A lot of people feel fear and even panic due to corona, the lockdown and dramatic personal experiences with family or friends, or through the media. It is hard to develop objective awareness in this situation, especially if one is personally affected by the many consequences and impositions. A lot of speculation can be read on social media about deep state, mind control, power abuse, financial interests of a few, etc. It is difficult to keep calm.

When we look at the population and society in the Netherlands we tend to be blind for things that have been building up for many years:

• a greying population. CBS figures show that 1.5 Million citizens are over 75 years old! These are all loved mums, dads, grandparents, uncles, aunts who are in the autumn of their lives. They will die a natural death when time is come or they fall ill and maybe decease as a cause of that. Corona is just one of the possible influecers or accelerators. Numbers of many 1000s of such casualties sound dramatic but have been real and natural for years already. They were however not highlighted. More dramatic now is the impediment for people to see their sick or elderly loved ones, or moarn their death in family presence due to the corona measures.
• unhealthy lifestyle. Our consumer capitalist lifestyle produces anxiety, stress and all kinds of health problems. A large portion of society (over 50%) at age higher than 40 has some kind of chronical disorder or disease such as overweight, trauma, diabetes, cancer, OCPD, etc. They all use the care system with more or less intensity.
• stressed care system: Corona accentuates a problem that is known for years already. Our healthcare system is overworked and overloaded, already before corona. The reason for lockdown is to try to handle the situation in a system that needed revision long time ago. The system is also privatized and ecomomized, showing important flaws in the operational structuring. A mayor transition is needed here.
• layered society: Our political economic reality is based on grouping people through age and function. Young people go to school in massive conglomerates of youngsters. The middle age are workforce going to offices, care institutions, etc. Eldery are seperated and individualised. They travel when healthy or get grouped in elderly homes when care needing. A corona virus can find its way easily to the vulnerable because of this grouping by age.

These are just a few awareness issues that need attention, not just by government but all of us together. Corona alike problems will recur. We cannot avoid them. We can take steps that make society more resilient. And now is the time to do it:

• Care for health – accept health (not just health care) leading in our society and lifestyle
• Participation in cocreation of our basic needs based on health – such as food, healthy air, water, etc
• Community based society in which all ages mingle and act together. Regional communities in which “care for eachother” is the basis of our coexistence. Professional healthcare is supportive to this, not reactive.
• Restructure our economized care society from market working into a social care society with societal participatory working. Our insurrance is our community, not a healthcare number.
• Let go of control based governance and focus on harmonizing for health based on core human values and innovative adaptiveness.

Creating Sustainocratic tables now, that deal with this transition “society, health and healthcare”, can start the process. Alleviation of suffering is based on the reassurance that things are done with our awareness in order to avoid similar problems in the future. Happiness is based on cocreating a society in which we share our responsability and results.

Sustainocracy, our new democracy
Inspiration 9: Sustainocracy suddenly makes sense

Just look at the five statements in the blue picture carefully. How much sense does it make now for you during the corona situation? Have you also been taking for granted these core values while doing all kinds of other things? How about now?

Then look at your usual daily activities (work, entrepreneurship) before the corona crisis. How much does it contribute to these five conditions for sustainable human progress? If it does not you can ask yourself if it may even be damaging your own or that of the world?

The next question you could ask yourself is: what contribution could I myself, with my talents or with my job, put on the Sustainocratic table to enhance, sustain or improve these core condtions? I am sure you can find some. If not, think how you can support those who can…..

(Photos: Peter de Koning)

We are all human beings. Our professional functions in our institutions should be supportive to the core natural values for sustainable human progress. Our institutions then become powerful instruments for sustaining our wellness today and for the future generations. In the past money driven economic parameters may have determined our choices and investments. Now it is our (own and environmental) health, awareness and safety, that leads us. Money is a means, just like technology, our talents, insights, commitment, etc.

“It is significant that I, a simple human being as citizen of this region, not in representation of any institution or government, just through the invitation to our cooperative, multidisciplinary initiative for health, air quality and regional dynamics (AiREAS), is formally asking the leading most knowledgable institutions of our region and country, to engage and help with their expertise and means, the health challenge and projects that we all (citizens and institutions) share in this world, country and region.”

As we sign and cut the cake we turn the world to what it should be, institutions as powerful instruments for wellness and sustainable human resilience in the hands of human awareness and prioritized health challenges. The photo is significant because all institutions, with people in leadership and management function, symbolically gather BEHIND me as the representative of our core natural human values in act of support and commitment. A beautiful and significant moment.

We will be rolling out a measurement network for air quality and sound. This will be done to support citizens and institutions of 21 municipalities in the region to take measures for health insights, improvement and maintenance. Three research actions have been formulated. City air quality, airport impact and rural (specifically cattle holding impact) pollution. We will be working on air quality and health through citizens and institutional engagement. AiREAS and its sister COS3i (social inclusion and engagement into our core values) already work with various municipalities on very local challenges through participation.

AiREAS was set up as sustainocratic cooperative in 2010 within the context defined by STIR City of Tomorrow. It does not wish to be another institution, therefore has no resources of its own. It ‘s function is to connect in a multidisciplinary way resources and people to our common challenge, in this case for air quality, human health and our regional dynamics. All necessary resources are brought in by the diversity of partners, based on projects and expected results, formulated together. The biggest challenge being our citizen’s engagement to our own health with the support of the institutions. AiREAS shares its results worldwide through open access publications.