One of the earliest systems of technology implemented by civilization was agriculture. [1] Along with the cultivation of the crops themselves, humanity developed symbolic representations of information to document farming techniques and to log crop yields. The technical and social issues associated with the storage and distribution of surplus crops were new to Neolithic men and women. Over millennia these technologies matured; clay tablets became movable type and by the late 18th century the industrial revolution had begun. The leverage provided by machines and chemical processes directly impacted farming by way of technologies such as the Haber-Bosch process; which provides artificial nitrogen [3] and allows farmers to largely remove themselves from natural cycles such as crop rotations.

However, by the second half of the 20^th century the dissonance and unsustainability of industrial farming inspired individuals to re-discover the system of food production referred to as permaculture, which is more similar to horticulture or gardening than agriculture. Permaculture is a portmanteau of permanent agriculture [4], although it has more recently gained acceptance as a broader design ethic that could be extended to the more general permanent culture. The initial work dealing with permanence in agriculture is based on a foundation laid by David Holmgren, Sepp Holzer, Geoff Lawton, and Masanobu Fukuoka. More recently Marcin Jakubowski of Open Source Ecology and the Global Village Construction Set [10] has extended these models to the field of appropriate technology. This essay aims build onto this body of work with a specific focus on information technology. In more general terms, this work seeks to address the apparent conflict between biology and the development of technology, specifically information technology, with the resolution provided by permaculture design principles.

Permaculture directly encourages systems of borrow-use-return [5], where energy and materials flow in cycles. This is the antithesis to the more linear ‘take-make-waste’ [6] processing style of the industrial revolution. In the information technology sector this linear flow has been amplified by the exponential trend of Moore’s Law. While Moore’s Law has delivered increasingly powerful computing hardware at an ever decreasing economic price, the environmental impact (seen mostly as ‘eWaste’) associated with transistor count in integrated circuits doubling roughly every eighteen months is not insignificant. A singular focus on the economic bottom line has resulted in technology systems built with a philosophy similar to planned obsolescence. Rapid changes in physical sizes, power dissipation, etc. discouraged the adoption of long-running standards. Additionally, given a surplus of computing power, programmers can allow themselves to write less efficient software, creating a vicious cycle resulting less efficient systems.

In recent years the performance boost delivered by Moore’s Law has slowed as power density and clock rates have stalled. The linear drivers of faster and smaller have given way to more systems oriented design methodologies. Chip architectures are becoming more diverse, absorbing elements of CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs. Packages are beginning to include multiple dies. These system-on-chip and system-in-package designs require greater attention at the interfaces between components, translating to more unique and ‘one-off’ type design processes that cannot be as easily automated as previous system configurations. In “Why the Best Days of Open Hardware are Yet to Come” [8] this trend is highlighted as an indicator of a fundamental shift that may tilt the market towards innovation over scale. The short lifespan traditionally associated with Moore’s Law meant that large design firms needed to focus on several product generations simultaneously, and that a considerable supply chain and distribution channel must exist to move large quantities of products in a short timeframe so as to benefit from economies of scale and being the first to market.

When a consumer cannot rely on buying a faster PC, smaller phone, or larger hard-drive next year it is possible that market forces will drive manufacturers away from the semi-planned obsolescence of disposable technology. This paradigm shift may empower smaller design teams, and speaks to the possibility of future growth in the open-source hardware ecosystem mirroring the successes demonstrated by free and open source software (FOSS) teams in the past. While the underlying similarities between permaculture and open source ecosystems are myriad, there are additional challenges associated with the hardware implementation of information technology. While silicon is an abundant element — the processing, packaging, and support systems associated with integrated circuits include many rare materials and energy intensive processes. While the materials science challenges in the field are beyond the scope of this work, the concept of working within cycles is crucial to producing hardware less detrimental to the Earth’s biological system.

If open hardware is to flourish, then the circuit and its components, like the code that makes up FOSS, must become a commodity. Rather than the physical hardware, the design process and services provided by the hardware are the value-added components of this system – which can be thought of as a simple collection of building blocks. For system designers it is crucial that their creations travel from cradle to cradle, within closed technological cycles that do not cross-pollute natural/biological cycles. The model [11] that Interface has used with carpets and Patagonia has applied to fleece jackets – selling the service and continuously reusing the same stock for materials can be applied to electronics sector from consumer goods (cell phones and tablets) to utility computing (rack-mount servers for datacenters, super-computers, etc.). An even higher design goal is to mimic nature, using biological processes to perform tasks traditionally relegated to inorganic semiconductors.

