Common Wealth for Sustainable Communities

For a PDF version of this article e-mail sandyhinden@7keystolove.net

A NEW ECONOMIC SYSTEM
FOR PLANET EARTH
by Sanford Hinden

There is a growing realization of something being very wrong with the economic and financial system of the world unable to sustain the growing population and the environment. Yet most economists and financial experts are beholden to the existing system and refuse to open their minds to a new system of Common Wealth for Sustainable Communities needed worldwide. This article opens thinking to a New Economic System for Planet Earth based on common wealth and sustainable communities. It provides a Wholistic, Sustainable Community Self-Inventory you can use to understand your community's needs and its progress toward sustainability. It welcomes student participation in a global study of Common Wealth and Sustainable Community.

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Our world is at a crossroads. We can continue business and government as usual, competitively into oblivion, or learn to evolve and work together in communities of care, with sustainable businesses, and great international collaboration to solve our global problems. Together, we can make a great difference.

50 YEARS OF ECONOMIC WARNINGS
          Global visionary economists and systems thinkers have been warning us for 50 years. Hazel Henderson said, “It doesn't take a genius to pump up the GNP [of a developing country] by burning down rainforests, using slave labor and social repression to keep things in place…. Individuals learn faster than institutions and it is always the dinosaur's brain that is the last to get the new messages.”
          My mentor Robert Muller of the United Nations and the UN University for Peace (1923-2010) wrote, “If the level and amount of consumption and waste of the western ‘rich’ countries ever reaches the poor countries, it will mean the end of humanity. The big world corporations are busy doing it.... The production, selling, consumption, accumulation, waste and advertisement explosions in the western ‘rich’ countries, and the continued population explosion in the poor countries, will turn into major catastrophes.”
          Systems thinker Ervin Lazlo shared, “We need new thinking. Einstein told us that we can’t solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that gave rise to the problem, and if our problem is the obsolescence of the world we have created, we need to shift to a new paradigm for our life and civilization. The same thinking that got us here will bring us to the critical tipping point—and to the irreversible leap which is then likely to be down, rather than up…. We should have long known that the world we have created is not sustainable. In 1962, in her seminal book Silent Spring Rachel Carson told us that the way we treat our environment is not tenable and is bound to backfire, and in 1972 the Club of Rome published The Limits to Growth, a computerized world model with social and economic and not only ecological parameters. It predicted that in the absence of major change, the world system would collapse in less than a hundred years. Today the condition of unsustainability is widely recognized, but not many realize that we don’t have a hundred years before it reaches a tipping point.”
          Visionary economist David Korten writes, "The global financial collapse exposed the depth of the corruption of an imperial global financial system devoted to creating unearned financial claims to the real wealth of society through speculation, the inflation of financial bubbles, usury, asset stripping, loan pyramids, accounting fraud, bogus securities ratings, and extortion."

ENTER ECONOMIC CHAOS
            There is now a growing realization that there is something very wrong with the economic and financial system of the world. The current economic and financial system of the world is unable to sustain the growing population and the environment.
          Yet most economists and financial experts are beholden to the existing system and refuse to open their minds to a new system of Common Wealth for Sustainable Communities that is needed worldwide.  When I bring up the idea of creating a new system, some bright people, in the economic and financial know, respond with incredulity.  I respond back with the notion that to create a new Economic System beyond Capitalism (defined in Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations in 1776), and beyond Communism (defined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848 in the Communist Manifesto) will require C.I. - Creative Imagination.

