Monday, December 01, 2008

People Have the Power

I've been wondering why our local government(s) consistently ask us for money, but rarely, if ever, ask us for our actions? After all, it is our actions (and our thoughts) that are the basis of our democracy, not our money.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

For instance, we are working with a consortium of local organizations and governments to create an idle-reduction ordinance affecting all vehicles traversing the region. The goal of such an ordinance is to limit the harmful emissions caused by needless idling. This ordinance requests that people in our region 'take the action' of reducing idling by turning off their engine, when waiting for a period of say, 30 seconds or more.

What are some other examples of requesting an action from citizen in our region, as a means of strengthening our city/region?

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Commun

A quick study on the origin of words:

commune
community
communion
communism
communication


all derived from 'common '
1297, from O.Fr. comun, from L. communis "in common, public, general, shared by all or many," from PIE *ko-moin-i- "held in common,"

PIE: Proto-Indo-European, the hypothetical reconstructed ancestral language of the Indo-European family. The time scale is much debated, but the most recent date proposed for it is about 5,500 years ago.