Progress, part I

Progress: a proceeding forward; advancement or improvement in mental, moral, or physical condition. growth or development. source The Winston Dictionary, Advanced Edition, 1946

There has been quite some talk about the idea of "progress". Do you think the above photograph would in any way shape or form, imply "progress"? It's one of my primitive camps of 20 years ago. I'd dare say, that for me, it was a proceeding forward, was an advancement or improvement in my mental, moral, and physical condition, at the time anyway. That lead to my personal growth or development...

Even though, I believe we have declined here in North America for the past thirty years, we are becoming more and more a part of a global economy that hasn't. Hasn't this actually "masked" our true situation in this country? Thinking of Russia, without a doubt, they have come back and their standard of living continues to grow from the early 1990's when the former Soviet Union collapsed. Look at the growth of the economies of India and China!

Another notion my instructors had, is that there would very likely be a explosion of resources extracted and consumed toward the end of the "age of progress". I am certain, they were thinking in terms of 1930- 1970, however they could be still correct in that respect, only that there's a lot more resource than they dare imagined. Of course, this only makes sense as it would require more resource to maintain the population.

The instructors all believed that once the world ceased to progress, there would be a short pause and then we would start our descent. That this era will be short lived and marked by power outages, finally bringing down entire electrical grids around the world. That is, once electrical generation was decoupled with mass production of uniform, interchangable parts (one cannot happen without the other and this actually defines the modern industrial society), this present environment (age of progress) would end abruptly. At that point, the industrial society (age of progress) could not support the population it created. Once that happened, the die-off would begin in earnest, end of story (the instructors would not speculate what might happen after that).

There's just one insy tinsy problem that I have with the instructors about this notion as of to-day, they all believed it was going to happen soon (late 70's - early 80's). That I would not likely live the high standard of living they enjoyed, would very likely see a world of unimaginable collapse and so-on. Hmmm, kind of like what many of us believe will happen to the younger generation of today, correct? Well, I've learned a very good lesson over this, along the way, that much I'm certain of...

There's a concept that I'll borrow from Jay Hanson and share with you. Hanson's thoughts about why most people cannot come to terms with peak oil is that through out thousands of years of progressing forward, people can only think in those terms. That is, most people can only think "progressively" forward, they are incapable of imagining a tomorrow of decline, not there. They simply cannot "see" it. This isn't their fault, after thousands of years of conditioning, it's in the genetic make-up. Perhaps, an example of this might be, sheep following one another over a cliff.

This thought of "ever progressing" is not only limited to some people. Continuous growth is the basic assumption, driving our economy. Investment is made in hopes of future growth. Loans are made in hope of growth. Interest is only realized after growth. Without real growth, how can our financial system survive? Suppose, we're almost there? Could it be, that after this last expansion of growth this country has experienced from the housing market, employing perhaps a quarter of Americans, there's nothing more to grow?

When the resources that products are made from become to scarce or too expensive to profit from we can expect those products will no longer be made. No company is going to make them for nothing, not for long. Perhaps, this has been happening already? When a product costs more to make and transport, than what the market will bear, that product becomes "worthless". Could we be seeing this now with the McMansions that are in the out-laying communities far from employment centers?

I suppose, this might be enough for today. Later, I will discuss "progress" again and what this might mean in this civilization and compare it to civilizations past. I'll attempt to discuss what role catabolic collapse might have had concerning matter.

http://www.downtowndetroit.org/ddp/photos.htm

Where in Catabolic Collapse?

Ok, we're back in the same neighborhood that we started in, exactly where all those abandoned, burnt buildings and other pictures of decay that I was focusing on earlier. On the last post, Far questioned, if we're only seeing the start of the catabolic process? I thought, by showing the rather large fields and meadows that replaced where old busy neighborhoods once stood, was portraying perhaps a view of an end to the catabolic process. Now, I'm not so sure, especially in areas such as this one. One thing I did not see in my travels near that part of town along Chene Street, was the new little sections of homes like the one pictured above. I'm not saying there were none there, but that I did not see them...



As I've suggested before, perhaps we'll learn together what might be actually happening here, by viewing these pictures. Is there some kind of plan or intent, being followed? I'm going to strongly suggest there is and once again what resource is left, is being concentrated in areas deemed more viable in the future. I'm seeing little clusters of new homes (so people can keep an eye on the neighbors property?) Certainly, or well lets hope these new homes won't be capped over in another thirty years! Perhaps, the capped over areas are designed to be the garden plots of the future? If this is the case, and the infrastructure (mainly water) can still support these newer homes, might this become a more attractive area in the future?

