Letter to a Local Council Member: What Kind of Community Do We Really Want?

Dear Council Member, 

I am reaching out to you as one fellow human being to another, from my heart to yours. 

We find ourselves living through rather painfully troubled times where our globally interconnected growth at all costs economic system is hurtling us all toward a dystopic and hedonistic world at the expense of all life on Earth. 

A digitalized world of ever-expanding consumerism and war is being thrust on us when it’s not at all what we want. As a matter of fact, most people, if they pause long enough to consider, may find, it’s the antithesis of what brings them fulfillment and joy. And yet there are few levers of control left for us to effect change or to extricate us and all beings from the clutches of a culture of unrelenting economic and material expansion. One that Nate Hagens, creator, and host of The Great Simplification, has aptly dubbed, the “Super Organism”. 

Countries are vying for economic and military advantage manufacturing ever new iterations of technologies that boast faster speeds and more features while heedlessly extracting from Earth far more than can be replenished. And technology is now exponentializing our competitive way of life which will only lead to more efficient forms of extraction and power-over. 

When hegemony is threatened, war, coupled with censorship and control of “the narrative”, are the go-to options escorting us all into a perilous night of autocracy and potentially, nuclear exchange… All in the name of democracy.

The only hope I see is to disengage, to the degree we can, from this Super-Organism and to start building once again from the bottom up – forging a path into the future from the hearts and minds of ordinary people heeding the still small voice within us that’s yearning for simplicity and sanity. Making discreet changes, one by one, within ourselves, our neighborhoods, our communities, and cities. 

In that vein, I am reaching out to you to let you know what is truly important to me so you can better represent my viewpoints in discussions and policies going forward and help return our community to one of human-scale and care. 

What I Don’t Want 

Like most others (and I presume you as well) I seek simple things in life: health, well-being, wholesome relationships, a place to call home, a modest livelihood – hopefully engaged in work I enjoy – and a way to contribute meaningfully to my local community and the global family of life. 

I don’t need or even want a big home, lots of money, or extravagant vacations. Neither do I wish to be inundated by the latest gadgets and high-tech innovations.

I don’t want a life consumed by screens with our kids tethered to irradiating WiFi-connected computers while in school, and then some more at home, transfixed by gaming and social media platforms algorithmically designed to addict. 

I have zero desire to stream videos while out and about. I would far prefer to interact with fellow human-beings and partake of the animate world into which I was born.

I don’t want cell towers, antennas, or small cells anywhere near my home, in my neighborhood, or for that matter, in anyone else’s neighborhood either. Nor do I want so-called “renewables” and EVs that just increase fossil fuel consumption from the mining and refining of rare earths, and the manufacturing and transporting of the finished products. 

I do not want AI permeating my life. Not only is it annoying and dehumanizing, but as with EV’s, it’s forcing us to expand the energy grid to accommodate its mega e-footprint. And I absolutely don’t want to be tracked, monitored, and manipulated by algorithms to further grow the Super-Organism and support the war machine.  

I don’t want a technologized world, thank you, where everything is connected to the internet including us, and I feel truly sickened by the notion of transhumanism and a sylicarbon future where “the boundary between humans and technology breaks down and technology becomes embodied in us and in our lives.” 

It saddens me to see the skies filled with aerosols that, in the name of combatting global warming, block the sun and rain down pollutants on us all. And I absolutely don’t consent to nano particles, smart dust, microplastics, or any bioengineered substances finding their way into my body either inadvertently or by design. 

I would happily pass on the infinite offerings of processed, GMO foods bedecked in multiple layers of attention-grabbing plastic, and void of nutrients from the depleted and pesticide-laden soil and the approximately 1500 miles traversed before reaching its destiny – sadly, the shopping carts of those who either don’t know enough about nutrition or are unable to afford more wholesome food. 

And most of all, I don’t want a world where nuclear Armageddon is precariously locked in a global stalemate at 90 seconds before midnight, and where countries are racing to the moon to dominate space, with nuclear armed missiles boasting speeds up to 20 times that of sound, and cyber warfare a click away.

What I Do Want

I long for a community where everyone has access to clean air, fresh water, locally grown organic foods, modest homes made from natural materials, and light-touch technology with predominantly wired connections for phone and internet. A community with a gentle pace of life; one imbued with contentment from “just enough”, and where all living beings – flora and fauna as well – can dwell together in harmony and balance.

