How I Would Save the World

Thoughts on a self-sustaining model.
[Original Page Build: 2022-08-04 13:39:53]
[Content Updated: 2023-11-01 11:50:58]
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This weather is crazy. It's like that animated sequence in Monty Python's Holy Grail: "...winter changed into spring, spring changed into summer, summer changed back into winter, and winter gave spring and summer a miss and went straight on into autumn..." We hit near freezing temperatures on Halloween. Again, we have an arctic blast across the country, and it is not yet winter! It's not even Thanksgiving! The weather needs to stop imitating stores and rushing the winter season before we've even ordered our first pumpkin-spice lattes. We know winter is coming. Winter just broke down the door, took the Sheldon spot, and propped up its muddy boots on the coffee table. The question is, is autumn coming?

I can't do anything about the weather (yet). But, I have given thought about possible ways to save the world. I'm a fiction writer. I daydream... a LOT!

One of my earlier projects, which I intend to write a new series of novels around (eventually) started with the premise like Stephen King's "Under the Dome". What if you confined citizens to a closed area, but you developed the area to be self-sustainable? If we want to put people on Mars and be able to allow them to live there indefinitely, we should practice locally. I'm not saying to build a dome around Austin. Think of a city as an island. What would I do to make Austin self-sufficient and to be the least dependent on any other place? First, provide the basic necessities for all citizens: food, clothing, and shelter.

FOOD
Before I get into food, I would improve the waste management in Austin. Austin already does a decent job of providing trash and recycling services. I would also make a move for a third bin for composting. My family does all three. Each week, waste management collects trash and recycles. They also have a service that collects lawn clippings and branches on a different day. We produce very little garbage (mostly plastic wrappers). Recyclables and compost is a majority of the waste our family produces (excluding bodily wastes). We've trained people to recycle. There are recycle bins all over the city. Now, train the citizens to also compost. As for bodily wastes, Austin does create Dillo Dirt, which is bio-based soil product. Why is this important?

Now, we get back to food. If the entire city composted and contributes to Dillo Dirt, the city now has enriched soil for urban farming. Austin already has a few neighborhood farm patches. But, to feed all the people in Austin, we need other farming areas. Why not reuse retention pond areas for farming? They're there to collect water. Why not feed it to crops? What about rooftops of the businesses? Need more space? Learn from drug growers who are able to grow tons of marijuana indoors using UV lighting or hydroponics. Reuse dead office spaces. I'm sure we could adjust the sprinkler systems. There are plenty of vacant places for farming. With indoor, urban farming, the city could grow vegetation year-round with minimal worry about frost or pests. Plus, I've seen some cities turn walls of buildings into herb gardens. I'm sure we can find plenty of places to grow food.

What about land for farm animals? If everyone went vegan or vegetarian, it would make things a little easier. So, where do we raise farm animals? I would keep the grazing pastures and fisheries to the perimeters of the city. Again, the animal wastes can contribute to the enriched soil of the urban farming.

We we accommodate farming within the city structure, it also handles part of the next necessity...

CLOTHING
With cattle and sheep at the perimeter of the city, this provides for leather and wool clothing. If part of the crops produce cotton, that's another textile to provide clothing.

I have seen ads and articles where plastic is turned into shoes or sandals or other items. I tried wearing Crocs, but decided they aren't comfortable to me. But, I wouldn't mind wearing recycled plastic soled sandals with sheep's wool straps.

People donate clothing all the time, but rarely do people patch clothing. For a city to be self-sustaining, any holey clothes that might be thrown out could be used for patching other clothing. Or, for quilting.

I don't see too big of a problem with clothing. Most clothes last a long time. Unless you are a young boy with a new pair of jeans, in which case, your knees will Hulk-rage holes in those jeans within a day.

The fashionistas might object to limited or patched clothing, but we aren't talking about fashion. We are talking about sustainability.

SHELTER
Austin has plenty of places for shelter. Even if no additional houses were built, and the city's population expanded, we could accommodate more with what we currently have.

One thing that could happen is doubling up households. If necessary, would you welcome your single or coupled friends to your big home, would you make room for them and allow them to live with you? There's also the perk of more adults per household helping everyone financially by splitting the costs.

Regardless, even some of the out-of-business commercial places could be converted into some kind of communal shelter. I like Halloween quite a bit, but do we really need that many Halloween stores? If we are talking about sustainability to a confined area, we could convert commercial areas into residential areas.

With the necessities taken care of, what else?

UTILITIES
I've already mentioned adding composting to waste management. What about water treatment? Instead of pumping water to a facility to have it treated, why can't homes be retrofitted with individual water treatment functionality the way homes are retrofitted with solar panels? Why does all the water need to feed back to the city? Couldn't at least part of the water be recycled and treated in a household? If the International Space Station can do it, why can't individual homes?

Solar panels. Another thing the space station has. I see more and more houses adding solar panels to their roofs. I can picture a day in the not too distant future (a decade maybe?) where solar panels become part of the standard building procedure the way houses are designed to handle water runoff.

I still follow Solar Roadways, and it's awesome to see how much support they receive. From what I have seen, they have set up tiled areas and attended green energy meetings all over the worlds.

Even though there are plenty of surfaces across Austin to pave with solar panelling, I'm not sure if it is enough to make Austin self-sustaining. Although, in the imagined island of Austin model, we could add wind farms to the surrounding pastures.

MEDICAL CARE
I have seen more and more clinic type places sprout up across Austin. Most of these are in commercial areas. Why not build these closer to the residential areas? Why not convert one of the houses in a neighborhood into this kind of clinic? Or, make it part of the plan for the community center?

Why don't doctors make house calls much anymore? If residential areas provided a service of family practitioners who did house calls to check on households on a rotation, more people might live healthier lives with the doctors coming to them. Plus, if it was paid for as part of the residential tax system, there wouldn't be as much need for medical insurance. It is a service the neighborhood pays for and is automatically scheduled. The doctors could get paid whether you are home or not to make your appointment.

I remember learning some basic first aid, and I can't remember if it was part of PE, Boy Scouts, a health class, or all of the above. First aid and health should be a mandatory class taught in school along with some basic home remedies. Even teach kids about how to recognize and deal with allergic reactions and seizures and all sorts of other common medical emergencies. If we engrain these things into society, then more people are better prepared for emergency situations. As GI Joe says...Knowing is half the battle.

CULTURE CHANGE
I admit it. Most of these suggestions are based on little to no research, but at least I am thinking of possible solutions for problems that impact all of us. These suggestions may not be glamorous or fashionable solutions. Many of these will take retraining our brains and becoming comfortable with uncomfortable situations.

I see a lot of complaining in the news, but I don't see that many suggestions. When I do see suggestions, and some of them aren't that crazy, I see it followed up by a bunch of nay-saying, which is not followed up by a better solution. It's not even followed up by a list of reasons why the idea won't work. The nay-saying is mostly followed up by insults, which they might as well say, "This idea is new to me, therefore I must fear it. I am
Lothar of the Hill People."

Crazy ideas change the world. Finding a shortcut for the trade route by sailing across an ocean of sea monsters and going over the Earth's edge?! You're a madman! Land a giant tin can with people in it on the moon, and then fly part of that tin can back to Earth?! Are you insane?! A telephone that takes pictures and displays cat videos?! That's ridiculous! A movie about a tornado full of sharks?! Brilliant! Okay. Sharknado didn't really change the world, but it did create a franchise of six movies and had celebrities begging to be part of it.

When the world changes, it starts with someone's crazy idea. When other people open their minds a little, they begin to see that the idea is not as crazy as it first appeared. What are your crazy ideas?

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