S YS TE MI C S Y MBIOTI C P LANETARY

ECOV ILLAG E NE TWORK

Systemic Symbiotic Planetary Ecovillage Network

P O Box 1674
Middletown, CA
95461-1674
USA

silverj6@mchsi.com

Silver J. H. Jones

Systemic Symbiotic Planetary Ecovi!age Network

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 TABLE OF CONTE NTS

Ecopsychology
3
A new approach to land development
5
Scaling our return to systemic and symbiotic living
7
Learning #om the historical records
8
References
10

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 CHAP TE R I X
Ecoarchitopology & Ecopsychology

Silver J. H. Jones
2008

Copyright © 2002 by Silver (J. H.) Jones. All rights, electronic, multimedia, and print, reserved. A publi-
cation SSPEN - Systemic Symbiotic Planetary Ecovillage Network.
Planetary ecological systems are very sophisticated holographic dynamic networks, evolved and matured
over billions of years of universe evolution. By the time that intelligent life enters the planetary arena,
nature has conducted a vast number of simulations within this arena, with the intent of optimizing the
specific circumstances at this particular location in the universe for the arrival of life. It is for this reason
that we must exhibit great respect for this work that has preceded our arrival, and we must exhibit consid-
erable caution when we proceed to modify this ongoing experiment. We believe that intelligent life forms
have been bestowed with a universe that incorporates free-will and the right of cocreatorship. This is an
enormous responsibility, and one that we must take very seriously. As cocreators we have a dual role, we
are managers, custodians, and caretakers of the universe ecology which precedes our arrival, and cocrea-
tors - in regard to what we add to the universes ecology going forward. We must always remain cognizant
of both roles, and attempt to properly balance this dual responsibility. A simplistic ‘back to nature’ ap-
proach is regressive and misguided, because while it may address the need for an increased reverence for
nature, it does not properly address our role as cocreators. Reverence for the enormous effort that has al-
ready gone into the emergence of our ecosystem does not imply that we must never alter it, what it does
imply is - that when we do alter it, we must do this in a manner that we extend, enhance, and further beau-
tify it, rather than exploit and devour it.
We can do better than our past efforts as cocreators, we must do better if we wish to survive.

Ecopsychology
It is extremely unfortunate that our modern textbooks and courses in psychology do not address the full
systemic relationship that individuals and societies share with the entire ecosystem of our planet. A psy-
chology that views man as the top of the food chain, and therefore free to inflict his will upon the much
older systemically and symbiotically convergent web of life, can by no means be considered a true psy-
chology. When man loses his systemic connection to this much larger network of life, he isolates, dimin-
ishes, and empties his soul of the vital life force that has nurtured his creation. By no means are we sug-
gesting, as some do, that man is meant to be limited by nature - as cocreators we have the power to extend