The twelve permaculture ethics [5] seek to maintain the integrity of our planet’s biological cycles by ensuring a care for the Earth and care for the people living on this planet. Permaculture systems work only in cycles and flows, as no resource should be wasted. Waste is a foreign concept to nature. Fairness and equity is also emphasized, which is mirrored by the freedom of access to information and expression possible through the internet. In addition to other broad principles such as ‘obtaining a yield’, ‘observing and interacting’, and ‘capturing and storing energy’ there are several specific traits that underscore the benefits of permaculture design in terms of resilience and adaptability. This is important because large networks like the internet are dynamic ecosystems.

The principles “use and value diversity”, “integrate rather than segregate”, “design from patterns to details”, and “apply self-regulation and accept feedback” all directly address design challenges facing computer engineers today. Cloud computing, or “Fifth Generation Computing” as it has previously been called involves massive clusters of distributed hardware, each processing unique data as part of the larger system. Hardware failure, security risks, and general software failure can be mitigated by increasing the diversity of components used. By integrating rather than segregating different hardware the ability to re-use and repair components is strengthen as resilience is improved. Designing from patterns to details allows hardware to be designed specifically for given tasks. As previously mentioned, software on traditional computers is often written inefficiently with the hope of exploiting the raw power of the latest hardware. However, as ICs begin to integrate elements of CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs, programmers are encouraged to decompose their tasks, allowing large portions of the system to hibernate as key elements tackle the task at hand. The logistics of such complicated system wide behavior benefit tremendously from the decentralized and distributed control (“apply self-regulation and accept feedback”) brought by this computing paradigm.

As society transitions from the industrial age into the information age we may find ourselves adopting models which echo the past more-so than our 20^th century expectations of the future. The dissonance of the hierarchical structures and one-way communication streams of the industrial and broadcast era is slowly being resolved by network oriented thinking associated with current computing paradigm. This network oriented mode of thinking is mirrored in the tradition of permaculture – and it is the opinion of the author that a synthesis of both is one means of resolving the technology/biology dialectic.

References:

[1] Barker, Graeme. The Agricultural Revolution in Prehistory: Why Did Foragers Become Farmers? Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.

[2] “81.02.06: The Industrial Revolution.” 81.02.06: The Industrial Revolution. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

[3] “HABER & BOSCH – Haber-Bosch Process.” HABER & BOSCH – Haber-Bosch Process. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

[4] Mollison, Bill, and Reny Mia. Slay. Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual. Tyalgum, Australia: Tagari Publications, 1988. Print.

[5] “Design Principles.” Permaculture Principles N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

[6] Leading change toward sustainability: a change-management guide for business, government and civil society
Bob Doppelt – Greenleaf – 2003

[7] Moore’s Law Inspires Intel Innovation.” Intel. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

[8] “Why the Best Days of Open Hardware Are Yet to Come” Bunnies Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

[9] “The Fifth Generation: Japan’s Computer Challenge to the World.” The Fifth Generation: Japan’s Computer Challenge to the World. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

[10] “Global Village Construction Set.” – Open Source Ecology. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

[11] Hawken, Paul, Amory B. Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. Natural Capitalism: Creating the next Industrial Revolution. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1999. Print.

The aluminum can be easily cut using a hand- or band-saw, although most suppliers can accommodate orders with specified lengths. In the image two extrusions have been joined using a cheap machine screw. Ideally the hole is drilled on a drill press and the end is tapped on a vise. No tapping fluid is required as long as you remember to discard piled up chips frequently!

While constructing our machine, my colleague and I were lucky enough to gain access to a commercial CNC that was housed in Broun Hall of Auburn University. By using this machine to make simple cuts into plastic (HDPE and PLEXIGLASS) the lessons learned in the Design and Manufacture Lab were translated into g-code.

