---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 1:53 AM Subject: EDA Newsletter - June 28, 2017 To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> *EDA NEWS *– Building a Democratic Organization • Conference Feedback • Featuring: An Article by James Quilligan • 4 New Blogs View this email in your browser <http://mailchi.mp/fdc5b7ade35b/eda-newsletter-june-28-2017?e=354efb4ffc> *THIS WEEK IN EDA NEWS* • Building a Democratic Organization • Conference Feedback • Carrying Capacity and EDA: We No Longer Have the Luxury of Time, by James Quilligan • 4 New Blogs *Dear James**,* How do we respond to both the immediate threats to our environment AND the long-term development of new systems and structures for economic democracy? *Wisely.* As in medicine, the acute and the chronic need to be managed equally and in order. That’s why EDA is focusing on both “community-building and empirical research in the protection of declining resources,” says renowned economist James Quilligan in his groundbreaking work on the earth’s “carrying capacity” (included in this issue). “We want to see carrying capacity — *the maximum number of people which can be supported by the resources available within an environment* — become a practical and enduring foundation for social policy,” says James. With this in mind, EDA will apply a stepwise approach to addressing both the short- and long-term: *research, education, training, advocacy and legislation.* For more information and to join us in this effort, sign up *here* <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=e9a11b56ba&e=354efb4ffc>. There’s a lot to be done and we need YOU! *BUILDING A DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION* On the last day of the May conference, a large group of attendees participated in an Open Space breakout session to discuss the creation of a Social Charter, a legal and democratic organizational structure that is in alignment with EDA’s Mission, Vision and Values. We have set up a team that will develop a roadmap for the steps that we believe need to be taken. We’ll be sharing this with you soon and inviting you to participate in its development. A clear statement of what will be expected of committee members and background reading material will be included. Stay tuned! *CONFERENCE FEEDBACK* To all of our Conference attendees who joined us in Asheville a few weeks ago, we wanted to let you know that we have received many post-conference surveys, and we greatly appreciate you providing your feedback to us. In the coming weeks, we’ll share the results with you. If you haven’t yet responded, *click here* <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=79e649a5f5&e=354efb4ffc> and you can still do that now. Thanks to all who have responded so far! *CARRYING CAPACITY: WE NO LONGER HAVE THE LUXURY OF TIME* BY JAMES QUILLIGAN *OUR PLANET IS IN ECOLOGICAL OVERSHOOT* Earth is exceeding its ability to replenish its own resources. Each year, human beings consume our natural stocks at about 160% of their sustainable yield. Obviously, we cannot continue to use resources faster than the planet can replenish them without serious ecological and socioeconomic consequences. *Economic Democracy Advocates* recognizes that the next economy will have to balance the needs of Earth’s expanding population with the shrinking level of resources which are available to everyone. This dynamic equilibrium is called *carrying capacity*. It is a middle path between the faster, geometric growth rates of human population, individual consumption and economic production, and the slower, arithmetic replenishment rates of water, food and fossil fuels. *WHY THE 'MARKET MYTH' IS ENDING IN ECOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL CHAOS* Historical records, from the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia to early civilizations in the North and South Americas, provide numerous examples of carrying capacity practiced successfully by people in local settings over long periods. Yet, as towns developed and began to control the raw materials and labor of their countrysides, profitable strategies for resource extraction, production and trade gradually displaced the agrarian customs of living sustainably within the cycles of nature. During the past five centuries, these same methods for social control — enclosing the commons, devising unequal trade and enforcing those restrictions through the armed might of governments — were scaled up to the global level. Following the earlier pattern, imperial centers of capital controlled the resource- and labor-rich fringes of their rural empires through iron-handed colonialism. The latest chapter in this saga — of enterprising groups claiming exclusive property rights over those who live and work amid nature’s capital — is harder to see, but still deeply inequitable. Everywhere now in the world, decentralized communities struggle to reclaim the social ownership and natural wealth of their commons from centralized corporations and their shareholders, who produce and trade these same commodities virtually unnoticed across vast distances. There are no easy or familiar solutions for these non-regenerative, structural imbalances. Except for small groups of indigenous peoples, farmers and land planners from whom we still can learn, *carrying capacity has never been a core part of our conventional economic system. *Somehow, civilization neglected to measure the differences between the needs of an increasing population and the diminishing resources available for each person. Somewhere along the line, we forgot how to inventory and quantify our commons and plan for the long-term future. *WE ARE WHAT WE MEASURE* This is why EDA employs the metrics of carrying capacity to prevent renewable and non-renewable resources from being consumed beyond their maximum sustainable yield. *The goal is for renewable resources to be harvested or used at the same rate at which they replenish themselves, and for non-renewable resources to be extracted and consumed by the present generation at a significantly slower rate to preserve these commons for future generations. * PHOTOGRAPH BY RANDY SARVIS Many people today are reconsidering the self-sufficiency and sustainability of their own neighborhoods. There’s renewed interest in the re-localization of resources and avid curiosity about the democratic, cooperative management of local and regional commons. Particularly as climate change creates the possibility of extreme storms, wildfires, floods, rising sea levels, drought, crop failures and other economic uncertainties, people want to know how to make the living systems on which they depend more resilient in the face of such risks. *'SUPPLY AND DEMAND' IS NOT AN ORGANIC CYCLE* Regrettably, unlike any previous era in history, when new ideas for resource management might be tested over long centuries or even millennia, *humanity no longer has the luxury of time.