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nature, and ourselves beyond the current state of development. Unfortunately the explosive growth of our
own technology, has temporarily blinded us to the wisdom stored and evolving in nature.
It is only now with our most advanced technological efforts that the technological community is awaken-
ing to a renewed admiration for the engineering excellence resident in the natural world. Attempts at arti-
ficial intelligence have humbled us, and renewed our admiration for natures methods. The new field of
biomimicry, is a distinct recognition of the artistic engineering excellence already apparent in the natural
world, and an effort to duplicate it in new technologies by utilizing and adapting approaches already per-
fected in the natural world. The deeper our research into nanotechnology advances, the greater will our
respect become for the enormous nanotechnology efforts already revealed within the dynamic evolution
of biology on our home planet. We sincerely hope that this may be the beginning of a new era of ecopsy-
chology, an era where humankind once again returns to a greater appreciation of nature and ecology - but
this time with the added recognition that nature, far from being below us, is a highly sophisticated techno-
logical wonderland. Psychology must be more than the study of the internal mental and emotional dynam-
ics of individuals and their relationship to an ever more multinational corporate structured society. It must
incorporate the proper concept of interface with the entire ecosystem and solar system we inhabit. Human
evolving intelligence, a form of universal self-aware observers and cocreators, will extend far beyond the
dimensions of our planetary ecosystem. However, the physical bodies and the physical brains that tempo-
rarily support the beginning stages of this much larger and more extended teleological ascension, are em-
bedded within and dependent upon nature. Therefore we have a dual role to play in nature, we are both
the beneficiaries and the caretakers of the world. What we take out of nature, we must minimally put
back. We must come to understand that everything in nature is reciprocal, systemic, symbiotic, and recy-
clable. Instead of clear cutting, we should be gardening, adding to, and embellishing what nature has al-
ready provided. Each generation should ascend from this planet having left it in a more lush and vital
condition than they found it - a demonstration of our appreciation for the gift of our lives and the billions
of years of preparation that were necessary for the eventuality of our lives to be possible.
A disregard for nature is a fatalistic wish for extinction, but the worship of nature is also an incorrect un-
derstanding of nature. Respect and admiration for nature places mankind in the proper perspective with
nature, however the worship of nature is a misguided and improper interpretation of mans relationship
with nature. Nature is but one level of a multidimensional holographic experiential arena, provided by the
advanced intelligence involved in the design, the emergence, and the dynamical self-organization of our
universe. Worship may be appropriate for the advanced implicate intelligence which is responsible for the
unfolding of nature, but nor for nature per se. To worship nature is to diminish the enormous vistas of ex-
perience which have been prepared for us in the higher dimensional realms of our universe. Such an ap-
proach is like a preschooler thinking they have encompassed the entire scope of education with their first
contact with the educational experience. The advanced intelligence already displayed within our universe
- witness the hundreds of billions of galaxies, and all the stages of universe evolution - will certainly not
be bound by a single level of holographic dynamics. Nature is the beginning of the universal ascension
process not the culmination. The goal of perfected ecological living and the resultant biorapture epiphany
that it will unleash upon its inhabitants, is far from being the final universal teleological attractor at the
omega stage of universe evolution. In the mean time we must work towards incorporating ecology into
our psychology, in an effort to develop the true form of psychology in ecopsychology.
A large part of establishing a true ecopsychology is renewing our appreciation for the wonderful topology
of the land with it smooth undulating nonlinear curvatures, as opposed to the harsh, unattractive, rigid,
and non-flowing rectangular grid system that has been imposed upon our modern urban landscapes. Na-
ture is fractal, self-similar, and nonlinear, and we can easily witness this in the growth of tree branches,
the rivers, and the shorelines of our continents. In the new millennium, in the spirit of biomimicry, we
should attempt to create our landscapes and architectures in the motif of nature, and this brings us to the
topic of ecoarchitopology.

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A new approach to land development
Ecoarchitopology is a theoretical and applied approach to the way we explicate our dual roles of care-
taker and cocreator. We have chosen this word to reflect the synergistic integration of ecology, architec-
ture, and topology in our efforts to achieve sustainable civilizations. Ecoarchitopology is a trinity ap-
proach to creation and living, which attempts to harmonize mans cocreation embellishments with the al-
ready existent biological art and diversity produced and sustained by nature and universe designer intelli-
gence over billions of years. Cocreatorship is a reciprocal process of mutual respect. When we respect
nature, nature respects us. When we violate natures rules, she utilizes acute feedback as an early warning
system to inform us about our misdeeds. If we ignore these early warning signs, nature is forced to dig
much deeper into her more severe tool box of nonlinear reactions - global warming, transitions to ice
ages, and magnetic pole drifts or reversals - resulting in civilization destroying catastrophic events in an
effort to preserve the integrity of nature.
Our planets ecology was already well established before our civilization began to spread across this bio-
sphere. We have a duty and an obligation to preserve this planets inherent beauty, evolved intelligence,
and diversity in our role as caretakers. In our role as cocreators, we must learn to modify the environment
in a manner that is non-destructive, wholly systemic, and symbiotic. We must learn to blend and embed
our infrastructure into the existing environment, rather than clear cutting back to raw soil, and then arbi-
trarily imposing our structures on the totally denatured landscape. We believe we can successfully ac-
complish our objective of working with the existing ecology, by utilizing a three pronged approach:
• We must preserve and utilize as much of the existing ecology as possible.