By the end of the semester our machine began to move. After some trials with plastic the machine was put to the test cutting wood. Given a different spindle this CNC could easily mill aluminum. A much quieter — and IMHO also more interesting alternative would be a plastic printer. Rather than cutting away material the tool would deposit plastic much like a hot glue gun. Luckily the RepRap has inspired many people along with myself and kits have become readily available.

As of March 2011 motor controller issues have been the biggest hang-up. Once the current parallel port based interface is replaced with a more modern USB unit the process of mounting the extruder will begin. Due to the current requirements of the stepper motors used on this CNC the MakerBot electronics will not work out of the box. Being an open source project all schematics and BOMs are readily available, and the lack of progress on this project lies mainly with me!

The plastic extruder heater and nozzle.

Using principles of sustainability and topics from class and additional reading, craft a persuasive argument that can be used to convince others why and how sustainability can be incorporated into your profession.

Open Source Hardware and the Creation of a Global Guild of Technical Workers

Computer Engineers integrate software with circuits – creating the digital electronics that have become so important to our everyday lives. The complexity of digital electronics has split the field into a number of diverse specializations ranging from operating systems to computer hardware architecture. The work of a computer engineer can touch on many topics from robotics and control systems to consumer electronics and artificial intelligence.

A hardware designer wishing to build more sustainable technologies can focus on energy efficiency and being conscious of the environmental impact of their components. With regards to components a number of standards currently exist. One such standard is RoHs – or the Restriction of certain Hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment – an EU regulation that is being considered by several US states that limits the amount of lead, mercury, cadmium, haxavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ether found in electronics and their packaging.

More importantly, I plan to develop appropriate technologies — in terms of the environmental, cultural and economic systems into which it is placed and from which it is produced. I feel that open source licenses play a crucial role in ensuring that all peoples on our planet have access to innovative technologies appropriate to their situation and needs.

An open source license applies to intellectual property – and is based on the idea that the organic growth of technology will occur when anyone and everyone can edit it as they see fit. A number of different licenses currently exist – such as the General Public License and the Creative Commons License. These licenses can stipulate different terms and conditions concerning the use of the intellectual property that they protect. Some licenses allow for disallow remix and limit resale while others insist that the product must remain free “as in free speech and free beer.” Ultimately the driving force behind open source is the idea that it is wasteful to reinvent the wheel – and that ideas should be spread rather than kept behind lock and key.

For me the motivating factor behind this philosophy is the divide between the developed and developing world. Even the way in which this discussion has been framed is fundamentally flawed. If we see the developed world as Europe, America, et al we cannot afford to allow the majority of the world develop into similar states. No matter how advanced the electronics of the West are – we are still burning fossil fuels and creating nuclear waste, both of which carry disastrous consequences for our planet. If our aim is a sustainable society on a global scale then almost every nation on earth that is not driven on one-hundred percent renewable energy is still developing. Considering this I am convinced that appropriate technologies set free under open source licenses are the only way to move the entire world beyond the industrial age before it is too late.

With a population of 6.7 billion, many are asking why we should proliferate digital technologies into the wider world. The environmental impacts of electrifying rural Africa, or giving laptops to students in Afghanistan must be considered – but the social impacts are just as important. With cheap hardware and an internet connection third world schools can use free resources such as Wikipedia to educate both adults and children – and with increased education comes a lower birthrate. Likewise, educated and engaged citizens are less inclined to see war as a consequence of life on planet Earth.

Although most western students have come to rely on Wikipedia, the shining example of open source today is GNU/Linux – a free and open operating system that was originally created by Linus Torvalds in his Helsinki apartment. Over time programmers from all over the world latched onto this project – adding functionality to it and branching off their own “distributions” – or customized derivatives of the operating system. While Linux itself has remained free, some distributions have made a substantial amount of money by providing auxiliary support services to both individuals and businesses.

