There have been many predictions pertaining to the future of human population here on good old planet Earth. Our most immediate concern should not only be about the overall population of the world, but where they will live. More specifically, we should concern ourselves about the idea that the world’s urban population will grow from 2.86 billion in 2000 to 4.98 billion by 2030, and about 60 percent of the world’s population will live in major metropolitan areas, according to a 2004/05 UN-HABITAT report, State of the World’s Cities. The report suggests that potential urban growth is close to one million people (a city the size of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!) every week.

Where do most of these people come from? Rural communities. Throughout the world people are steadily streaming from rural areas to urban areas, thus creating an incredible drain on rural communities across the globe. This trend has accelerated in many developing countries and there are many reasons for this migration. In some regions the primary reason has been the onslaught of globalization. As developing nations try to follow the advice of more developed nations of the world and lower trade barriers, many rural families are finding themselves unable to compete with agricultural products imported by wealthier nations who subsidize farmers. When farmers in a developing economy try to compete with products coming into their country, they simply cannot. With their livelihood taken away they tend to migrate toward larger urban areas looking for work. In many places the influx of people to urban areas simply overwhelms the capacity of limited infrastructure, both physical and social. This causes a marked increase in environmental degradation and a deeper level of poverty.

Throughout human history farmers and rural communities have been the cornerstone from which every other great achievement has been built upon. Reversing the urban movement of our fellow citizens and assisting them to re-locate back to the country must be one of the paramount goals of our society today. We must slow the rapid growth of urban sprawl and environmental degradation, and re-vitalize Rural Communities. Our primary goal of Ecolonomic development must use this cornerstone idea as the foundation of a new global movement toward a better future for all people.

In any rural area we start with an Ecolonomic Resource Assessment to see what is locally available in terms of natural resources, waste stream, agricultural, forest and industrial by-products. Technologies that utilize these resources as feedstock are identified and prescribed. The Ecolonomic Plan developed from this information will become the long-term foundation of a new sustainable economy. The Ecolonomic assessment will be a combination of a natural/cultural resource inventory that takes into consideration any native or non-native agricultural crops that could be used for local energy production as well as crops with food and industrial yield.

How do we make it happen? Local Production will equal Economic Benefits and the money the residents pay for all goods and services that are locally produced stays in the community and circulates.

This plan addresses five basic Ecolonomic areas needing development in order for a rural area to become secure, prosperous, healthy, and independent.

1. Develop liquid fuel production locally to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
2. Develop local production of electricity to reduce dependence on the insecure and antiquated grid system.
3. Develop local production and processing of food.
4. Develop housing systems utilizing local materials and labor.
5. Develop a range of value added products that may be produced from the resource base that may be marketed outside of the area to bring in capital.

Ecolonomics is an idea designed for people who want to be responsible for their path on this planet and live in harmony and comfort. It is one facet of a multi-faceted program to regain the HEALTHY link with the earth upon which we depend for all of our needs. Ecolonomics takes the best technologies for electrical production and storage, clean water supply, wastewater management, climate control, as well as low embodied energy in the whole system. This will be a dynamic and ever-evolving system as new technologies are brought on line to be integrated into the system should they be found to be superior to the existing system for that particular function.

We know that a general trend of urbanization is unlikely to change in light of our efforts, but at least we can take charge and make sure that change happens for the right reasons, and not simply that our way of life means that others must necessarily change theirs.

Carbon offsets, words that once did not go with each other, have become the business world's equivalent of a red ribbon. It sends all the right messages without requiring much to be done.
Don't get me wrong; it's better than nothing. It allows a user to begin to calculate his/her/its carbon footprint and do something about it. But unfortunately, that's where it ends for most companies. It becomes another tax or cost of doing business. Often it's cheaper than actually affecting long-term changes, so do the math.
Even the mechanism of trading the credits is flawed. The largest engine of offsets, the Chicago Carbon Exchange, is run like any other mercantile. There are a certain number of credits available, and their scarcity then determines the price. SInce the Exchange's inception earlier this decade, prices have risen to approximately $3 per credit. This is ridiculous, in that the credits become effectively a commodity instead of a tool of social change, which should be their ultimate goal. The sanitized transaction of mouse clicks and credit cards allows someone to divorce himself from the act of offsetting, to remove it to where it is yet another payment for indulgences.
BidForGreen will soon be announcing our vision for carbon credits: One that includes matching those dollars with long-term projects which do more than just plant a few trees. We want to change lives and communities. We want to use carbon credits to close the gap that continues to grow between rich places and poor, and we hope to do it with rich people money. Stay tuned; we think you will find it more satisfying than the sterile status quo.
Dale Wiley

My family and I ended up at McDonald's the other night. What changes they have made; the restaurant was clean, the offerings less ... McRibby. The kids loved it, and we were happy with everything as well. Then I saw the Happy Meal.

In the "girls" version of the Happy Meal, my daughters had tiny dolls which they loved beyond any reason. That was fine, and we have certainly gotten a lot of mileage out of such small prizes. What was disgusting was the amount of packaging. This three-inch doll was cradled in a plastic tray, then covered in plastic wrap!

Now, I understand that they didn't want to get the doll's hair in the food, but some sort of shrink-wrap could have done that. Why did we need two layers of plastic crap that's going right in the garbage? You couldn't have ruined those dolls if you would have flushed them down the toilet, followed by a cherry bomb and a gallon of sulfuric acid. Why do we continue to throw this crap in?

And what can we do about it?

I would like to introduce you to a man who has had far greater impact than most folks realize and much less credit than he deserves.

Dennis Weaver was born in Joplin, Missouri nearly 83 years ago. He lived and worked on a farm in northern Newton County where he learned just how important the land was to all of us. He grew up, fell in love, married his sweetheart Gerry, and eventually headed off to a career as an actor.