I see our schools becoming so much more than just cold buildings stacked with cubes of radiation-filled classrooms where children are taught to read, use a computer, and are chugged through STEM programs that prepare them for a life of algorithms, technology and war.

Instead, schools could be places where, in addition to reading and writing, children become literate and intimate with the intricacies of the living world: where they learn to grow their own food, prepare healthy meals, and how to live off the land. Venues where imagination and beauty can flourish through art, poetry, music, theatre, and dance, and where mentors nurture children’s innate love of animals, insects, and the natural world. Places where compassion can flower, and children can discover their unique niche in the community of life. 

I long for communities of social cohesion, with citizen assemblies that help us better participate in common-ing – how we share and use the commons – water, parks, roadways, and forests. Communities with thriving local businesses, each unique and an integral part of their neighborhood. The kind of business some of us may recall from our own childhood when we were not just a customer, but were cheered on and supported by a neighborhood network of people who cared and looked out for us. 

I envision parks and lovely spaces where children can safely play outside without having to dodge vehicles busily transporting goods and people hither and thither – places where we can gather for dancing, poetry readings, talks, concerts, and exchange of ideas. Where we share stories, songs, and traditions that inform how we show up in the world and that help guide us toward a more interconnected and Earth-centered way of life. 

I want everyone to have access to locally grown organic foods, subsidized if needed by taxes supporting local regenerative farming…with not one cent going to aggrotech farming with its increasingly digitalized practices involving wireless technology and mammoth machinery outgassing radiation, CO2, pesticides, and artificial fertilizers, and resulting in depleted soil, pollution, monocultures, and poorly nourished populations. A money-making first endeavor void of respect for the land and life. 

I am saddened that the skies – the Heavenly commons – must bear the yoke of housing tens of thousands of satellites that support 21^st century warfare. I yearn for the cosmos to once again cradle her beloved family of heavenly bodies in a tranquil and ever-scintillating embrace. 

And for the ocean – Earth’s embryonic waters – to be free from sensors, weapons, aircraft carriers, unmanned underwater vehicles, mining, plastic, nuclear armed submarines, and war. And for all the precious beings for whom the ocean is home, to abide once again in pristine waters and peace.

The Banquet is Over 

For the last 300 or so years we’ve been partaking of an all-you-can-eat banquet – a unique epoch in time of untold industrial so-called “progress” enabled by the discovery of ancient sunlight, aka fossil fuels. Nate Hagens refers to this relatively short period of time as the “Carbon Pulse”. During this epoch, a metropolis has become a petropolis, a petrol-based system. More recently, we’ve pivoted to a technopolis, a technology-based world. But now the banquet is over, and it’s time to go Home. Yet there are a few stragglers still lingering on, addicted to the food and fanfare, and trying desperately to extend the festivities into the wee hours of the morning. 

But many of us are satiated. The banquet was enjoyable for sure, but we’re ready to move on and are eagerly awaiting the long overdue shift to a new way of life – an Ecopolis, where cities will be based on regional biosystems and on the generous, but finite offerings of Mother Earth. 

Our collective global family needs time to adjust – incorporating into our civilization what’s still useful, and discarding (or if possible, composting) what no longer serves. 

Philosopher and neuroscientist, Iain McGilchrist, explains that the way we humans see the world informs what we will see. If we view the world through a Story of Separation, we will perceive Earth, plants, animals, and other people as resources for our perceived personal advantage and will feel little incentive to protect and respect them for their inherent value. But if we understand that we and all living beings are a nearly infinite, ever evolving tapestry of interconnected relationships and systems, we will instinctually be moved to preserve, protect, and care for one another. For we are One. 

We can start locally… one being, one community, and one city at a time. 

Is this something you can possibly help with… please? 

Perhaps in considering future policies, we can all ask ourselves and one another the following three questions as offered by Daniel Christian Wahl: 

1. Does it serve me, my family, and others? 
2. Does it serve my community?
3. Does it serve Life? 

If all three of these are answered in the affirmative, please do cast your vote in favor of the initiative. If even one of these is no, kindly vote it down. 

It is my deepest hope and prayer that our community will be able to navigate these difficult times and find our way to a more life-affirming present and future. 

With hope for the thriving of all Life. Ubuntu. I am because we are. 

Letter to a Local Council Member – PDF
Letter to a Local Council Member – Word Document
Audio only – (Recommended as it’s far less energy and data consumptive than video)
Video – 12:58