The Missing Piece

I set up some Christmas lights over a patio for the wedding reception of a good friend.
I realize from the placement of the buildings and trees, I could get five attachment points equally around the patio. I wanted to make a star but had a bad string of lights so couldn’t complete one of the lines. It was amazing how much it did not look like a star. I just gave up on that idea and just started adjusting the swags of lights so they would hang down the same amount. I didn’t notice until I stepped back and looked at it that the strings all crossed each other at exactly the same height. They were also pretty much equal around. The whole thing then clearly would have been a perfect star if that other string had been there.

That seemed like one of those significant events with a message. I can see that it applies to us. How we are not recognizable as the stars we actually are? I think we are missing a big chunk of what we need and if we had it, we could achieve everything we dream of. I truly believe the message is that we need to have help from other people in
living our lives to their utmost. I believe that if you willing to share with someone you will both benefit greatly. The shared piece could be like a typical commission for an agent or manager with another share for a right hand man or divided between other helpers. It could be wonderfully interwoven with smart phones keeping track of all of it. It is a big confront for some people to feel that they can afford to pay someone to do their chores. Their time can be used more profitably but they feel stuck. I think the Pod economy should be set up to help people make the best use of their time possible.

Studied to death

I have been watching the remake of the Cosmos series.  A recent episode told the story of a young scientist who was given the task of measuring the amount of lead in a meteorite. The goal was to determine the age of the earth. It took him years to do and required the development of the super clean room as his test samples kept getting contaminated. He wondered what was going on so after successfully figuring out the earth’s age he turned his lead measuring expertise to the environment.

In the early 1960’s he measured the lead content in the oceans and found that there was substantially more lead in the surface waters than in the deep.  He concluded that the lead additives used in gasoline at that time was washing out of the air and ending up in the water.  It was well known that lead is poisonous to life so he sounded a warning that the use of the lead additives needed to stop.

The lead additive and oil companies refuted his claims.  They hired their own expert scientist who explained how the research was flawed or not definitive. They said that no other studies showed that the gasoline additives caused the lead increase even though it is obvious. that if you burn something into air it is going to end up in the environment.  They were able to continue to make profits at he expense of polluting the air and water until the early 1970’s.   That’s what these guys always seem to do. They dispute the claims against them, confuse the issues, and stall as much as possible. Once the studies are done, they challenge the results. There doesn’t seem to be any down side to using these tactics and there should be.

It’s happening again with the issues of climate change and GMOs. Now with the overwhelming evidence and scientific acceptance of climate change the discussion has changed to whether or not it is man made or not. The goal seems to be to continue to use fossil fuels until they run out. I imagine that some day a child will die from an allergic reaction to a GMO apple. I’m sure that food corporations will demand studies while continuing to produce such unhealthy food as long as possible.

I think that most people are giving up on the idea that anything can be done about these corporate behaviors. One of the goals of Pod Cities to assemble a large group of concerned citizens that will be able to shine a light on the stupidity and greed that will surely kill us off if left to run wild.

Resistance is Futile

I have a lot of resistance to writing this blog.  I most of it is basic laziness and procrastination.  I feel bad when I don’t write.  That I need to do this thing or feel bad can be a real source of encouragement.  I know it is the thing that I most need to do.   I probably worry too much about trying to come up with something rather than just letting whatever insights I have come to this page.  I think that I will know what to say to make Pod Cities happen.   

I will talk about how the cities could be built.  By that I mean all the new construction, transportation, infrastructure and energy methods that are now possible or soon will be.  How we can build new and exciting things and places.  

I’ll ask people to start reading this and to contribute. Please ask questions that will help guide the discussion. This thing is about working together for the common good so that’s how it’s going to start and to grow.  I will try to make sure that everyone who gets involved somehow will feel that their time was well spent.  Even the chance to get put in touch with like-minded people can be very valuable.

