Albert Bates
Encyclopedia
Albert Bates is an influential figure in the intentional community
and ecovillage
movements. A lawyer
, author
and teacher
, he has been director of the Institute for Appropriate Technology since 1984 and of the Ecovillage Training Center
at The Farm
in Summertown, Tennessee
since 1994.
Bates has been a resident of The Farm since 1972. A former attorney, he argued environmental and civil rights
cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and drafted a number of legislative Acts during a 26-year legal career. The holder of a number of design patents, Bates invented the concentrating photovoltaic arrays and solar-powered
automobile displayed at the 1982 World's Fair
. He served on the steering committee of Plenty International
for 18 years, focussing on relief and development work with indigenous peoples
, human rights
and the environment
. An emergency medical technician
(EMT), he was a founding member of The Farm Ambulance Service. He was also a licensed Amateur Radio operator.
Bates has played a major role in the ecovillage movement as one of the organizers of the Global Ecovillage Network
(GEN), and served as GEN's chairman of the board (from 2002 to 2003) and president (from 2003 to 2004). He was also the principal organizer of the Ecovillage Network of the Americas and served as its president (from 1996 to 2003). In 1994 he founded the Ecovillage Training Center, a "whole systems immersion experience of ecovillage living." He has taught courses in sustainable design, natural building
, permaculture
and technologies of the future to students from more than 50 nations.
In 1980, Bates shared in the first Right Livelihood Award
(also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize) as part of the executive board of Plenty International.
The Post-petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook: Recipes for Changing Times, was published in 2006. In it Bates examines the transition from a society based on abundant cheap petroleum to one of "compelled conservation." The book looks at the ways of preparing for this transition. He regards the coming change as an opportunity to "redeem our essential interconnectedness with nature and with each other."
In his introduction, Bates outlines the realities of declining fossil energy and global climate change
. He puts forward a "twelve step petrochemical recovery program," from post-growth economics through methods to conserve fresh water, manage wastes, generate energy, produce and store food, and travel without the aid of fossil fuels. As a review by Ryan McGreal states: "The central message in this book is sustainability
and permaculture
. A recurring theme is that every waste product is something else's food, and that the most sustainable arrangement works with the prevailing conditions, not against them." McGreal summarizes Bates' proposals for human adaptation as follows:
The Biochar Solution: Carbon Farming and Climate Change, was published in 2010. In it Bates traces the evolution of carbon-enriching agriculture from the ancient black soils of the Amazon to its reappearance as a modern climate restoration strategy.
In The Biochar Solution, Bates repeats the urgency of declining fossil energy, especially in the context of chemical and energy-intensive progressive agriculture and global climate change
. He proposes a carbon-oriented agricultural revolution that could double world food supplies while simultaneously building soil fertility and lowering atmospheric and oceanic concentrations of carbon. Bates suggests that, if sourced cautiously, biochar energy systems could eliminate fossil fuel dependency, bring new life to desertified landscapes, purify drinking water, and build carbon-negative homes, communities and economies. Peter Bane, the editor of Permaculture
Activist, describes Bates' talents in this way:
Intentional community
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
and ecovillage
Ecovillage
Ecovillages are intentional communities with the goal of becoming more socially, economically and ecologically sustainable. Some aim for a population of 50–150 individuals. Larger ecovillages of up to 2,000 individuals exist as networks of smaller subcommunities to create an ecovillage model that...
movements. A lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
, he has been director of the Institute for Appropriate Technology since 1984 and of the Ecovillage Training Center
Ecovillage Training Center
The Ecovillage Training Center is a "total immersion school" for sustainability. It is located at The Farm, an intentional community/ecovillage in Summertown, Tennessee, USA. The curricula of the center are "holistic and comprehensivist" and foster hands-on learning.Albert Bates, a long-time...
at The Farm
The Farm (Tennessee)
The Farm is an intentional community in Lewis County, Tennessee, near the town of Summertown, Tennessee, based on principles of nonviolence and respect for the Earth. It was founded in 1971 by Stephen Gaskin and 320 San Francisco hippies; The Farm is well known amongst hippies and other members of...
in Summertown, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
since 1994.
Bates has been a resident of The Farm since 1972. A former attorney, he argued environmental and civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and drafted a number of legislative Acts during a 26-year legal career. The holder of a number of design patents, Bates invented the concentrating photovoltaic arrays and solar-powered
Solar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
automobile displayed at the 1982 World's Fair
1982 World's Fair
The 1982 World's Fair, formally known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the United States. The theme of the exposition was "Energy Turns the World."...
. He served on the steering committee of Plenty International
Plenty International
Plenty International is an environmental, humanitarian aid and human rights organization based in Summertown, Tennessee, USA.-Background:In 1974, Stephen Gaskin and The Farm, an intentional community, started an outreach program called Plenty...
for 18 years, focussing on relief and development work with indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
, human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
. An emergency medical technician
Emergency medical technician
Emergency Medical Technician or Ambulance Technician are terms used in some countries to denote a healthcare provider of emergency medical services...
