Posted on 05 May, 2011 -
Building a new world from scratch
If our civilistation was to be rebuilt from scratch, what might you want to change about it?
In praise of running water, comfort and low levels of crime. But thumbs down for toilets…
6 topics for consideration if we do get to rebuild society
Dear Reader,
If you could change one thing about the civilisation we live in, what would you change?
It is an interesting question in that it can make us think about not only what we might have wrong, but also about how much we already get right.
Mankind has been working at creating, developing and adapting our civilisation to our needs for thousands of years now. A lot of developments have happened in an organic way, in response to our changing needs, population size and technological advancement. A lot of thought has also gone into the attempt to get it all ‘right’.
When you look around at the country we live in, it is truly remarkable to think what we have achieved: most homes have fuel available on tap and fresh running water and sewage systems that remove all waste and smell. We are mostly friendly with our neighbours and largely law-abiding. We redistribute at least some of our wealth. And we are mostly free to think and say what we want, to have or not to follow a religion and to act with a great deal of freedom as long as our actions do not harm others.
But is it perfect? And what could we do to make it better? Or, as an article I’ve just been reading in the NewScientist magazine put it, what might we change if we could start from scratch and build the fundamentals of modern life afresh?
Cities: Good. One of the main issues, of course, is sustainability and our enormous hunger for fossil fuels and energy. Large cities, the article says, are good because their inhabitants have a smaller environmental footprint than dwellers of towns and the countryside. They generally drive a lot less and have less need of fuel because resources are shared. They also have better access to the arts and culture.
Energy: Much more work needed here. Another interesting suggestion for energy is that we should rely more on lots of small sources of renewable energy such as rooftop solar panels to make us less reliable on fossil fuels but also less vulnerable to extreme events such as attack, storms and earthquakes… Some believe it would also be a good idea to make energy more expensive so that we consumed less. Cheap fuel has enabled us to enjoy a glut of industrially produced goods… a relatively luxurious level of housing and the ability to have even more children and thus growing the population even further…
Toilets: Bad. An even more important factor than energy is the limited supply of water. Our own vegetables, for example, are currently grown in poorer countries where we are slowly drinking and eating our way through water tables until we need to move onto other countries that still have some left. Another fascinating thought is that “One of our most wasteful decisions ever made was to build a plumbing system that uses purified water to flush toilets.” Toilets account for nearly 30% of the average home’s indoor water consumption and diluting urine as we do actually makes it a lot harder to process. Waterless toilets, apparently, are the way forward…
GDP: Time to let go of it? “When nations began focusing on GDP after the second world war, it made sense to gauge an economy by its production of goods and services.” At that time people needed more food, more housing and more stuff to raise their standard of living so it made sense to measure productivity. A lack of ‘stuff’ is no longer our problem today so we should probably stop obsessing about production and start thinking about measuring other things as well. Environmental quality, leisure time, access to amenities and nutrition and happiness are just as few suggestions.
What measurements might you add of your own???
Government: Smaller or more global? Democracy is almost universally accepted as good these days - at least in the West. But there is a lot of doubt about how much democracy we actually have, how easy it is to actually get what you vote for… and what democracy really means in practice. There’s also the question of size. While on one hand it would seem that human beings actually work better in smaller groups where there is more sense of commitment and local control… is there perhaps a need these days for at least some elements of governing to be done on a global scale?
”Just as events drove medieval city states to amalgamate into nations centuries ago, global problems are now pressing for global solutions… And that requires some form of global governance, at least to set broad goals - biodiversity standards, say, or global emissions caps”
Time: How could we see and use it differently? There is no definite reason why a week needs to have seven days or a day have twenty four hours. In fact, it’s interesting to speculate how different our lives might be if we did away with the idea of weeks altogether.
We have a seven day week because the Babylonians named one day for each planet they knew. The 12 hours of day and night were named after the signs of the zodiac.
The alternative suggested in the New Scientist was a decimal system. I’m probably just being traditionalist here but the idea of an hour containing 100 minutes and a day containing 100 hours fills me with horror.
I’m also rather fond of a five-day working week followed by a two-day weekend. I do, however, support the idea of using increased productivity to reduce working hours - and also using reduced working hours as a way of redistributing work and income in our society.
It is crazy that some people work such long hours that they barely have time to appreciate the huge amount of money they earn for their hard work… while others have far too much leisure time but no money to enjoy it because they have to survive on income support and have no job.
And finally, an interesting thought from 1100 on changing the world
The following can be found on the tomb of an Anglican Bishop in Westminster Abby (1100 A.D.)
”When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country.
But it, too, seemed immovable.
As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it.
And now, as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If I had only changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family.
From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country, and who knows, I may have even changed the world.”
Best wishes