Yet no matter how noble the engineer is – everyone needs to pay for rent and food, and the question of how an engineer’s time invested into creating free software is compensated is often a question. Over the past decades many brave engineers have scrapped their initial greed only to be rewarded with a successful business. One such example is the Arduino team – which created an open source programmable prototyping board – which allows hobbyists to program sensors to receive input and drive outputs such as lights, motors, and other actuators. The small Italian company initially invested 3,000 Euros into the first batch of boards, but also placed all schematics, design files, and software onto the Internet for all to see. They sell their product for a small profit – and allow others to do so as well. The only intellectual property owned by Arduino is the name – which can be used by for a small royalty. The product took off with hobbyists – and derivative boards suited to other applications were created by third parties with similar success. The popularity of the product placed the designers into the spotlight, and as with many other open source projects, interested developers congregate around the original team – which has since been hired as consultants and respected as developers of innovative technologies. In many ways the work of this movement has been referred to as a “barn raising in which everyone keeps the barn.”

The open source model has proved successful for a number of different companies. Take the Daisy MP3 player – it may not be as slick as an Apple iPod, but it could make for an attractive and cheap museum audio tour guide. Even large companies like Linksys are catching on – having used Linux to drive their routers, the licenses associated with the software forced Linksys to open up their own software. This allowed end users to add functionality to their $150 dollar routers that are typically only found on much more expensive models. A more local example is Asterisk, an open source office telecom switching platform originally designed to run on PCs. The project’s parent company was started when an Auburn student running a Linux consulting firm and couldn’t afford a phone switching system. Out of necessity he went on to start Digium, world’s leader in open source telephone systems. As Digium grew they used a number of open and proprietary licenses to ensure that Asterisk remained open while other auxiliary services remained under the control of the company.

These diverse technologies mirror a philosophy and economic model that carries the potential for creating a global guild or union of engineers and technical workers. Allowing the best technologies to grow organically by fostering collaboration on a massive scale, open source licenses are game changing in a sector where trade secrets have traditionally been a valued resource. The associated cost savings may be attractive for the Western world when it comes to replacing antiquated technology, but the possibility affordable appropriate technology for the majority of the world is much more revolutionary.

Fittingly enough one group that has latched onto this vision has done so in the most public and open way possible – a wiki. Appropedia contains 13,769 pages howtos, documentation, and discussion regarding appropriate technologies. Their goal is fostering collaboration that will reduce poverty and increase the standard of living throughout the world – and provides wealth of information on levels of complexity diverse enough to engage individuals at all levels of technical literacy. One page focuses on a 14-person pedal powered 1kW electricity generator which may inspire a gym owner to completely redesign their fitness studio. Likewise other pages dealing with water purification could save countless lives in rural communities throughout the world. Most importantly since these plans are free of charge and restrictive copyrights interested parties are encouraged to look to their communities for the expertise to implement these appropriate technologies. Cutting out the middle man – open source technologies redefine the balance of waste vs. value. Allowing businesses, designers and technicians to create and implement technologies on a more personal level, the social and economic consequences of knowledge and wealth creation are much more equitable than traditional models.

The diversity of projects that I feel I could undertake are staggering. One example of such a project deals with the use of existing sensors combined with open source software to form a home energy monitoring system. Once a working design has been created I would place all plans, parts lists and software online – where any technician or engineer could access or edit the ever evolving documentation. By allowing anyone to implement this system independent contractors and engineers can have a more direct impact on their own communities. While the exchange of knowledge comes without a price tag, the ultimate implementation of such a home automotive ensures the flow of capital based only on parts and labor rather than the ownership of trade secrets.

Related Reading:
Wealth Without Money by Adrian Bowyer
Swadeshi in the 21st Century by alexanderpf

My aunt and two young cousins greeted us at the train station. I hadn’t yet meet the younger one, and at eighteen months he was of course already walking. My stay in Heidemheim was even shorter – and after three days I was back on a train, this time headed to Stuttgart. Other than an hour on the train between Lippstadt and Heidenheim I’d spent my time without internet access – reading, talking to relatives, taking pictures, and enjoying the tranquility before the start of the semester. Six hour of hotel wifi brought me back to the oncoming reality of school and work, and left me a little sleep deprived the next morning as I left of the airport.

