In our bloated and extreme capitalist world of infinite growth and zero hours contracts, political leaders and so called experts will usually point a to a multiple of variables as to why something that is geared towards human and planetary well being cannot become policy or enshrined in law. The reasons and variables are almost always associated with maintaining and protecting the personal private profit and wealth of individuals. There are some serious measures that need to be in place in order to create a world where both people and planet, and their well being are made a primary objective.

Reactions to solutions

When we look at the reaction to the solutions put forward to create this better world, there are fob-offs and falsehoods littered along the way. Take solar power for example, arguments range from ‘they are ineffective or too costly’ yet solar power has proven itself to work and nowadays the panels are a lot more effective at converting the sun’s rays into readily usable energy. Similarly with food production we are told that organic methods cannot provide our large populations with enough food to make up their daily dietary intake. Yet growing projects like primrose organics in Wales are able to grow considerably produce than that of industrial agriculture using organic methods.

Changing climate and how we live

The predicament we are in is a ‘Business as usual’ scenario,  our Politicians and their close business associates who now effectively control elective democracy are not for budging despite the majority of the scientific community agreeing on climate change and its likely causes. Many people who are able to,  have begun to create their own low impact world. There are now thousands of communities doing this successfully  all over the globe and there has been this seismic  shift in people waking up and doing what they can within their own lives. Political leaders have continued to ignore the reality that confronts us all, the protection of personal wealth and profits of those who buy a slice of democracy. If we look at little closer at the interests that are being protected we find a much more dynamic and evolutionary potential at work, and this is in particular relation to low impact sustainable living.

The end of employment?

Imagine that there is a small avenue on a council estate somewhere in the UK, and all of the residents start to meet up and deal with the various resources issues that they face. Over time the community grow their own food in their front and back gardens where they also harvest and treat rainwater which they use in their daily lives. They also form and energy cooperative that enables them to generate their own free electricity and heat. They start to get really good at this new way of doing things. They expand their practices to include making clothes, furniture and other things that human being use on a day to day basis. After three years of working together, this little avenue on the council estate are now almost entirely self reliant as a community. They notice that their friends and others they know have also started to do the same thing.

Is this realistic

This is only an imaginary scenario, but it is something that could be realistically achieved if communities themselves chose to act. Where there is a chance of dynamic and evolutionary change in this little imaginary lies with the fact that our collective reaction to dealing with climate change in our own backyards actually creates a situation where employment is no longer relevant. This is due to the fact that we are creating which we need as opposed to earning wages and salaries through employment. If people are not employed, who will run the warehouses and call centres for the capitalists, and who will generate the profits that help to perpetuate and maintain capitalism over time? And for the people who have removed themselves from the locked in effect of employment and low pay, there is time to do other things that are more suited to human well being.