescence into its development model.

CAPITALISM is not needed in a system where people are able to sustain themselves, to replenish themselves, or to regenerate themselves.

CAPITALISM is linear. Everything is designed to end up in a dump. When we run out of dumps to hide our garbage in, we simply pump it into our drinking water or into the air.

NATURE is cyclical, and symbiotic. It uses everything. We are a part of NATURE and yet we act as if we weren't. As if we are not subject to its laws.

In NATURE, nothing is thrown away. Because there is no "away" in NATURE.


- We can't save the current system, nor should we even want to try.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." ~Richard Buckminster Fuller

[chervilant]

11. Freecycle

is a Yahoo-driven alternative paradigm, although right now few people perceive it as such. Any method of bartering also gives me hope that our species can achieve a paradigm shift in our economic behaviors. Capitalism is a self-destructive behavior, and one we should be working collectively to eliminate.

[DeSwiss]

23. The problem is.....

...Capitalism has a strangle-hold onto everything. Every level of government, business and even our own small children who demand to have the latest popular sneaker costing $150.00 or more a pair. So unless we forcibly break free and bring them under control, then all bets are off. They'll ride us into the current direction we're going until we're all used up. Because greed is the worst of all addictions and cannot stop itself.

- We are headed for collapse and once that begins it will continue exponentially. By then it's too late.

"Twelve environmental problems that are portents of doom for a society: destruction of natural habitats (mainly through deforestation); reduction of wild foods; loss of biodiversity; erosion of soil; depletion of natural resources; pollution of freshwater; maximizing of natural photosynthetic resources; introduction by humans of toxins and alien species; artificially induced climate change; and, finally, overpopulation and its impact." ~Jared Diamond, http://www.grist.org/article/kavanagh-collapse/">'Collapse'

[chervilant]

30. hmm...

Jared would have done well to list overpopulation first in his list. All the other issues derive from our parasitic explosion across the globe.

[txlibdem]

15. Once the dump is full, cap it and burn the natural gas to make electricity

Profit going in, profit going out. All for "us" the rich, none for "you" the poor and middle class. The only thing the poor gets are the diseases caused by the pollution and toxins caused along the way.

Whee! We've got such a great thing going here... for the rich that is.

edited for grammar and "burn" instead of "sell"

[DeSwiss]

24. We've been doing methane capture in my community.....

...for several years now. Of course that doesn't count the decades before this when the dumps were all located in the poorer neighborhoods. As they continue to be now. Likewise, it doesn't factor in that the burning of methane still adds CO2 to the atmosphere, which is only slightly better than adding the methane to the atmosphere without capture. And as you mentioned, the toxins we add to the water and soil will be impacting us and our progeny for generations to come.

- Which is why I say: CAPITALISM IS CANCER. Socially and literally.

[txlibdem]

38. I think they're getting ready to do that in my community as well

They installed high tension lines and a power substation across the street from the garbage dump. For several years now I've been seeing them burning off the methane (giant pipe 50 ft high with a monstrous flame spewing out of it).

[lutherj]

18. In whole-hearted agreement. Capitalism is the antithesis of the most basic of human values. nt

[DeSwiss]

25. Yes.

Capitalism is simply another word for uncontrolled GREED. It is a primitive and outdated response to scarcity which we were faced with during hunter-gatherer days I imagine. Then the theft and hording of food and other resources from others likely gave greater insurance for the survival of certain groups. The stronger more violent ones. Those groups whose genes were recessive for empathy.

- Today we just call them bankers.....

[PatSeg]

10. NOVA on PBS has a series

called "Making Stuff" and I was amazed at how much new, eco-friendly technology is being developed and used already in the U.S. It is happening, we just aren't hearing about it. Surprisingly one of the companies featured in "Making Stuff: Cleaner" was Ford.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/making-stuff-cleaner.html

[DeSwiss]

26. The innovation.....

...that humanity possesses is staggering. Unfortunately under the current system of Capitalism we're not likely to ever see much of it put into practice or become an everyday part of our lives. This is what many people don't seem to understand and why they continue to support Capitalism over a more equitable societal design: PROGRESS IS CAPITALISIM'S ENEMY. That is because ultimately progress can reduce our dependence upon the linear production design because it translates into greater self-sufficiency. And the hallmark of Capitalism is dependency.