 I know that the method of building Pod Cities needs to match its final realization. It is intended to have a totally fair economy where everyone is rewarded for their contributions no matter how small.   So l want to do that starting at the beginning.  It is probably now possible to keep track of favors no matter how small.  The logic is that everyone will do each other more favors because it will pay off.   So l would propose that anyone who helps in the development of Pod Cities will be fairly compensated for their efforts.  Contributing an idea will be worth something.  Contributing an idea that has a large benefit will be worth more.  This thing needs to grow from what people want and from what they want to give.  One of the ways people can help is to join committees such as those needed to set up the tracking and compensation systems that are going to be the core of the favor based Pod economy.  Another really useful one would be a committee to figure out what committees are going to be needed to work everything out.  They would also be charged with designing an overall coordination system to help the community work effectively together.  I’m hoping that we can create something that will take on a life of its own and will eventually take care of all of us.   

Giving an income to people who need it.

I’ve heard that the way a sustainable energy source is considered practical is on a watt per cost basis.  A minimum must be met for it to qualify for consideration.  I think that relationship can be turned around.  Energy could be produced and sold at that minimum.  A person with no other real means of support could assemble energy collecting systems out of recycled materials at essentially no cost. They could be set up somewhere and collect energy for many years.  A portion would pay for design and development, location and shared facilities .  I think wind, solar, and wave energy can all be done well with recycled materials.  The builder would be working for themselves in the most direct way.  They could spend all their free time making these money generating machines.  The income would be small but continuous.  It would build up, especially if they made a lot of them.

This system could provide a way for poor people to pay for their necessities.  But it could easily also provide them ways to meet and form some social ties.  For the things I’m talking about to work they will need to have some central assembly area.  It will be natural for people to make friendships while working together to make the wind turbines that will end up supporting them.

Living Well In Poverty

I like to look at things differently and see that it makes sense to regard poverty as the given and somehow find a way to work with it. You don’t look to provide the best lifestyles you can with the means at hand.  If you can provide good food and shelter to people who need it, you have taken care of their basic human needs.   

I can see that you could build houses out of recycled materials like cardboard.  You could sandwich several layers of cardboard with fiberglass mats and epoxy resin.  These lightweight panels would be put together into little structures.  Maybe 6′ x 8′ would be the smallest.  They would have standardized parts that would fit together easily.  They would be designed to grow. They would be watertight and sturdy but would need regular maintenance The ultimate exterior would be plaster applied over the cardboard plank then it could be maintenance free.  A person or family with no money could end up with a really nice house. 

I can see that the way to provide healthy and delicious food for free or very low cost is by cooperative effort.  Fewer people cooking larger meals that get shared.  The only ones doing it are the good cooks.  If you don’t have good cooks among you, you hire them and split the cost.  It’s worth it always have good food. 

You have to grow your own food as much as possible and grow extra to trade for the other food or things you need.  It gets very efficient to do things in bulk using the best equipment.  You could actually set up to cook enough extra food that you could sell it as deliverable meals.  That’s adding a lot of value to existing ingredients that were free anyway.

Also as before you can use the waste material available in new ways.  One of the most exciting thing I can think of is floating planters that are designed to have things grown inside them.  All the plastic bottles around are great floats.  They could be tied together into planters, be encased in a shell made out of waterproof layers of recycled plastic and then filled with good dirt for growing things.

I assume that most people at extreme poverty don’t have jobs. They would have the time to build their own supply of food.  You could put together work parties to make the floating planters.  Whoever made each one would get some fair benefit for whatever was grown on it for its entire life.  

If the plants were in enclosed greenhouses they could be put in saltwater otherwise they would probably be limited to deltas or large lakes.  There are lots of those.

 

Quick Housing Fixes

If you are looking at improving the lives of our poorest citizens I would think that adequate housing would be the most welcome.  I saw a church funded building program to provide single room occupancy apartments to homeless people and to have support services on site.  It was a great thing but took an expensive 8 story building to house.  The cost divided by of the 90 or so tenants was relatively high. With that model there wouldn’t be enough money around to take care of most of the people needing housing.  

I would think that providing a tent for anyone needing one would be a very easy way to take care of people.  They could be set up in shelters and provide a secure space for the residents.   As a next step they could be relocated to nearby land and have decks for the tents to sit on.  They would be interconnected so people could meet other people in the same situation.  If you meet someone and you both want to stay in touch you can tell the system and it will start putting you near each other.  Somehow I am pretty sure that the hope for the most people in this situation is to work together to build their lives back.  So work assignments would be used to get stuff done but also for people to meet and decide if they want to work together in the future. 