Dennis worked on Broadway and then made the transition to TV where he played Deputy Chester Good on the long-running show Gunsmoke. Dennis then worked on stage and screen for many years earning the respect and admiration of his peers. He worked with directors like Orson Wells, and even gave the okay to have a movie called Duel, directed by some unknown named Spielberg. Dennis also became the President of the Screen Actors Guild in the 70’s, and in a career that spanned well over 50 years, did everything from Shakespeare to The Simpsons.

What is not as well known is his dedication to the world we live in.

Dennis and his wife Gerry spent many years working to feed the hungry.

Dennis stood up for environmental causes years before it was popular.

And, perhaps most importantly, Dennis created a word and an idea called Ecolonomics. He took Ecology and Economics and pushed them together. Dennis understood that we could not have a strong, vibrant, healthy economy unless we had a strong, vibrant, healthy ecological resource base to draw from. Dennis knew that a healthy environment was just good business.

I met Dennis several years ago at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri. I was a non-traditional student pursuing my Bachelors degree in Environmental Health. The Ecolonomics Certificate program had just been started by Dennis at MSSU and Dennis and Gerry were coming to town to meet with students in the program. We were to meet the Weaver’s at a restaurant in Joplin before class started. I met Dennis, shook his hand and introduced myself; little did I know that that evening was going to change my life drastically.

Dennis and Gerry came back to the University with us for our evening class. This class was the capstone course in the Ecolonomics certificate program at Southern. Needless to say Dennis and Gerry were both very excited about the program. Every time one of us referred to ourselves as Ecolonomists the grin on Dennis’s face got bigger. We discussed some of the class projects we were working on and describing the course work. Then Dennis took the podium. He leaned his lanky frame leaning forward as he began describing his dreams and goals about the Institute of Ecolonomics, the non profit he co-founded with his wife Gerry. The more he spoke the more excited he became and the more excited we all became. That night was the first time we really got the ideas of Ecolonomics and a glimpse at the passion that drove Dennis.

That passion for life and helping others was one of the most impressive things about Dennis. As I learned later on, Dennis had worked with Valerie Harper in California to create an organization that fed the homeless and hungry in their area even before he came up with the ideas of Ecolonomics and formed the Institute. Dennis led a life of service to not only his fellow actors but to all people, and he did so with a love that truly reflected the beauty of his soul. He wisely not only worked in service to those of us around him, but he worked hard to start people thinking and working toward a better life for future generations. Dennis and Gerry founded the IOE to ensure that the people of today and the generations of the future would be able to enjoy a quality of life as good as or better than what we in America enjoy today.

The ideas of Ecolonomics changed the course of my career and future studies. I changed my major to a degree in general studies so I could build it around the ideas of Ecolonomics. I pursued a Master’s degree, again designed around the ideas of Ecolonomics. And eventually I became the Executive Director of the IOE.

Dennis’s impact with many other actors has helped the environmental movement in Hollywood flourish. If not for early pioneers like Dennis much of the changes we see today toward a more sustainably minded future simply would not be. We all owe much to the passion and dedication of Dennis and Gerry Weaver.

Dennis was only a part of my life for about the last seven years but the impact he had on me been profound. His ideas about Ecolonomics and his infectious passion for doing what you know to be right have taken me to places I never imagined.

But more importantly than that was the passion, love, and generosity I got from Dennis and Gerry. As I got to know Dennis through working with him on various Ecolonomically-oriented projects, the more I came to love and respect that Dennis was. It is truly rare when you meet a person who so completely changes your life for the better. Dennis was one of those people, and he did it effortlessly. His attitude and ideas, his passion for life, the man he was, have made me want to be a better man myself. For all the wonderful ideas and goals for life that I got from Dennis, nothing was better than the shinning example of how Dennis lived.

Love, generosity, foresight, wisdom, and above all passion for a better world, for an Ecolonomic world; that is what Dennis gave to me, and for that I will always be grateful to my friend, Dennis Weaver.

Robert Wood

http://www.ecolonomics.org
http://www.dennisweaver.com

My family and I are down here in Jekyll Island, Georgia this week. In so many ways, this island is a model of how we need to live.

Jekyll Island was the playground of the rich in the late 1800s. Pulitzer,
Gould, Rockefeller, Morgan ... a who's who of the richest and most powerful
people in America. In fact, the idea for the Federal Reserve was hatched
at their private club, the Jekyll Island Club. The families all built
houses and wintered here for many years, until their power began to wane.

In the early fifties, the heirs of the rich folk, who had not paid property
taxes for many years, were surprised to find that the State of Georgia took
their land in exchange for the taxes owed. The state took ownership of the
island, and gave people 99 year leases. In an amazing stroke of foresight,
the state required that only 35 percent of the island be developed,
protecting the rest of the island.

It makes for a great mix. Yes, there are hotels and restaurants, but
biking around this (very flat!) island is so great: marshes, forests,
beach. There are electric cars on the road, and I would have to say with a
great deal of surety that the percentage of old fat men biking on Jekyll is
higher than in any other place in America.

Now, of course, developers want to change this. Georgia Governor Sonny
Perdue appointed three developers to the five-member Jekyll Island
Authority, and they have decided that this island just can't do without a
few McDonalds and maybe a Crate and Barrel.

There is a milquetoast bill in the Georgia legislature that would provide
some protection that the developers can't strip mine the whole thing, but
it's not nearly as strongly worded as any of the residents and lovers of
this island would like. Still, it's better than nothing.

I hope that people will write to the Governor and encourage him to take
action FOR Jekyll, instead of seeking to sell it out. Make a YouTube
video. Write a letter. But this is too good to just give up on. This is
what we all need to be doing.