- They have to have us coming back to them to insure the continued flow of money in their direction and away from us.

The reality is that institutional establishments, institutions of codified thought, and institutions of societal influence and power, meaning philosophies, dogmas on one hand and corporations and governments on the other, each have a high propensity to engage in denial, dishonesty, and corruption to maintain self-preservation and self-perpetuation. The result is a continuous culture lag where social progress by way of incorporating new socially-helpful scientific advancements is constantly inhibited. It is like walking through a brick wall as the established power orthodoxies continue to perpetuate themselves for their own interests and comforts.

The profit mechanism creates established orders which constitute the survival and wealth for a few groups of people. The fact is that no matter how socially beneficial new advents may be, they will be viewed in hostility if they threaten an established financially-driven institution. Meaning social progress can be a threat to the establishment. So to put this into a sentence: "Abundance, sustainability and efficiency are the enemies of profit."

Progressive advancement in science and technology which can solve problems of inefficiency and scarcity once and for all, are in effect making the prior establishment's servicing of those issues obsolete. Therefore in a monetary system corporations aren't just in competition with each other, they're in competition with progress itself. That is why social-change is so difficult within a monetary system. In other words, the established monetary system refuses to allow free-flowing change.

~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPmHaTirnCc">Peter Joseph

[PatSeg]

36. I had a conversation recently with my son,

saying pretty much the same thing. There are no limits to humankind's ingenuity and creativity, but as you say, it is often thwarted by capitalism. All our lives we've been told that "capitalism" is synonymous with "freedom" and anything that interferes with a free market will take away our precious liberties (and maybe even our guns!).

[BREMPRO]

39. Kick & Rec

[immoderate]

4. Sign me up!

Let's desalinize the ocean.

Very good vid. Too bad we can't keep up with civilized countries. :(

--imm

[DeSwiss]

5. "Sign me up!"

http://thevenusproject.com/

[txlibdem]

16. Thanks for the link

A must read for when I have the time!

[Tanelorn]

6. Absolutely brilliant

[rainy]

7. Posting so I can come back and watch this later.

[civilisation]

8. Great talk!

Regenerative design, that goes beyond sustainability, to actually restore degraded eco-systems, is the only thing that can keep our planet from full on eco-collapse,. this stuff need to be come mainstream yesterday! More please.

[DeSwiss]

27. "More please."

If you want more, then click this link when you've got http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w">2:41:25 to spare.

[fascisthunter]

9. there it is... unfortunately we have suicidal interests preventing man

from evolving

[DeSwiss]

28. I don't believe that it's suicidal interests......

...that prevent us. I think that it's CULTURAL IGNORANCE and FEAR that keeps us from evolving.

So if we are talking change through revolt, we're necessarily talking about deconditioning because the thing we fear already has a life deep in our own consciousness. Deconditioning from cultural ignorance is at the heart of any insurrectionary politics. Deconditioning also involves risk and suffering. But it is transformative, freeing the self from helplessness and fear. It unleashes the fifth freedom, the right to an autonomous consciousness. That makes deconditioning about as individual and personal act as is possible. Maybe the only genuine individual act.

Once unencumbered by self-induced and manufactured cultural ignorance, it becomes clear that politics worldwide is entirely about money, power and national mythology, with or without some degree of human rights. America still has all of the above to one degree or another. Yet for all practical purposes, such as advancing the freedom and the well being of its own people, the American republic has collapsed.

Of course, there is still money to be made by the already rich. So the million or so people who own the country and the government use their control to convince us that there is no collapse, just economic and political problems that need to be solved. Naturally, they are willing to do that for us. Consequently, the economy is discussed in political terms, because the government is the only body with the power to legislate, and therefore render the will of the owning class into law.

But politics and money are never going to fill what is essentially a public vacuum that is moral, philosophical and spiritual. (The latter was instantly recognized by fundamentalist Christians, disfigured by cultural ignorance, as they may be.) Not many ordinary Americans talk about this vacuum. The required spiritual and philosophical language has been successfully purged by newspeak, popular culture, a human regimentation process masquerading as a national educational system, and the ruthlessness of everyday competition, which leaves no time to contemplate anything.