     After checking my luggage, passing through the first security checkpoint, stopping for a coffee, and clearing the last security check I approached customs. I presented my passport and was asked to write down my address. When I told the officer that I currently live in the US he looked puzzled and told me to wait. He kept my passport and then escorted me down one flight of stairs into a police office. As a young man I thought I was being randomly screened, and not wanting to appear nervous I sat quietly. Soon enough I found out that my name raised a flag because of an outstanding fine for “schwarzfahren” – riding a train or bus without a ticket – in Wuppertal. The print-out in front of me clearly said that Alexander Pfeiffenberger, born on the twenty-first of June in 1987 was stopped for riding without a ticket in November of last year. The name and birthday were mine, but I was in Auburn, Alabama last November. Things became more kafkaesque when the picture of the accused wouldn’t load and we had to resort to scars and birthmarks mentioned in previous records for an ID. I didn’t have the scars mentioned and luckily my hair and eye colors were different as well. At this point another officer was able to pull up a picture of an Alexander Pfeiffenberger who looked nothing like me. I didn’t get to see the picture, but I was told that my blond haired, blue eyed database doppleganger looked a good ten years older – harden from from his criminal past I’m sure. And so I was allowed go back through security and board the plane to Atlanta – a little confused, a little amused, and a little unnerved.

After weeks the first letters from Germany came, and we were joyful and relieved. My wife (though at the time we were not yet married) wrote to me that she made it to Westphalia. They were brought to the city of Lippstadt and the surrounding areas. The second transport had sent word as well. They were sent to the city of Oldenburg and the surrounding areas. We were glad that they made it to Germany.

The summer went, fall came, and still we had to stay behind. We prepared ourselves for the winter. How would we withstand the weather? In mid-November we heard from the Poles that we would soon go to Germany. On November 12th 1946 the last two-hundred residents of Zedlitz were sent out of their homeland. I was among this last group.

Zedlitz was first formally mentioned in records dating back to 1203 – and so seven-hundred and forty three years of German history in Zedlitz Kreis Ohlau near Breslau ended in the November of 1946.

The residents of Zedlitz were four times divided, with the first group fleeing in February 1945, and ending their journey in Königgräz, Czechoslovakia. From there the women and children were sent by rail to Coburg Bavaria. The second group – of seventy people – were sent to Westphalia, to Lippstadt, on June 16th 1946. The third set (of thirty) were sent to Oldenburg on June 19th 1946. Lastly the fourth group of two-hundred were in Niederlaustiz, Spremberg East Germay by the November of 1946.

And so we said our good-byes from each other. Fair well! We made it!

At every get together – be it in Hannover at the Schlesiertreffen, or in Iserlohn at the Ohlauertreffen, we find ourselves together again. When we see ourselves again the joy is overwhelming. At the last Schlesiertreffen in 1987 fifty-seven Zedlitzers and Sackerauers were able to attend. Also through the Heimatblatt the former Strehlen and Ohlau residents will be held together until our generation is no more.

These words were written by my maternal grandfather Georg Spitzer in the Fall of 1987 – only a few months after I was born. Although my grandfather is still alive today, a stroke over a decade ago made photographs and letters my only means of understanding how different his early twenties were from the life I live today.

The passage above is from a journal entitled “Der Treck Zedlitz Kr. Ohlau” which describes the run from the Red Army as well as life under the Poles. The diary of Sophie Lorenz, the wife of the protestant pastor Ernst Lorenz, established a time-line onto which Georg elaborated with his own memories.

Now that you know how the story ends, I’ll go back two years to the introduction to “Der Kampf um Zedlitz” (“The Fight for Zedlitz”) a journal kept by Georg during the war.

    It was a lovely summer in 1944, the last that I would spent at home after being wounded. In May I was in the medical ward in Brieg and then in October I was in ward 11 Breslau for rehabilitation. I had a leg amputation, but rode my bicycle home. Often I sat by the Oder, at the former Scholz-Ziegelei watching the ships. Before the war this was where we would dock our ship whenever we waited to load. On the other bank of the Oder about 2.5 Km away was the Kruppwerk – but the forest and meadow offered a picture of peace that allowed us to forget about the oncoming battle.

Fall came, and the war came closer to the Weichsel River. On October 7th Breslau was first bombarded. In the North of Breslau the Bartholdstellung was built up. Two stationary 8.8 Flak-Bttr. were brough to Breslau. The older groups were pulled to Bolssturm. Christmas and New Years came and went quietly. The year 1945 began…

Delhi was our last stop before the flight back to the US on the 29th — and the only North Indian city we visited. After spending a day loafing around the hotel we took a day-trip to Agra on Tuesday to see the Taj Mahal.

