Community: Shared Resources, Beliefs, and Visions
- Shared Resources
- We share lots of things, like roads, parks, buildings, air, oceans, and views.
We all use air, and depend on it for sustaining life. Yet there are many who abuse it,
perhaps thinking it's an infinite resource, or just not aware or concerned about
the consequences of their behaviors on community health--present, or future.
Other things are not freely shared, because they're in a state of "private ownership".
This designation gives the owner privileges to do anything (within "legal" limits)
to or with that resource.
I see many problems the the concept of "private ownership", and also see many
opportunities for improving resource usage, such as:
- More effective ways of using natural resources, like aluminum recycling
for example. (See "The Life Cycle of a Pop Can"
for an abysmal example of current resource-management techniques.)
- More ways for individual citizens to participate in local planning
and decision-making. I was in my mid-forties before I participated in
a local transportation-planning effort, but I have greatly enjoyed
the process and the results which will be manifested in about one year.
I wish I would have been exposed to this sort of activity in grade school!
- More pollution control by governmental regulation. Unfortunately the present
Republican/Bush administration has succeeded in undoing many of the environmentally
responsible policies that the previous Democratic/Clinton administration
took two terms to put in place.
(Add example/s here.)
- Shared Beliefs & Visions
- Each culture has its own set of beliefs about how the world works, what is
proper interpersonal interaction, and what the past and future looks like.
For example, this culture seems to be fascinated by wealth and power. How many
media presentations (TV, newspaper, magazines, books) are devoted to displaying
a person who "owns" a multi-million dollar home, several cars, and lavish furnishings?
There is usually no description of where the money came from, what consequence
gaining that money had on people and the environment, or what the person will do
with all this accumulated "wealth".
I contrast this to some Native American communities' beliefs that it was
shameful to own a lot of things. When a community member did accumulate a lot,
they did a big "give away" to distribute their wealth across community members.
I believe that we need a set of beliefs (and actions) which will help us all
to improve and sustain the quality of our lives. We need to determine
what causes social problems, and then work toward preventing them.
I read an excellent example of a vision developed by a task force
of the American Public Transportation Association in 1999,
which links the increased use of automobiles to several urban and social problems.
(When I find the new link to the paper, I'll put it here.)
Community: Contributions to Groups
We interact with people and the environment every day. Some activities
are planned (work, public forums, watching movies), and others are probably not
(paying traffic tickets, going to the ER, handling a child's crisis). I would
like to see each of us identifying and making contributions which would improve
the state of the community. Unfortunately, most of us are too busy surviving
to think of how to contribute to community improvement. But since I've re-designed
my life, according to organizing and improving these three focal points, I've been
more able to contribute to community-improving activities.
Which would be a more positive way to be involved in your community:
- Own a car distributorship, selling new cars for an average of $20,000
financed at 14% for 5 years, making $250,000 a year, owning a large house,
and spending a lot of spare time at the country club with rich friends.
- Create a CD, which is bought by 17 million teenagers, and then build yourself
a 10,000 square foot mansion on the profits.
- Develop a new method of manufacturing bicycle tires which uses recycled rubber,
saving 10,000 trees and 20 tons of coal per year.
- Gather volunteers from the community to assist people in building
their own homes. (In the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was common
to have neighbors help build your home, via cooperative events
known as "house raisings" and "barn raisings".) An organization which
does this now is called "Habitat for Humanity".
Which of these people gets the most media attention?