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/12/america-y-ur-peeps-b-so-dum.html">~Joe Bageant, "America Y UR Peeps B So Dum?"

[chervilant]

12. Wow!

I almost skipped this post. I am sooooo very glad I didn't.

[Voice for Peace]

13. beautiful!

even the rolex ad at the end is worth watching. k&r!!

[chervilant]

14. Not

only set our souls ablaze, but give our children hope that our species can survive our own hubris. Think how much more receptive our children would be if we reframe all of our educational processes to engage them in this paradigm shift from self-destructive hedonism (aka capitalism) to closed-loop sustainability!

[DeSwiss]

31. Replacing the educational system.....

...would be one of the first things we'd need to do. The current system we have was initially put in-place in support of Capitalism because as we industrialized as a nation it required more educated people to run the machines. Now the machines that are made are smarter than the average worker and have run us off the job. Unfortunately instead of all of society benefiting from this improved circumstance, only the Capitalists benefited. Those "educated" workers ended up with part-time jobs as greeters at Wal-Mart with no benefits.

Logically, as humanity became smarter, we should all have had to work less and to be more greatly enriched as a result. And the only reason why this has not happened is because we've allowed for the creation and maintenance of a system which is owned by a precious few (CAPITALISTS) which siphons-off the bulk of our planet's resources and riches for themselves. We get the crumbs under a Puritanical work ethic which has most people convinced that this is their god's will and that their treasures await them in heaven. (Talk about rubes falling off the turnip truck! They saw us coming by a country mile!!!)

Problem is, the Earth's resources DO NOT BELONG TO A SELECT FEW. And that so-called work ethic is all BULLSHIT.

- That's the first lesson we need to learn. And then teach it to our kids.......

"I don't understand why we have to pay to live on the planet we were born on. I mean it's such a simple question. But can anyone answer that? Why does anyone have to pay to live on the planet they were born on? Ask yourself that question. And who are we actually paying for the privilege to live here? Who decided this? Who made "them" the boss? Who put "them" in-charge?" ~Alex Collier

[chervilant]

37. Definitely,

replacing the CAPITALISTS' system of education is paramount.

[txlibdem]

17. I totally agree. Fossil fuels need to die; it's long overdue

Replace them with natural design and the technologies that take advantage of the free energy that is all around us.

Here's a cool way to combine a bridge and wind energy:
http://news.discovery.com/tech/building-a-bridge-out-of-wind-energy-110211.html

We waste so much energy "building" homes, why not "grow" your home:
http://www.archinode.com/bienal.html
http://dornob.com/home-grown-home-diy-living-tree-house-design-idea/

Why spend hundreds to heat your home in winter only to turn around and spend hundreds to cool it in summer:
http://www.dasolar.com/solar-energy/passive-solar
http://www.zeroenergydesign.com/Passive%20Solar%20Cooling.html#C23

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-===--=-=-===-==--=

In a nutshell: we are doing EVERYTHING wrong. Gotta change, gotta adapt.

[DeSwiss]

29. Thanks for the links! :-) n/t

[txlibdem]

35. Gratis

Hope you find them interesting.

Say,there is a minor tie in to my OP here http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x401552
... The topic: robots should do all the work, we should be free explore, learn, create, etc.

[handmade34]

19. rec

[AlbertCat]

20. Very interesting.

But not really new. I mean, that's how people thought before the Industrial Revolution.

Alas, you'll notice the thing nature isn't worried about and we are was not discussed.... MONEY.

[DeSwiss]

32. Industrial Revolution = Capitalism n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

21. K&R

Fortunately, we are now at the stage where we have the type of scientific equipment that will allow study of some of the micro-nature that can be mimicked.

[DeSwiss]

33. Yes.

And if we are to mimic Nature more completely, then one of the first things we need do is to rid ourselves of the unproductive stages of natural symbiosis.

- Such as loan-interest -- a product which comes from nothing.

[Lorien]

22. Brilliant talk! Thanks for posting it. I'm sending it out far and wide! nt

[DeSwiss]

34. You're welcome! n/t