(EMT), he was a founding member of The Farm Ambulance Service. He was also a licensed Amateur Radio operator.
Bates has played a major role in the ecovillage movement as one of the organizers of the Global Ecovillage Network
Global Ecovillage Network
The Global Ecovillage Network is a global association of people and communities dedicated to living "sustainable plus" lives by restoring the land and adding more to the environment than is taken...
(GEN), and served as GEN's chairman of the board (from 2002 to 2003) and president (from 2003 to 2004). He was also the principal organizer of the Ecovillage Network of the Americas and served as its president (from 1996 to 2003). In 1994 he founded the Ecovillage Training Center, a "whole systems immersion experience of ecovillage living." He has taught courses in sustainable design, natural building
Natural building
A natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renewable resources, as well as those that, while...
, permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
and technologies of the future to students from more than 50 nations.
In 1980, Bates shared in the first Right Livelihood Award
Right Livelihood Award
The Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize", is a prestigious international award to honour those "working on practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today". The prize was established in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, and is...
(also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize) as part of the executive board of Plenty International.
Published works
Bates is author of many books on law, energy, history and environment, including:- Climate in Crisis (1990),
- Voices from The Farm (1998) with Rupert Fike
- The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook (2006)
- The Biochar Solution (2010)
The Post-petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook: Recipes for Changing Times, was published in 2006. In it Bates examines the transition from a society based on abundant cheap petroleum to one of "compelled conservation." The book looks at the ways of preparing for this transition. He regards the coming change as an opportunity to "redeem our essential interconnectedness with nature and with each other."
In his introduction, Bates outlines the realities of declining fossil energy and global climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
. He puts forward a "twelve step petrochemical recovery program," from post-growth economics through methods to conserve fresh water, manage wastes, generate energy, produce and store food, and travel without the aid of fossil fuels. As a review by Ryan McGreal states: "The central message in this book is sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
and permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
. A recurring theme is that every waste product is something else's food, and that the most sustainable arrangement works with the prevailing conditions, not against them." McGreal summarizes Bates' proposals for human adaptation as follows:
- "Instead of wasting energy trying to fight nature, it makes more sense to understand nature and use it to your mutual benefit. This, of course, means the end of one-size-fits-all industrial solutions and a return to decentralized, idiosyncratic plans based on local conditions."
The Biochar Solution: Carbon Farming and Climate Change, was published in 2010. In it Bates traces the evolution of carbon-enriching agriculture from the ancient black soils of the Amazon to its reappearance as a modern climate restoration strategy.
In The Biochar Solution, Bates repeats the urgency of declining fossil energy, especially in the context of chemical and energy-intensive progressive agriculture and global climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
. He proposes a carbon-oriented agricultural revolution that could double world food supplies while simultaneously building soil fertility and lowering atmospheric and oceanic concentrations of carbon. Bates suggests that, if sourced cautiously, biochar energy systems could eliminate fossil fuel dependency, bring new life to desertified landscapes, purify drinking water, and build carbon-negative homes, communities and economies. Peter Bane, the editor of Permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
Activist, describes Bates' talents in this way:
- "If there is a smart, multi-functional, low-cost, democratic strategy that can help to pull carbon out of the atmosphere, it's probably in this book: chinampas, step-harvest planting of trees (with six times the carbon density per acre), harnessing youth to the task, agroforestry, greening the desert, uneven-aged forest management, carbon farming, the soil food web, and more. Each of these gets a relatively brief, punchy, and fairly technical description. Bates is a good and stylish writer; he has an ear for the pithy phrase, and reading him is generally a pleasure. This book, based on original scholarship, vast knowledge of a rapidly changing global field, and the arcana of many loosely linked disciplines brings the skills and interests of its polymath author together for a supremely important purpose."
External links
- Where's the reset button? Culture Change, March, 2008. Accessed: 2008-03-20.
- The Curse of the Were-Rabbit as a Post-Apocalyptic Utopia Transition Culture, Feb, 2006. Accessed: 2006-06-11.
- Dreaming A Sustainable Environment The Bridging Tree, Summer 2002. Accessed: 2006-06-11.
- Technological Innovations in a Rural Intentional Community The Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, 1987. Accessed: 2006-06-11.
- When Architectural Design Fosters Community Goals: The Oneida Mansion House Communities Magazine, Summer 1997. Accessed: 2006-06-11.
- The Karma of Kerma: Nuclear Power and Natural Rights Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation, Univ. of Oregon School of Law Vol 9, Page 3 February 1988. Online version accessed: 2006-06-11.
- The Gospel of Chief Seattle: Written for Television Natural Rights, Spring 1990. Online version accessed: 2006-06-11.
- Showtime in Waco Communities Magazine, Summer 1995. Online version accessed: 2006-06-11.
- Contemplating Megadeaths: Cultural Memory and Cataclysmic Events The Permaculture Activist, Summer 2003. Online version accessed: 2006-06-11.