Blue Mountains Permaculture

Problem: 1. Collaboration Research has shown that what we almost universally do in meetings seems right, but actually doesn't work very well.  To be specific, human nature intervenes.  Namely, we all want to tell our story and tend to repeat pet agendas over and over, making the proceedings inefficient and closing off paths to innovation.   On the other hand, highly productive groups tend to be similar, to have similar characteristics.  As Tolstoy said, "All happy families resemble one another".  Thi...

Action: IdeaTree is a flow chart for ideas, a visual wiki, a concept mapper.  It enables project teams to collaborate and brainstorm far more effectively and efficiently.  It also implements a revenue sharing plan to help organizations which use it to also benefit financially.   Think of back-of-the-napkin brainstorming, shared worldwide. Arrange your ideas on a global tabletop in the form of websites, audio, spreadsheets and visually show how they relate.     IdeaTree sits at the con...

Problem: The Problem Arizona’s juvenile corrections system, behavioral health services, and educational environments are lacking successful programs to meet the needs for at-risk or challenged youth across all ethnic groups. It is likely that this situation can be applied nationally. Patterns of abuse continue to plague our society in growing numbers. Emotionally and physically jailed juveniles are simply not available to learn coping skills that help them survive and thrive as community member...

Action: The Solution The analogy of taking a fish out of a dirty fish tank, cleaning it off, and throwing it back in with expectations of survival and success applies here. We need more than a clean fish tank, we need a new aquarium. Spectrum Academy is that new aquarium, equipped to meet the needs of habilitating at-hope youth with skill and precision for the 21st Century, by harvesting historical values and restoring cultural and traditional foundations. 21st Century youth need 21st Century ...

Problem: Government is the organizing instrument of society and to make sure that it is acting in the best interests of its citizens, it is managed and controlled by representatives of the citizens who are directly accountable for their performance to the citizens: Representative Government.How to create and structure such a representative government hasn't totally eluded people to date but it could do with some improving.Many of the existing structures carry burdens of historical trappings, most ofte...

Action: Small groups in every constituency, in every nation, must organize now around a standard, new, simple platform and present themselves for election on that platform at every opportunity.The consistent platform will enable and speed the education of the citizenry of all nations, regions and communities. Those who do not wish to stand for office can be powerful in demanding that anyone they vote for adopt the Standards of LIFE as part of their own agenda and commit to promoting them in any way t...

Problem: This solution tackles the question of legal juristiction in a multi-layered, community based social structure. How can you establish human rights on a global level while allowing individual communities to determine their own laws for food standards or noise levels?

Action: Within the structure of multi-layer democracy (http://www.standardsoflife.com/representation) there needs to be a way of handling the differences between different consitituencies within a layer and between layers. Variable Law is a legal construct that is best included in a constitution (http://www.standardsoflife.com/constitutional+Template) and provides ...

Problem: Transforming Compliance from a Burden into a Business Advantage For most organizations, the primary driver for sustainability management is the need to assure full compliance with government regulations, industry standards and rising public expectations.  ESS software gets you in compliance and keeps you in compliance.  It shows your up-to-the-minute compliance status — not ...

Action: EHS Sustainability Software Packages Provide Foundation for Better Management We bring together the information management tools and resources you need to solve your toughest sustainability challenges, combining ESS software products with services and content available thru ESS and our global partner ecosystem.  ESS Sustainability Software Solu...

Problem: Creating an integrated taxation and social security system that guides the invisible hand of the market to help everyone.

Action: A fair system for setting tax rates using the average earnings of the population and by linking the use of tax revenues to the cost of providing the basic services that underpin society.   In order to form a more perfect tax system that represents these principles and is readily adopted and embraced, LIFE proposes an income tax structure that is based on two clearly observable features of a society: the average income of a citizen and the cost of providing those services that are deemed to be...

Problem: The process by which elections are conducted is an area in which we can learn a lot from how our fledgling democracies have evolved over recent centuries. It is in the election and campaigning process that we can see the most egregious flaws emerge to pollute the ideals of representative democracy.

Action: Between 30 days before the election date and the day of the election, all voters cast a vote that allows them to specify 1st and 2nd choices from the available candidates for a seat in the assembly. Candidates with sufficient 1st choice votes to qualify (by passing the quota defined as the half the total votes divided by the number of seats available; e.g. for a body with 7 representatives, at least 7% of the total votes) are duly elected, in order of the number of 1st choice votes received.T...