How can we create sustainable communities so we stop using up resources faster than they can be replaced?

Question

This question was asked at the Dropping Knowledge event on 9th September by Cat Matlock, 36, North Carolina, USA. To find out more about Dropping Knowledge check out our blog:

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Answer 1

I believe that education, awareness and research are the key. Any successful government operates within the parameters of what society wants. We have nobody to blame but our collective selves.

Sustainable communities must make economic sense if they are to be embraced by the masses. Humans are simply not altruistic enough to make choices otherwise. Research on more efficient and economical infrastructure must prevail.

An example is gas-powered automobiles. The emissions are huge, but it is gas prices and their drain on the economy that will lead to change. Is research up to the challenge?

In this example, I believe that the answer will lie in fuel-cell or battery-powered cars. We are very quickly reaching feasability in these two options. However, they both still require an energy source. I don't like it more than anyone else, but the only feasible option to replace all of that petroleum energy seems to be nuclear. Other alternative energies will play a large role, but nuclear stands out as playing a large, necessary part. No other alternative energy offers the necessary potential magnitude, plain and simple.

How do we make nuclear energy safe? More research is needed here. For too long, we've avoided the question. There are options for nuclear waste, if we pursue them.

Thorium reactors may be able to recycle much of this, and cannot be used as nuclear weapons. This could alone provide a solution to several current political crisises.

The ultimate solution likely lies in an entirely opposite breed of nuclear reactors: Fusion Reactors. These would operate the same way stars such as our sun do. They would offer an almost unlimited energy supply with just about zero nuclear waste. It is, most likely, our future.

I have not even touched on many of the issues necessary to have a fully sustainable community. I can't answer everything, but I do believe that there is light at the end of every tunnel. The common theme is that we will not see that light until economics and education guide us there, and research allows us to finally walk through.

Answer 2

What a question. It is speculated that the current population of the world is due in large part to the flood of oil in this day and age. However the flow of oil is down a lot in just the last few years. We shall see what happens next. In the mean time if we are to have a sustainable community, we shall require a community that is able to produce what it needs in close proximity. Parts, for housing, transportation, clothing, food, manufacturing, and energy, must all be local. Some locations are better suited for these things. So some areas will fare better than others. So I suppose the question is, where do you live and how well set are you? What do you know how to do? What skills do you have? Are you able to garden? Can you build a home with solar gain in mind? Can you produce energy that is usable? Can you build things? Can you repair things? Can you cook? Can and bottle and preserve your food? Where does your water come from? How secure is it? The only real sustainable community is one that can stand by its self. Without the regular semi loads of things to your local grocery store, how long can your area last? How long can you last? I suppose part of what it takes to make a sustainable community is having self sufficient families and individuals. So if you want to know if you have a community that is sustainable, look in the mirror, and ask, am I self sufficient? And there will be your answer.

Answer 3

What a question. It is speculated that the current population of the world is due in large part to the flood of oil in this day and age. However the flow of oil is down a lot in just the last few years. We shall see what happens next. In the mean time if we are to have a sustainable community, we shall require a community that is able to produce what it needs in close proximity. Parts, for housing, transportation, clothing, food, manufacturing, and energy, must all be local. Some locations are better suited for these things. So some areas will fare better than others. So I suppose the question is, where do you live and how well set are you? What do you know how to do? What skills do you have? Are you able to garden? Can you build a home with solar gain in mind? Can you produce energy that is usable? Can you build things? Can you repair things? Can you cook? Can and bottle and preserve your food? Where does your water come from? How secure is it? The only real sustainable community is one that can stand by its self. Without the regular semi loads of things to your local grocery store, how long can your area last? How long can you last? I suppose part of what it takes to make a sustainable community is having self sufficient families and individuals. So if you want to know if you have a community that is sustainable, look in the mirror, and ask, am I self sufficient? And there will be your answer.

If the answer is no, then the next question should be, what do I need to do. And what ever the answer is to that, is where you begin. You can't expect your community to do it if you have not done it your self.

Answer 4

easy, change how we live and where we live.
...

We should focus on better integrated communities where you don't have to go far for a school a hospital a food store and restoraunts ... you get my drift...
Should be more pedestrian friendly...

We should build things with stuff that is renuable and sustainable...

we should practice and participate in giving back from what we take... for instance, why not make every roof top a living green roof top? Why not grow what we need on those roof tops?
Instead of concreat jungles, why not have real plant jungles everywhere we go...
the side walks become soft green walk ways or smooth rocky paths, and beside them are a line of trees and other plants...
Every parking deck be covered in solar pannels and mini wind mills and instead of white parking lines we could have plants planted where we should be parking inbetween with a bumper around them so we don't run over them when messing up parking LOL
;-)
Come on....
just be creative and as green and community oriented as possible ... we'll come up with ways together
;-)

::: Peace :::

Answer 5

The establishment of sustainable communities calls for founding an alliance of citizens who care and earnestly desire to change the way things are.Once a nucleus of such like-minded folks gets formed in a place, they can network and pool resources and information and acquire pieces of Real Estate which are amenable to such development.Fortunately quite a significant chunk of the Architects fraternity has veered around to advocate sustainability as a key issue in Town and Country Planning.