The donated money will go a long way.  People will be housed but hopefully they will be put in touch with a new network of folks they can work with and be friends with.

Another tactic is to spend almost no money.  Decide that you want to build adequate housing out of recycled materials that cost you nothing.  A lot of short lumber and small plywood is recycled because it is too small to deal with in standard construction.  But it works really well to build panels that would make up the small tent platforms I was talking about.  Instead of a tent you could have walls and a roof made out of paper mache with a waterproof covering.  Shredded paper is perfect for this and abundant.  There are a lot of materials around that can be used to build shelter for people.  This would take some labor but not much since a lot of it would be mechanized.  I think they could end up looking good too.

 

 

Pod Houseboats

I had thought that the first pod houses would probably be concrete houseboats.  I had also thought that compressed air would be the ideal energy delivery system.  I have noticed that technology always keeps pace with where I see Pod Cities going.  There are 3d printers now that can print in concrete.  So now it is feasible to form concrete with many small voids.  The concrete structure could float on its own.  This would be ideal for houseboats.

The voids could be interconnected  to form tanks that could hold compressed air for the power systems.  The same kind of structures could also be used on land based houses.  A house needs a certain amount of concrete for the foundation.  It could be made with the air storage as a bonus.  The concrete structure needs to be strong to support the building so it makes a lot of sense to use it for an application that also requires strength.

Compressed air has yet another advantage for houseboats.  A constant wave action is perfectly suited for pumping, in this case compressed air.  Very simple mechanisms would provide a constant supply of energy that would be stored until needed.

Floating

A recent idea around the word pod was that it was something designed to float.  I can see a lot of advantages to the use of water based housing and transportation.  A pod city could start as a group of houseboats.  They would be purchased individually and could float around independently.  For a certain number, there would be support structures that would link them together for stability.  They could connect to a central community room.   Building on the water doesn’t impose any limit to the size of what you could eventually build.  So, you could have a system where the steps to increasing growth follow patterns based on what has gone before.  That follows the natural process.

The most important part of building a community is not the physical part but the human relationships that will need to work together to make it function.  A houseboat based housing system would let people shift and move around so they could end up being with the people they like.

I can see that a houseboat business might the way to start the first actual Pod City.  

Abundance

I have experienced the feeling of having abundance as a result of living with a group of people.  With five other adults sharing food you end up needing to have larger amounts of the food on hand than an individual would.  On the top shelf of our refrigerator door are three pounds of  butter.  That’s twelve sticks. That just seems like such an abundant amount.

 The butter cover is narrow but tall so we cut the butter sticks in half and stand them on end.  We use two sticks because with so many people it goes fast.  As an architect, I love this.  I can cut the sticks at angles and arrange them as little building models.  All with something I need to put out anyway.

There is a salad dressing that several of us like.  I was going to make a salad and didn’t see any of the dressing in the fridge so looked in the cabinet and there were four bottles of it.  l could really appreciate the advantages of sharing food.  

Abundance can come from sharing in other ways.  I lived in a college co-op when the Watergate Hearings were going on.  A large group of students would be watching it in the TV room and joking about it.  It was a great way to experience the shared feelings it brought up. 

The casual food sharing probably works best with groups of around six.  Hopefully the possibility of easily working in larger groups to get food in bulk will motivate people to try it.  I really see the providing of a safe and assured food supply as something an organized group of people can do.  Once you get it going, the sky’s the limit!

Why Pod?

The basic message behind the use of the word “pod” is that a pod is the living start of something.  Pod Cities will be alive in the same way that corals or other multi-celled animals live.  Many individual cells live on the overall structure of a coral.  It helps them survive and over time they build it up.  A Pod City would be more like an advanced animal as different cells would do different things.  The members of the city are the cells and the smart phones are the nervous system that connects them.  The cities can satisfy many of the requirements to be considered alive.  They can grow.  They can sense their environment.  They eat.  They excrete.  They can reproduce.

As a matter of policy, in a Pod City, all cells are considered important.   Each person would be nourished to maximize their potential and happiness.  The health and wealth of the city results.