SOS - How to Help Faster & Better

Ecoplaza- Before, during, and After Severe Weather Events.

First Survival.

Harvey, Irma and Maria were within days of each other. 500 year storms are happening almost simultaneously. Paradoxically building and recovering after Katrina took a decade. The Earthquake in Haiti, rebuilding is still going on. The weather is now so much faster destroying than man is at rebuilding.

President Trump and Carmin Yulin Cruz, The Mayor of Puerto Rico. Have had a recent twitter exchange over the response. However, in my view it is the entire planning and strategy process of how weather disasters are perceived that has to be very rapidly improved and changed. The Mayor is sending out an SOS. The structures and methodology is not in place to be able to coherently answer that SOS call. Local communities have to have new ways to organise if civilization itself is not going to be beaten by the ever divergent weather systems affecting the globe. We have to find new ways to double and re-double the response time and improve the effectiveness of NGO responses.

How to do this more coherently and rapidly is within the remit of work I have been researching and developing for the past 28 years. The basis of our findings can provide many multiples of answers that are currently not considered, instigated before, during or after any severe weather events that are increasingly becoming habitual.

British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Cuba, Texas, Florida Puerto Rico, Mexico & Caribbean.  

The reality is the aid method used by all organisations can be very much improved upon. It has to be so they are able and ready to deal with these widespread disaster. Bubblehomes are one component. They are rapid build housing structures, where for the first time it is feasible to construct 9 units in one week by a small team of people and with minimal equipment. The structures can each house a family they are flood, hurricane proof. They are constructed with the use of a giant air-form in the shape of a ball which is then covered and the air released from the ball. They can be built in almost the same time it takes to put a large tent up yet their structure is almost as strong as a house and much more flood resistant.

Beyond the rapid build homes.

There are around 1000 organisational improvements, that can enable any location to be better organised, before, during and after an natural disaster. Humanity cannot live without water for very long, nor food nor fuel. With an island of 3 million people. The reality used to be that the poorest, harshest place to live on Earth was in Africa. The Caribbean looks set to become more like what Africa was unless much better strategic planning like this is immediately instigated. 

All nations hit with the recent hurricanes should apply ecoplaza, so all communities can help each other better and faster.

Ecoplaza Paradise Oasis, the film I wrote and produced in 2009 is the still the most accurate depiction of what's happening today ie exponentially increasing extreme weather, and from mans perspective a decreased capacity to be able to cope within the time frame of events unfolding. "Then came the storm that never stops" is a line in the film and that's almost what is already being experienced today in the Caribbean. Whilst the hurricanes all have names that make them seem separate there is an ever increasing feedback loop affecting what's happening. It is two fold one side the weather gets worse and on the other side man get's weaker in order to be able to cope with the ongoing losses to people, property and infrastructure. It terms of really understanding the outcome of the problem and what to do in the present. What is the next step from here. My work and nobody else's answers this in as much of an improved way in respect to what's happening. In reality extreme weather has doubled and re-doubled the impact against humanity. In my view humanity has to try and keep up and match this with 1. innovation. We have to use the best. As President Trump pointed out the UN has to be more efficient currently they are not even prepared to look at the optimal ways for addressing issues like Earthquakes and Hurricanes. All NGO's have to take a more open approach to innovation and using the best answers. 2. Extrapolation. Being slow is no longer an option when such large areas and so many millions of people are starting to be affected. If the best innovation is listened too and instigated and this is then very widely extrapolated, that helps answer the SOS call of the Mayor of Puerto Rico. Aid ships yes, then innovation given top priority and extrapolation of the best innovation.

The Ecoplaza strategy, is the only strategy to date that enables the hardest hit regions to actually balance out the convergence of so many pressures and to remain in control of the negative effect of nature and the human impact that these ongoing disasters are having, therefore Whilst Bubblehomes may be remedy that is fast an efficient for individual housing for some, Ecoplaza provides a support based for assisting in that area and every other area, influenced by the impacts of the storms.

