WORTHY ACTIONABLE LIST OF PROJECTS (The WALOP)
In November of 2023, our charity had its 25th Anniversary and we patted ourselves on the back for making it this far and the chunk of goals we have already met. Then we thought… hmm what will 2050 look like? At MofT, we love a list and a long-term plan. Therefore, we decided to sit down with the knowledge that we have accrued, the experts we have garnered, and the hopes we have heard from youth and the young at heart.
We decided that the Research and Executive Teams would devote a large part of 2024 to preparing our most audacious program yet: The Worthy, Actionable List of Projects for 2025-2050 (aka The WALOP). This will all be correlated with Matter of Trust’s own comprehensive Strategic and Implementation Plan. Most outrageously, we will take this one step further. we will ask humanity who wants to take part in Mission Impossible (not just very, very hard) and put Planet over Profit in the year 2030 for 12 months? On the 366th day, everyone can go back to destructive habits. All we ask is that for one year we pour all of the money (and we have found excellent sources of money for this) into activities beneficial to all life. This way we can look younger generations in the eye and say, we knew what to do, and we did something, for you.
The WALOP is a never ending living document, as it should be. We may be optimists, still we are practical and reasonable. We understant that this is firstly an exercise in sorting and secondly in carefully executing what can and should be done as soon as possible.
We live in interesting times, as they say. This has a silver lining, if you want to find one. Life would be dead boring and purposeless if there existed obvious ways to solve every Earthly problem. Phew, dodged a bullet there! Turns out we have more than enough troubles to go around for as far as we can see. Also, our species is excellent at creating new problems all the time.
However, it is important to “know thyself” as it were. If you are a Big Picture type this may be more for you than if you are happier one on one or tend to get overwhelmed by drama. We are using loose methodologies to help our own teams find strengths and comfort zones within this endeavor.
Mostly, we’d love your advice, suggestions and energy. This interactive program will live in volunteer field work and online at The WALOP – Hum Sum Community Forum. Updates will be here and on all of our social media platforms.
Alright… lets dive on in!
Every backyard could have an urban edible garden, tiny home, and chicken coop.
The front doors of the Eco-Home, with our hobbit doors made of 60% recycled car parts and scrap metal.
The Method
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PHASE 1
BRAINSTORMING
First, 2024 is devoted to the process of simply listing every major environmental and social challenge to life on Earth that we can find. A total exercise in doom porn, only recommended for those who are energized by a savior complex. If that isn’t you, please keep reading, there are tasks for everyone. See our list of Modes & Complexes that we have found we (all) have and how we think they are helping us with this project!
We have listed over 700 “problems” varying in impact, urgency, remedy… from asteroid to pandemic, nuclear meltdown to solar flare, depression to dustbowl, war to ocean plastics… If you see anything that should be added please discuss on The WALOP – Hum Sum Community Forum or contact us team@matteroftrust.org
PHASE 2
SORTING
Next, we are starting the grouping, researching, compiling, peg-holing, cross-referencing… all that we can… with plenty of room for outliers. We have thousands of eco-solutions articles and papers to mix and match with the list. This is our speciality. We love doing this! AND we can use all the help we can get!
What we need to do most is find what nature-based solutions fix the most problems with one fell swoop. “Gaia has been around for over 4 billion years, we need to ask her first!” (Thanks to Janine Benyus of Biomimicry.org for that great quote!)
Our favorite buckets are the blaringly obvious ones that we call START SMART / STOP STUPID STUFF. For example, who thougth it was a good idea to put super sticky plastic stickers on fruit? Or put lettuce into plastic bags? Or make dog owners pick up dog poo in plastic bags that last 400 years? Dog poo composters should be in every dog park everywhere!
Fallin’ for Harvest Time Open House 2019!
The Criteria
This is a living document that fits within our Mission: Linking Surplus with Needs. Our ultimate goals are to encourages optimism and trust in Nature’s abundant cycles.
Organization, connection and direction are key for humanity to thrive in harmony with Earth.
This step is listing what needs to start happening and what needs to stop.
Project Name:
Primary Category(ies):
Air
Water
Fire (Energy)
Earth (Materials)
Life
& Beyond…
Challenge Triage Buckets:
Low Hanging Fruit:
Start Smart / Do more good stuff you like
Stop Stupid / Don’t do bad stuff you hate doing
Multi-Impact Crossovers
Ask Nature First
Natural Abundance
Cycles
Integration
Self Healing
Rates, Scale, Shape
Self Organizing
Right Sizing
Adaptation
Manmade Surplus
Infrastructure
Alternatives
Systems
Sorting
Deconstruction / Life Cycle Assessment
Quality
Awareness
Incentives
Perspectives
Convenience Level
Empowered Masses
Engagement
Greed vs. Greater Good
Empathy / Golden Rule
Art / Sponsors / Ads
Edutainment / Fun
Partners & Networks
Hope / Optimism / Trust
Love
The List
Let’s start with START SMART / STOP STUPID STUFF:
Low Hanging Fruit with Major Impacts – aka the bad, annoying stuff humans already want to stop and the fun, easy, obvious stuff we are excited to start.
