At least the prisons in Norway have windows: A systems perspective on sustaining our sanity

I really appreciate all of the arguments that come along with the need to green a city. Roseland discusses the decrease in energy costs, reduction in urban heat island, the absorption of pollution, drainage, and on and on. I particularly appreciate the appeals raised toward our inter-connectedness with nature. I think we frequently forget that we have this biological need to be in contact with the environment -much like we forget that things like taking time for ourselves, sleeping, listening to good music, eating well, exercising, etc. are necessary to our sanity. Instead we are willing to trade it off for the structures of the urban environment, or see landscaping as another example of government wasting tax money on something frivolous. But this way of thinking leads us to miss out on the tangible benefits nature provides. Dr. Brown mentioned on the first day that individuals are more productive in a room when there is a window to the outside world. But heaven forbid we hire artisan architects that consider these facets when working with a university budget. This would be considered luxurious, and we are really going more for austerity in our ivory towers. We same to have this underlying notion that focusing on quality of life is frivolous. Perhaps this is because quality of life is a relative term, but is no less important.

It seems like in many of our societal systems (always with exceptions) there is little regard given to the humanity that operates within the system (or the quality side of things). In prisons, we focus on enforcing punishment rather than rehabilitation. In businesses we focus on profits rather than productivity and customer relations. In cities we focus on the automobile rather than the pedestrian. In hospitals we focus on eradicating illness rather than creating people that are well. Education has become more about standardized tests than learning and cultivating thought. I will note that the end result is with the organization and efficiency of the community as a whole in mind, but it's important to at least recognize what we are losing along the way. And perhaps there are other systems that could address the problems we face as a community. In Norway, they have decided it's worth their time to try other systems that are inclusive of the human element (something that isn't so hard when sitting on the savings from oil reserves - which relates to the stead-state economy we discussed). In a deleted scene from Michael Moore's Sicko (I know, I know), he ventures to Norway and finds that the country hires an ethicist to advise the government on how to invest funds in an ethical manner. I don’t think Dick Cheney would like this guy. And their adoption of an alternative prison system, based on restoring dignity to individuals through trust and responsibility, is a prime example of restoring quality to our public systems. I'm not suggesting this model is appropriate for everyone, but it's worth considering ideas that attempt to approach problems we all share as communities from alternative angles.

While many would argue that these are pie in the sky approaches to complex problems, it's being done! Without bold ideas such as these (bold ideas that don't include violence and genocidal tendencies) we are unable to advance beyond the societies we know today. And without advancement, we will fail.