Projects

Humanity First (well, okay, second) 

 Of course the central theme of this project is that of putting Mother Earth first, but in submitting to Her, and, by extension, the infinite inner universe, great abundance is at our disposal (oops, bad choice of words, but you get the idea). As these communities spread around the country and the world, I envision a network emerging, bonded by a common sense of purpose and blessed by the universe, not because we’re better than anyone else, but because of our willingness to trust the greater wisdom of all things. As the great philosopher Sydney Banks put it, “Humility is not about thinking less of yourself, it’s about thinking of yourself less.”

Evidence of this healing power of humility and trust abound. Housing projects that employ these principles have seen drug abuse, and all the crime associated with it, virtually vanish overnight. Jack Pransky writes about one of these projects in his book “Modello.” Prison programs that employ these principles have seen recidivism (repeat offenses) drop from 70% to 10%*. In this network of which I speak, I can envision owners finding jobs out of town and being able to instantly sell their property to the network and instantly resettle in a vacant property in their new town. If no vacancies exist, these communities will be so dynamic, modular, and scalable that a new dwelling can be provided within the month (maybe even within the week). Renters in the same situation will be able to seamlessly end the old rental and begin the new one. Of course relocations to different countries would still involve all the citizenship hurdles that currently exist, but at least housing wouldn’t be a problem.

*Empirical evidence for the recidivism claim is lacking at the moment, mainly because of the challenge of isolating Three Principles from other contributing factors. I could simply remove that claim from my narrative, but I will not do that because I really believe in my gut that this is the answer to every human problem. Everywhere these principles are applied, incredible results follow. To find out more about this amazing approach, check out sydneybanks.org or search 3pgc in YouTube for hundreds of videos on this topic. What I really love about Syd is that he discouraged any kind of dependence on him or any other authority. In fact, he explicitly told people not to listen to his words, but instead to listen quietly for a feeling, much like one would listen to good music, and find the wisdom from within that is available to every living soul on Earth at any time.

This may sound like Pollyanna, but Mary’s Place (Sharing and Caring Hands) provides free housing for distressed families, for as little or as long as is needed. Check it out at https://sharingandcaringhands.org/. Mary Jo Copeland has been running this organization since 1984 with no government assistance. You can rationalize that away all you like, but it is her unconditional love and her speaking beyond the differences to the wisdom she knows (not believes) to be in every human being that is the reason for the mission’s success.

That is what I want to have guiding this project. I cannot say exactly what that will look like. I suspect every community will be slightly different. All I know is that it is long overdue.

 Sustainability on the Go

This project involves portapotties. Instead of those chemical monstrosities that do nothing to even break even with Mother Earth, let alone improve it, I propose structures with slotted walls for easy assembly and disassembly (no disassemble Number 5!). Inside will be a “throne” with a compost bucket and a bucket filled with cover material. The full compost buckets would then be swapped out and taken to a compost pile where nature can work its magic for a year. This last part is what I fear the most if the large companies catch on and start offering this, because they will want to hurry the process up. This is potentially dangerous, as proper aging (a year or two) is necessary for thorough pathogen destruction.

 Humanure Service

As the title suggests, this service would enable anyone interested in the humanure process to participate, regardless of where they live or what physical condition they are in. A good third of the population rents. Another substantial portion owns condominiums or other property where they don’t own any of the land they live on. Still others have physical challenges that would make it difficult to maintain their own compost pile. Right now, all of these people are out of luck. I rent, and am therefore forced to contribute to the very sewer system I despise. It’s frustrating! I have made my idea known to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, so we’ll see where it goes from there.

As of early December, 2021, I have now emailed all 50 states. Most have not responded as of 12/28/2021, but those who have responded cover a wide range—everything from “forget it” to “sounds interesting.” One state would even allow a commercial site, but for some reason would only allow the households themselves to transport the material (i.e. no third party, such as my proposed service). This is all very exciting. What I especially love about it is that I have no enemies. Sure it would be Utopian and all if all the agencies hopped on board and said “Let’s do this thing!” but we’re all on the same side. Who doesn’t want a clean and sustainable environment?

 Composting Toilet Service

This will probably ultimately be an option within the humanure service, but given that these processes are different, I felt I needed to give it a separate heading. As the term suggests, the composting is done within the toilet itself. This is not my favorite option, simply because the composting is not thermophilic (high-temperature) and therefore not as nutrient rich for the environment. Moreover, it uses electricity (most of the time), but this can be mitigated by supplying the electricity from a renewable source, such as solar or wind. It does have a couple of advantages, however. One is convenience.

https://doitgreen.org/topics/house-home/toilets-you-and-environment/

According to the website above, these need only be changed out once a year and the contents can be used in your garden. If you like the concept, but don’t want to “deal with it,” I would be more than happy to do that service for you. Best of all, many states that are reticent to accept thermophilic composting or okay with composting toilets. Either way, it opens up a huge environmental opportunity for residents because now all the water used is graywater, which can be diverted to be used in one of many environmentally friendly ways, thereby contributing zero to the sewage system. Below is a link outlining some graywater solutions. Some of which are surprisingly simple and affordable.

https://elemental.green/complete-beginner-guide-to-greywater-systems/

 Green (or Brown?) Shelters

Although homelessness is a tragedy, one qualifying advantage of having nothing is that you have nothing to lose. By either retrofitting an existing building or building one from scratch and making it environmentally sustainable from the materials to the heating to the composting of excreta, a green homeless shelter offers the opportunity for people in their most vulnerable and seemingly hopeless state (emphasis on seemingly) to instantly leapfrog past the average citizen in terms of being part of the environmental solution rather than part of the problem. For those very much attached to the idea of flushing, some composting toilets would be available in which the contents are water-flushed as usual, the only difference being that they get composted within the toilet rather than added to the waste stream.

This section added on 3/28/2022