I thought at first, what a waste of resource! To build something new among ruins!! However, isn't this the same kind of thinking that would "let go" whole neighborhoods (like the one next to Chene Street), to concentrate more effort and resource to the inner city of Detroit? Will these larger areas that are meadows now, better serve the city in the future, by not being occupied with new homes? See the connection here, only on a smaller scale? Perhaps, these ruins that surround the new cluster of homes will be "permitted" to fall and be capped over to better serve them in the future?

If this is the case, perhaps, in the not so distant future there will be little clusters of homes, surrounded by much more land of gardens and woods? That is, there will likely be no need to have rows of houses, block after block, if there isn't the population there to demand it. Perhaps, in this new arrangement these new homes will become more self sufficient? I would tend to think so, it's a lot easier supporting a family on a large plot of land than from a yard that was the size of a postage stamp, as was in the past...

So in view of this, I think, that catabolic collapse is an on going process, that certain neighborhoods are in different stages. Some in serious decline, some on the up bound partial recovery, and in the whole reflecting an "overlapping". A city that will see partial recovery, more deeper decline, on and on, in our foreseeable future.

http://www.depression2.tv/d2/node/118

The Magic Bus

This bus caught my eye and was pictured in the far background on one of the photographs on the last post. Lets go for a ride! I just had to loop around driving through the next block to get a closer look. On the trip around, we came by what looked like the ruins of an old apartment building. The catabolic process suggests, if resource depletion continues, all capitol (such as this building) will become waste.

On another tread, entropy was being discussed. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/therm/entrop.html Notice how the bricks are strewed across the lot? This would suggest that this is a very different time as when those bricks were neatly stacked making what was perhaps a beautiful building in it's day. Those bricks just didn't fall in the reverse order that they were laid, but "unraveled" (thanks Mrs. M!) in such a way, that perhaps years from now, may become indistinguishable to what their former use might have been. Do you think, that many of the building blocks that form our society today, may see the same kind of fate?

Back to the magic bus, what about the values we have today? Do you think that many of the same values that we regard as "wealth" today, will mean anything at all, on the other side, if there is to be one? I certainly have my doubts...

What do you think the artist had in mind, painting the bus in such a way? It appears to me, that all those poka dots are arranged in order to form the background of the message GOD+WAR. Do you think that through entropy, when all those dots that form our society today will be scattered about to form the society of tomorrow, could still support the value that might be, suggested here?

http://www.detroitblog.org/?p=542

Across town, twenty years later

Ok, lets leave the neighborhood that we've been focusing on and go across town to Chene St., just down the road from where the gun shop is located that was featured on the last post from detroitblog (I'll list it again). The above picture shows this "overlapping" that Far was talking about. Twenty years ago, this neighborhood did not look all that different than the neighborhood we've been focusing on. Back then, there were many more businesses and homes in this area some abandoned, some not. This area was "permitted" to fall, it fell so far into decay there were few attempts being made to try to restore it, in a way...

Lets really take a close look at the picture above, notice the "openness"? This is where businesses lined the edge of the street and behind them, homes. Notice the piles of "fill" or earth that have been dumped there? This was a very common practice back then as it appears is today. When buildings fall much of it goes into the basement (if there was one) and with this "fill" would be "capped over" making the appearance of the lot never lived on...

I was just shocked to see how much this part of town had changed! It was the first time that I've visited the area, since my leaving Detroit over twenty years ago. I had the feeling that this part had gotten much more "tamer" than what it was back then. Maybe that was because, there were a lot fewer people that could be seen in the area now, than before.


(click to get a larger image)

Even along the "business strip" almost nobody. There were very, very few businesses that appeared open, most either boarded up or gates and bars drawn for good. Oh, I remember the gates and bars, twenty years ago, but many of the businesses were open and the sidewalks had people on them. Truly, a modern day ghost town.

I can very well remember driving through this part of town with the owner/contractor that I worked for, "looking for a hole" or a place to unload the dump trucks that would be coming loaded with fill. I can remember almost pleading to this man, can't anything be done to stop the decay? The owner replied, "We're doing it, we're gonna bury it."

Never did I imagine at the time that capping over one or two lots between homes would become vast areas of fields and meadows, as those homes fell over the years. I suppose I should have, as sometimes burying the past can provide a new opportunity in the future, at least that was the intent...

http://www.detroitblog.org/?p=558

http://www.detroitblog.org/?p=405

A higher education? "Street Wise, 101"

The building above, is directly across the road from the high school pictured below, one can see part of the metal post on the far bottom right to confirm this. Can anyone imagine this? What happened to the culture here? I suppose, if one were to ask 100 people, that you'd likely get 100 different responses. There were two men that were approaching me while I was photographing the school and this building outside the vehicle. "Hey! What are you doing there?!" one man screamed about 50 yards away. I turned to quickly bolt for the vehicle, as these men were now approaching towards me very quickly and again I heard, "What are you doing?!!"

