and presentation of online survey tools through which to inquire of users within America and
around the world what they believe constitutes a dignified human existence. Findings might not only identify a general theoretical framework for thinking about things, but also
serve to identify actual conditions that form a foundation to support such – like certain basic human and civil rights, food, housing, shelter, health care, whether or not a military is needed,
possibly even define what a minimal income would look like, based as that would be on a quantification of leisure or creative or care time. Data gathered can be used to generate goals and strategies, establish metrics toward achieving such, and provide a transparent
means to visualize the data, not to mention
generate a catalogue of people, associations, and links to studies and reports being conducted – whether federal, state, private, or nonprofit – that would support initiatives.
Video, documentaries, and film could all be posted, putting a human face to the movement through people describing their experiences in stories they would be willing to share with others. Yet another means of building community.
For more personal interaction people could start salons. Salons would provide local environments through which people could build upon the online forums, in order that data points and/or ideas could be explored in more detail. Salons could be established in localities within the generalized eco-cultural framework, even long before definitive boundaries were set, simply to begin the discussion and establish communal bonds. Salons could be the means through which to spread ideas, organize meeting schedules and topics, and present
findings and conclusions reached concerning studies, allowing them to link to one another to determine the size and range of their group.
Such qualitative efforts could be used to refine the quantitative work such as mapping and
simulation modeling. Putting the materials before people, it would be possible to ask them for input concerning what languages and cultures are represented in the region, is the
watershed representative or does it define a region, what plant and animal life exist within the region, how do economic activities modify sustainable practices, has human habitation altered the environment and to what degree,
what is the influence of technology, etc. Remember: this effort is about engaging people, all people, not telling them how they must live through some technical artifice.
In building such a program, the campaign could borrow from the “conscientization” programs of liberation theology. These programs were aimed at equipping people around Latin America with a critical understanding of reality that would allow them to change dehumanizing
social structures. Their method was relatively simple, and therein was the secret that allowed them to effectuate change. In their Comunidades Eclesiales de Base, they asked lay led groups to come together and worship with one another and to take action to help one
another. They did so by asking the simple questions relevant to their daily existence: why has the village no running water or sanitary waste disposal? Salons could do the same, using information generated by Human Dignity Projects to outline questions for people to
consider and to describe or learn about new
People who could lead this campaign would be the creatives and makers among us – intellectuals, scholars, scientists, researchers, artists, designers, and businesspeople – who so often stand at the forefront of change. These are people who do not engage in the propaganda that stifles thinking but instead create the conditions through which we might envision a future different from the past.37
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