"You see things; and you say ‘Why?’
But I dream things that never were; and
I say ‘Why not?’" ~ George Bernard Shaw

ENTER  CREATIVE  IMAGINATION
         I point out the practice of Creative Imagination contains the ability for the mind to step beyond itself, to then explore options and pursue paths that mind has not yet taken. The mind usually sees what is possible based on what it has experienced.  If it is relaxed, and free to dream and invent, it can also explore other possibilities, within its creative imagination.  I have learned the mind needs to give itself permission to step out of its own self-imposed limits and barriers, and with freedom of play, it can spontaneously piece together new ideas. It may then innocently discover and explore what is not yet created in the world.
          I have spent much time using my creative imagination to create local, national and global programs and projects for 35 years, so creating a New Global Sustainable Economic System does not feel impossible, but more like a Great Transition. What we are seeing with the current global economic crisis can actually be the beginning of a transition to a new, conscious, compassionate global economic system.

A NEW ECONOMIC SYSTEM
BASED ON LOVE
         In my book 7 Keys to Love, readers realize it is not the typical book about love. 7 Keys to Love teaches people how to love and take good care of themselves, each other, their communities and the world.  It teaches the relevance of love, communication and relationship skills to help end personal loneliness, addictions, family conflict, community fragmentation, war and environmental degradation.  In 7 Keys to Love I proposed a new economic system based on “Love and care for the self, each other, and the Earth” with all goods and services driving from that basic principle.

VISION & VALUES FOR A NEW WORLD
          Capitalism is a system that evolved into being just before humanity went into exponential population growth around 1800.  Now, in the midst of exponential population growth, adding a billion people to the planet every ten years, Capitalism is no longer functional on planet Earth because its mandate to seek profit maximization is fueling greed, creating massive unemployment, fostering wars that consume enormously expensive weapons systems, and it drives illegal drug and weapon sales, and accompanying violence worldwide. Drug dealers thrive in gangs, find a community, flood it with guns, terrorize the community, cause people to move, and then buy up properties cheaply. All this is done with a guiding set of values of money and power. In a community meeting with youth, they told the adults in the room, “You will never stop us from selling drugs; we are making too much money; Money is God.”

Curing Hatred, Developing Awareness, Love & Wisdom Over Time
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Struggling to function	Uneducated Unaware Good-natured	Uneducated Unaware Self-centered Selfish	Knowledgeable Ruthless Self-centered Selfish Greedy	Knowledgeable Changing Growing Developing Maturing	Knowledgeable Conscious Beginning of compassion Beginning of wisdom	Heartful Conscious Wise

Thus, we need a new, enlightened, whole Earth, creative, community-based, sustainable economic system. We can now begin a 100-year transition to a new economic system, evolving it into being, capable of sustaining humanity and the Earth based on higher human values of peace, love, compassion, kindness, forgiveness, joy, wellness, co-creativity, co-empowerment, collaboration, life-long learning, wisdom, win-win-win, synergy and sustainability for all. 

Unsustainable Capitalism	Whole Earth Creative Sustainability System
Win-lose competition	Win-win collaboration and synergy
War products	Kindness services and learning systems
Consumption and waste	Learning and wisdom
Non-productive financial products and services	Productivity, creativity and education
Resource extraction	Development, management and stewardship of resources
Carbon-based, pollution-generating resources	Renewable resources
Unsustainable population with massive unemployment	Creative, sustainable communities for a sustainable planet

 

CONSCIOUSLY LEARNING & EVOLVING
OUR WAY INTO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
          After seeing the riots in the UK, and watching the U.S. Congress meltdown, I recently began The Long Island Learning Community to apply the process of learning to social solution finding. Rather than debate and argument, we are using our higher capacity for Co-creative Inquiry and Learning to discover new paths to shared prosperity and wellbeing for humanity and the Earth. 
          I am currently beginning two interrelated studies and I welcome collaboration. We are seeking idealistic students as interns on this project locally, nationally and globally. Contact: 516-815-4967, sandyhinden@7keystolove.net
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1.  COMMON WEALTH BUILDING
How to create a Financial System that produces growth for more than just wealthy individuals who are financially savvy and know how to manipulate the Financial System?
How to create Common Wealth for all?

2.  VIBRANT, SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
In an overpopulated world, how to create well-educated, wise, compassionate, creative, sustainable communities, worldwide?

