Economics for the future – Beyond the superorganism

by Nate Hagens
Excerpted from Ecological Economics, Volume 169, March 2020

“We have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology.”

Industrial 0034 900x450Prologue:

Nate Hagens is a deep thinker in understanding the emergent Age of Limits. What follows is a digest of his longer article explaining the basic thermodynamics of our global predicament. Using a systems approach, Hagens examines the evolution of basic human behaviors, our  ‘unlocking’ of fossilized resources and the explosion of growth they allowed. The function of debt as a social contract that accelerates growth, the role of growth as the requirement of our industrial model, and the terminal phase of that model in negative returns on increasing complexity, resource exhaustion and climate catastrophe. This is heavy reading and not for the faint of heart. Hagens offers no easy “problems” or “solutions.’ Only the necessary first step of understanding where we are.   – Orren P Whiddon.

Highlights

• We lack a cohesive map on how behavior, economy, and the environment interconnect.

• Global human society is functioning as an energy dissipating superorganism.

• Climate change is but one of many symptoms emergent from this growth dynamic.

• Culturally, this “Superorganism” doesn’t need to be the destiny of Homo sapiens.

• A systems economics can inform the ‘reconstruction’ after financial recalibration.

“Ecological Economics addresses the relationships between ecosystems and economic systems in the broadest sense.” – Robert Costanza

“The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology.” – E.O. Wilson

“We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.” – Jean Baudrillard

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin

1. Overview

Despite decades of warnings, agreements, and activism, human energy consumption, emissions, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations all hit new records in 2018. If the global economy continues to grow at about 3.0% per year, we will consume as much energy and materials in the next ~30 years as we did cumulatively in the past 10,000.

To avoid facing the consequences of our biophysical reality, we’re now obtaining growth in increasingly unsustainable ways. The developed world is using finance to enable the extraction of things we couldn’t otherwise afford to extract to produce things we otherwise couldn’t afford to consume.

In the fullness of the Anthropocene, what does a hard look at the relationships between ecosystems and economic systems in the broadest sense suggest about our collective future?  A coherent description of the global economy requires a systems view: describing the parts, the processes, how the parts and processes interact, and what these interactions imply about future possibilities.

The Age of Limits

by Orren Whiddon
First published
in 2006

“To those who followed Columbus and Cortez, the New World truly seemed incredible because of the natural endowments. The land often announced itself with a heavy scent miles out into the ocean. Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524 smelled the cedars of the East Coast a hundred leagues out. The men of Henry Hudson’s Half Moon were temporarily disarmed by the fragrance of the New Jersey shore, while ships running farther up the coast occasionally swam through large beds of floating flowers. Wherever they came inland they found a rich riot of color and sound, of game and luxuriant vegetation. Had they been other than they were, they might have written a new mythology here. As it was, they took inventory.”

- Frederick Turner

 

Hydrocarbon and Natural Resource Depletion. Global Warming and Climate Change. Population Maximum. Debt Economics and Globalism. Water Wars and Permanent Drought. The Age of Limits. Peak Everything.

Over the past two decades these issues have moved from the discussion of specialists, into public consciousness and policy discourse. It would seem that we are facing “The Perfect Storm” of separate global problems, when in fact they are symptoms of a unifying core issue.

TriSpiralCreating a Better Community

By Xan Hall
Building a community is hard work; it is often also thankless, exasperating, and overwhelming. But the dividends of that work – a community of people who support each other, who do thingsthat are mutually beneficial, who make sacrifices for each other – that’ s worthwhile. 

We all know the stories about the ‘ bad old days’  at the farm. But in case you don’ t, here’s a  recap. There was that time Orren had to fight in court so we could access the land at all, because there was a legal injunction against setting foot on the land from October until April one winter. There was that time Stones Rising happened during a hurricane, and the hardy brave souls who stayed out in the rain raised those Stones anyways, and got soaking wet and weren’ t done before dark. There was that time a car got irretrievably stuck in front of faerie camp, necessitating a bypass (that’ s why the faeries have a parking lane). There was that time a flood took away the lower shower house and many campsites in the Soggy Bottoms. There was that time the woods caught on fire, nearly ending in disaster. There was that time in the kitchen without proper refrigeration, when veggies were stacked in the corner with ice bags and tarps, and two people cooked for a thousand. There was that time...