• We must attempt to design our architectural structures to embed into, and blend with, the existing flora,
fauna, and geology. We should attempt to minimize our intrusiveness. The current approach of utilizing
square and rectangular grids and structures is extremely monotonous, and unworthy of a truly intelli-
gent species. Curvatures and slopes which follow the nature lay of the land are not only more attractive
to the eye, but they are also much less intrusive and destructive. Land has a natural topology to it, we
should learn to appreciate it and work with it. No where in nature will you see the flat rigid grids that
we have imposed on our major metropolitan areas. The square and the rectangle are extremely rare is
natures fractal architecture. We must learn to think and build, in a more fractal, self-similar, and topo-
logical manner. Circles, ellipses, curves, and triangles blend much better into natures existing art. Geo-
desic structures have also been shown to utilize the least amount of natural resources per square foot,
and have the greatest ability to withstand high winds and earthquakes. So not only do they reduce the
cost of building, producing the least strain on our resources, but they also provide the safest and strong-
est forms of architecture.

• We need to blend and adapt our architectural structures and supporting infrastructure to work systemi-
cally and symbiotically with the existing topology, climate, and geology. Homes can be built into the
earth, providing a passive thermal sink - which keeps homes at ~ 70 degrees during all the seasons. The
Earthship (www.earthship.net) is the most complete design for sustainable architecture we have seen. A
large percentage of the house is hidden within the earth itself, the roof is a berm garden, and it collects,
stores, and reprocess it water flow 5 times from drinking water, to grey water, and then to waste water
which is regenerated in a garden, before returning to the underground aquifers. Passive solar, active so-
lar, and wind supply a very large percentage of all energy requirements. A large ecovillage of earthships
would leave the land almost as it was before construction began!

The mantra for the future is integration of ecology-architecture-topology, or ecoarchitopology. If we con-

stantly keep this principle of integration in our minds as we move forward, and wherever possible, restore
it when rebuilding occurs, we will be on the path to systemic and symbiotic living.

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Wherever one of these ingredients has been neglected, we should attempt to restore it. The following
guidelines should go a long way towards restoring a sense of balance in our development:
Bulldozers can be used just as effectively to recreate topology as to destroy it. All of you heavy equip-
ment operators, learn to think of yourselves as artistic land sculptors.

Architects of the world, buy some books, and begin researching fractals, self-similarity, complex curves,
and other forms of geometry besides squares and rectangles. Bring a new era of art and sculpture back
into your profession. Learn to accept the challenge and thrill of working with existing topology, rather
than flattening the existing topological lay of the land. Every project will be new, refreshing, and chal-
lenging - rather than another exercise in the repetitive and redundant cloning of existing structures. Archi-
tecture was once an art form, it is time to revive this perspective once again.

Ecologists and geologists educate the public on the wisdom of working with existing lays of the land, and
indigenous flora and fauna. For generations now we have taken from nature, it is time to evolve genera-
tions of human beings who cherish giving back to nature. We need a generation of ecological artisans,
sculptors, and creative farmers who’s farms once again look like works of art, rather than hideous flat-
tened expanses devoid of native beauty and diversity.

By taking climate into consideration we can considerably reduce the amount of energy we need to supply
to new development. In very hot and cold climates structures actually built, or partially built, into the soil,
which acts as a temperature moderator, can save us a great deal of heating and cooling cost, and prevent
further depletion of our nonrenewable resources such a oil and gas.

Climate and geology also allow us to maximize local energy production by utilizing wind, solar, small
hydroelectric, biomass, under ground temperature exchangers, geothermal, natural insulation, hydrogen,
and proper sun and shadow orientation to reduce heating and cooling cost.

Think local, everything that you can provide for your own needs locally will save energy getting these
products transported to you via truck, train, airplane, or boat - which all run on the nonrenewable resource
- oil. The average distance a typical agricultural product must travel these days to reach its final market is
1300 miles. Think of how much this adds to the cost of the item, the shipping coast, and the amount of
hydrocarbon pollution that is being creating per item. The main necessities of life are shelter, food, water,
and energy. If you can provide all, or a portion of these necessities locally, you will go a long way towards
reducing pollution, and the depletion of the forests for the production of packaging materials.