The next in line to change are the Real Estate lobby. If they find that the fashionable lot are shifting to sustainable Housing and Community facilities, they will find ways to sell the idea to the middle class who constitute their major clientele.A few such model Housing Colonies will serve as triggers and set in motion a large scale movement towards sustainable living.

Here I would like to draw a parallel to the installation of Community Security cover in the Residential Communities. Initially this was considered a fad of the well heeled. But today most Residential Housing Communities have common security asa routine facility.

Answer 6

Start with my generation:the Baby Boomers.
Groups of friends should get together and create communities that have private housing and a community building (CoHousing).

They can have a community garden to grow food and they can pool resources. They can help each other to build, repair, remodel their homes and set up a barter system for goods and services amongst themselves. On a larger scale, they can trade goods and services with other cohousing communities. Some will have retired lawyers, medical professionals, marketing & design people, architects, chefs and any number of other skills and talents. Keep a "yellow page" style directory of skills and talents people are willing to donate and keep a trade board online and in a community building where you can post what you need and see if someone else can give that to you.

Recycle neighborhoods by pooling your money and purchasing entire blocks and creating these co-housing communities within cities and buy up old/closed summer camps and turn them into senior communities complete with nurses, cooks, driver and anything else seniors need.

The nightmare of assisted living for the multi millions of us who will need it over the next 20 years could be lessened greatly by creating this smaller communities. And the real beauty is that you can continue to live around friends and family members instead of the sad reality of strangers in nursing homes like my parents generation suffered. Our kids would have much less concern over our well being knowing we were in a community of friends our age and hey- we'd all be listening to the same music!

The way to create sustainable communities is to learn to share what we have with others. If EVERYONE has some things, then NO ONE will have no things.

Answer 7

ok, you're VERY widely used. that is why you have to be anti-unlawful. a million) There are racists on all sides. they're in simple terms jumping on the bandwagons pondering that's determination to their twisted ends. yet that would not recommend a lot anti-illegals are racists. 2) We let about 100,000 Mexicans into the united states each and every twelve months legally. 3) Illegals do not seem assimilated into our united states. There are massive numbers of them in the united states. (they can make a chief sized united states all on their own.) Giving this a lot of human beings citizenship will take political power sparkling of the interior reach born electorate and from the naturalized licensed immigrants. the majority inhabitants in southern states might want to very without complications develop into foreigners that were born outdoors the united states. that's kinda frightening. The president needs to be an section born united states citizen for a purpose. We ought to anticipate the vast majority of united states electorate in any state to be familiar born electorate. that would want to look unfair, even with the indisputable fact that now no longer least confusing is this their birthright, that's continually a attitude to be particular in simple terms about all have allegience to the united states. 4) Illegals KNEW they were no longer meant to go back suitable right here. They began households suitable right here understanding they could be deported and it might want to damage their kin. Deportation is the common consequences of their movements and isn't any longer meant to be a punishment. that's only the law. 5) Granting those illegals rights will inspire extra illegals to go back over. 6) Granting those illegals legalized acceptance will create a help community for sort spanking new illegals. they are going to easily harbor illegals and employ illegals. Then this nonsense takes position everywhere once extra in 15 years with even extra illegals.

Answer 8

What about telecommuting? We use up a whole lot of resources just getting to work on a daily basis. What if each neighborhood had an office hub which had all of the infrastructure needed for secure networking, virtual conferences, plus other common resources. It could sure cut down a lot on congestion, which would also make a significant impact on gasoline consumption (and air quality).

Answer 9

Well first of all you have to have a community that agrees on all of the things you want to do. That is the problem in most countries now. People simply agree to disagree on how things are to be done.

Unfortunately the world is as diverse as the oceans are deep so you will never find a group of people that all agree on the same thing or what is right for the community or on a global scale the world.

That is called the human factor. If every person had exactly the same amount style and color of clothes, shoes, house, car, and food and mate then there would be no need to struggle for more or different things. Stealing and robbery and murder would stop because who wants to steal what everyone else has especially if they can't sell it because no one needs it and why kill someone if they are exactly like you. You might as well commit suicide if you don't like yourself because everyone else is exactly like you and has exactly the same things. There would be no need to kill or make war except for religion. And if you made all religions the same and everyone believed in the same god or no god at all then there would be no need to kill for belief of religion or faith.

In conclusion, there will never be a self sustaining community because you will always have the people that have and the people that have not. There will always be a need and desire for more and that will kill any chance of coexisting peacefully in this world with any other culture.

Answer 10

get off the high horse.
all politicians work up scale, jump in where they can and commit to seeing a tight ship, bs they can't see the fact if you gave them too much power that it will only make you more distanced from it. first law of get the job, the guy that know how to get the job is always the worst guy to do the job,politicians put all funds ear marked back in the general funds so you can pilfer them if there ear marked for certain things they are going to be in your hands. each of the people who get to where they can do something don't so try to hand us something else okay, the top of the economy is full and merry and stable by to balance this funds are taken from the disabled and the handicapped to balance the budgets and always were. the trickle down theory sucks and the politicians are just like everybody else they get their and get lazy, half of the charity worker padded up real well when the coast got hit and the people offered to collect for the people in Louisiana,abuse, but that the back wash of 911 that most people got flatten out and never will recover and trying to do good by seeing jumping in at community service to hold the line says business as usual.. so why do you look like just another angle to pull alil' more off the bottom, in name of good cause of course!