We spent the next day exploring some of the city. The landmark I’d heard the most about was the Lotus Temple — one of the most visited buildings in the world.

By Wednesday night it was time to make our way to the airport — and some 24 hours after boarding I was in Atlanta. Today was my first full day back in Auburn, and I’m still somewhat out of it. The time difference is eleven and a half hours and lifestyle changes are many. It’s hard not to notice the differences in population density, land-use and transportation. Yesterday’s grocery trip turned into an interesting sociological expedition. My findings? Observing the food choices of South-Eastern Americans compared to those of South Indians, I think more Alabamians should read Diet for a Small Planet.

On one hand I’m looking forward to spending four days as a carefree tourist in Delhi and then flying back home, but on the other I know already that I’m going to miss this place and the people I’ve met here. There are so many little things that have grown on me, from walking back to my room from the lab at night under the cover of the banyan trees to my non-verbal interactions with service personal. Subtly all of the buildings, foods, phrases and pronunciations that seemed so foreign to me some two months ago became part of my daily routine. This afternoon I was sitting at Gurunath — a cafe and cluster of small shops filled with everything a student living on campus would need — reflecting on what I’ve learned so far. I know once I’m back in Auburn the question “So how was India?” is going to come up. I don’t even know how to begin answering that question, I guess the most honest answer would be that more than anything it was a learning experience. I stayed in an A/C room with its own bathroom and shower, while students stay in much smaller rooms without A/C and use a communal shower — a constant reminder of how comfortable my life is back in Auburn. Furthermore, IITM produces some of the nation’s top engineers, and working in a small group alongside one undergraduate and two graduate students was all the motivation I needed going into the next semester. With classes, work on the AU solar car, my internship of the AU Office of Sustainability combined with a new job for Auburn’s LITEE lab, next semester is going to be tough — but seeing the worth ethic of students here, I know that if I want to make it through my undergraduate classes and into graduate school I need to step up my game.

For now I still have a little less than a week before my flight back to the US. Time to soak it all in while I still have the chance.

The wheel in the center of India’s flag is the Ashoka Chakra — which represents the Wheel of Dharma, a symbol of the teachings of the Buddha. But in the original design the central image was of a charkha or spinning wheel. This is because the movement for independence from the British that finally proved successful was through economic and not military means. Spinning one’s own cloth and buying only textiles spun in India — of only Indian wool, silk or cotton — was swadeshi in action. Swadeshi is about self-sufficiency, and in early twentieth century India it was possible to use only locally produced goods and eat only locally grown food.

But what about today? Take the internet, which itself blurs the line between what is global and what is local. Access to the internet means access to humanity’s collective knowledge and allows communities to form between people thousands of kilometers apart from each other. If for example I spun my own cloth and sold it over the internet would I be practicing swadeshi? Sure, for this transaction to happen we need large companies to design and fabricate the semiconductors, circuit boards and accessories that make up the computers and cell phones that we use to connect to the internet, but I’m not one to discount all large companies as inherently evil. The central question is who we consider to be our neighbor. In the original context of swadeshi a neighbor was anyone in the immediate surroundings, which in early twentieth century India mostly meant the village. When it comes to food this model still fits — and food cooperatives (CSA‘s) are becoming more popular in the US.

If we accept that some of our goods are more efficiently produced using economies of scale and centralization we should think about which goods and services are most effectively produced locally. Renewable energy comes to mind as one such good. For this to happen electricity grids need to be optimized for net metering. Additionally, if the price of a kilowatt hour of electricity reflected the environmental cost incurred in its generation, coal fired power plants would simply be priced out of the game and replaced by suburban families that decide to invest in rooftop photovoltiac systems, farmers that install wind turbines in their fields, and smaller scale power plants in the the form of wind, wave or sun farms. Communities would focus on becoming self-sufficient and using their electricity more efficiency in hopes of selling power to other regions. Local engineers and designers will play an important role in meeting both goals. Many futurists are looking at electric cars not only as a means of transportation, but also as a means of energy storage. If city planners can get residents to rely less on their cars, the local grid’s storage capacity is increased with no direct investment by the city. This means fewer centralized big box stores and many smaller establishments within walking distance of people’s homes or at least one bus stop away. Construction companies will also be forced to rely less on one size fits all buildings made comfortable by HVAC systems, and instead hire architects that know how to mitigate the effects of local climates. These examples may be expanding the scope of swadeshi, but I would argue that they are remaining true to the basic underlying idea.

