:Title:    Practical Approach
:Author:   David Braden (CCAL30)
:Date:     Mon, 28 Mar 2005 13:46:03 PST
:URL:      http://www.omidyar.net/user/u387457877/news/3/

I have been working on relating productive elements into sustainable systems.  I can see how we might rearrange things to move away from linear business plans that end up with waste to integrated business plans in which each element feeds on and supports other elements.  I've been talking to the folks at ZERI, reading up on the Bioneers, etc.  There is a lot of expertise out there but, apparently, little momentum for change.

You can see the same thing here on O.net.  Sincere talented people in tens of discussions concerned with bits and pieces of what we might call an emerging vision of the future.  Its just that there are so many pieces and the possible arrangements so numerous that it is hard to grasp a big picture.

It occurs to me that one could spend a lifetime designing a project and trying to attract the critical mass of interested people to make the project feasible.  Perhaps a better way would be to try to integrate those project on which people are already working.

For example, Boulder and Aspen are currently developing plans to do their part to prevent global warming.  There are designs that would take the sewage from those cities, use it to grow biomass, and prevent pollution of the mountain streams.  That should interest people like Trout Unlimited and Ducks Unlimited and perhaps the nature conservancy.  There is also a need to thin the local forests to prevent forest fires that can be combined with a program of wood gasification to produce renewable energy.  This should involve the forest service and open space advocates.  Additional energy can be saved if more food is produced and consumed locally.  That should involve local food coops and organic gardening and farming groups.

So I think that is what I will explore next.  How can I motivate existing activist organizations to look for ways to share resources with other activist organizations?