What the World Needs Now

A cross post today.  I wrote this for the Co-op, but thought it was so good that I had to post it here as well.

As Burt Bacharach wrote “What the world needs now, is love sweet love”!  Not in the physical sense, but in the community sense.  Things like pride of place, which is a sense of community love or to put it in a better way, pride of where you and others around you live.

I have described previously I believe that to live fulfilling and sustainable lifestyle, you need other like minded people to share the journey with you.   It is a lonely place to be in if you attempt to down-shift in isolation or take steps to build a sustainable community without others to help and to share the passion and to bounce ideas off of.

I have found that people who attempt to live this kind of lifestyle, usually are involved in at least one community group, sometimes two or three depending on their interests.  This is a great way to meet like minded people, learn new skills and to build long lasting friendships.  However, with these connections there comes a greater responsibility to other than self.

You have the needs, desires and well-being of others to consider.  I liken it to an extended family, who care about each other, which I believe leads to a deep sense of belonging.  Humans want to belong, other wise we would not have congregated into hamlets, village, towns, cities or megalopolises over the last 10,000 years. 

With these communal structures in place other needs begin to become fulfilled, like security of food, water, shelter and the like. Even in bad times, a tight knit community looks out for one another.

Now, having a strong and dare I say, loving community structure is a great goal to achieve and it reminds me of the country town I grew up in.  I must admit that I had forgotten about the one resource that is sustainable, renewable, abundant and is not peaking –  love and compassion:

Personally, I for one will not stop caring for my community, the environment and planet Earth.  I believe we can create a sustainable and peaceful future together  because I truly believe in human nature. 

I know we can show this planet we love it!!!