PUTTING YOU IN SUSTAINABILITY

What Individuals Can Do

FIFTEENTH DELAWARE VALLEY CONFERENCE

Sponsor

Sustainable Society Action Project, Inc.

Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 1:00 PM

THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE FOR THEIR HELP:

Dr. Ernest B. Cohen (SSAP) Co-ordinator & Sustainable Water

Dr. Bruce Pollack-Johnson & Art Cohen Music

Elaine H. Cohen (SSAP) Moderator

William Marston (Green Advantage) Key Note

Rev. Owen Owens Religion as a Social Force & Benediction

Dr. Dominic Roberti (Saint Joseph's University, Emeritus) Eco-Spirituality

John Madera (DVRPC) Transportation for a Sustainable World

John Eshleman (White Dog Community Enterprises) Sustainable Food

Larry Menkes (Post-Carbon Institute) Sustainable Economics

PLANNING COMMITTEE

Elaine H. Cohen Ernest B. Cohen Dr. Kathleen Hornberger

Lillian Garfinkel William Marston Patrica Keating

Professor Kathleen Hornberger Liaison with Widener University

Patricia Keating Registration

Art Cohen Recording

William Marston, Dawn Mazzone, Susan Curry Publicity

Elaine Cohen, Ernest Cohen, Lillian Garfinkel Mailing

Elaine Cohen, Lillian Garfinkel Food

Naomi Cohen Bibliography

Margo Maher Logo (© 1991)

IMAGINE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE AND ASK, "WHY NOT"?

"Thou shalt inherit the Holy Earth as a faithful steward, conserving its resources and productivity from generation to generation. Thou shalt safeguard thy fields from soil erosion, thy living waters from drying up, thy forests from desolation, and protect thy hills from overgrazing by thy herds, that thy descendants may have abundance forever. If any shall fail in this stewardship of the land, thy fruitful fields shall become sterile stony ground and wasting gullies, and thy descendants shall decrease and live in poverty or perish from off the face of the earth.

"An Eleventh Commandment, Walter Lowdermilk, 1939

1:00     Welcome to Widener University Dr. Kathleen Hornberger

            Introduction by Moderator Elaine H. Cohen

            "Informed - Hopeful - Realistic" Key Note William Maarston

            Group Sing Technology Blues Dr. Bruce Pollack-Johnson

            Technical Introduction - Ernest Cohen

            Group Sing Cool, Clear Water Dr. Bruce Pollack Johnson

2:00     Water for a Sustainable Future Ernest Cohen

            Group Sing This Planet's Made for You and Me Dr. Bruce Pollack-Johnson

            Food for a Sustainable Future John Eshelman

2:40     Snack & Sociability Break

3:10     Transportation in a Sustainable Future John Madera

            The Economy of a Sustainable Future Larry Menkes

            Eco-spirituality Dr. Dominic Roberti

4:00     Group Sing Lo Alekha Art Cohen

            Religion as a social Force Rev. Owen Owens

            Community Building - The K-M experiment Elaine Cohen

4:30     Interaction among panelists and participants

            Closing Benediction Rev. Owen Owens

            Group Sing America, the Beautiful Art Cohen

Brief question periods will be interspersed, as appropriate after each presentation

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Dr. Lester W. Milbrath 1925-2007

Lester Milbrath was a a professor at the University of Buffalo (SUNY) and director of the UB Environmental Studies Center. We came to know him through an international sustainability organization, called Holis, which was founded to promote sustainability globally. His writings and encouragement were very influential in shaping SSAP.

Quotes without another reference are from:
Envisioning a Sustainable Society
Lester W. Milbrath ©1989 State University of New York, Albany, New York

"Informed - Hopeful - Realistic"

William J. Marston - Green Advantage

Let's talk about what's going on, shall we? Perhaps that is why you're all here... what is going on? There's so much - let's just pick three things for these few minutes we have together. It's a really interesting number!

This presentation will establish a broad scope of topics, gathered under just three categories. Each of these will address the current state of affairs in the context of sustainability, toward a future - based on the past but also created for a perhaps significantly contextually different future. As an architect, the speaker will frame these in the very common "language" of the built environment. Readers should note that they are all quite fluent in substantive aspects of this form of communication, even if they have not studied it. In fact, the built environment is as familiar to the entire range of people as is food, or social behavior.

Applying these to the day-to-day life of a person in this part of the world which we call "the Delaware Valley", this presentation will provide a range of personal behaviors which can be pursued (as an individual or as one of a group) broadly, or very specifically. However, none will be exhibited without its being interleaved with a number of other acts. Such is the nature of a viable ecology of human life. And such is the intent of this presentation: to elicit an understanding at the level of action toward a sustainable future.