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As an institution, Four Quarters exists to hold the Land open for your Spiritual use, and as a practical Center for understanding and adapting to the emerging global Age of Limits.

Four Quarters is Land owned by a non-profit and now perpetually set aside from the cycles and vagaries of private control. Of this we are truly proud.

We who live here, and our Member Volunteers, are happy to answer your questions, assist in your visit, and hopefully, earn your respect and support. All of us began with our own first visit to Four Quarters. We want your visit to be a new beginning too!

 Contacting Four Quarters

Four Quarters is always open, 365 days a year. For first time visits a call ahead is appreciated, but not necessary. Our office is staffed from 9 am through 6 pm, with extended hours during scheduled events. But we are country people and our lifeways do take us out on the Land unexpectedly. If your call goes unanswered, try again in an hour. We will be sure to pick up.           
               That's...    814-784-3080      9 in the morning to 6 in the evening
We try to answer email query's the day we receive them, but there may be a few days delay during event weekends. If timely information is needed, please do call us!
               Our central email address is:    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Visiting Four Quarters

Four Quarters is almost always open for day visits and over night camping. We really do encourage you to drop by, see the Land and especially experience the Stone Circle. If we have a free moment we will be happy to give you a tour.  We have a No Pet Policy, please do not bring your pets to visit.  Thank you for understanding.

Exceptions are our major fundraising events, when registration for the event is required. Our Events Schedule Page will give you full particulars. Or give us a call with your questions.

 We are located in the Allegheany foothills just a mile from the Pennsylvania - Maryland state lines, 100 miles North West of Baltimore, MD and Washington DC. Three miles North of Exit 68 on Interstate 68.
    Google "Four Quarters InterFaith" and their map will take you to our front door.
            That's...
                       Four Quarters InterFaith
                       190 Walker Lane
                       Artemas PA 17211
.

    Safe Journeys and Our Best Wishes
    Four Quarters

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December 18, 2020

2021 Schedule at a Glance Available

2021 CalendarAtGlance 600 fadeWe relase our year's schedule in advance of the Wheel of the Year to give folks a heads up for their year.

The 2021 Schedule At A Glance is now available! Members, friends, guests and interested parties can download a printable PDF of the year's schedule here. We have just about all of our events listed, our regular Spiritual Events, Moon Services, Festivals, and Member Events through the end of the year. So start marking your calendars and putting in for those vacation days and saving up that lunch money to get away!

December 16, 2020

A Yule Message from Four Quarters

Yule2019 Krystek4 800Solstice Sunrise through the Mother Stone, Yule 2019

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE
Given the increasing rates of coronavirus cases across the country, out of an abundance of caution, we have cancelled our upcoming Yule event scheduled for December 18-20.
We will remain open for individual visitors seeking solace through the divine in Nature.

If you have questions, please contact our Office at 814-784-3080.

The Wheel still turns. Harvest has ended and frost covers the land. The days are short, the nights long and cold. We yearn for the long, warm days of summer, for the green grass and the scent of flowers on the breeze; we yearn for the sun's return... and the laughter, fellowship, and comfort of our Communities of Spirit. But while the Pandemic still rages across the land, we must hold the safety and health of our Members, Guests and Community of Service as our highest priority and responsibility. As a primarily indoor event, we felt we could not responsibly host our traditional Yule celebration in a safe manner.

October 24, 2020

Roger Grandstaff, A Personal Memory

Bachteler 2647 RogerG2017 2 600x800Roger Lloyd Grandstaff, "Papa Dragon"

by Orren Whiddon

Roger Lloyd Grandstaff, lovingly known as "Papa Dragon,"
joined the Ancestors the morning of Friday, October 23rd, 2020. He was 75. 

