. . . before people start thinking about a Plan B?
What happens when the house of cards that is the world’s financial system finally collapses in a tangled heap of broken promises, worthless institutions, and clueless leaders? Where is Plan B?
The objective of the Whole Earth Design Project is to produce Plan B. The strategy will be to authoritatively demonstrate that, with an abundance of natural and human resources combined with our scientific and technological expertise, there is enough for everyone, thereby undercutting scarcity as the justification for competition as the appropriate driver of social interactions.
Now that we have seen what widespread misery and chaos competition has produced, it’s time to begin thinking about the kind of world cooperation can produce. Collectively, we know enough about the physical, chemical, biological, and electromagnetic forces operating on this planet that we can easily provide universal access to all of life’s essentials, that an all-hands worldwide emergency effort could bring the planet’s entire population up to a humane and sustainable standard of living in a few short years, and that the maintenance of that standard would require as little as the equivalent of a day a week from each of us as our individual contribution to the smooth functioning of the newly designed economic system. Thereafter, for many, adjusting to a life of leisure and liberty could prove to be the bigger challenge.
Right now we are searching for volunteer information gatherers and researchers. We will be forming ten workgroups to study ten of life’s essentials: air, water, food, clothing, and shelter, as well as access to communication, information, transportation, health care, and energy. Anyone who can volunteer some time, resources, or special expertise is invited to get in touch. Go to info@thecoalescence.net and send us your name, where you are, how you believe you can help, and which of the ten essentials is of greatest interest to you.
Meanwhile, it is your help in spreading the word about this unique effort that will enable us to find those persons who may be willing and able to speed the process along.
Building a smarter planet starts with: Connection like Prof Herman Wijffels from the Sustainable finance lab in Utrecht the Netherlands said:
Striving for sustainability is in its essence striving for a better and higher quality of relations and connections; in relations between people and between people and the earth, and other life forms.
Prof. Herman Wijffels
Next we need Collaboration to build a society 3.0!
A sharing economy a circular economy!
Lester Brown, John Elkington, Hunter Lovins Gil Friend many thought leaders have created a PLAN B! Plan B is not the problem! The CURRENT Political system is the problem! Money is the ROOT of all Politics! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=526161604101955&set=a.455871807797602.124034.455860594465390&type=1&theater
Thank you for making a Difference! Its all about combining our efforts! Don’t worry about PLAN B worry about how to CHANGE the current FU system!
Academic comments on ‘How bad things have to get’
By Frank Owarish
We have to balance idealism with realism. For many people in the US things are not so bad; for some the situation is even very good albeit ‘the best of times’; for those who have lost their jobs and their houses, it is ‘the worst of times’. I believe that we cannot wipe out what we have to a clean slate and start anew completely. Of course the leaders, both public and private, can and should harder try to make things better and avoid working at cross purposes or just leave things alone following the dictates of Adam Smith.
Coalescence can be good or bad. Look, our financial system has coalesced into one (almost) and when things went wrong, shock waves went throughout the system. It is no surprise that the BRICS are now setting up their own financial system coalescing around the purposes of BRICS.
The Nordic countries have done fair amount of experimenting and they seem to be doing well balancing diverging interests. The Economist called it ‘The next supermodel’ and provided an in depth analysis of why the world should look at the Nordic Countries (February 2-8 2013 issue). The same issue also points out the success story of Peru’s roaring economy. On the other side of the world, we know that Singapore and the ASEAN countries have been doing their own experimenting quite successfully particularly when compared to that of the EU with new drama unfolding time and again; Cyprus is now in the cross hair.
About the environment
Since the 1970’s member states of the UN have been coalescing in various endeavors to try to understand the environmental issues and take necessary action. The picture is much clearer than it has ever been. Some actions have been taken such as reducing the CO2 emission of automobiles and ensuring that our water is as clean as could be as well as the quality of air. However, economic competition practically forces nations to keep in engaging in activities which are nefarious to the environment. Climate change is today a big issue when we see extremes taking place. Polar caps are melting lie crazy. It may be in some ways difficult to reverse the course of things in that domain since deforestation has also been taking place, again as a matter of economic necessity. One of these days we are likely to see large areas of earth submerged under water with new Atlantis’s developing. It is interesting to note that Hilo provides a good experience; it got hit by tsunamis with vast devastation; what Hilo has done is to have a park by the water front, no more houses which have been rebuilt far away from the water front and increasingly on higher grounds. On the other hand, you have a volcano with a mind of its own from time to time claiming what it likes with towns and villages disappearing; new ones appear and life goes on.
Thoughtfully, Frank Owarish
Walter Szykitka has the merit of challenging us to think our way forward as compared to simply muddling through. Philosophical comments are thus warranted:
Philosophically
We have watched the demise of socialism and the triumph of capitalism which is spanning the whole world in 150 shades of gray and despite all its faults capitalism is still the best way to go; the Nordic countries do have a practical blend of capitalism and socialism which is working. It is hard to imagine any country going back to communism. In capitalism, the business cycle is a fact of life with the good years alternating with the bad years and efforts are made to temper the bad years. Walter Szykitka’s analysis compelled me to revisit pessimism, negativism, optimism, relativism, authoritarianism, egalitarianism, collectivism and utilitarianism and to dust up Kant, Kafka, Marx, Engels and Spengler. The bottom line is whether it is possible to sway the world a la Jean Jacques Rousseau albeit preach rationalism; any attempt to revolutionize the world through intellectualism is a tall order but is not mission impossible. Perhaps balancing idealism and realism through pragmatism may be a way out.
Seven years later, after this topic initiated, things have gotten a lot worse. I think we have passed the threshold of survivability and resilience. Forest fires in Norway last year and in Siberia this year above the latitudes of 67.5 degrees North. Summer temperatures above 100 degrees F in Alaska last summer and in Siberia this year. The tundras are thawing, releasing methane from methane hydrates and submarine continental shelves. As the Oceans and Seas warm the water expands and diminishes pressure on the sea bottoms and methane is realsing from temperate continental shelves. Methane, in the first 20 years after release, is way more effective as a greenhouse gas (GHG) than carbon dioxide. Homo spaiens sapiens have initiated a vicious cycle of GHGs and the capitalists and the GOP in the U.S. are salivating about going north to further rape and pillage this planet and worsen the atmosphere and environment. There are going to be a lot of climate refugees seeking higher and drier places to live. Estimate of 40% to 70% o the planets human live within 100 km (62 miles) of an oceanic or a sea body coast. When you consider estuarial waters and with a current population of 7.7 billion, that’s a lot of people who will be refugees. Take 55% as the median it would be over 4 billion people, and the other land-based fauna, seeking higher ground.