We are pilgrims in an unfinished universe. We are co-creators of our collective future. It should be a future we accomplish, not through coercion and force, but through the subtle influence of persuasion, cooperation, and joy.
- From the Myth of Leadership: Creating Leaderless Organizations
Principle Three – Regeneration (regenerate the world at the local level through the practice of innovation and creativity in finding new ways, and improving old ways, of meeting our needs in our local communities):
I always find inspiration in E.F. Schumacher’s Small Is Beautiful. On page 35 of the new Harper-Perennial edition, we find his three suggestions to scientists and technologists of the 21st century – suggestions to regenerate our communities at the local level. He says,
We need methods and equipment, which are:
- Cheap enough so that they are accessible to virtually everyone;
- Suitable for small-scale application; and
- Compatible with man’s need for creativity.
As begin to practice the five principles of localism (reduction, replacement, regeneration, responsibility, and reconnection), these three objectives should guide our job creation in local industry in a manner that is environmentally healthy and economically sustainable.
There are today innovative companies around the world seeking to do this. One great example of this effort is PlantLab, a Dutch agricultural engineering company focused on developing the technology to make possible indoor local food production. (See http://www.plantlab.nl/4.0/) They are developing the technology for local communities to grow all the food they need locally. Local communities should become active in partnering with innovative companies, like Plantlab, and seeking to solve our human problems at the human scale of localism.
As local communities become both more self-sustaining and self-governing, they can begin to export best practices and ideas to assist other communities in meeting the needs of community members at the local level (Principle Five – Reconnecting).
We possess the wisdom, the competence, and the resources to create a world where each human might flourish and satisfy his or her deep existential needs for respect and security. Such potential, however, will only become the reality when we focus and work at the local level.