Roger was a tangible link to the early days of Four Quarters, having first come to The Land in the summer of 1997 with his wife Carolyn and daughter Laura to attend one of the very first music festivals. In those days we had but one building, no well, no drum circle and only the barest rudiments of roads. Camping could be quite rough. The first morning of that festival I unbelievingly savored the smell of fresh coffee through the woods, and following my nose came upon the Grandstaff family serving free coffee to every passerby, sweetened with their well-known smiles. Thus was born the Coffee Dragons and a now almost 25 year-long association of the Grandstaff family with Four Quarters.

     In the beginning Roger refused any kind of help with The Dragons, but I scrounged water barrels, bigger stoves and coffee pots as the crowds rapidly grew larger. As his participation in the church grew, so did "The Dragons," with new tents, then a deck, water; and in time full power and drains with the Upper Shower House. Out in the woods the only magic stronger than water mysteriously appearing from a spigot is that same water mysteriously disappearing down a drain!

October 16, 2020

Schutzenfest 2020

SZ20 McConnell 00243 950x600Members and Guests gathered on the firing line at Schutzenfest 2020.

By Kurt Griffith
Photography by Mike McConnell and Kurt Griffith

On October 10th we celebrated Schutzenfest, a German Fall Festival celebrating the Arts of Marksmanship celebrared in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. We shared a fun afternoon of firing off some rounds, yummy food, sacrificing a pumpkin, and a rather good – and noisy – time on a gorgeous day. This is our annual take on the classic German fall festival!

It was an informal day. Members and guests brought out their noisemakers. We set up a casual range in the field facing the Farmhouse, set targets ranging from offcial range targets to balloons, plastic bottles, and overripe tomatoes, and laid down the law on safety rules. Then we let fly on a sparkling Fall day, not too brisk, not too hot. More experienced shooters instructed novices on both safety and marksmanship with weapons from AR-15s, to hunting rifiles, WWII vintage weapons, to an adorable tiny purse pistol. Our crew served up a yummy spread of Fall treats, cheddarwiurst, strudel, cider, glazed meatballs and more. A grand – and noisy – time was had by all. Enjoy the photo essay!

September 11, 2020

Stones Rising 2020

BThomas SR20 002 950A pause before another mighty pull to raise up another Stone.

By Kurt Griffith and Members of Four Quarters
Photography by Beth Thomas and Kurt Griffith

Stones Rising 2020 took place against a backdrop of pandemic and a crippled economy amidst the sweeping changes of the accelerating Age of Limits.

None the less: it was an excellent event, very smooth with minor mischief managed and logistics very competently executed. Ritual and ceremony were meaningful, relevant and moving—commendations to all the ceremony facilitators, staff and helpers. The amount of sleeve rolling up and stepping forward by all the attendees was wonderful to see! Two more Stones now stand in the Stone Circle, making a total of sixty-one Standing Stones, incliuding two smaller stones filling the gaps alongside the towering north axis Stone.

September 3, 2020

Laying the Footers

Griffith SR2020 8331 1200The Concrete truck has arrived, and a Stone Crew sets to setting a footer.

Laboring through three days of rain, we have dug and laid in the footers for the new Stones. The work of the traditional Stones Intensive has compressed into three days of dedicated effort. The Stones have been chosen, prepped and dressed. The footers have been dug and today was concrete day! Our dedicated crew poured concrete in the rain and got the forms ready to receive the new Stones - in the rain!

We are expecting better weather for the weekend.

August 30, 2020

Welcome To The Stoneyard

Griffith StoneYard june2020 8111 1200A massive stone in The Stoneyard, where New Stones abide wating to take their place in the Stone Circle

It is that time of year again, the dog days of august, giving way to cooler nights and the promise of the coming harvest, and the Great Work, the raising of megalithic stones in the Stone Circle, the beating heart of Four Quarters. It is done with the minimum of modern machinery, relying as much as possible on heart, sweat, and human muscle and neolithic ingenuity with rollers, sleds, ropes, levers, cribbage blocks, and as many willing hands as we can gather. We create the ceremonial complex around the annual raising of stones, and we make it deeply sacred.

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