Think recycle, nature is a round-trip-system, it recycles everything. We must begin to think in the same
manner.

Think systemic, nature is a very nonlinear complex system, where everything interacts. Try to anticipate
all the potential ecological consequences of your actions for yourself and everything that surrounds you,
before you commit any plan to action. Cocreation is not an act of imposition, it is an act of innovation
and symbiotic enhancement.

Every new building project should include a combined team of architect, geologist, ecologist, and builder.
Every building endeavor should be looked upon as a work of art, to be blended, embedded, and to en-
hance, rather than to replace the existing beauty of natures offerings.

In the end, what it all comes down to, is that each of us must see ourselves as a part of nature, not some-
thing apart form it. Anyone who has been fortunate enough to live near a really large set of pine trees, or
redwood trees, and has had the change to listened to the wind caress their branches as they sways in the
wind as distant weather systems approach, will know the true meaning of being a part of nature. There is

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nothing that can replace natures music. Falling asleep listening to the music of a brook, or a stream, or the
whispering wind in the trees adds a quality to our lives that is not replaceable even with all our techno-
logical inventiveness.

Scaling our return to systemic and symbiotic living

For those of you who are now overwhelmed by the immensity of the effort involved in reestablishing a
systemic and symbiotic relationship with our planetary ecology, we offer some degree of relief. Yes it is
an enormous and essential undertaking, but one that we all know we must do if we are to survive and
prosper. Part of the problem is that the size of the project is so enormous, that we are overwhelmed, and
we just do not know where to start - so we end up doing nothing, and expend our vital energy feeling
frustrated by our indecision. We believe the best approach to overcoming this dilemma, is to start local.
Small ‘microsocieties,’ which we have chosen to call ecovillages, provide the ideal starting point for re-
newing our planet. The reduced scale makes projects manageable and affordable, and you do not have to
wait to convince the whole world of the value of this approach before you begin.
We respectfully suggest that you consider the following, if you are interested in starting a new ecovillage:
• Communicate and network, and attempt to find others of a like mind who want to start a microsociety
or ecovillage.

• Make an attempt to contact others who have already established such communities, and that can help
you with advice on some of the obstacles and challenges you will face in your efforts to establish a new
ecovillage community.

• Estimate your collective economic, professional, and land resources.

• Make decisions on financing, and how ownership will be shared.

• Purchase sufficient land to meet your projects objectives, and when possible allow for future up-scaling
of your projected community or ecovillage.

• Collectively design your new microsociety.

• Gradually implement your plane, learning from experience as you proceed, and be flexible in allowing
for the readjustment of your design when necessary.

• Once sufficient infrastructure is in place, so that your community has begun to function as a cohesive
entity, establish yourself as an ecovillage network node (via the internet). Also become a node in the
larger world wide network of the internet, and work with those who are attempting to accomplish the
same objectives. Network and share what you have learned from your experience, and assist others who
are attempting to start new ecovillages. Develop communication avenues, information exchanges,
goods and services, and trading arrangements with other ecovillages and the larger external civilization.
The combined ecovillage network should serve as an archive and a dynamic living and emergent re-
pository for the ongoing effort to revitalize and replenish the earth, and provide a storage and learning
center for those who have yet to make the transition.

• Maintain a constructive and welcoming attitude toward the interest shown by the larger community
around you in your ecovillage. Maintain a retreat facility for visitors, and provide for cultural exchanges
with other ecovillages and the larger society which surrounds your ecovillage. Include a part time citi-
zen status for those people who are interested in learning more about your community as part time par-

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 ticipants, and provide an option that allows these potential long-term members to join your community
if they exhibit sufficient interest and commitment.

