The Seven Generations Principle, rooted in an ancient philosophy of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois), emphasizes considering the impact of decisions on the welfare of the seventh generation into the future. This principle urges individuals to live and work in a way that benefits future generations, ensuring sustainability and well-being for those yet to come. It is a concept deeply ingrained in indigenous cultures, promoting respect for the earth, interconnectedness with all living beings, and a sense of responsibility towards preserving resources and relationships for the long term.
The current biodiversity crisis, driven by human activity, underscores the urgency of protecting ecosystems and species to maintain the planet's resilience and essential services they provide to humanity.
Addressing climate change and biodiversity loss together is crucial for safeguarding both nature and human well-being, requiring coordinated efforts at local, national, and global levels.
Winding down oil, gas & coal
Eating 98% plant strong
Movement 2-3 hours a day
Meditating
These are all daily practices that promote safety, belonging and mattering to each other and to the natural world we call home.
On a local level, urban reforestation, building abundant social housing where once upon a time cars and trucks roamed, adding green parks will help make Seattle a vibrant Emerald City.
Seattle can lead Washington state and the country in restoring wildlife habitat, grow food forests and a park that connects Seattle Center to Green Lake in the right of way of what is currently called Aurora Ave N.
The poverty we live with today is manufactured by public policy. It is time to break the hostage crisis the real estate industry and big business has created for profit while a few when thousands of people are living in the streets without shelter from the economic storm.
Seattle is home to a vibrant economy. And the financial wealth generated here from working people and technologies is a function of citizens paying for schools, streets, libraries and health care that are foundational investments in social wealth. What has been broken by greedy rat bastards gaming the system is allowing a few people to become millionaires overnight and billionaires in a relatively short period of time. This savage wealth extraction is rooted in an unskillful and ignorant understanding of our lives together here on Earth.
Time for a new model for housing that is not rooted in a market. Markets by definition create winners and losers. That is the definition of madness when it comes to social wealth we collectively benefit from investing in public housing, health care, education, fire, police and other infrastructure.
The system is broken and has stopped generating social wealth for many of the people who live in the Dollar Store economy: a precarious working class is permanently stressed with part time work and no benefits, health problems and other systemic problems like credit card debt, unemployment, lack of access to education and other keystones of a healthy social wealthy society.
Rebecca Solnit writes about slow change being radical change including suggestions creating a city that lets people take vacations locally by investing in green spaces and helping mitigate climate change and cool our city.
What could do that better than a new park that connect Seattle's two gems: Seattle Center and Green Lake?
The idea of this project is to reimagine Seattle and start dreaming of a city that is living in the 7 generation principles.
Where to begin? Highway 99 aka Aurora Ave was built inn the 1930's.
Less than 100 years have passed.
So that is the first thing to note: there is nothing permanent about Aurora Ave.
Second, the end of capitalism is here. The time has come to get stuck in our grief and our losses, or grieve all the destruction of the plants and animals that are our home and pledge allegiance to their respective restoration. Add abundant social housing so working people can live in Seattle and we create a supply of beautiful affordable housing for people working in this city, and you have the outlines of a green dream of our future.
What about you? Can you imagine housing and parks built where a street near you is today?
Taking up the whole street with a lane for transit maybe bike paths is different than what Seattle Subway and other groups are proposing.
I'm creating some preliminary designs to illustrate the plan and then start talking with people living along the Aurora corridor today. Feel free to leave suggestions for improvements and what you'd like to see.
Great ideas!