Once the UN Governments and aid organisations take up the improved innovation and extrapolation. What comes next is Ecoplaza. This is a system for organising communities into them becoming self-help groups. In the case of those countries already affected and recovering, establishing the ecoplaza model should be the first response. This enables civil society to be as effective as aid organisations and for people to be less dependent upon emergency services in the immediate aftermath.

How its possible to help people help themselves rebuild and regenerate?

The fact is today people are desperately needing help to rebuild their lives and how to help these people is the first priority. If there is an enhanced mindset of people cooperating to help each other then there will be people there for others, when people need help the most. It makes ethical as much as practical sense. Economies are getting increasingly worn down by climatic stresses. People are loosing, homes, businesses, recovery time from one single disaster can be many years, yet they are increasingly happening every year. This is changing everything about human society. 

Ecoplaza Community Logistic Centres 

The natural disasters in the US. India and in many countries can be mitigated and reduced through the instigation of "Ecoplaza". "Ecoplaza" are non-political logistical centres. The concept is they are run through government/private partnerships and function as a new form of teaching and leisure centre normally. Yet they are also logistical centre's that have pre-organised local information. So in times of an emergency that information can be immediately available to everyone and be a secondary resource to assist emergency services and NGO's. Who has equipment such as a tractor, JCB, 4x4 vehicle, an empty warehouse, church or stadium that can be used, who has boats, canoes, clothing. Who are the doctors, nurses. They have a list of practical people that are available and able to go out and help the elderly and infirm. People can be assigned to help different people within the community should the need arise. After the disaster who has therapy qualifications, is a good networker to advise people, or has spare materials, resources etc. There are two films here that relate to Ecoplaza community centres. They are volunteer centre built upon community spirit, collective-interest. Ecoplaza community centres are designed to lessen and share the burden of any natural disaster. People from neighbouring Ecoplaza's can also be drafted in to help if another area is affected. This way it increases the efficiency in dealing with any natural disaster it also lessens the burden on the resources of the local community. Therefore it can actually enable better results to happen at a lower cost both locally and nationally. When people are affected by natural disasters they are traumatised. By having other people assigned to help before a disaster happens is the key to improving the response and increasing the speed of recovery to every natural disaster. 

Help re-build people lives after the climatic disasters.

Regenerate the environment,

Create vast employment,

Keep business more Local,

Enable businesses to adapt to the goals of the International Agreement,

Regenerate communities,

Improve health and welfare,

Fund Innovation,

Reduce pollution,

Improve recycling,

Improve social entrepreneurs,

Help the least well off in society.

Promote increased pride in the local areas,

Increase community facilities,

Improve efficiency,

Enhance work experience and volunteering,

Fund inventors,

Increase opportunities,

Increase gardening,

Improve skills of graduates,

Help connect people to jobs,

Help businesses diversify and employ more people,

Improve transport,

Improve education,

Increase happiness,

Help the aging population,

Reduce imports of food,

Increase domestic production of food,

Help provide affordable homes,

Improve council facilities,

Improve re-construction after climatic disasters,

Help villages, towns and cities become less dependent upon aid,

Improve design and innovation,

Help families and single parent families,

Create more cohesive communities,

Achieve mitigation and adaptation goals.

The Ecoplaza model is published in my book A Big Strategy and on the film Ecoplaza Paradise Oasis on You tube and Vimeo.

Longer term strategic planning to prepare for the optimal response to extreme weather.

What the Paris Climate Deal got correct and wrong and needs to improve upon.