Hopefully more and more microsocieties will spring up all over the world, and by attracting increased
citizenship, economic strength, and by synchronizing their voting and purchasing power they can look
forward to having an increased effect on the larger society. The proper combination of education, imple-
mentation, and practice will eventually spread this new perspective on sustainable living to larger and
larger portions of the earths population. By applying the principles of self-similar scaling in a fractal
manner, we hope to eventually succeed in transforming our earth into a fully systemic, symbiotic, and
long-term sustainable civilization. Hopefully the trunk and branches of the ecovillage network will even-
tually sweep across the entire bioecosphere of our planet, and the path to biorapture and ascension will be
assured as a reality for all of earth’s citizens.

Learning from the historical records

If we were to run the movie of human social evolution backwards, we would see a gradual diminishing of
the relative size of our social institutions and the architectural infrastructures that supported them. If we
rewind the tape, and play it forward again, perhaps we can learn some lessons from the social evolution
that has occurred over the last millennium. Kohler, Pelt, and Yap [1] have studied the social evolution of
the eastern and western Pueblo societies in the pre-Hispanic period of America. We rely on their research
in our discussion of this topic. The approach of this study was twofold:
• The first part of this study consisted of running simulations in complex adaptive systems (CAS) to
study the effects of growing size in dynamic attractor networks, and to extrapolate these effects to the
role of reciprocity in societies of similar size.

• The second part of this study was focused on the historical anthropological records which have re-
corded the development and growth in Pueblo societies during the late pre-Hispanic period.

The intent of the study was to attempt to better understand how small societies, strongly organized around
reciprocity principles, changed over time as they grew in size internally and were challenged by the inter-
faces they encountered with other growing populations. The records of the Pueblo societies provided just
the type of needed historical records to study this type of social evolution. Complex adaptive systems re-
search provided the necessary computer simulation tool to simulate the circumstances that took place in
late pre-Hispanic America. The behavior of reciprocity within villages, and between villages, could be
studied empirically as the internal size of the villages and the number of other villages available to associ-
ate with was varied.
Fisk [2] has proposed that social dynamics consist of a constant competition between four fundamental
and universal “grammars:”
• communal sharing - (defined as reciprocity between family members)

• authority ranking- (the relationship between authoritative leaders and subordinates)

• equality matching - (a state of balanced economic and social reciprocity)

• market pricing - (relationships are established and determined through a market system) Our current
social and economic system quite obviously falls into the fourth category.

While market systems have an important and valuable role to play in our society, we believe that the ex-
clusive use or misuse of this approach, is to a large extent, responsible for - the current ecological devas-
tation, the diminishing role of the fundamental family unit, the overpowering of local community by tran-

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snational interests, the increasing moral degradation, and the growing gap in income between the first, the
second, and the third world. It is our hope that by reexamining the processes that led to the reduction of
reciprocal relationships in favor of increased market influences, we can better understand how we might
have prevented this outcome. Our intent here is not to suggest that we abandon markets all together, but
rather that we better understand their proper uses and abuses, in addition to regaining a renewed apprecia-
tion for the value of reciprocity and how it can be applied in a modern context.

Murdock and White [3] have provided a comparison of 54 non-hierarchical societies selected from a
Standard Cross-Cultural Sample. If this sample is graphed on an x and y axis (with x representing the
number of societies [1-7], and y representing the number of individuals [~20 - 4999] in the society), what
becomes obvious is a distinct tendency for the number of reciprocal exchanges to decrease with the
increasing size of the society. Visually, not statistically, the steepest decline seem to occur after reaching a
societal size of 400 individuals.

As you can see this supports one of our core thesis concepts at SSPEN, that when societies become to
large the sense of interconnectedness, the social glue, breaks down, and the citizens experience a sense of
atomization, or a feeling of loosing their connectedness to the systemic group structure.
( working paper still under development)

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References
1. Kohler, T. A., Pelt, M. V., and Yap, L. Reciprocity and its Limits: Considerations for a study of the
Pre-Hispanic Pueblo World. 1999. (http://
www.santafe.edu/sfi/publications/Working-Papers/99-05-033.pdf)
2. Fiske, Alan P. Structure of Social Life: The Four Elementary Forms of Human Relations. Free Press.
1991.
3. Murdock, George P. and White, Douglas R. Standard Cross-cultural Samples and Codes. Ethnology.
1969, 8:329-363.

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