I got into the vehicle and speed away, the rest of the entire photo shoot was conducted inside the vehicle and for good reason. I want to make it very clear, that this neighborhood and all others that I'm about to show, are very dangerous and filled with dangerous people. Some of these people have nothing to loose and perhaps a trip to jail, is better than the life they have now? I suspect, that many of the homeless people that are roaming the streets of Detroit today, would rather not risk confrontations such as the one I experienced, looking for a place to squat. Not twenty years ago, not today and likely not tomorrow, either. As for those that have lost their homes recently, perhaps the water, gas, and electric had been shut off? Perhaps, even before they actually left the home, the utilities have been shut off (could not be maintained) and they were then forced to leave the premises? If people are expected to stay in their homes, isn't it reasonable that the utilities not be shut off and other "maintenance" be made, in making the home livable? What about the maintenance of the people, themselves? Where would the money be generated to make such a notion possible? Catabolic collapse, is not a pleasant concept to contemplate... Isn't this what catabolic collapse is all about, the attempt to maintain the unmaintainable, until all resource is gone?

"greenstatistician" asked a question that I've asked at least 100 people that have lived in Detroit their entire lives, "When did Detroit start to fall?" That is assuming that, indeed there was a time when the society stopped "progressing" upwards and started proceeding downwards or declining... I think that perhaps shortly after my visit to see Santa at Sears, this may have come about. Most people, that I've talked to, think the riots that Detroit experienced during 1967, was the turning point. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_Street_Riot So might have Detroit experienced 40 years worth of Catabolic Collapse, already? I'm going to strongly suggest, it has.

It seems to me, that every time that I visit Detroit, it seems to have slipped further and further into decay... Sure there have been periods of recovery and I've witnessed this too, but these were only partial and could never again reach the heights experienced perhaps a decade before it. The pattern of decline is also the same, always reaching new lows. The neighborhood that I've been focusing on wasn't this bad 20 years ago! Furthermore, I'll be so bold to suggest it wasn't a "bad neighborhood" to live in 30 years ago. No, sir! I would not have thought twice about driving the main streets here 30 years ago. Now, here I was catching myself not spending "too much time" in one particular area in the neighborhood and moving on to another, was perhaps the way to go. There were very few vehicles on the streets and some of those vehicles looked like they came out of a "Mad Max" movie. One that passed by didn't even have a windshield in it! "Back then" the houses and yards were neat, orderly, and many of the driveways had Cadillacs on them............. I cannot tell you, how jolted and sad it was coming away from this experience...

http://www.detroitblog.org/?p=558

What the Hell is going on here?

This photo was taken just down the street from the where the yellow van sat. It's a damn good thing that Mayor Young is not around today to see this site! This would have been enough to make his blood boil, as he despised using resources in such a wasteful matter... "What the @#%*&#$!!! hell, is going on here? %#&^%#$@!!! One was very wise not to shy or sleek away from such a rant, as this infuriated the man even more...

Let's really look at this picture, as this describes a society deep into catabolic collapse. Surely, the new pavement of the approach to the nonexistent driveway, that would lead to the nonexistent house, is a waste. That nonexistent house today, probably looked like the two at the other end of the block, not all that long ago? I wonder how long it will take when it is very likely that those two abandoned house's lots will look like the lot were viewing in this picture?

When resources become so depleted, that production falls short of the level needed to maintain the capitol stocks or homes/driveways, those homes/driveways eventually become waste. Not only is this very evident in the picture, but if that new blacktop was made from old existing blacktop that was salvaged, that too became a waste in an effort to try to maintain the unmaintainable.

During the photo shoot, I was just appalled at how much resource went into a feeble effort in making the "face lift", in areas so far into decay. That this would soon become not only a waste of time and resource, but could impede an effort on a project that would be more sustainable? Some project, that could be maintained in the foreseeable future?

I'm going to strongly suggest that Mayor Young, knew the catabolic process only too well. Certain neighborhoods were "permitted" to fall under his watch and that the dwindling resource base, was put forth on efforts to projects that could be maintained in the longer run. This is the "vision" that he had, that I was referring to earlier, that is so obviously lacking today in Detroit....

http://www.detroitblog.org/?p=519

Detroit, A World Class City

Detroit's crown jewel, the Renaissance Center, or "RenCen", I spent my wedding night there in the wedding suite, back in 1980. I've had many of fine meals at "Coach Insignia" the rooftop restaurant, while gazing down upon the city. That seems almost like a lifetime ago....








