If you only ask, “What’s possible?” you’ll only get what’s incremental. If you start with the impossible yet compellingly imperative, you’ll get the radically evolutionary. You’ll get what we need.
Many people say, “To change the world we have to start at the top. We must convince the politicians and captains of industry to join and champion our cause, that only by leveraging their influence, power, connections, and economics can we make big changes happen.”
Other people say, “To change the world we have to start with the grassroots. We must inspire a groundswell of local, organic support so can we move the world where it needs to go.”
I say, “To change the world we have to start at the edges.”
Ask the poets, dreamers, odd-balls, queers and shamans to imagine, envision, and divine an impossible yet irresistible future – that’s what they love to do. And they come from all walks of life – they are everywhere and nowhere.
Ask the artists, painters, musicians, writers to make the impossible tangible, visible, palpable by creating stories, images, and ballads that infuse the collective consciousness and unconsciousness – that’s what they love to do.
Ask the trend watchers and marketers to pitch these visions to the entrepreneurs and venture capitalists: the wild, untamed future always has the greatest profit potential – that’s what they love to pursue.
Ask the designers, architects and engineers to prototype the now nearly possible (but as yet still unreachable). Ask them to do this for as many scenarios as they can. It’s what they love most.
Ask the teachers, the scientists, economists, psychologists, sociologists to study these futures – that’s what they love to do. Listen to what they find.
Ask the people, those at the top and those at the grassroots, “Which future do you want to live in? Which ones do you love the best?”
Ask the politicians, the captains of industry to champion these worlds to be, these supported ideas to lead – that’s what they love to do.
Ask everyone to construct livable prototypes of all of the most popular and many of the least – the world is made of niches not normals. Better yet, build them all, experiment, play, fail, play some more – it’s what humans love all the more.
Ask the bloggers, journalists and historians to document these emerging realties with their particular spin – that’s what they love to do.
Ask the artists, sculptures, actors, and producers to capture these new worlds in the ways only they can – that’s what they love to do.
Plant the seeds and let them grow – its what life loves most.
Finally, ask the grandchildren, “How did we do?”
Green Living Forever 