Today I am going to present to you a big thinking idea which has been bubbling away inside me for a very long time….my grand vision….

That…. We have now entered an age for civilisation to change the way it lives….

That now is the time for communities to take responsibilities for themselves and stand up to ecological and social challenges …

And in this rant, I will briefly explain how the work I am doing relates to this idea…

But before I do that, let me give you a quick story….

Once upon a time

…there was a quiet, peaceful, and slightly simple young chap. With clean skin and white teeth he spent his free time pondering about irrelevant day to day thoughts instead of stressing over any concerns which came his way.

Then, slowly through the years his teeth became less white, and hairs on his chin started sticking out, he was less peaceful and questioned education, jobs, and government control. 

He spent his free time watching youtube videos on the evil forces of capitalism… he refused to work a 9-5 job and wanted to create a new system of growing and selling food under the radar, free from state and corporate control….! 

Then… just as he noticed the hairs on his chin started turning slightly grey and the first signs of hair loss, he got a 9-5 job….- He had entered an age which is known as adulthood…!

Maturing communities

I think that many people may recognise similarities with this process of maturity because as humans we are all programmed to go through this process…

The person described above eventually identified that the youtube videos were not changing the system anytime soon, and prefered to google other positive changes happening in the world..

I think the same is true with civilisation – leave society to make their own decisions and mistakes, provide them with all the facts, and they too will go in search for something more positive!

What Happens Next?

 I have created a project called the What Happens Next project.

I have developed an interactive management plan which connects plants to information online on how to grow plants from seed to celebration…

So if you wanted to grow lavender from seed, make lavender lemonade or lavender bath salts all you need to is click (CLICK HERE) a button on my plan and off you go.

The intention is to provide the user with information, and leave them with gardening responsibilities –  and the project stands a better chance of lasting.

So far the idea seems to be working. From school teachers to caretakers, to young people on probation to xbox addicted kids…

People respond better than being told to do, because the participants are left to organise the project once everyone is ready… a model known as a ‘bottom up’ approach….

Paticipation from the Bottom Up

The What Happens Next project is an expression of my grand vision…

It offers an example of how the bottom up approach to the Landscape is a positive alternative system of top down control.

Give communities the chance to think for themselves, and provide them with the facts, I think they will grow up and mature as illustrated in the storey above.

I think we should trust humans to step up to challenges given the responsibility and the tools…

And I think we should have faith that humanity has an innate ability to work together and care for the planet like we have done for the last 200 thousand years.…

At what level should government have control?

Well I support a bottom up participation because just like a blade of grass, we humans are programmed to grow from the bottom up!

Seed to Celebration Giveaway

Thanks for reading my blog. Other than explaining my vision, I have another agenda behind this rant- What Happens Next is running a Seed to Celebration Giveaway. Click here to find more…