Get Involved

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The Away Team
We understand that most people already have commitments that hold them where they are. Many of the people who can do this sort of work are already engaged in either the corporate or academic world, and need to continue with the work they're already committed to doing. Perhaps one of the strongest holds the status quo has on people is the need to pay their mortgage or their student loans.

Fortunately, the internet now makes it possible for people in widely different locations and situations to collaborate on complex projects such as B2M by contributing what they know from where they are.

For example, there are people who have industrial experience that is relevant to the demands and hazards involved in working with flammable gases, or in constructing high-pressure hydraulic systems, or in programming process control computers, and the list goes on.

There are others who have access to university libraries where they can research aspects of the chemical engineering, or the catalyst activation, or the environmental impact of this work, research that will prevent our having to duplicate work that has already been done.

If this project touches on things you have experience with, or things you want to learn more about, we'd invite you to become part of B2M's Away Team, a network of people sharing what they know, and what they can find out, in order to make something new possible. If becoming a member of our Away Team sounds interesting, we'd be delighted to discuss the possibilities with you. We can be reached via email at b2m@gorge.net.

Seven Samuri
Kurosawa's 1954 film Seven Samuri tells the story of an isolated village that is being repeatedly robbed by bandits. If this continues, the village will wither and die as the farmers either starve or have to abandon their land. Knowing that the bandits will return as soon as the next crop is harvested, the farmers are desperate.

Their village elder advises them to journey to the city to find samuri who will fight to defend them from the bandits. Knowing they lack the money to hire skilled fighters, they ask the old man: "How can we find samuri we can pay with only rice?"


 * He counsels them to, "Find hungry samuri."

Rural villages today find themselves in a similar situation as the cost of non-renewable energy sources drains them of the capital they need to keep their community alive. Year by year, they have to sell off more resources to pay their energy bills, and watch as their young people leave to seek work and income elsewhere. Without some way to reverse this process, those villages will shutter their windows and die.

Lots of people understand that a social order founded on the increasing consumption of non-renewable resources will crash as those cheap resources become scarce, and resource wars squander what is left. Before long all that rural people will be able to depend on is what they can create themselves using sunshine, rain, and air.

There is another way, one that involves the wise stewardship of life and the living, but it will not be easy to find our way there from where we are now. Study and practice are needed since those who want to work effectively with nature have to be able to read the language that nature's stories are written in. They have to have prepared themselves in order to see, understand, and work with what is truly there. These are not skills that are learned in a day.

Most college grads aspire to finding jobs that will reward them for their educational investment; fair enough. But there are a precious few who understand that they are stepping onto the world stage at a time when humanity will either change its relationship to nature, or die out.

We're looking for people who understand that their skills and resources can be used to continue grinding the earth into dust, but have determined to work instead to help humanity return to ways that create life.

We're looking for people who are hungry to fight for life and the living.

This is not an easy undertaking. Untangling the skein of life and then knitting together a new and durable fabric will require patience, focus, and commitment. There's an element of risk and no certainty of success, only the opportunity to test ourselves against a challenge that is worthy of our best effort.

Open-source research isn't for those who are looking to become famous, or rich, or powerful; it's for people who feel called to do meaningful work for the common good. In short, we're looking for heroes. People who's names may not stand out, but who are heros just the same.

If you believe that you're such a person, or you know such a person, please get in touch with us; our email is b2m@gorge.net


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