I also see another form of swadeshi playing an important role in the twenty-first century, one which takes place online. Many are quick to dismiss the efforts of programmers collaborating on open source software as a waste of time — these critics don’t understand why someone would work without direct monetary compensation. The same criticisms can be aimed to those that pour hours of their own time into communities such as Appropedia or Wikipedia. To anyone that has used Linux or appreciates the quality of user created resources like Wikipedia, the motivation for contribution is obvious. Rather than being at the mercy of Microsoft or having to pay an arbitrary fee to access digital content, communities have popped up to create resources that allow users to create value in ways that commercial companies focused primarily on monetary profit may never have imagined. If we take swadeshi to mean self-sufficiency within a community (rather than a geographical area) does the development of open source software (or the distribution of information in general) not reflect and honor the core principals of swadeshi?

Related Reading
A Return to Yeomanry
The Desktop Manufacturing Revolution

Related Links
The RepRap Open Source 3D Printer
The Gandhi Rural Rehabilitation Center

It was two hours into the bus ride when I remembered that I had left my passport (and the photocopy) in Chennai. As predicted, all of the hotels that turned up online said that they were required to keep a copy of the passport and visa of every foreign guest on file. If only I had emailed my scanned documents to myself rather than just printing them out! Determined not to ride another three hours in a crowded bus we began our search for a hotel that would turn a blind eye to bureaucracy. Eventually we found a suitable candidate, and while it might not have had a western toilet it was a place to stay.

Sadly the image of Pondicherry that I formed in my mind while reading Life of Pi vanished within my first few minutes in the city. It turns out that the city zoo and train were both creations of the author, and that the quaint French quarter is limited to only a few blocks. French architecture and Indian culture is a great combination, and the city has potential, but regrettably I ended up leaving disappointed.

When it comes to potable water, the situation in this part of India is pretty bad. With wells going dry all around Tamil Nadu, farmers are drilling ever deeper — and those striking water are finding that often its market value is greater than the worth of the crops that it could help them grow. Trucking water into Chennai — where some eight million thirsty residents are willing to pay more than the rural population — has become a big business. With the large amounts of fresh water that are required for farming India’s water security is also crucial in feeding its population of 1.2 billion and counting.

As a self-proclaimed tap water connoisseur, staying hydrated over the course of the first couple of weeks in India was particularly interesting. The hotels in which we stayed for the first week provided one small bottle a day — and I generally bought two or three more one liter bottles throughout the day. At this point I was even using bottled water to brush my teeth. With each bottle I was carefully checking the seal — a wise move considering that our hotel in Hyderabad provided us with unsealed mystery water. While I may have been slightly overcautious my fears were not unfounded.

In Patancheru (just 28 kilometers from Hyderabad) a stream was found to contain some 21 different active pharmaceutical ingredients at some of the highest concentrations ever recorded. The chemicals originated from pharmaceutical companies that manufacture generics for the export market — and as those in the developed world are provided with cheap pharmaceuticals local villagers develop drug resistances due to prolonged exposure along with a number of other long term health issues. Another big problem around the country is cross contamination of city water from the sewage system. During our stay in Hyderabad we encountered one night of flash flooding — and in the following days read of several deaths due to contaminated water. Those that can afford it install a filtration system in their homes or keep water stored (and chlorinated) in tanks as a buffer against shortages or contaminations. Yet for many urban Indians this is not economically feasible, worse off still are those in the villages that cannot afford truck supplied water and must rely on ground water.

Most buildings here on the IITM campus have water dispensers, providing me a source of filtered water and allowing me to put my reusable bottle to use again. In the seven weeks that I’ve spent in India I’ve only gotten sick from the water twice. The first time I was still drinking bottled water but fell victim to a cup of coffee that I’m assuming was diluted with water from the tap. The second, and more recent, was from a water cooler. The water tasted a little odd but I didn’t think much of it at the time. After spending two days feeling miserable I was back in good health and motivated to write this post.