Nature's Economic Stimulus Plan

Worried about the economy? Most people are. Most have an opinion about the new stimulus plan. No one knows if it will jump-start the flow of prosperity or if we will all be working the victory garden on the closet patch of earth. While we worry and wonder, nature has its own stimulus plan. It started with the Big Bang and has been keeping goods and services flowing for billions of years. Nature's stimulus package has an infinite supply of renewable energy and jobs for countless creatures. Lending flows freely. Research and development continues nonstop. The arts flourish and food is available in endless supply.

So where did we go so wrong? With overflowing abundance covering the planet, how did we trap ourselves in an economic wasteland? We forgot or denied one simple principle of sustainable growth—to continue, life devours itself. Yikes! Who wants to face that. The fact is, there's no other choice.

The human picture of growth involves accumulating more and more land, houses, clothes, food, health, relationships, entertainment... Once we've grown these things, we want to keep them as they are without deterioration. We want all gain and no loss. This is the complete opposite of nature's economics.

To maintain itself and thrive, nature gives up everything it gains. Solar energy, vital water, breathable air, fertile soil, flourishing plant life and diverse animal communities are produced and renewed through nature's economic system of continuous  birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth.  

Whatever stimulus plan we follow, it will be short term if it doesn't involve the loss of the old and the birth of the new. Old markers like the stock market may not be the indicators of a new economy attuned to nature's ways. It may be acts of giving in the midst of seeming scarcity, friendship in the face of fear, and a sense of peace in the whirlpool of chaos. This isn't mystical fantasy. It's the practical economics that have sustained life on this planet for millions of years.

BUILD BABY BUILD

Vision is exhilarating. The mind glows with possibilities. Heart expands through limits. Fingers reach to gather materials. Then comes  the moment of truth. Does the elusive power of imagination translate into concrete form?

It has countless times before, in grand and humble ways. Structures from the pyramids in Egypt to the Golden Gate Bridge were born from vision. So were tools from sewing needles to laptops. They sprung from the minds of people like us—individuals living in an uncertain world, looking into present circumstances and glimpsing something that might sparkle into the future.

So here we are, the power imagination has brought forth a leader who has holistic vision, a mind that connects possibilities to concrete patterns, a heart bigger that petty divisions, and hands guiding us toward the realization of our long held dreams. 

With his wisdom and street smarts, President Obama (I love saying that.) has made rebuilding the country's physical structure a way to revitalize the economy. The brilliance of this program is that it will do far more than put people to work. The process of translating vision into brick and mortar will allow us to see and touch the design of the nation's soul. Rebuilding America won't be an abstract concept depicted on a spreadsheet. It won't be measured by the "drill baby drill" mindset of consumption. The vision of CHANGE will become a physical place. It will become architecture we can walk through, take shelter under and look out of to envision the next steps in our collective journey. "Make hay while the sun shines," is the wisdom from our agricultural past. Maybe "make architecture while the vision shines" fits these times. Why not chant, "BUILD BABY BUILD."