The great pause - Pondering empowerment post Corona virus lockdown

During this pause in the human experiment of infinite growth on a finite planet, we all have time to ponder.  Questions like, how should we empower society as we emerge from the corona virus lockdown and what sort of benefits might we expect and hope for from this empowerment?

Something to hope for or just an interesting picture?
Airspeeder motorsport - a mixture of science fiction and gaming

Let's take a moment to further explore empowerment of individuals, how might we do this and what results might we expect.  There are already some pretty well understood candidates (and logically it seems many have self reinforcing aspects for the goal at hand), here are some good examples:

• UBI providing individual freedom and hence more room for creativity
• Free Education to degree level, hence encouraging and satisfying a thirst for knowledge
• Government using and encouraging Open Source and Open Data
• Prioritise walking and cycling, hence improving health, fitness, mobility, community connections and happiness

Plus, what if we combine these with wise long term environmental and economic goals (doughnut economics style):

• Encourage and support regenerative agriculture
• Strive towards a 100% renewable electricity supply
• Electrifying rail and road transportation (apart from maybe some aspects of emergency services)
• Restoring the health of our rivers and our oceans 

With this new world fully embraced, what might this look like over time:

• A healthy environment in balance with human society?
• Increased local capabilities and resilience?
• Increased time for important stuff like friends and family?
• High levels of innovation and hence productivity?
• Increased focus on digital tourism and digital sports events (e.g. where digital experience is the product, think visually realistic and physically active esports, think virtual spectator mixed with photo realistic virtual experiences extrapolated to tourism and new high tech sporting areas)?
  
• Increased reverence for nature and the outdoors (where international tourism for pure physical outdoor experiences becomes a premium highly sought after product)?
• Increasingly complex and interconnected local society (more holistic)?
• A more equal society?
• Increasing richness in art and culture?
• Increased general interest in wondering about life, the universe and our place in it?
• People are energized and alive with tangible opportunities to participate and thrive in society?
• A society that treats Earth as our valued and cherished home, but increasingly looks beyond our home planet for the future?

I'll leave you to ponder these questions or to create your own list of thoughts and ideas.  Either way, I'm sure you will continue to make good use of your very own and very valuable corona-induced dilated time bubble.

Just an Opinion?

Back in 2008 I started blogging about Greenstage and I briefly explained why here.

Well, the world is changing fast and some of the drivers for Greenstage are becoming ever more intense and clarity around these drivers and their relatedness is increasing.

We live in a very special time in history. Cheap and abundant energy (in the form of fossil fuels) have enabled a massive expansion of our economies and humanity's capabilities. Some of my personal favorites include achievements like NASA's Space Shuttle, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Large Hadron Collider and Genome sequencing, not to mention the rich tapestry of arts and culture the world over. As fellow humans, irrespective of which country we were born in, we can feel proud of all humanity's achievements.

Inside the Large Hadron Collider

Things are changing fast and to maintain and extend this level of capability, humanity needs to make some adjustments. Peak oil is either already here, or not far away. There are environmental changes resulting from the consumption of non-renewable resources and the release of previously stored carbon into the earth's atmosphere.  Combine this with debt-stretched economies and the resulting economic slowdown, it's clear our current behavior is making the world a starker place for future generations.

Understanding that society's massive growth for the last 100 years has largely been fuelled by abundant and cheap energy, with oil literally squirting out of the ground, is fundamental to understanding the consequences of this energy crunch. Things are going to change whether we like it or not. Our current business as usual approach is unsustainable and becoming ever harder to achieve due to oil and debt fuelled growth coming to an end.  Our choice in the matter, is whether to be proactive about change, or to simply suffer the consequences and be forced into whatever change results.

Energy crunch

What to do?

Be positive, be proactive and change what we need to change! Simple as that. Most successful people and businesses have a long term plan, are passionate about what they do and work towards achieving their goals. Nothing new here.

What's missing in my opinion is leaders with a long term plan that fits with the reality of the situation. Spending billions of dollars on motorways to be used by fossil fuel powered vehicles does not make much sense.

We want a society that maintains and continues to extend the overall capabilities of the human race, but at the same time one that is not over reaching the bounds of the environment.  One that lives within it's means and leaves something for future generations.

I'm all for being proactive!  Lets use this period of transition effectively, leverage the still relatively cheap fossil fuel based energy and infrastructure we currently have to make an effective and speedy transition while we have the opportunity. We need to transition our society to another form of energy that is abundant and cheap and we need to do it quickly.

The solutions are available. Renewable energy from technologies such as wind, hydro and photovoltaic can literally be pulled out of the air (almost as easy as oil squirting out of the ground!).

In the short to medium term long distance transportation will be more expensive, communities will be closer and more connected and locally produced goods will come to the fore. With closer communities, people have additional chances to enjoy each other's company and pursue the challenges they and their communities really benefit from. Hence, there are opportunities for increased fulfilment and satisfaction (read more here).

There are so many positive opportunities out of this. As just one example, a whole new market is emerging for the boat building industry.

No Rena oil spill disaster here!

OK, so what specifically can we do? Look to strengthen your local community and become more self sufficient, look to reduce your fossil fuel consumption, ideally be prepared to stop using fossil fuels at some point in the not too distant future (pricing challenges could force this within the next 5-10 years). And of course, look to encourage and elect local council and government leaders that will steer our communities and our countries in the right direction.

The GS750V is another example of emerging opportunities.  Not only does this embrace the new energy paradigm, but it embraces community-led technology through the development and use of Tumanako open source components.

This is an important project with a message. It's been a long hard road and we have had a number of delays, but we finally have everything in place. We have commercial relationships and supply lines for all the products and components, including equipment and stock to complete the MK1 goal. Stay tuned for updates as we complete the race pack and vehicle preparation for our debut at the track. We're making changes and we're not holding back!

Greenstage is passionate about supporting communities and encouraging the right sort of change. Change creates opportunity and opportunity is exciting.

What changes are you making?