VAN DER RYN: Being green is not just stuff of dreams

Right now, the world is undergoing profound changes never seen before in human history. The change was set off by the last major human evolution we call the Industrial Revolution, in which human and animal power were replaced with fossil fuel, bringing with it modern civilization with its vast increase in material wealth for perhaps 5 to 10 percent of the global population (Western Europe, North America and developed Asia.) The other side of the coin has brought widespread ecological devastation with all living systems under stress, increasing inequity between rich and poor countries and rapid climate meltdown leading to catastrophic changes for the planet.

The last decades have seen some recognition that we have to change our way of doing things: specifically, replace carbon-based fuels, build more with fewer resources and produce healthy environments for people and all other species we share the planet with. We call these intentions "green" and "sustainable," but what we mean is not clear and not often measurable.

Most important, without an integrated approach that addresses how to change the architecture of culture, our efforts no matter how well intentioned are likely to be "too little, too late" to stave off the collapse of life as we know it.

My hope is that in beginning to pick through the wreckage of the economy left to us by the Bush/Cheney gang, President-elect Barack Obama will look for short-range and long-range solutions to the problems caused by design patterns that form our communities around the large centralized rigid unstable systems on which we depend for energy, water, food and transportation.

No piece of this larger architecture exists in isolation. They are all interconnected into larger systems that constitute a society and a culture. We can't make changes in one part without affecting the whole.

The reality that oil production peaked -- is peaking now globally -- requires that we design our energy systems around locally produced sun, wind and geothermal power. These can be distributed both through local networks and through the existing nationwide electric grid, which is in need of massive overhaul.

As critics such as Michael Pollan have pointed out, our national food system is dominated by a handful of industrial agricultural conglomerates and processors. We need resilient local food systems. Sonoma County needs to diversify away from grapes into a more balanced agriculture for local consumption.

Water is a similar issue. Once reliant on local watersheds to supply its water, Sonoma now has to import water. Conservation and reuse also are important parts of the water strategy.

Suburbs and long commutes are no longer viable strategies for community growth. Existing urban cores can be densified, and rural villages can be models of resilient local self reliance, meeting their own needs for food, energy, water. Homes and buildings can be built of largely local materials and be models of energy efficiency and common sense design for place and climate.

While today's focus is on bailing out the financial system whose excesses and lack of regulation created the economic mess we're in, we need to focus on creating green jobs that can provide not only work for the millions of unemployed, but create a path for a locally based livable future. Building a renewable energy future to replace a dying and dangerous fossil-fuel based economy will generate millions of new clean green jobs.

None of this is a dream. It's necessity for us, our communities, our children, our grandchildren, our country and our planet. Let's not wait. Let's start now, where we live.

Sim Van der Ryn is an architect, author, educator of ecological design at UC Berkeley and founder of the Ecological Design Institute based in Inverness.

On Dec. 11, Van der Ryn will take part in a panel discussion titled "It's not easy being green" at 7:30 p.m. at the Raven Performing Arts Theater in Healdsburg. Tickets are $5 and available at the door. Students are free. More information: www.raventheater.org or call (707) 433-6335.