Gardening is public service

we are moving away from a world of consumption and moving towards a world of service.  This is much like turning a battleship; it doesn't happen right away.  Turning a battleship around takes time, and turning around an economy takes even longer.  What's important to see is that we've started turning.

Moving away from a world of consumption will be an earth-shifting process. Markets themselves will reorient, moving away from materialistic, consumption-based production while moving towards nonprofit, service-based production.  We live in interesting times. 

Hence the Asylum Project.  A non profit corporation competing for your attention in a blog-heavy world.   Our aim is to guide your attention towards a platform of solutions.

Corporations who profit from consumption will lose value and may go bankrupt.  Many ecologically damaging jobs will be transformed into ecologically healing ones.  Consumers pay for it, like always.  Only this time, consumers are investing not in materialism's capacity to provide meaning and happiness but nonmaterialism's capacity to provide meaning and happiness.  This subtle difference is the ground of our worldshift.  The time is soon when highly efficient, highly competitive nonprofits will compete for market share in the private sector while collectively competing with public service - i.e. "the guvment" -over brand loyalty. A bloated, cumbersome, corrupt and morally bankrupt monopolistic government is about to see some competition from the private sector in the realm of public service - and that competition is going to transform government's legendary inefficiencies.

The human survival mechanism is already seen to be kicking in.  We are evolving, because we have no choice.

Remember that humans are at their best when circumstances are at their worst.  When an ice storm knocked out power in Canada, folks with meat in the freezer had huge driveway cookouts and people burned furniture in public to keep crowds warm.  Community arrived instantly.  Newspapers reported that people were disappointed when the power was restored!  For that matter, can anyone recall what circumstances created America's 'greatest generation'?  Dire ones, we may expect.  Oh yeah - WWII.  Humans are at their best when circumstances are at their worst, and has anyone taken notice of America's recent circumstances?

What happens is that our society, which has programmed our egos to be consuming, selfish, gluttonous, and greedy, occasionally fails, and when that happens, the ego's autopilot goes into manual mode.  Our ordinary, selfish value system (what's in it for me?  what do I want?) is replaced by a selfless value system (what needs to be done?  how best to do it?)   We find that we are actually more happy serving others than we ever are serving ourselves.  Serving ourselves is a recipe for discontent; its like trying to sunbathe on a submarine.  Serving others is the best thing we can do, and consequently serving others creates the most positive emotional feedback loop.  We're actually happier that way.  But don't tell that to the global corporate economy, who is determined to keep the population enslaved to a mindset of consumption - and consequently, unhappy materialism.

Lets focus on moving towards a world of service.  the free market, orienting itself towards service-based production, is beginning to show signs of rewarding virtue.  Faint signs, sure, but by the time it gets obvious this blog will read 'I told you so'.    the greatest value in the market is now to be tapped into by correcting the trade imbalance between the haves and the have-nots.  By providing the haves with a a functioning planetary life-support system, good water, good air, stable temperatures, abundance, peace, leisure, and health,  private sector public service would provide havenots with deeply meaningful employment in the great healing of Earth.


As we invest more and more energy into moving towards a world of service, gluttony, greed, and selfishness will fall by the wayside.  Private corporate profits will slump and these corporate losses will be absorbed into a new economy, where nonprofits absorb the great bulk of global investment. This is an investment in a healthy and healthful planet.  This is an investment in healing.  Consumption-based job losses will coincide with service-oriented job creation.

How do we create a world of service?

I'm going to suggest we begin by making gardening the centerpiece of public education.