Society

Bathtubs: A theory of community relations

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Let us imagine that you are MacGyver, that 1980s tv guy who can build an atomic bomb out of gum and duct tape. You are facing a world-shattering crisis. You have a pile of scrap materials out of which you must build a high speed vehicle to effect your escape from this crisis, which will certainly involve you outracing a dramatic explosion. There are wheels, gears, sticks and the all-important duct tape. There’s also a big claw-footed bathtub. Now, when your need is for lightness and speed, do you attach the bathtub, just because you’ve got one lying around?

Innovation of the Week: Community seed banks to empower women and protect biodiversity

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To protect the local biodiversity and preserve traditional seeds, the GREEN Foundation, in partnership with other NGOs, including the Seed Saver’s Network and The Development Fund, has created community seeds banks throughout the state of Karnataka, India. All villagers can become a member of a community seed bank by paying an annual nominal fee. Members, who receive seeds free of cost, sow the seeds, harvest the crop and return double the amount of seeds to the bank. To maintain purity of the seeds, farmers must follow rules – such as no chemical fertilizers and pesticides – when growing their crops.

Excerpts on education

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The development and implementation of K-12 concentration camps is not part of some giant conspiracy. Rather, it is the outcome of the way our educational system was created. Most of the people who originally developed the system believed they were doing the right thing, and they did not try to hide their plans or intentions. It was completely consistent with the perspective, derived from religious organizations, that the domination, cohesion, and vitality of society were inversely related to individualism; permitting free inquiry and action were anathema to control by religious societies and also by corporate society.

Alternatives to nihilism, part 1: a dog named Boo

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One of the least discussed and most fascinating features of the present day is that the strategies that got the world through the energy crisis of the Seventies are being pointedly ignored, not only by governments and corporations but by a great many of the people who claim to be offering alternative views. The obvious and successful response then — rallying the collective will and enthusiasm of the people by ‘fessing up to the arrival of crisis, and using that will and enthusiasm to slash energy consumption — has been all but erased from our collective imagination and memory. Maybe it’s time to take a hard look at how that erasure happened.

Happiness movement hits the UK

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A new global movement for happiness was launched Tuesday in the UK. Action for Happiness is supported by more than 4,500 members including the Dalai Lama. Based on the new science of happiness, the movement suggests that the keys to happier living lie in actions such as Giving, Relating and Accepting.

Media coverage has been extensive:
– 20 Happiness Facts
– Don’t worry, every little thing’s gonna be all right
– Switch off, chip in, be happy, say activists
– My advice for the happiness lobby? Start with drugs
– Britons becoming ‘increasingly miserable’, warns happiness group
– Happy evangelists take on the cynics
– It’s time the right looks beyond its prejudices and understands what this agenda is about

A soulful guide to society’s collapse

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Carolyn Baker’s newest book, Navigating the Coming Chaos: A Handbook for Inner Transition offers a rich spectrum of personal (and potentially group) exploration around the issues experienced as we face down the collapse of industrial civilization. But this cannot be hurried. And it cannot be the domain of any one particular spiritual point of view.

An infusion of commons thinking can transform the future of our communities

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Public process as it exists today is not a desirable commons-based, inclusive, creative, bottom-up assertion of ideas by the people—although that is what it pretends to be. It’s actually an expert-driven, one-way dissemination of ideas from the top.

Your bike – the coolest part of your disaster kit

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When hell breaks loose, a car is a very limited beast. It can carry a lot of stuff or multiple people, but your car is easy to put out of commission. Cars run out of gas; they break down. And cars can be blocked by debris, leaving you a long way to go on foot.

But what about bikes? You can get just about anywhere on a bike if you don’t mind lifting it over obstacles and weaving your way around the stalled traffic. Fast as a car on anything other than a clear highway, nimble as a pedestrian, a bicycle also gives you a long range.

Preparing together

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The other night, I had a neighborhood gathering to prepare for an earthquake. Usually, we get an expert to come from the city, but this time, we didn’t. We’d already had someone from the city a few months earlier, and, yes, she’d been very informative. But, essentially, we all just sat there, listened and went home. This time, we all talked and learned from each other and came away feeling more prepared.