Breaking it Down

How many people were up bright and early this New Years morning, trying to discover ways to bring the world back into balance.

The general theme of the emails that I received was that between 2001-2007, the world had gone to hell in a handbasket. All values and morals had been thrown out.

So would 2008 be Business As Usual (BAU) or could we - those of us not stomping around the snowy fields of rural Iowa talking to voters - take personal responsibility for creating the world we want to live in?

Here’s a draft of my thinking sent to a friend by email, that describes one pathway we could follow in 2008. It just might help us move away from BAU and back into balance. It also draws upon late night conversations with What’s Working founder David Johnston, winner of the first International Sustainability Pioneer Award.

Before the BALL dropped in New York’s Time Square (on TV), David and I sat in a corner at a party, and talked about how rapid change could occur. It’s not with a Carbon Tax,  David believes, because changing Internal Revenue tax laws is near to impossible. A person could spend years, or a lifetime, trying to make it happen.

David thinks the key to a rapid transition is relocalization. Make everything happen at the local level. I agree. Here’s my take on it.

First, I think a key to the transition to a sustainable world is to make it easy, in many different ways, for the public to understand the impact each action makes on the environment. Entrepreneurs can find ways to give us hand-held, point-of-purchase calculators (or reminders) so we can all become smarter, quicker.

The shift to organic foods offers a model to consider. Could we ever go back to the foods we ate in the ’60s? I think not.

Then look for entrepreneurs who are willing to franchise everything down to the local level so that all new sources of solar/renewable energy and conservation happens at the community level. Keep as many dollars as possible spent at the local level to strengthen and sustain the local community.

Don’t spend karma working on tax law. Instead focus on breaking everything down into its smallest component. Nanotech everything! Make everything very local. Make it personal. Make the clothes we wear on our back keep us warm or cool without the need for air conditioning. Open windows with our own hands … no mechanical devices needed. Turn off lights with the flick of a finger. Take personal responsibility for each action.

Corporate power thrives on consolidation. So break it down. Keep breaking it down; so that the shift will seem to happen “overnight” without a fight.