Stop: STICKERS ON FRUIT – They are so annoying to remove. They are most commonly made of petroleum based plastic (thus contributing to our planet’s microplastics problem) and are somewhat surprisingly eaten or juiced accidentally by thousands of people/ daily. They do not decompose or biodegrade. They contain “pressure sensitive adhesives”. These adhesives contain surfactants which are toxic for the reproductive system. Fruits and vegetable which are sold in open markets have higher permissibility of migration of chemicals in fruits because of heat and sunlight.
Who: Grocers please just use a natural food based dye marks (made of beet, carrot, blueberry, spinach… e.g., King Arthur,™ Color Garden,™ Watkins™…)
Stop: PICKING UP DOG POO IN PLASTIC BAGS – Plastic bags can take up to 700 years to decompose. Poo is fertilizer and can easily be composted. Microbes naturally break down the manmade chemicals in flea medicines, heart worm medicines and all of the natural waste. The methane quickly off gasses (unlike the harmful plastics). Ideally all neighborhoods should have dog parks and those should all have large dog poo / green waste composting pits where dogs are allowed to go do their business freely and smell each other to their heart’s content.
Who: Dog owners / walkers
Stop: MAKING / ACCEPTING PLASTIC SINGLE USE SPOONS / FORKS / KNIVES / SPORKS / STRAWS
You know you have an overflowing drawerfull. And you feel guilty throwing them away. An estimated 40 billion plastic utensils per year are disposed of in USA alone.
Plastic cutlery can take up to 1,000 years to decompose naturally. However, over decades they break down into toxic microplastics that get into the environment. They are made of petroleum based BPA and when you put them into the dishwasher and reuse they break down release BPA (Bisphenol A) which is linked to issues such as infertility, diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure.
Be sure to check the box that says No Cutlery when ordering food for delivery to your home.
Use reusable metal cutlery at home. You can buy new or 2nd hand, it can be reused and disinfected easily and forever. Carry your own set with napkin / bag in your pocket, purse, backpack, car… Offer sets as a gift… e.g.,
https://sustainability.ucdavis.edu/zerowaste
Prosumer Choice – Amazon
Who: Fast food eaters, delivery orderers, party planners, everyone…
Start: SAVING WINE CORKS – SORTING NATURAL CORK FROM SYNTHETIC CORK
Check out our projects that works with restaurants, liquor stores and wineries collecting used wine corks. We use these as natural floatation material in our hair booms for oil spills. The synthetic corks are used in our insulation cubes for tiny homes project. Mixed with laundry lint (full of microplastics).
Stop: USED MOTOR OIL DUMPING INTO STORM DRAINS – Every liter of illegally dumped used motor oil can contaminate up to 1 million liters of fresh water. There are many places you can get your motor oil changed inexpensively and cleanly. Also, most hardware stores and mechanics have hazardous material disposal systems. Call your local government to locate the best drop off location near you.
Who: Car owners (non-EV), DIY car lovers, Boat Owners…
Stop: LANDMINES & CLUSTER BOMBS Manufacturing & Laying
5 Million new landmines are laid per year. They cost $30 to make and $1000 to remove. The 110M current landmines would already cost $100B to remove. Annually @ 200,000 are removed or intentionally set off with @ 200 / year “De-miner” deaths . The only people who don’t have the incentive to stop landmines are people who make landmines, and they can make something else.
Landmines hurt indiscriminately and destroy the environment causing 5,000 deaths & 20,000 injuries / year. And nooo.. they should not be used to surround protected areas as animals can also set them off. Toxic explosive chemicals, soil erosion, and wildlife destruction for decades after the political conflict is forgotten.
Who: Governments & Manufacturers
General Public: Be aware, engaged, speak up, discuss and point out the obvious.
Why this matters?
You may encounter personal and global challenges in your lifetime. The bigger the opportunity for change, the better it is to have clear ideas of the obstacles and opportunities. The WALOP is simply a roadmap of all the most crucial work we can find and a methodical breakdown into manageable tasks, solutions and networks of supportive teams for this and future generations.
What can I do?
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We are always evolving and welcome new ideas, partners, contributions and emails. We have a very optimistic view of the future and love meeting others who are very fond of this lovely planet!
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“When you give, you get back tenfold.”
Now, that’s a great exchange rate!
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