Transcend ourselves and accept the fact that we are one part of this world, not the pinnacle of it.
Everything will flow from this.
1) We will never thrive so long as we refuse to limit our population. Ancient cultures limited their populations with ritual and taboo because to do otherwise meant extinction of the tribe.
2) Strong communities are built when everyone has a stake. When we are divided by class, when some are allowed to perpetuate inequalities at the expense of others, there will be discord. I am not calling for a command economy; I am calling for fairness, which is solely lacking at the present.
3) We can all help by demanding less. Accepting a sense of "enoughness" in our lives. Accepting the fact that what we consume is really, truly obscene in comparison to the other 4/5's of the world today and all of humanity that came before us.
This is the frame work. The details to accomplish this have been proposed over and over by progressives for over 50 years. Why are the suggestions, which make total sense even if you take the environmental factor out of it, ignored?
Right now we operate with one big open ended loop. We take resources and dump waste with no consideration of where it comes from or where it goes.
Let’s make each dwelling, each business, each homestead a small loop. Solar cell, solar flat plate, windmill, smart grid connection, ground source, cistern, composting toilet, intensive garden, workshop, tools, material storage.
And love, life, work, play, life and death.
You know, my children were delivered by mid-wife. We had to be in the hospital because of complications. I'm grateful (more than grateful) that the hospital was there; but the central control of everything, this obsession with specialization and profit doesn't have to drive everything. We can have both.
We could end the centralized production of power and waste disposal and end our reliance on foreign oil and fossil fuels once and for all.
If only we had the will to do it.