Movies I've watched recently, the Red Cross and... the Easter Island Story.

So, I don't make it a secret that I believe in information sharing and the power of many improving upon ideas - part of the reason why I started this blog.  If we're getting close to peak oil, and since we're in the middle of a "recession"/depression, I think we had all better learn to grow our own food, and we had better learn to do it without dependence on oil. 


And we had better be sharing and teaching that information to our neighbours.  


Being greedy and money-hungry has gotten us into this mess.  And those same powers that be will always be - it's already evident that some groups of people are working hard to mystify this whole food-growing and alternative fuel business so that we are dependent on them.  What will happen if we don't educate ourselves as soon as possible, is that a privileged few will have the knowledge of how to grow freakin' food and be self-sustaining and the poor majority will be dependent on those people, many going without.  I read an article yesterday on DIY solar-power from the Popular Mechanics website titled, "Is the Cost-Effective DIY Solar Panel Within Reach?".  While highly informative and interesting, one quote within the article concerned me: 


"In the future, a DIY hookup might "never happen," John Wright (2009) says. Wright, an associate with Hudson Valley Clean Energy, the largest solar installer in New York state, says: "Somebody who doesn't know what they're doing can get killed. We're not talking about a little shock from a low-voltage appliance."  (Sawyers, "Is the Cost-Effective DIY Panel Within Reach?", para. 3)


I'm not saying that this statement is false.  I wouldn't know.  What I am saying is that in my search I have found an exhaustive amount of people who have documented their successes with building their own solar-panels and removing themselves from the grid.  Also, Wright did not say that a "Cost-Effective" DIY hookup may "never happen"... he said a, "DIY hookup might 'never happen'".  Certainly that is a false statement.  A simple google search on "DIY solar panels" and "DIY Solar Energy" will list website after website with instructions and DIY "Hey, I did it" blogs, tons of youtube videos, and a piratebay search is not so exhaustive, but even brings up manuals and movies on DIY Solar.  I haven't seen ANY articles about anyone electrocuting themselves to death creating solar power for their homes.  But again, I could be wrong.  However, it's got to be an EXTREMELY small percentage... anywho - I just found this gem:


DIY Solar - Build and Install Solar Systems (this torrent is an iso file, a CD "image" you have to burn onto a DVD-R.  For Windows, download Infrarecorder .  I use K3B for *all* of my burning needs on my Linux system, I think they have a Windows release somewhere else but I don't use it.  If you have never DL'd a torrent before, I use bittorrent for my Windoze system and Transmission for my Linux systems -  Transmission also works with Macs.)


Other Solar torrents of interest that I saw:


Home Solar Energy ABC ebook
Homemade Solar Cell Plans ebook 
Homemade Solar Cells ebook
SOLAR Technologies for Buildings ebook
Solar Cookers and Food Dryers ebook (documented fair use)


I could go on, but this is what was relevant on the first of several pages searching for "solar".   By the way, specific information on the individual books is on the website, and so will save a bit of space by letting you look at them yourself on piratebay or "googleing" them 


I also really enjoyed these:


A Farm for the Future .avi file (can also be streamed in some areas)
PERMACULTURE - A Designers Manual .pdf file 


So........... 
The Red Cross.  
I signed up yesterday, and I'm really excited.  I'Il take my local orientation classes next week on the 28th and have already gone through the online orientation modules available to everyone to see to get started.  I thought I'd  mention these guys since while watching their orientation, they went through the history of the Red Cross and how it got started -  I remembered that I wrote a paper in gradeschool on Clara Barton (Red Cross founder) and wondered if learning about the Red Cross and the way it is organized could have stuck with me into adulthood and helped fuel my fascination with cultural information-sharing and neighbors-helping-neighbors (how's that for a run-on sentence?! ha!).  This giant, world-wide organization really is built on volunteerism and goodwill.  It's very big, and though it does have a bit of a top-down organizational structure, I believe its main strength lies in the independence of their movement.  The "American Red Cross Culture" section of their website (2009) says this about independence as one of their Fundamental Principles:


"INDEPENDENCE -- The Movement is independent. The National Societies, while auxiliaries in the humanitarian services of their governments and subject to the laws of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so that they may be able at all times to act in accordance with the principles of the Movement." ( para. 10)   


I'm thoroughly fascinated by the way this organization operates - no only through volunteerism, but also through SHARING KNOWLEDGE AND RESOURCES.  I believe that this could be something we can model the society we create everyday after.  While I'm here, I'd like to recommend this book (I recommend it all the time to everyone, it touched me so deeply) The Pirate's Dilemma, How Youth Culture Reinvented Capitalism, by Matt Mason. I also highly recommend the website for his book which has an active, informative, and interesting blog and posts regular videos.  Right now he is blogging about our current crisis in Haiti - wonderful, wonderful site.  I think all of this ties in with the idea of urban farming, permaculture, other sustainable farming practices (aquaponics, hydroponics, etc) and lessening our dependence on peak oil.


And finally.....
News to Me:  The Easter Island Story.  There is a website called MysteriousPlaces.com  (© 1995-2005 All Rights Reserved.) where you can view beautiful original photographs and read about the painfully relevant story of the Easter Island Peoples - and I assume other places as well, but I was specifically looking for this story.  

In the wonderful book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond - which I've so far only read half of, but honestly it isn't a book you just skim through quickly.  It's a heavy and dense read for your soul (at least it was for mine) that forced me to ponder and digest each and every bit one at a time.   I'm glad to own a copy of the book.  Anyhow,  today I learned about the importance of the Easter Island story and its relevance to today's sustainability issues.  To sum it up, an entire society of people used up every resource an a small island of finite resources - as if those resources would never go away.  All this despite the fact that they could physically see this coming.  Sound familiar?  


    
***Fun Find:  Mp3 Audio Book Torrent!  Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed  
(I'm hoping maybe I'll get through it a little easier now, sheesh!)