Hmmm, where to start? I want to make this as personal as I can, my relationship to this once great city. I suppose, I'll start with some very fond memories and experiences that I had as a child. On a couple of occasions my mother and the next door neighbor took their broods to see Santa Claus, at the Hudson Building, "downtown" on the bus. This was no ordinary experience that you'd see at the local mall, no it was much more than that, it was "Santa Land". I can remember passing through three full floors, the lighting was rather dim but not quite dark, of snowy cotton spread out on the floor and with sparkles that would shine of every color that laid softly upon the snow. Life like wildlife figurines were scattered about amongst a pond with skaters, hills with sledders and scenes of Christmas at the farm. It was almost like following the yellow brick road of "The wizard of Oz" and at the end was a jolly old Santa, where a boy of five could whisper the dream of having a horse in the old man's ear.... Never again, would I see such "splendor" as it was long ago that the store had closed.





Other former popular attractions of downtown, was the ferry ride over to Bob-Lo Island where there was an amusement park and small zoo that featured seals, penguins and walruses in a water park equipped with slides and pools... Trips down to Michigan and Trumbull, brought the excitement of Tiger baseball.





The Detroit Zoo is still a popular destination but now is threatened of being closed, features 125 acres of naturalistic habitat in near by Royal Oak. Even the Henry Ford Museum, at nearby Dearborn, has lost a lot of it's luster of the "hay days" before the city lost half of its population......




My family moved, "Up North" back to the "family farm" just before the riots of 1967. I can well remember my father stating, "Glad, we got the hell out of there, just in a nick of time!" I did get my wish of getting that horse, guess that Santa Claus guy, was able to drop off one further up north, before he ran out...while coming to the city.





In, the late seventies, I moved back to the Detroit area to work construction, as an heavy equipment operator. There were times when the asphalt paving company who I was working for, had jobs in the inner city constructing fast food restaurants, loading docks, factory roadways and such. It was ALWAYS the practice to haul the machinery back to the yard everyday while completing projects within the Detroit city limits... As theft and destruction of equipment was common... It wasn't long, before the economy tanked and I found myself working elsewhere, along with thousands of others.





It wasn't until 1984 when I found myself back again in Detroit. The city was just beginning to pull out of the recession of the time and the Detroit Tigers baseball team was on the way to the World Series. It was almost as if the city became alive once again! Very upbeat and the construction "boom" was on. I cannot understate the pride and enthusiasm found in making this city "great" again... The Detroit Grand Prix and the Detroit River boat races, were also considered, "World Class" entertainment.



I found employment as a foreman/operator for one of the largest minority contractors in the city. Here, I started work at Chene Park, the pride and joy of the city at the time and also doing work within the low income projects around the inner city. Working at the park was almost a reward for under taking the jobs at "the projects". However, there was an "overseer" at the park that demanded attention, that could have been another reason...





It was at the park that I came to meet Mayor Coleman Young. While being prepped for this event, I was told to never cross this man and to do EXACTLY what he told me to do, to the letter, whether it was "our" job or not... One should not speak of Detroit without mentioning this great man's name. He was the mayor of Detroit spanning from 1974 to 1993, 5 consecutive terms for a total of 20 years. He ruled Detroit with an "iron fist" and it was his vision of the city, that carried it through the rebounds or "partial recoveries" of the era. It was his character and charisma, that made it so! He "willed" it, anyone who disputes this, didn't know the man... Mayor Young, was not an easy man to please, there would be many, many times I would do a job over and over again, until it met his satisfaction. Not only at the park, but Cadillac Square and "the projects", he was personally involved in them all (and didn't seem to mind if he got his feet dirty doing it). He did get to know me on the first name basis, for me addressing him it was always Sir, or Mayor Young... I can't say, that I knew this man well, because I didn't. However, I learned a lot from him just by the way he walked around. This man walked, like he had an invisible shield around him and that nothing could touch him. I cannot say if I've ever met a man more admirable, maybe not respectful. He had his worries, and it was on more than one occasion, I'd seen him, lash out.



I think, in retrospect his vulgarness, stemmed from his vision of the future for the city, once he left, that it'd "fall apart". I even went to the extent to switch jobs, so I could help complete the work at the park as well at the projects. Detroit, is a "hard" city, and what is so apparent to me anyway, it lacks this kind of "hard" man to manage over it today... Mayor Coleman Young was a "World Class" man.