Social constructs, service and interdependence, and serendipitous
beneficiaries
Our lives and livelihoods are interwoven with the ecosystems of the
planet we share. The security of our lives: of the foods which we produce and
eat; the waters flowing across the globe—sourcing the flow of flora and fauna;
the air we breathe, and lands we walk are daily burdened with the discards and
pollutants of unsustainable choices and behaviors.
Everywhere, one sees life striving, driven by nature to survive. Of 25
million species, or more, living on this planet, all can be named, and
interrelated, as Earthlings. One of these species, only one, is human—capable
of remembering and recording history, capable of choice and change… and yet we
stand at a cross-roads of our own creating. Can we, together, develop the good
governance and sense of individual responsibility and empowerment to ensure the
security of our own, and those myriad other lives, those millions of other
species, and of those voiceless and underserved among our human brethren, who
struggle for access to food, water, to light, and space for life? As depletion
of resources becomes measurable, as extinction of species looms ever more
inexorably, the social compacts which enable humans to co-exist, to hope for
life without war, to strive for the knowledge and freedom which inspire
creative solutions to economic, ethical/social, and environmental challenges,
must be re-defined.
In an interconnected, interdependent world, the mismatching of needs,
opportunities, competition and accountability is undermining the perceived
value of education, of labor markets which cannot absorb the vast pools of
skilled and unskilled labor, of social infrastructures which cannot maximize
the multifaceted resources of human capital, strength and creativity.
Inequality of access and value-of-outcome for individual and group efforts and
achievements leads too often to poverty, to gender-, ability- or
cultural/religious- based deprivation, to exclusion, crime, violence, larger
conflicts, and war.
Social infrastructures, regardless of climate, location, or resources,
depend upon the investment of participants, individually and as communities, to
endure. Poor outcomes which commence with access-based discrimination,
geographic exclusion-by-circumstance, or disparities in food, water, energy, or
habitat security become progressively imbalanced, diminishing productivity and
even viability across classes, and across earth-species and eco-systems. Clear
expectations of recompense-for-effort are reinforced by media and crowd
influences, yet equitable, durable opportunities for educational, economic,
environmental, energy and ethical (“universal” freedoms and rights) security
are ever increasingly threatened. At a time crucial to the development of human
responsibility and investment in a sustainable, interdependent world, poverty
of outcomes is impoverishing, endangering the future of our species, and
perhaps of all species, on this planet.
The concept of serendipitous beneficiaries, of responsible development
which considers the interconnectedness of humankind, of other earth species, of
limited-finite resources, global-renewable resources, and potential for
sustainability, is crucial to the “greening” of markets, services, human
occupations, and inter-species survival today. The challenge to progress
towards sustainability requires the creation of green corporations; green
recreation and tourism; secure-and-renewable energy; improved land and waste
management; improved security of food and water; elder-and-other inclusion
opportunities; educational, vocational, and rehabilitation programs which can
all be combined in integrated approaches to preserve resources and ensure
better lives for all sharing this Earth.
Three simple projects, scalable locally, but adaptable globally, could
combine to produce integrated opportunities to build infrastructure,
responsibility and accountability, and to improve environmental, energy,
educational, economic, and earth security. When people from all walks of life
become stakeholders in infrastructure building and sustaining green-living
projects, it becomes possible to preserve, and celebrate, those features of
culture, heritage, and environment which are unique to one space or region, and
those which are shared by all. It becomes possible to ameliorate those
challenges to nature, and of nature, which affect some, or all; it becomes
possible to redefine habits of excess to economies of need, care, and
serendipitous beneficiaries.
For example, trails connecting destinations predate man’s history;
today, networked, sustainable trails can still link real, and virtual,
destinations—and can address the competing needs of a modernizing,
interdependent world. Trails can be equipped with solar-valent, and
piezoelectric, or other energy-harnessing technologies to capture and supply
electrical power to local/national grid systems, and provide access, egress,
and energy to communities world-wide. Xeriscaped borders, hanging gardens, and
shade/sun food forestry along the trailways would diminish heat-bloom and soil
erosion, and increase healthy ecosystems available to pollinator- and
indigenous- species, and provide food for human loca-vore small-businesses.
Precipitation-capture and grey-water recycling along the trails could increase
water security. Appreciation of local environments, heritage, artistry and
culture could be shared not only through proximity of amenities to the trails,
but through various learning opportunities, and online games, which would
enable races, learning of local facts and lore, and message exchange between
trail-travelers in many, communication-linked/synced, locations.
Similarly, secondly, person-powered energy-grid contribution systems
could be installed to amass and donate sustainable/renewable power from
participants in airport, train and other transit zones, in play- and waiting-
areas, and, especially, in sports stadiums, where fans in stands (and,
eventually, fans in their own homes, with synced-in connectivity) can “vote
with their feet” and pedal/power to express support for their teams, corporate
groups, social or charitable organization, or brand-or-fan-based service or
group. Not only would this “wellness play” improve health, but person-powered
grid systems (and related learning tools, communication links, and games) can
provide inclusion and ownership of individual, family, community, regional or
national/international efforts to improve standards of living, and encourage
fun, win-win engagements which are environmentally sustainable, and age,
gender, ability, social, political, and culturally-inclusive.
Thirdly, every year, storms and floods devastate populations and
ecosystems world-wide. If, each year, in frigid, frozen-precipitate zones, snow
(and ice) could be collected (estimated to have fallen above calculated-average
amounts) into impermeable, re-usable containers. These containers would be
partially-submersible/float-able, inter-connectable, equipped with anchorage and
GPS tracking/locator devices, and stored above the freeze-lines in mountain and
perma-frost zones. Depleting melt-runoff would allow greater flexibility in
handling rainy-season water flows, mitigating seasonal down-stream flooding to
some extent. Further, when hurricanes or cyclones, or other massive storm
systems which feed on warm-water and warm-air currents threaten strategic,
economic, or heavily-populated areas, the frozen containers could be air-lifted
to storm-path locations, dropped-linked-and-anchored offshore to chill waters
enough to slow, stall, or divert a storm, lessening impact and huge tolls in
life, environment, and economy. At the completion of the weather event, the
containers could be brought to tertiary, drought-impacted location, and the
(now-melted) water off-loaded for potable- or irrigation- systems use, and
finally, returned to point-of-origin and stored for re-filling the next winter
season.
Myriad other projects, including clean oceans, clean skies, resources
and regions, exist at least in concept (or still wait to be conceived), which,
blended with the goals of serendipitous beneficiaries as a measure and
enhancement of social responsibility and sustainability, could add to the
flexibility and responsiveness of
infrastructures, education, and the performance, transparency, and accountability
of service, commercial, and industrial providers, and of each of us. In an
interdependent humanity, on an interdependent planet of limited resources, a
“green” approach which includes associated industries, services and ecosystems
as serendipitous providers and beneficiaries of planned output can result in
alleviation of “poor outcomes” for all strata of society, of species. Ensuring
the distribution of adequate, renewable water, food, energy, and habitat, as
well as inclusion and education/stewardship in our shared human/inter-species
environment and pool of resources can, and must, result in a raised quality of
sustainable, responsible lifestyles for humankind, and for our millions of
fellow earth-species.
also see:
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also see:
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2353112311275825684#editor/target=post;postID=2477056975246947355;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname
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