Biography: Mr. Marston trained and practiced as an architect for three decades before turning exclusively to designing sustainable buildings. He focuses on advocacy and education. He has a degree in Architecture from Cornell University, 1970.

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Elaine H. Cohen

Moderator

Biography: Elaine is a graduate of The Bronx High School of Science and Cornell University (AB Chemistry). Her career included brief stints of laboratory work and teaching, but has been mostly as a volunteer. Her primary interests are Judaism and Sustainability. She founded a small creative pre-school and was its volunteer director for more than 30 years. She served as Co-President of Temple Israel of Upper Darby for its final ten years. She and Ernest started Kehillat-Mishpakhot. Elaine has served on the Regional Citizens Committee of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission for many years. Jointly, Elaine and Ernest founded the Sustainable Society Action Project (SSAP) about fifteen years ago. The Cohens have organized Fifteen Conferences on "Evolving Towards a Sustainable Society" at various Delaware Valley Colleges.

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"The dominant social paradigm (DSP) in modern industrial society emphasizes the accumulation of power and wealth. This book is grounded in the understanding that societies emphasizing power and wealth are not sustainable. I have argued that a sustainable society must operate according to a new environmental paradigm (NEP) that emphasizes humans living in harmony with nature rather than trying to dominate it. Such a society must cease growing in human population, cease striving for power (especially military power), renounce dominator/submissive relationships, must preserve and protect the biosphere, de-emphasize consumption of material goods and live lightly on the land." pg. 304

Overall Theme of Conference

Dr. Ernest Cohen - SSAP

Water

Next to the air we breath, water is the most important need for human existence. There is an inexhaustible quantity of water on Earth, but most of it is salty brine or in the wrong places for human needs. If we were only concerned about drinking water, it is technically feasible to desalinate sea water with only the expenditure of a small amount of energy. But, the biggest human needs for water is to grow our food crops.

In this region, there is plenty of rainfall. The two major problems are pollution of water resources, and the changing pattern of precipitation from rainy days to severe storms, causing both flooding and rapid run off rather than percolation into the ground.

At present, before global climate change effects take hold, too much of our irrigation water is "fossil water", from non-replenished aquifers, and too much also comes from major rivers, which often don't reach the sea any more. A key example of over use of available water is the Aral Sea in Russia. It was once the fourth largest lake on this Planet, but is now mostly dry because of a campaign to grow water-thirsty crops irrigated by the same rivers that replenished the lake. Another problem, which will increase with global warming, is rain, rather than snow, on high mountains. Melting snow keeps the rivers full long into the spring. This is not only good for agriculture, it is important for hydro-electric power. Recent droughts in the Southeastern States, and the perennial water shortages in Arizona, with increased flooding in the Northeast shows that our human handling of water resources is not doing well.

Biography: Dr. Ernest Cohen is a Social Systems Engineer. He has a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Systems Engineering) from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an MA in Psychology from Cornell University. He has over 30 years of professional experience in State Government, Space Systems, Computer Programming, Electrical Engineering (coal-burning generating station), Management Science (petroleum industry), and Environmental Protection. Dr. Cohen is a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania.

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"A growing world population needing food and desiring industrial goods is encountering yet another limit, water. A few centuries ago, water was thought of as a free good; now it has become a scarce resource." pg. 29

A vision of a sustainable transportation future

John Madera

"Where there is no vision, the people perish". – Proverbs 29:18

Biography: John Madera is a Senior Transportation Planner with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. A member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Science, and the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals, Mr. Madera has more than a quarter century of experience in bicycle and pedestrian facility planning and design, transportation demand management, urban redevelopment and sustainable food systems.

The New Economy: Peak Oil and Resource Depletion

Larry Menkes

Humanity and modern civilization have crossed a critical threshold into unprecedented times. The era of abundant cheap oil, and all that it made possible, is over. Essential resources, like water and topsoil, are becoming scarce. Population overshoot promises to make this all worse. And global climate change will exacerbate all these problems. "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jonah 3:4)

What can we do about it? If we had a sustainable social-economy, what would it look like, and how would it differ from what we have now? Could there still be a good life for humans on this planet?

There must be cultural changes underlying all the necessary economic changes. We humans must learn to do without superfluous consumer goods, in order to assure the delivery of essentials for life. We must learn to get our satisfactions from social interactions and the arts. A much larger proportion of our goods will be produced locally, rather than in large central factories. However, using computer technology and digitally controlled machines, labor efficiency might not be much lower. Local production can also mean customized production: clothes will fit exactly! In most production, labor will be utilized to reduce the consumption of energy and materials. More goods will be repaired, rather than replaced.

