Jungletown

Discussion in 'Science & Society' started by birch, Mar 29, 2017.

  1. birch Valued Senior Member

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    There is a new series called jungletown where a group of people and recent graduates are trying to build a sustainable town from the ground up. That is really responsible. It's nice to know there are good people who trying to make a better world. One said you can't call your life beautiful if it makes other's lives ugly etc.

    I think this is a good idea for many of the homeless population. Society has yet to address that there are people who cannot fit into the cookie cutter society trying to make everyone conform because the lifestyle can be unnatural to some people and they just are not wired that way.

    If society could make a space/land where people can live more naturally and where everyone chips in, i think it could draw people who feel disenfranchised from regular society or feel unable to live in a more artificial environment and hoops that society has made with all it's arbitrary rules and expectations. Some people don't understand it or feel lost and don't want to be a part of it or it rubs them the wrong way or even as if they are losing their soul. A simpler life or even a village type life is what some people need.

    If you have ever been to a homeless shelter, many times people like to contribute to helping keep the shelter running which can be cleaning, cooking, serving, yardwork, sometimes gardening depending on the shelter etc but they have a harder time with things that are complicated such as resumes, interviews etc to live in a very structured but to them unnecessarily complicated and marginalizing/isolating society. They are not necessarily lazy, they just need to feel that they belong and that their life makes sense, not just a cog in the world. Thrust them out there expecting them to fit in will for most end in repeated failure. Most of them are alone or have been very stressful/painful past so regular society does not make sense to them. One homeless man told me that he didn't actually want to get his own apartment as he would feel too alone and he would rather just stay at the shelter where it's more communal and there are other people he can talk to. They need a sense of community 'they' can relate to and then they can and willingly contribute as everyone likes to be doing something or feel productive if it's to their benefit and within their capacity. It would be much more intelligent to bring people out to teach them trades for sustainability such as carpentry, gardening etc. They can learn but if you make things unnecessarily complicated, they will lose it. Keep it simple and let them see where the dots connect in relation to their life and contribution to their community.

    The problem is the mindset of 'profit' that's become redundant as the only way. It may not make a profit but that is really not a problem if it can be self-sustaining in growing their own food/gardening, simple animal husbandry, recycling etc just communal give/take/contribution.
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2017

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