The concept of a flexible agreement that gets everyone on side is a good idea and is what we have promoted since 2009 at Copenhagen Climate Conference and the screening of our film Ecoplaza there. We saw a basic flexible agreement as better than a "technical, targets based agreement that for over two decades not all states could agree upon. What the flexible agreement is dependent upon though to function is infrastructure. Ie organisational systems that bring people together to share, knowledge, experiences, pool resources and understanding. This is required across a spectrum of society. The reason this is vital is because it enables those without any knowledge or interest in the subject to be able to make good choices and decisions based upon the information provided by those that do have an interest and knowledge. Combining information with leisure makes it all more enjoyable and really sustainable. The ecoplaza model has not been taken up by any country yet, however it is the fastest and easiest way to save lives, increase awareness, reduce costs whilst increasing services and to save countries money on expensive clean up operations. What is required is nothing short of governments accepting that they do not have to solve every issue, just provide permission for the public to self organise and work together for the benefit of all. Assist the public in being able to assist the most vulnerable in society and provide them with links to people that are there for them when required. This is as much about creating a platform for times of need as much as it is creating something better for everyone, the most destitute, the single parents, the working poor, the unemployed, those that have limited time off, yet want to use that time well, those with resources that need help. It is a case of creating so many mutually beneficial partnerships. Linking the more well off baby boomers with the less well off but more active and tech savvy Millennials. This is about day time communities available for all to be able to access, give and benefit from together. Not only online, but in real locations.

Whats the cause of weird weather?

Scientists say climate change, others say it's due to space or man made experiments. At this stage of the game. it goes beyond what's causing it to being able to adapt to it, survive and thrive. Barbuda for the first time in 300 years in not inhabited. it is the first major post-civilization island. If we do not adapt, there will be many more places that become impossible to continue in.

Why its better for the US to stay in the Paris Climate Deal.

The Climate deal took the World 27 years to agree. It is the most important agreement ever made by man. Being in the deal restores genuine hope for all.

The US can benefit so much from the deal. If they are seeing it as a cost you have incorrect advisors. The US has so much land and this is a great resource for the US being able to very easily achieve the goal and therefore keep the world united.

The requirement to preserve the environment and being in the Paris agreement are well documented and supported by just about every scientist. Here is an outline of the economic justification.

The words Economy and Ecology originate from the same Greek word. Without stable Ecology there cannot be a stable Economy.

In Paris, a flexible target was established to enable nations to mitigate and adapt.

The understanding of how to enact this policy is not within the usual skill-set of many scientists, business people nor members of the public. It is within the capacity of some strategists that can define bridges that indicate where new and the best opportunities for a transition to a lower carbon economy are, highlight these opportunities to governments, NGO’s and the public. The US has lost 191,000 jobs in the coal Industry. So the logic has been get the jobs back. However, business diversification and green opportunity utilisation has not been considered as another alternative. There are many thousands of opportunities simply waiting to be communicated and shared.   Improved economy, more jobs, greater sense of unity, and people more self-sufficient in improving their own lives and less dependent upon government.

The US has frequently embraced and celebrated the new potential, solved problems with smart solutions, given the world new ideas, designs, inspiration, innovation and potential like no other country. The US frequently embraces great ideas that didn’t get recognized or understood in Europe and made them happen. The US frequently utilises European ideas and made them better. The world is now on the same footing with the need to protect the climate and that’s why so much progression in green thinking and industries has occurred in the past thirty years.

How to expand green jobs and GDP whilst stabilising the planet is an ability many want to participate in. Having worked for many years in the field and with the former lead author of the IPCC. I know it to be true that the best ideas to create green industries are not being embraced, so jobs are wasted and so many remain in debt. How to adapt communities and whole countries is not taught in Colleges and Universities. So governments do not always have access to the optimal data on how to transform and improve their green economy. How to create connected communities organised by councils, maximise opportunities, minimise waste, maximise mutual support, how to utilise know-how from innovators, governments and regional governments and community. If they do not have access to the best answers, it is not possible to have the knowledge to see how businesses can diversify greener and so provide meaningful employment to more people. Without the best information, it is tempting to look back and seek to re-create employment when many new more progressive, cleaner, greener jobs can otherwise be feasible.  

