This is about understanding how the one whole system functions and how we can make it function better.
In refining the materials in this Introduction to Three Dimensional Networking and working at applying these ideas in my community of Denver, Colorado, USA, it appears that a necessary first step is to examine three limiting beliefs:
1. If we believe that someone else is responsible for our plight, such as "the corporations" or "the power elite", then we do not take responsibility for exercising our own power to make the world better.
There are several variations on this belief. Some people feel oppressed by government, others believe that we cannot have a better world until we have better people, or the reverse, that we can never have a better world because people are naturally greedy, or ??? In any event, if the fate of the world is out of our hands, we cannot take responsibility for it - short of violent revolution. Yet, all of civilization is merely the set of bridges that each of us chooses to maintain.
2. If we believe that resources are scarce then it is reasonable to assume that life is about the struggle to obtain our share of those resources and there will always be conflict over who gets what share.
I have heard from some environmentalists that the earth can support no more that one to two billion people. That creates a fatalistic view in which nature will eventually wreck her revenge on humanity and those who survive, if any, will be better people for it. This is an apocalyptic view - much like waiting for the rapture.
I would urge my environmentalist friends to consider that reductionist science is making these calculations based on monocultures limited to lands suitable for green revolution techniques. These scientists do not take into account the synergies inherent in integrated systems of production (See: examples of integrated systems of production).
I do not suggest that we test the limits of the earth's ability to support human life - but it is dangerous to assume that human interaction with nature is necessarily destructive. As shown in Permaculture, we can design and implement systems of production that cooperate with nature's processes - increasing diversity rather than diminishing it. The key is to think in terms of integrating natural systems into human systems.
3. If we believe that the market can expand to include all people, we will not be open to explore how we can create complementary systems that heal nature and produce abundance.
The market cannot take us all the way to the world we want because the market cannot produce abundance. No business can produce more of a good or service than will drive the market price below the cost of production. Nothing that is abundant has any market value.
Increasing productivity means producing more goods and services with fewer people and there are now some 3 billion people who do not have sufficient value to the market to receive a decent standard of living in return. That does not mean that they are incapable of contributing value to the system - just that the "market" has no use for them. A different system will be required to realize the potential of those under valued in the market.
The market does not value clean air and water or healthy ecosystems but these things can also contribute value through different systems of production. Those things that we want to be abundant - food, clothing, shelter, education and health care - can also be produced in systems that complement the market. (See: Community Investment Enterprises).
