References

Berry, Thomas with Tucker, Mary Evelyn (ed). Evening Thoughts; Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community Sierra Club Books 2006.

Brown, Lester R.Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, New York: WW Norton 2008. Best book on the interconnections between carbon emissions and all other ecological issues.

Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, New York: Little, Brown & Company 2000

Gomes, Mary E. and Kanner, Allen D., Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind, San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club 1995.

Hawken, Paul. The Magic of Findhorn, Fontana/ Collins 1978.

Hawken. Paul. The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability, NY: HarperCollins 1993.

Hawken. Paul. Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw it Coming,  NY: Viking/ Penguin 2007.

Houlihan, Jane et al., Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns, Washington, DC: Environmental Working Group, 2005. Website: http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm.php
Report: http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/pdf/bodyburden2_final-r2.pdf

Plotkin, Bill, Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche, Novato, CA: New World Library 2003.

Starhawk, The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature, New York: HarperOne/ HarperCollins 2004.

van Lippe-Biesterfeld, Irene with van Tijn, Jessica. Science, Soul, and the Spirit of Nature: Leading thinkers on the restoration of man and creation, Rochester, VT: Bear & Co. 2005.

Wright, Machaelle Small. Co-Creative Science: A Revolution In Science Providing Real Solutions For Today’s Health & Environment, Warrenton, VA: Perelandra, Ltd 1997. (Creating new realities in your life – the garden as a school for external and internal changes.)

Human Ecology: Developing Environmental Healing Resources

Transition Town groups are developing approaches and programs for dealing with the impending problems of peak oil and economic contraction, and the need to drastically reduce carbon emissions in order to mitigate and hopefully to reverse the effects of global warming. These changes will require that we put greater reliance on resources available in our local communities.

If you’re interested in understanding these observations, I invite you to brainstorm with me about how to develop Transition Healthcare.

For instance: Medications that are excreted or dumped into the toilet are accumulating in our water supplies and creating a new kind of environmental pollution. This can be prevented if we increase self-healing and use less medications.

Self-healing and healer/therapist bioenergy and consciousness healing will become more needed and more accepted as high tech medical interventions become less available.

If you’re interested in understanding the Transition concepts and approaches, based on 12-step approaches, I highly recommend:

Shaun Chamberlin and Rob Hopkins. The Transition Timeline: For a Local, Resilient Future. White River Jct., VT: Chelsea Green Publishing 2009

Rob Hopkins, The Transition  Handbook: From  oil dependency to local resilience. Totnes, UK: Green Books 2008.
 
While these books are focused on England’s experiences, these concepts readily generalize to anywhere else.
Helpful web references:
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/resources
http://www.lets-doit.ca/index.html

What I have not seen is a wise plan for healthcare in a local economy, where there may be limited medical resources and support from outside the community. That is, there may be ways for avoiding the need for replacing medications, antibiotics, high tech diagnostics, and all the other mod cons of current clinical and hospital care. These are very costly in terms of our carbon footprint. If anyone has seen discussions or planning for such contingencies, please let me know.

What I like about the Transition Town planning is that in addition to concrete suggestions from the experiences in growing numbers of communities around the world (http://www.transitionnetwork.org/initiatives), it also includes recommendations for helpful ways to inform and educate the public and to develop the plans that are appropriate for local resources and condition.

Please let me know if you have ideas to contribute about what post-peak-oil healthcare might look like, and any ways you can suggest to facilitate this transition.

Blessings

Dan  Benor, MD
db@paintap.com