The future is simple. It follows ye olde principles of the 4 R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repurpose.
It is also complex, because the systems and institutions in place actively work against the 4 R's to perpetuate profit at any cost to the environment.
This is why we need new systems and traditions to replace the old ways, so that we may still yet find a future.
| Repurposing Waste |
| Networking |
| What Else We Can Do |
Repurposing Waste
Here we can recommend ingenious ways to repurpose and upcycle the abundant wasted resources we have on hand, like cardboard and wooden pallets, to come up with all kinds of things we can make without relying on money or industrial society to build them.
Paper
Paper should not be made from trees. If anything, it should probably be made from bamboo, since that's such a fast-growing sustainably replenishing resource. But while there's still tons of paper flying around in the form of junk mail and old crossword books and old journals, we might as well make use of what's already here.
Paper that still has a blank side:
These are great uses of paper that still have a blank side.
This creates a small 8 page mini book using a single piece of paper. This is great for a weekly planner or just a tiny notebook to jot things down on throughout your day.
https://www.instructables.com/An-8-Page-Book-From-a-Piece-of-Paper/
Networking
One of the most valuable assets we can have as we move forward into an uncertain future is to have a good network. Loose voluntary associations between people that work torward satisfying the needs of the whole community.
The two major pitfalls that such communal resource-sharing projects often succumb to are:
- over-organizing and ultimately bureaucratizing everything until what started was as something fun, fulfilling, and self-organizing, instead becomes an increasingly rigid structure which eventually comes to feel like a chore or obligation, rather than a fun and fulfilling way of supporting your community. So let's try to avoid that ;)
- trying to be everything to everyone instead of just serving it's little piece of the puzzle by supporting a smaller group of people. As the group becomes too large, it becomes too disorganized, and in turn demands the trappings of bureaucracy.
These are difficult pitfalls to avoid indeed... As we come up with new structures and new ways of organizing ourselves, we must keep these things in mind.
Splitting the Cell
In the past, it seems one of the greatest difficulties is in "splitting the cell", so-to-speak. As a group becomes too large, it would be practical for it to turn into multiple smaller groups, but because humans are so monkey-brains, it's difficult to separate without developing hostile emotions of division and feeling "left out".
Sometimes I think there's a way to have a pre-defined process of "splitting the cell" that could facilitate the process, but then I fear that process will itself come to feel like some bureaucratically enforced nonsense. Organization principles are not my strong suit. This will take some more thought and more contribution if we're ever going to figure it out.
What Else We Can Do
This is where we can list ideas that we think can help us prepare for an uncertain future.