The agreement to solve climate change is a flexible agreement. The contribution we made to this was to have put forward the thesis in Copenhagen that a flexible agreement is better than a fixed agreement, which is why the negotiations had stalled for years. The reason that a flexible agreement is better than a fixed one is because if you agree to work together, you can then define the optimal way to progress whilst in agreement. That’s the part we have studied, researched and tested for the past years on a research and trial basis. Improving communities with minimal resources, yet getting excellent, and sometimes record breaking results.

We live in a connected world. Everyday people from cities and nation worldwide, communicate with people of every other city and nation. We are linked together with work, family, home, our ideas and aspirations. There are few borders in this world of communication. The US and UK have taken the first shifts of any counties towards a less inclusive, more inward focused direction. This can be a good things in some ways the green ethos is to think and act locally. Keeping goods and services within a country and seeking to import less. can potentially help meet the Climate Agreement goals.

The world’s economy is worth 107 Trillion. This is an economy built primarily on competition based trading. Economies are generated though in two ways, both competition and cooperation. Since the internet age the value of greater cooperation has been discovered, yet we are still at the very start compared to what is actually viable. The benefits of greater cooperation cannot be imagined on a local social scale, on a Nationwide scale it would be a new frontier. This could transform the capacity of any western country and improve many developing world economies too, whist giving many new public services.

That 107 Trillion figure evolved from The Industrial Revolution centuries ago. Partly into that, Industries claimed they would not be able to cope with ethical changes and they always did. Business adapted. Then in the 90’s another milestone happened when China and Hong Kong created a fusion of business philosophies, that created a global shift in economies. Their approach of combining cooperation and competition worked economically and has since began to work ecologically with China being at the forefront of green industry. China did not look back to move forward. It simply progressed.

The world has the goal of progressing with solving the climate issue. The US looking to keep business local is already in alignment with green philosophies, rather than seeing green and industry as different see them as part of the same on the same spectrum and bolster adaptation towards green industries, set up a self-help system so the best ideas are shared, invested in and maximised.

During the past year, the US and the UK have taken major steps towards a more inward vision, and in both cases the results have been mixed. For the UK to remain in alignment with the rest of Europe it would be best to have more than a one party only government, or it will be out of alignment with Europe and a proportion of its own population. The EU parliament is made up of many political parties and it functions well. If the US stands alone without being in the Paris agreement with everyone else is in, are other nations simply going to abandon the future too? Can they possibly be supportive of this? Yet, if the US takes the approach that have always done, and look to be at the front and pioneer. They will find brilliant new ways and make the best use of them. The US, a very connected country in terms of both internet and having strong communities. With these two resources, it will be very easy indeed to improve the countries ecological credentials of its industry, increase jobs, reduce emissions and progress in alignment with the rest of the World. By staying in the agreement, the US builds strength from within from the top down the bottom up from the left and front the right. That’ where the basis of great leadership can produce a great future. No, in-groups or out-groups. Unity.

Staying in the agreement, means there can be coherent action for the Ocean and 1 Billion people depend upon the Ocean including in the US and UK. If the oceans fail, then that is 1 billion more refugees. If the US leaves the agreement, will the rest of the world stop caring about the world. No of course not, there will just be more unhappiness created. 

Staying in the Paris agreement, keeps the world all on the same side. In the US it will bring together its own people more and in the UK too. This way the US looking primarily to their own national interests are not doing so at the expense of any other country, they are doing that in a alignment with all the other countries.

The climate issue is the great challenge of this time, and yet together it is easier to solve than most experts think. It requires bravery, vision, open mindedness to new opportunities and the determination to put resources, commitment and

No country is lesser through staying in and every country is better.

An agreement to protect ourselves and the next generations. The first time ever a collective agreement between governments and people Internationally agreed on a course of action essential for every human being on this planet today and for the future. With the right strategy taken these are some the advantages to staying in the Paris Climate Agreement.

The Ecoplaza model is essential for mitigating and adapting to today's needs of the environment. This is the best way to boost efficiency and reduce costs.