Freeconomy Blog
Fri
22 May
12 ways to make the world an even better place...
| 18 comments |
Every now and again someone does something extraordinarily remarkable to make the world an even better place. Like Rosa Parks refusing to get up off her seat. Or Gandhi refusing to eat until both Muslims and Hindus stopped taking an eye for an eye. Like any one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches, knowing assassination was always lurking around the corner. Or that little guy in Tiananmen Square, who stiffened the backs of the world when he refused to move out of the way for the military tanks.
However you do not have to be a national hero to make the world a better place. In fact, the work of the Aung San Suu Kyi and Mandela's of this world would be in vain if everyone else didn't live out these legend's messages in their everyday lives.
Here is a list of 12 things I believe anyone can do to make the world an even better place:
1. If you are in a position to, take out as much from a new overdraft or loan as the bank will give you. Keep as much as it costs to declare bankruptcy and give the rest to some amazing organisation who is struggling to repair the damage caused by the banking industry's complete lack of morality.
Not only will that mean that the bank will have £X,XXX less to give to arms dealers, McDonalds franchisees and basically everyone who wants to consume even more, it'll mean you'll not be able to get credit very easily ever again, which is precisely the most environmentally friendly thing you'll ever do. If only I had a bank account. Stealing? Or simply being the conscience of the bank that the bank will never voluntarily have?
2. Go into a local organic cafe, if you can find one. Ask to pay for the meal of the next person who comes in that day. Smile. Walk out, and don't look behind. Trust me, everyone who witnessed it is also smiling.
3. Get an allotment, grow your own food, and don't forget to share both.
4. Don't be afraid to break unjust laws. Peace will never be attained as long as unjust laws exist. Then tell the world why you broke it.
5. Organise a street party for your neighbours and encourage them to get involved. If there isn't dancing at the revolution, what's the point of the revolution? Be considerate to everyone's views at the same time.
6. On your way to your large multinational supermarket? Stop. Think. Listen to your heart. Do you really think it is smart? Now keep walking to the small local greengrocer and bakery. Yeah its a few pence more expensive in the short term, but without you, they are literally dead. And then you'll soon live in a flat-packed town sponsored by Asda, Topman, Starbucks and Virgin, reminiscing about the days when you knew the local traders. Keep cultural bio-diversity alive. Consume local or don't consume at all.
7. Don't recycle. Don't buy it in the first place. The necessities of life don't have packaging. I've filled about one quarter of a bin bag in over 18 months, and most of that was in a different bin already anyway. It is possible. As John Seymour said, "if a society has a bin, its failing."
8. Do cycle. It keeps you fit (and fitness will be the No.1 skill necessary for a post peak oil world), it has a small environmental impact, and you can get around cities much faster than in a car! Or better still, walk.
9. Eat a vegan diet or at least drastically cut your meat and diary consumption. The meat and dairy (same thing, by the way) industry is the No.1 contributor to climate change - it constitutes 65% of all Nitrous oxide emissions, which, by the way, is 300 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide. Methane is 20 times more potent, and it is also the biggest contributor to methane emissions by a long acre. All in all, the meat industry (not even including the dairy industry) is responsible for more greenhouse gases than all the planes, SUVs, cars, trucks, trains and ships in the world combined! Oh, and the cow whose child has been ripped away from her after its birth would appreciate it too...
The official handbook for the 'Live Earth' concerts stated that "refusing meat is the single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint."
10. Try to visualise the effects of the product you are about to buy on the people, environment and animals that are inevitably effected by that product - all the way from sourcing the raw materials, to the Iraqis effected by the oil used to transport it, to the infrastructure required to bring it into existence. Then reconsider buying it if you think the real price is to high.
11. Volunteer for an organisation that does work you believe in and who needs your help to keep doing it. If not you, then who? If not now, then when?
12. Have compassion for everything and everyone. Don't forget the people you claim to love in this. Often they get our moans and demands and little of our 'love'. The world can be a tough enough place to be without us making it even harder for the ones we love. Don't tell your partner you love him or her, show them instead. Macro-peace will be achieved through micro-peace.
What do you think would make the world a better place to live in? And do you agree with mine? Answers on a commentcard...
THE FREECONOMY BLOG is written by Mark Boyle, founding member of the Freeconomy Community.
Comment on this Post:
Transition Towner comments ...
Just seen this in the Freeconomy forum earlier - http://tiny.cc/ougOT.
It's called "37 ways to join the gift economy", great read. Being on Freeconomy though I guess you've already ticked a few of those boxes anyway.
paul brown comments ...
excellent work Mark! your blogs are definitely starting to read with well thought out logic. not having to worry about money obviously frees up time to be more philosophical. once, that is, you are more intune with the natural ecosystems and where we can fit in quite happily without all the modern distractions. i imagine that you are in far better shape physically as well. complimenti!
