The World I Want to See

There are a lot of problems in the world. Tons of them, and they are all coming

to a head. I want to see a world without them. I'm not great at being the kind

of person to suggest a problem and not at least attempt to suggest a solution,

even if the solutions are sometimes bad.

Food Scarcity

People need food. Also, water, but we'll get to that in a minute. We need to

give people the means (GIVE, yes *GIVE*. Suck on that sweet, sweet socialism)

and assistance they need to grow, perpetuate, harvest, and make all of the

food they need. Backyard Aquaponics can be done at a scale to feed upwards of

15 people a day. Hydroponics can provide substantial vegetables, even in a

small apartment.

There is no reason communities don't come together and either establish

community gardens that feed the community, coops of folx who can provide all

that is needed but no one person can provide it all, so they _gasp_ share, or

provide the means to individuals to have their own backyard food production.

Simple setups can be entirely solar powered, encapsulated in a small greenhouse

, and run throughout the summer and winter months even in the deserts of the

rocky mountains. These provide fish (in the dozens to hundreds of Tilapia),

forage, and even grain goods. Fruits can be grown aqua- or hydroponically in

the same greenhouse in bushes or smaller trees (hardier and larger trees can

be planted, using genetically modified organisms we have sweet apples growing

in the Rockies).

Water Scarcity

Too many people in the world rely on municpal water systems that are often

unsustainably sourced, or sourced with water travelling a significant distance

and creating huge ecological impact (both in terms of carbon footprint and

the originating water habitat). Through smarter well creation, substantial

investment in desalination for coastal areas, and large-scale stills for making

use of atmospheric water.

There are so many smarter ways that we can generate, use, and conserve (even

reusing and recycling in the house) water that are often left unused because

there are no ways of making them convenient.

We need to fix that.

Power and Communication Availability

For better or worse, the ability to exchange information has changed the world.

But we are running out of resources in the quest to make that better, and we

are running out of ways to get the minerals we need. The ecological impact of

technology can not be understated. We must start mining landfills, reusing and

repurposing older technology. Design software for older systems that can still

function to use new protocols. You can browse Gemini on a TRS-80, I know, I've

seen it done, and it's fantastic. We can be repurposing, reusing, and repairing

old tech with what we have on hand. We can cannabilize the rest.

This leads to a couple sub-points: We need local communities to come together

and stand against failing as a society. I recognize how privileged and tone-

deaf it comes off suggesting people do all of these things. But communities can

and should come together to make this happen. We just have to meet each other.

This leads to distributing knowledge and skills and letting those communities

grow organically. We can't relegate a specific structure to maker-communities,

there are too many differences between groups to try. We can, however,

establish a plan for communities and what skills and equipment they need to

grow and flourish. Such as having a repair shop for power and comms equipment.

(Returning from the badly segued tangent)

Having technology, old or new, that can communicate on modern protocols is only

one step of the battle. None of that works without electricity. To do this

there are a number of sustainable power-generation methodologyies that are

really the only place that nation-states are even beginning to get it right.

There are still methods that can be used at the community scale. A ton of every

-day electronics *can* be powered from a 12 volt system using only buck-boost

converters or voltage regulators. This means that *most* electronics can be

utilized if the power-distribution system of a home was turned into 12 volt

system would be able to handle:

The rest can be handled with limited use of 120 inverters, or by having a

substantially less-robust and therefore less impactful 120 volt generating net

for your community.

Manufacturing

This one is simultaneously the hardest and easiest problem to solve. Most

communities have enough recyclable refuse, material producers, and otherwise

to survive as communities. They don't always have the means to render, recycle,

reuse, or repurpose that refuse. We need to establish small scale recycling

plants in the community. These can be operated by community members as needed

(Take a bunch of trash, walk out with a breadbox) or could be operated by

volunteers working to make raw materials from the refuse, and makers using the

raw materials to make end-use goods.

A lot of this can be done with 3D printing and small-scale machines made for

less than 5000 USD (for new materials. Often these are designed to be made

with refuse parts and can be had for less than 500 USD to free with some effort

).

3D printing can make use of recycled PET bottles, HDPE, PLA, or Soybean-based

resins (sustainably sourced) for making objects. In addition, their technology

is such that it is relatively easy to inform and educate someone on the

construction of one that can be used to construct itself or improved versions

of itself.

It's a lot.

I know.

It's a ton. It doesn't even make sense to suggest. But it's a solution. One that

I really think we could get behind, and accomplish as people trying to fight a

problem at a scale much greater than ourselves.

I do what I can... but we could do what *we* can. And that would be more.