Population, transportation, food and water supply, shelter, health care, protection from violence, human interaction and relationships and the protection and regulation of common space; these are the main issues a civilization or community faces no matter what the size or kind.
First and foremost we most recognize we are a community. This involves morals, rules or laws that regard selfishness that puts others needs ahead of your wants as counter productive to everyone’s well being.
It also involves not allowing intolerant/racist/ethnocentric people who do not respect diversity to be able to hurt the community.
Population:
It is hypocritical that we know that too many of one species in an ecosystem will not only destroy that species but possibly the whole ecosystem yet often many think we as humans are excluded.
It is not any one cultures fault. We have the right to replace ourselves and to the joys of family, yet if we decide to have more than two children we should be conscious of the burden it puts on all people no matter how noble those children become. The burden to, or destruction of, our drinkable water, food supply, quality of life, privacy, remaining wild places and forest. Not to mention the sacrifices that need to be made on our communities and common space to accommodate extra humans in a world that is taxed with this burden already.
We can no longer put common sense and need in front of the wants of the cultures and religions that advocate violence and intolerance. We need to consider all peoples religions and cultures as sacred no matter how small and find a balance within their needs and wants. With exception to any who force others to their ways, protecting their potential victims from harm if they call for sanctuary.
For example, in a capitalist system we could tax a progressively higher percentage to those who have more than two children (not including “natural” multiple births) rewarding with breaks those who adopt. The money could go to efforts to feed the hungry, for sustainable housing, libraries, free mass transit and repairing damage done to the earth in the name of “progress” which all too often seems to mean “the things we do, we know we shouldn’t because of over population.” We have the right to as many children as we want, not the right to stick our world and communities with the burden.
Transportation:
The automobile limits the mobility of the elderly, the poor, most of the disabled, and people trying to be good members of their communities by activities such as bicycling and walking. It limits safe places for those same people as well as our children who can not play outside in most places for fear of being hit by a car. It is a dangerous mode of transportation killing and maiming people at random. Its fuel is the cause of war, dirty air and ground water, polluted oceans and countless cancers. It smells bad and is noisy. Autos require more land for parking lots and roads over things like farmland than should be allowed by any sane community. If it was anything else we would have made it illegal.
Instead I propose appropriate regional solutions such as trains, free mass transit, turn old roads into bike/walking/30 mile an hour and emergency/small/medium transport lanes.
Main roads should be converted to rails that if needed could ferry small cars, and these should use ideas like solar, cable, magnet/train and biodiesel. Emergency should be specialized and regional i.e. helicopters. There should be car free zones in every community.
People’s migration should not be hindered. No borders. This works best if we eliminate/change property ownership and the economic system as we know it.
Food and Water:
Food should be raised in a way that does not sacrifice any air, people, ground water or any other common resource such as wild lands. It should be able to improve yield indefinitely and should respect local ecosystems and allow a living for farmers that is sane and realistic. Farms should provide livelihood for many families not just a few. Every farmer should have some land devoted to a community food bank.
Drinking water should be used only for drinking. Things like human waste must not be disposed of into drinking water. This requires unsustainable use of chemicals and wastes a finite resource in terms of time and energy needed to replenish. Composting toilets are just one good alternative. Showers and agriculture should use reclaimed water and should return to the ground water system via grey-water.
The whole planet relies on that water; it is insane to waste it.
Also un-dam most rivers, and allow no one to own water anywhere. If a place where people live has no water, no other place should be ruined to bring it there unless temporary for humanitarian efforts until those people can be relocated in an area that sustains life at no ones expense.
Shelter:
Regional sustainable non toxic materials appropriate to climate. Build houses with art, pride and to needs. Smaller homes for the growing population in urban areas of single people, childless couples and small families. Honor human traditions in the area.
No one should have to live with others and without outside space unless they choose to. Nomadic living should be respected and made allowance for.
Overpopulation once again will have to manage to allow people to all live with dignity. Real estate and property ownership must be changed or abolished all together. We must end the trend of only the wealthy living in the desirable places often ironically made that way by people who cannot afford to live there. Commuting should be discouraged as we move to local regionalized economies. We would also end the trend that makes having a home increasingly impossible for each generation.
Labor/Service:
I include this only to mention it as a way to meet the above needs. If we heal the planet and control population we would not need labor as industrial culture knows it. As we address the other issues we see labor evolve as regional and sustainable. No one should “work” more than 4-6 hours, and no work needs to be done that is harmful to the planet. We need to change how we view work. It is not noble by itself. We must all contribute or be harmless and meet our own needs at no ones expense. With knowledge and real “work” (the kind that benefits humanity and the planet), we can create communities that interact, trade and share labor and services fairly without cheating anyone.
This would make being wealthy as we know it a moral and legal burden on the community that would be dealt with appropriately. Perhaps ownership would be replaced by three other words/definitions. “What I am physically using presently” “What I am sentimental about” and “What I created from other things”. These definitions would of course become specialized and each would imply different needs and rights.
We have to change our harmful and outdated ideas about labor as well as honor our ideas that have worked in the past. Love of ones work, education for learning’s sake and fun should be considered. A healthy community would need to tell a different story about humanities future and the future of work, than the one we are telling.
Health care should be “free” and preventative. I believe in a diversity of economic systems so when I say free I mean equal access to, however the economic system whether communism, capitalism, primitive etc can work it.
Violence:
By Violence I mean anything that harms a human being by keeping them from meeting basic needs or harms them physically(against their consent).
Other than that we get into cultural/religious morality on right and wrong, which I believe should be dealt with case by case. We need to learn to honor that which is sacred to others, which sometimes conflict and overlap, but not allow the above kinds of violence under any circumstance. This is huge and takes more than I know or have time to explain my own wisdom on.
Human interaction and relationships:
We should learn about each others views and cultures and teach that everyone is equally important and good in their own way. We should cultivate joy, love, and learning, if not for that, what is all this survival for?
Protection and regulation of common space:
We share the planet with other humans and living things that need it every bit as much as we do. Our main goal as a community is to respect everyone’s gifts and to leave what we have better or the same as we found it. We need to respect the planet and the creatures on it as special and irreplaceable.
Violence to the earth hurts many instead of one.
This is only one person’s wisdom. For some things to work, others must be realized. This issue connects to just about everything. We should start now by coming together and sharing our knowledge in our small and larger communities.
Imagine what we could accomplish together.