Mark comments ...
Paul - I appreciate your thoughts as always, thank you. I always enjoy them - you should consider writing this blog one week sometime.
Living without money would definitely free up time to be philosophical if thats all you were doing. My life is pretty 24/7 at the moment, though I wouldn't have it any other way as it means things, from my viewpoint, are moving in the right direction, which gives me a lot of hope.
What I do find though is that living without money teaches you the ridiculousness of the societal and political systems we have created. Having such a close connection to what I consume has taught me so about myself and the nature of the world around me. It has taught me respect - for the land, people and animals - and thats probably the most important thing we could learn, and a very simple lesson it is too. Our pleasure doesn't need to come from others pain; there's more than enough for us all if we all weren't living in fear and lived sharing and in service to each other.
It is very challenging, but only so because I have to do it in isolation. If we done this communally I can promise you it would be utopia (the real utopia, not the modern definition of some idealistic unattainable world).
I wouldn't live any other way, though it has its moments!
paul brown comments ...
the thing is Mark, you are not doing it in isolation. i can only speak personally, but i am very much enjoying getting to know your thoughts and observations. that's not isolation. people have to come to conclusions themselves otherwise we end up with more gurus and more problems. you are a reporter on a social experiment and doing an increasingly better job of explaining your ideas. i relate to your underlying assessment of world ills.
if i was to write a blog, it would probably be as short as my ethos. evaluate what love is, try and get as much of it in my life as possible and see if it makes me and others happier. that, and get educated on both sides of any debate. philosophy is the love of knowledge after all!
o!d comments ...
" now keep walking to the small local greengrocer and bakery. Yeah its a few pence more expensive in the short term, but without you, they are literally dead"
I beg to differ; my food bill has gone down £10 a week since I stopped shopping at supermarkets.
paul brown comments ...
"I beg to differ; my food bill has gone down £10 a week since I stopped shopping at supermarkets."
excellent news! out of interest, do you find yourself buying less but more frequently? the reason i ask is because when i think of the whole supermarket experience it is little wonder that people only put themselves through it once a week. the drive to get there, the barriers when you walk in, the horrible lighting, usually poor customer service, the queue for the checkout, irritating loud voices over the pa system, price checks, the look on peoples faces (ranging from boredom, irritation, anger, furtiveness, tiredness to defeat), the drive home to put a week's worth of shopping away. when people buy everything for the week, the evidence suggests that people waste more. no matter what chemicals they pump through the growing process for that crispy mix of salad leaves in a plastic bag, when it is opened, it spoils. just like a compost heap and a giant bag of salad open is just that. plenty of our fruit and vegetables go through a change when they are picked. the growth part has stopped. time to get on with death and the breaking down process. the sugars that give the wonderful flavours start turning to starches. try putting a sweetcorn cob in boiling water thirty seconds after picking and then redefine the taste of sweetcorn. some of the breakdowns happen very rapidly. i think part of the problem comes from the fact that most food tastes very little like its potential. it has become so bland that shopping for food has become a chore and not something to enjoy. a greengrocers within walking distance of your front door where you buy fresh what you need for the day. you meet the local community. relationships are forged. try getting tick at tescos when you have a bad week financially. living in italy, i still get to experience the local shop mentality. they are not chains. they are being clobbered by higher tax rates as the iper-coops and conads selling lots of crap from china next to average produce become the tescos. they cannot get away with selling terrible produce as in england. food is too much part of the culture. the demise of the local shop is on the horizon though in italy.
at a survival level we need to breathe, drink water, eat and mate. i find it strange that people would want to breathe in dirty air, drink water with god knows what in it (if you get a chance speak to a scientist who studies rivers and ask him about chemicals and the resulting massive quantity of unknown groupings as a result of "safe" discharges into our groundwater, or think about it yourself), eat food that tastes of so little that we have to add large quantities of salt and flavourings, and not have better sex. if you eat, drink and breathe better, surely the sex is better?
Mark comments ...
To 'old' - great to hear that, very good news. I haven't shopped in a supermarket since 2002 and so I am going on what people I know tell me. Good on you.
To Paul - great comment, really enjoyed that! Personally, I'd answer in the affirmative to your question without a seconds hesitation.
Catherine comments ...
Mark I love you!
I can never be as pure as you but I am so thankful that people like you exist in this world. I support everything you do. You inspired me to go vegan and I haven't looked back since. I love your idealism and positivism. Keep on truckin' and inspirin'!!!!!
Cat in Galway
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