* What we know now — by comparing present water, food and energy yields with their availability for the world’s population — is stunning. *The next three or four generations represent our last chance to safeguard the Earth’s essential hydrological, nitrogen and carbon cycles from the destructive business cycle of production, trade and consumption.* By the end of this century, it will be nearly impossible for the human race to transform this failed system of resource extraction and predatory exchange, and embark on an ecological path which is not plagued by economic scarcity and social unrest. *NEED MEASURED IS NEED MET* This is why EDA is dedicated to both community-building and empirical research in the protection of declining resources. We’re measuring the sustainable yields of American counties and bioregions as a way to define, apportion and distribute what every person needs, and ensure that the commons are healthy and accessible for future generations. At the same time, EDA is introducing this evidence-based framework to a broad constituency across the United States through research, education, training, advocacy and legislation. We want to see carrying capacity — computing the maximum number of people which can be supported by the resources available within an environment — become a practical and enduring foundation for social policy. Please join Economic Democracy Advocates and assist us in this important work. We urge you to learn about the opportunities available and to engage according to your own level of interest. *Contact the EDA Carrying Capacity Team:* Patti Ellis: [email protected] James Quilligan: [email protected] <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=b8e1ca6f37&e=354efb4ffc> The days of reliance on fossil fuel for our energy source are quickly coming to an end. And, as a result, we’re beginning to see a huge push in research efforts to explore innovations that can make an impact on energy creation and distribution. The five clean energy innovations that are outlined in this post are in various stages of commercial development, but each gives us an idea of the kinds of things that researchers are working to bring to the world. It is an interesting time to be alive, as these new technologies are introduced every day, and their potential for making an impact on the world in the future are coming a little closer. *Read more* <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=8f6eb474ae&e=354efb4ffc> <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=1caa018dc1&e=354efb4ffc> The United States of America now finds itself in some pretty unusually company joining only Syria and Nicaragua in declining involvement in the Paris Climate Agreement. This withdrawal which President Trump claimed to benefit the American worker is extremely short-sighted. The opportunities for American workers in new alternative technologies offer new jobs at an ever-increasing rate. In California, green jobs are providing the state hundreds of thousands of new jobs as it moves toward an aggressive goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045. New jobs and renewable energy are bolstering California’s economy while President Trump focuses on old practices that produced elevated carbon emissions and fewer jobs. *Read more* <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=2ffb6bf7f8&e=354efb4ffc> <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=c066936139&e=354efb4ffc> Communities of Columbus, Ohio are using urban agriculture to promote sustainable development and increase access to locally grown food. Gardens are popping up in otherwise under-utilized areas, and the people of Columbus are learning how to grow food in their own backyards. Food Tank presents a list of ten urban agriculture projects that deserve attention. *Read more* <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=7e4e217bac&e=354efb4ffc> <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=2fa7d4278c&e=354efb4ffc> In North America, we live in a society where we don’t spend hours a day traveling by foot somewhere to carry the day’s water supply on our backs. We simply turn on the faucet in our sinks, and as if by magic, out flows our water – clean and ready for a drink. This article helps us to remove some of that magic by giving us a clear picture of how water is transported from its source to the tap. The example we’re provided with is Lake Mead water delivered to Las Vegas. It’s really a remarkable trip – worth following – and makes us appreciate how much goes on to serve us every day in delivering this vital resource. *Read more* <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=046110c46b&e=354efb4ffc> [image: image] <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=264a18aa62&e=354efb4ffc> [image: image] <http://economicdemocracyadvocates.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=acd1450c92d1d0d7b47bbaed5&id=09670895b8&e=354efb4ffc> [image: image] <[email protected]> *Copyright © 2017 Economic Democracy Advocates, All rights reserved.* *Our mailing address is:* Economic Democracy Advocates 1187 Coast Village Rd. Ste. 192 Santa Barbara, CA 93108 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? 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