Conclusion

The ZEST Hive Project commenced as an exercise in minimum design for use in the Third World that does “MORE with LESS”. The burning of fossil fuels, upon which the first world’s standard of living is predicated, has never established itself securely in the Third World. We are now standing on the brink of the biggest discontinuity in human history in the developed world as fossil energy resources run out. Civilisation may never recover. There can be no second industrial revolution. Those who can see the future will ask that it not to come. We think that we will not suffer hardship, but our current wealth, health and ease in the First World is based on the burning of fossil fuels. In that respect the Third World is a glimpse of the future and lessons in extreme frugality can be predicted. Those who say that something will turn up to replace fossil fuel are wrong. To those who say that Governments will act, consider the record. To those who ask “Can a small group of dedicated individuals make a difference” G.K. Galbraith, when asked, replied that “It is the only way to do so”. Buckminster Fuller said that it will be done by design/science or not at all. Can we have a First World standard of living with Third World resources? Only with ingenuity using renewable energy can it be so. It is self-evident that food and energy security needs to be improved for a future when the benefits of fossil fuel become beyond the reach of ordinary people. This will lead to civil strife, for which we are poorly prepared. Security in food and energy can be ensured for the next generation and beyond by acting now to ensure the self sufficiency of small sustainable communities. This can be achieved while we still have the fossil fuel necessary to address the effects of its depletion. We must use our deposit (fossil) account to kick start our current (renewable) account, but this will only happen by driving events rather than be driven by them. There have been social movements such as The Diggers, The Levellers and The Tolpuddle Martyrs before that have been started by some harsh reality. Each movement at the time addressed the issue of the day which diminished freedom. Today’s issue of fossil energy demise needs ZEST Engineers to design the machinery inspired by a descending “deposit” energy account and to switch to an ascending “current” energy account. Today’s issue is to engineer a future not based on fossil fuels, but on their demise. This means social change that does not see the return of slavery, but a guarantee of freedom by working. It will mean a return to active citizenship rather than a dependency culture. Just saying it is so will not make it so. A bee colony is a perfect example of a renewable energy system. Honey has energy that can be measured in calorific value. Unlike the compact energy in fossil fuels this energy is widely distributed in the flowers of plants and trees, which rely on the sun. This dispersed energy is made compact when it is assembled into the hive by the bees. More honey energy is gained by the bees than is expended in gaining it. While the sun continues to shine we will have this renewable energy source. Kahlil Gibran in his book “The Prophet” said it differently Go to your fields and gardens and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower, But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee. For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life, And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love. Fossil fuel is a hard act to follow and its presence fleeting. Renewable energy alone cannot replace the energy in fossil fuel. Slavery may return. The success of Wilberforce’s campaign in Parliament against slavery was believed to be due to religious commitment and the finally triumphant goodness of man, but it was the industrial revolution that freed the slaves. Slavery was no longer economical in the face of steam power. The demise of fossil energy is as certain as death and taxes. With fossil fuel, globalisation prevails, with its enslavement of the non-unionised masses in a competitive downward global market. The prospect of “No free trade without free unions” is remote in sovereign states in a global market. If democracy ever looked like changing this it will be made unlawful. Without fossil fuel, self-sufficiency and real democracy will have to replace it. If it does not it will be the AK 47. We have a false democracy in which the richest call the tune by paying donations to their favoured political friends who then reward them handsomely for their largesse. True democracy will only prevail if politicians were given state money for every vote cast in their favour. The ZEST hive is a design for a democratic future. Anyone can have one. It is cheap, appropriate and amenable to a more self-sufficient way of life. ZEST is a living sustainable system, not a product. No one owns it. It is free. Take it. Use it. Have fun and remember: There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries, On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves Or lose our ventures William Shakespeare  

 

 

 

 

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