See the Sustainable, Healthy Communities Inventory below.

GLOBAL COMMON WEALTH ~ IDEAS

* The creation of wealth shared by all.

* Uniting the human heart and mind into a virtuous and nourishing economy.

* People reunite head and heart, making consumer choices known to be socially or ecologically beneficial.

* An important split in the soul of people is healed through aligning the desire for justice and sustainability with the aspiration to live well and happily.

* Decisions relating to consumption, investment and work are not made on the criteria of profit maximization; they are made considering a Triple-Win, the criteria of fostering wellbeing for the company, the community and the planet.

* Using personal resources to repair the Earth.

* Investing in education for all for growth in conscious awareness, love-compassion-empathy, and wisdom.

* Investing in infrastructure and renewables: roads, bridges, highways, hospitals, schools, community centers, downtown redevelopment, seawalls, desalinization plants and water pipelines, greening, parks, land preservation, home renewable energy retrofitting, recycling.    

Whole System, Sustainable,
Healthy Communities Inventory

Town-Community ___________________________________________

Includes a Balance Among:

	Indicator	Well Being Measured By	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	Population	The community has enough work, housing, open space, schools and medical facilities for the population.
2	Transportation	The community has enough public transportation for all who need it at an affordable rate.
3	Education	The community has effective schools for all.
4	Work, employment	The community has enough job opportunities for all who need work.
5	Renewable energy	The community has effective means for providing access to energy sources for all.
6	Healthy food, gardening	The community has sufficient access to healthy food, grown locally.
7	Water, sanitation	The community has adequate supplies of clean water and sanitation facilities.
8	Healthcare	The community has enough health care providers and high standard facilities for delivering it.  There are adequate avenues for education, especially in preventative measures.
9	Good government	The community has well-established guidelines for a system of government that provides checks and balances as well as methods for ensuring accountability.
10	Relationship to people	People of different races, religions, nationalities and walks of life are welcomed and free to associate with whomever they want.
11	Relationship to nature	The community provides educational avenues for teaching a respectful approach to nature in schools as well as business practices and develops standards for ensuring those guidelines are met.
12	Volunteerism by all	The community provides opportunities for all to assess their skills and encourages its members to participate generously.
13	Generosity and contribution of time, talent, knowledge	The educated, successful, financially fortunate people in the community participate in contributing time, talent, knowledge and money to causes in the community.
14	Appreciation for art, creativity, science, nature, wonder, the sacred, the holy (within and between all faiths)	The community provides opportunities for creativity, faith-sharing and encourages its members to participate in deepening their spiritual lives.
15	Peace, transcendence, alignment with positive energy	The community encourages non-violent methods of communication and provides educational opportunities for learning to develop these skills as well as offering incentives for implementing  non-violent communication skills in schools and businesses.
	Total Whole System, Sustainable, Healthy Community Index		Score of _______ out of 150 _______ %

Sanford Hinden is author of 7 Keys to Love – Opening Love’s Door to Joy & Wellbeing (Whole Earth Arts, 2009).  He is executive director of the Dix Hills Performing Arts Center and the John Lennon Center for Music & Technology at Five Towns College. He recently formed the Long Island Learning Community seeking creative social solutions through learning.  He is a creative development professional, coach, workshop facilitator, public speaker, community organizer, trainer, project and program developer and consultant.  He worked to create a better world for over 35 years in the arts, health and human services, for the environment and peace, including United Nations affiliated projects.  He founded Universal Children's Gardens (1979-85), The Concert for the Earth at the UN (1984) and Whole Earth Arts (2008). He affiliated 50 museums worldwide with the UN as the International Network of Museums for Peace (2000), and was program director for Community Partners for Coordinated Services (1998-2000) for Suffolk County, New York.

Sandy Hinden is available for workshops, speeches, consulting and coaching. 

Contact: 516-815-4967, sandyhinden@7keystolove.net