Common Stewardship or Common Suffering.

Is it that we need to come out of the ashes of a disaster, or find vision to safegueard our own interests?  Living sustainably will involve collaboration and innovation to find a way forward, especially with our already stressed ecosystems.  Somehow, we need to stop focusing on the doom and gloom of today and tell stories of new potentials, of hope and a plan for the future.  There is already interest in the world for this, and capitalizing on it will be the way forward.  The benefits of economic reform will happen with the intent of safeguarding our lifestyles, food security, and natural resources.  They must be seen as something that benefits our individualities directly, actually making our lives better and more enjoyable.  Just because it will also benefit the environment and planet as a secondary thought is fine – as long as it happens.

The key to consider is that we do not need to go forward alone.  The individual who makes the decision to ride transit to work is making a change, just as the government to use more buses is making a change.  The answers are out there, monumental and everyday decisions will be made, and we will move forward from the smallest community garden to the IPCC.  This addresses people value systems, more than their wallets.  Once you change their values, the dollars will follow.  This is a polycentric approach (Ostrom) that can be the sustaining element that supports change. 

And going forward, we see situations of opportunity, not of constraint.  Human creativity and innovation has brought us to this point, and it will bring us out – or at least it can if given the support it needs.