The industrialized West can't continue to provide population safety valves for those nations with unsustainable rates of population growth. The industrial nations must produce their own goods and services, and not depend upon cheap labor from imported workers.

This economy can be provide a good life for all, with much lower levels of resource consumption. If we repent, and change our ways, perhaps human society will survive. This workshop is about the cultural changes required to Re-Vision a future worth living for.

Biography: Larry Menkes was a co- founder of the Warminster Township's Energy Advisory Committee and served as its Chairperson. He regularly serves on energy panels and seminars, and as an energy advisor to businesses, political leaders and institutions.

Menkes is founder and coordinator of the ECLA PA (Earth Charter Lifeboat Academy), the Post Carbon Institute's first outpost in PA. Working with homeowners, small businesses, and faith-based institutions, he is an advocate, advisor, and example of sustainable living. He is a member of the Earth Charter Citizens of Philadelphia's Energy & Climate Working Group, The Delaware Valley Green Building Council's Residential Task Force, the Bucks County Environmental Stewardship Council, the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce Architecture and Environment Committee, and is the sustainability consultant to the Ivyland Historical and Architectural Preservation Trust.

Menkes is also a trained energy auditor and does low cost energy surveys. He and his wife use their Bucks County home as a laboratory for innovations in low-cost energy efficiency measures.

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"The amount of transport required to gain desired access, like the amount of energy required to perform desired tasks, can be reduced by technical and structural changes, but nonetheless the diversity of settlement patterns and lifestyles in a pluralistic society will yield a spectrum of transport densities needed. It is the hard path, with its bias toward homogeneity and large scale, that is ideologically rigid, and the soft path, with its emphasis on appropriateness to the task at hand, that represents a flexible, pluralistic social fabric." Amory Lovins, 1977

Ecospirituality

Dr. Dominic Roberti

Ecospirituality is an approach to fostering the completely new outlook on nature and the planet which is necessary for human beings to deal with the mounting environmental crisis. It includes an appreciation that all of us are intimately connected to each other and to all of nature. Acknowledging the evolutionary origin of ourselves, all of life, and the universe, we see that the evolutionary process is going in a specific direction, namely, the development of higher consciousness in human beings and the emerging of a more cooperative and sustainable society. Since the focus of evolution has shifted from the biological and genetic to the cultural, we see that we human beings now have the ability to take the process into our own hands. Therein lies both an awesome responsibility and a source of hope. Religion will be a part of this heightened awareness, but there is also a part for non-religious persons of good will.

Biography: Dominic Roberti is a graduate of Saint Joseph's University with a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Princeton. After a short period as a research chemist with DuPont, he taught for six years at Villanova and then returned to Saint Joseph's in 1966, where he taught until his retirement in 1995. At Saint Joseph's, he taught courses in environmental chemistry and nutrition as well as science for non-majors, and he served for a time as Director of the Honors Program, Assistant Academic Dean, and Assistant to the Academic Vice President. Since his retirement he has given numerous talks and workshops on ecospirituality and Buddhist meditation.

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RELIGION AS A SOCIAL FORCE

Dr. Owen D. Owens

Biography: Dr. Owen D. Owens is a Christian minister who has been active in stream conservation, multiracial, and interfaith movements for many years. With Rev. John Cook, a Navajo Presbyterian minister, Owens has written the new audio-book, Healing the Coyote in Me, a Navajo Christian vision for healing the earth and us, and is working on "George Washington's Partners: How to Save Your Local Watershed" and "Salvation and Ecology: Biblical Hope for Life". Currently the Chair of the Valley Creek Restoration Partnership, and Co-chair of the Religious Campaign for Creation Care, he was planning consultant to the Baptist Indian Caucus from 1979 to 1989, has been active in stream and watershed restoration for 30 years, is the co-founder of the Valley Forge Chapter of Trout Unlimited, administered an Ecology and Racial Justice Program for American Baptist Churches from 1991 to 2000, and has chaired the Eco-Justice Work Group of the National Council of Churches of Christ.

Experiment in Community Formation (Kehillat Mishpakhot)

Elaine H. Cohen

Kehillat-Mishpakhot (Community of Families) started as a Havurah about 1986 and lasted about ten years. It consisted of three to six households. It was multi-age, from elder to babies. The members met regularly for sustainability oriented programs and holiday celebrations. There was also some shared child care. It never got large enough to keep going after some of the initial families drifted away. The children are now young adults and have retained the K-M values. The program materials developed for Jewish holidays, ecology, ethics, safety and recycling are still in use and available.

America, the Beautiful

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!

America! America!
God mend thy every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self control,
Thy liberty in law. 

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!

America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good, with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.