Building a new world

table of hand tools
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As we were on our walk around a couple of blocks
My wife and I were passing a newly constructed project
Of luxury highrise apartments
And this got me thinking about
How building a building needs to be approached.
It can't be done by a bunch of contractors
Coming in and doing their bit,
And cobbling it together.
Buildings are constructed through a rigorous process.
Even the creation of luxury high-rises
Involves careful design (accounting for stress loads)
And permitting, followed by site preparation, excavation,
Foundation laying, structural framing, installing plumbing,
Electrical and HAVC systems, and finishing-work.
I remember years ago, in the 1970s,
UConn built a new library. It was huge.
Then they moved the books in and
The foundation began to crack.
They had underestimated the weight
Of five stories of books.
As my wife and I were walking
I was musing
About how, with a building,
You can't (or shouldn't) cut corners.
The fiasco that happened with UConn's (new) library
Was completely avoidable.
Shirley told the story of a how
There was once a carpentar who built houses for a builder
Who always treated him very unfairly,
Rushing him and underpaying him.
The builder hid increasing contempt for this man.
He decided to build one more house before he retired.
He would get even with his boss
By building his last house with the cheapest materials,
Pocketing the money he saved for his retirement.
After he retired, his boss,
Who was feeling guilty about all the years he had abused him,
Gave him the last house he built as a parting gift.
I didn't tell it very well, but you get the moral.
I feel like we are also building a building.
We're constructing the space
That our descendants are going to live in.
Call it the psychic space
Our descendants will live it.
But don't underestimate what that means!
We are essentially building a new world,
A new kind of sustainable world.
What kind of world will that be?
A world where nature will be welcome
Supported by a new kind of circular economy
That will serve everyone.
We, right now, are building the foundation
Of that new world, that new economy.
We are the foundation and we have to get it right.
We have to get our ideas right, our believes, our values,
Our visions, our hopes, our investments!
This new world we are building
Can't be cobbled together!
And it can't be built out of spite
Or overnight.
It can't sink when the oceans rise,
Or creak and wobble when the world population doubles.
It can't fall down because someone salvages
A few thousand books!
We don't know what the future will bring
So we have to build the foundation with that in mind.
But it has to be liveable!
And it has to be sturdy
And it has to be welcoming.
And it has to be compatible with the natural world.
It can't be knee-jerk or reactive.
We're human -
We build things.

Let's get this new world right!