By Tom & Carol Braford
We all know that two can live cheaper than one, so what about 200?
What if that were the sweet spot, the optimal scale, of community:
- Big enough to achieve economies of scale in formation;
- Small enough to know all your neighbors, co-workers and then some, or to fit on an island;
- Large enough to be a force to be reckoned with in the larger community as a 3° of separation influencer?
What If 3 of these Islands of Coherence Communities of Practice (IOC-COP) were all it would take for a single neighborhood to achieve contagion?
What if 3 neighborhoods with 3 communities were all it would take for the movement to become endemic in a region?
What if 3 regions were all it would take to become pandemic in the world?
What if the first community or one shortly thereafter achieved carbon neutrality?
What if St. Louis is in the sweet spot?
The primary ongoing cost of global warming locally is the energy used in St. Louis for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. We have a still-in-formation City-wide plan and a savvy practical new administration that is likely to seize the opportunity to lead our region and the world into this promising post global warming future.
We have long known that, with a heat pump in the loop, we can store summer heat in the ground and get it back out in the winter, but a team of German engineers have just proved that you can effectively sequester winter cold in the ground for summer use, as well.
St. Louis has a relatively even number of heating and cooling days, so we can now cut our costs and global warming footprint in ways we did not think were possible or practical, instead of burning the global warming candle at both ends!
Our oceans and other large bodies of water, constituting 75% of the surface area of the Earth, could provide the space needed to rapidly put this burgeoning international restoration movement over the top.
Floating Island International, (https://www.floatingislandinternational.com/) a leading ecosystem restoration company with 12,000 floating Islands already under its belt, is out to prove that we can, if we remember that, “No community is truly an island in the modern world, no matter how far we roam.” Many of these early citizen scientists and practicing scientists, floating IOC-COP will likely be tasked with meticulously seeding the hundreds of downwelling eddies in the ocean with iron dust. This Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF) is a proven carbon sequestration and eco and climate restoration strategy that, nevertheless, needs to be rigorously monitored and measured.
Fortunately, Floating Islands can be movable feasts for the fish and other aquatic life that congregate under them but downwelling eddies do not stay put, so when they move, we will need to move with them.
Imagine raising your kids in IOC-COP in St. Louis and having them grow up with the skills needed to live and work on mobile floating Islands in shining lakes and on shining seas. It’s easy if you try!
To learn more, please contact us at braford@sbcglobal.net or at www.ArizmendiEcovillage.com.