I recently heard of a story about how a company is trying to put solar panels in the mojave desert in California. They were stopped in their tracks by.....environmentalists. Why? Because the proposed location interferes with the habitat of the desert tortoise. What is wrong with this picture? Not that tortoises don't deserve to live,but come one, isn't this exactly why we should be putting solar panels up in the first place? Can't we come up with a creative solution that allows the tortoise to live elsewhere or at least in concert with solar panels?

We really have to get our priorities straight! Let's find balanced, creative approaches to the issues we face and focus on the solutions that allow us to move forward.

What do you think?

In case you did not know it, the global economic crisis is unraveling the world markets and creating a crisis that few economists foresaw. It was first the bailout for American firms deemed too big to fail and then bailout for countries like Greece, Ireland, Portugal and now may be Italy. Now, the International Monetary Fund is worried about a global debt crisis. http://hotair.com/archives/2011/06/18/a-debt-crisis-this-way-comes-imf-warns/  How did we get there in the first place? The simple answer is: greed. The bailout and the proposed rules, regulations and oversight cannot determine what percentage of greed is acceptable and what level is criminal. The world economic system is based on an unsustainable model which driven by debt. You can and should have everything that your neighbor has: greed is good. All you have to do is to borrow the money from a bank and go in debt. And for a while, the risk assessment of the borrowers and ability to repay were completely disregarded as greedy bankers were solely concerned with the transaction fees and not the viability of the loan. The bad debts where then re-package into financial products called derivatives and sold to other corporations and even countries. Eventually, the bubble or I should say bubbles burst. The bailouts are like putting a band aid on a traumatic wound.

It is the paradigm that needs to change for even if the bailout is given to a country like Greece, it cannot afford to repay it, thus creating more bad debts. It is like trying to stop an avalanche rolling downhill. I have written about this before,  http://www.iammonad.com/teaching001.html but in a nut shell the law of equal exchange operates everywhere in the universe. If I want to change water from liquid to gas, I have to supply heat. The caloric supply is equal to the volume of gas that will change state. Both side of the equation must be balanced. This is a sustainable model and is the way that the entire physical world and energy system of this universe works. If trades and commercial transactions are based on buy low and selling high, how do we create sustainability in this model? Do we still allow this to happen, but use some of the profit for reinvestment in social issues, group projects and the earth friendly revitalization programs? Or should we simply buys low and sell at a preset profit margin that takes into account our labor and handling only?  What do you think?  

Take a look around you, the culture and society that you live in. Look at the world that we as human have created. Are you happy with what you see? Is it an ideal environment that we are leaving to our children? Are you proud of our collective accomplishment or could this model possibly use some retooling and refinements. If you were given a blank slate or an opportunity to start over would you not create something different?

Gaiville is an effort to start over, keeping in mind, the sustainable existence of all life on the planet. It is an opportunity to plan and create a community from scratch that will support the green existence of 350 families. An environment where sustainable living is not just a building system, but a way of living respecting the planet and using all of its resources by thinking their life cycle through. Taking this principle further, it is a way for members of this community to interact with each other each other by giving and receiving in a balanced manner. It is a way to educate ourselves and our youth about sustainable living, social, spiritual and species interdependence, cross-fertilization and co-enrichment and by association planetary leadership and stewardship.

If we can learn from our mistakes, them we can bringing our best thinkers forward in the field of engineering, architecture, planning, landscaping, refuse management, power generation, farming, wellness and health care, hospitality, education and the arts to discuss and write down their best recommendations for the implementation of this village. This will become the scope of work for the manifestation of this effort. This community is to be constructed in the Catskill Mountains.

The creation of this community is nothing more then a belief that we collective can do better if we dare to dream and think out of the box. No one individual can manifest this dream alone, but together we can make positive impact in one part of the planet and may be this effort can be repeated elsewhere. This is an open source effort.

It is our hope that you can join us for this noble cause.