Time for collaboration is now

[Bagelhole1@aol.com]

Hi,

    I would like to share some ideas with you. If you agree with them
perhaps you will feel motivated to collaborate by posting the relevant
info in the appropriate places.
     These times are indeed tenuous, no one now, would deny. There's a
shaky quality to the very foundation of society, to the very ground
and below. With y2k, the possibility of the breakdown of everything
has a palpable quality not unlike the feeling one might have upon the
sighting of a train coming towards you  from far down the tracks, to
which you find,yourself, unaccountably, chained.
     With y2k, we have the unprecedented opportunity to intelligently
prepare for the worst-case scenerio. But  what is the most intelligent
response? The most creative, bold, highest reaching response? So far
we have seen alot of scrambling, talking, slowly organizing, locating
websites to report and co- ordinate the activities of each community.
Now, indeed, each community needs to form a committee of individuals
to study and cull most of these sites to help find the best responses:
the mapping of neighborhood skills, tools, resources, vulnerable
populations, stockpiling, etc. But I'm getting off the present focus.
     It just so happens that the best possible contingency, imho, for
y2k or any future disaster, community resiliency thru self-sustainable
methods and practices, is the same action required for laying the
groundwork for mutually co-operative, self-sustainable, non-sovereign
but fluid, osmotic, inclusive, communities to live in a non-waste, 180
degrees opposite of what we have, type of world. Where the leaders are
our hearts combined with the wisdom of the Universe But, at first
thought, the possibility of this seems dubious.
     But, there may be a way. . .as prosaic as it may be,if an
ever-improving list of low-tech, homemade style ideas for
sustainability were developed and made easily accessible, globally,
thru the internet. It could serve those for whom knowledge of the
inherent disaster possibilities, y2k portends, creates anxiety, by
giving them a way, or means to adaquately deal with the problem by
simply organizing to implement these ideas as efficaciously, as
expeditiously, as efficiently (he says, roundly risking,
ridiculopsolipsiosis, /a rare condition; of a tendency to contradict
whatever you are advocating by the method or manner of advocating\ as
in this case of advocating efficiency in a redundant manner) as is
humanly possible.
    This safety net would be the groundwork, the seed, model, template
for the rising of one human family, co-operating once again, as we had
for millenia before the practice of taking ownership of that which
belongs to everyone, the earth, which has had the effect of dividing
humanity and  degrading every aspect of existence, essentially.
     The point being, that this is an extremely rare moment in our
history, and one must see clearly enough to respond in the most
appropriate way. If you are an organization or institution you need to
be flexible, alive, and responsive as a zen master, if you wish to
miss the metaphorical icebergs/mines that really are a part of the
landscape.
     And so by presenting this idea with the hope that you will
collaborate, want to collaborate, get others to collaborate to help
track down these ideas to make this a reality. It takes collaboration
to make this work. The internet, ironically, is the greatest
collaborative tool imaginable.
     The ingenuity of our world combined with the knowledge of
indigenous people, could help this list evolve, to make
self-sustainable neighborhoods globally, by 2000 possible. This, I
believe, is the "poetic", beautiful, and best way for humanity to
respond to the  global dilemma.
      Hope to hear your response soon.
                                                 Co-reliantly,
                                                 Tom Osher(bagelhole1)
                                                 San Francisco
http://bagelhole.hypermart.net/ (under construction)