How would you fix the worlds problems?

[Moneysavvymam]

I think i have it, I really do.
Everyone is using food banks, right? unemployment is rife. Depression, anxiety, suicide. Obesity. Anti social behaviour and crime rates.

Okay. Are you ready?

Community gardens and orchards. Free to pick what you like, children's and adults clubs to teach people when to pick, sow, etc. Not just food but flowers. Trees. Perenials such as rhubarb, kale and others. I really think that it could work.

I saw a TED Talk about a town who has a whole community or people who grow food in random places wherever there is a free bit of grass and I swear to god I think it could work really well.

I actually can't see a problem arising and if the problem is 'the economy' well how? Because when people are struggling to pay for food I really dgaf about the economy.
Allotments are a nice idea but many are full and have waiting lists of Years and years.

We have a couple of small, secret almost community gardens in a few big parks in our city and they are really cute, work well. Nobody ruins them and if someone took all of the cucumbers then there is a spirit of 'well I guess they needed them'. Part of the reward is in the growing and outside space and time.

Also flowers. There are so many people living in tiny flats with no or very little outside space. Wouldn't adding a few flowers be nice? Maybe a pear tree or 2.

Its the good life isn't it? A very frequent dream is packing up and living off the land. Well why not communal land? What good is that piece of grass? Needs cutting, is littered all over and what? Pooed on?

I'm not some radical who will go round digging up peoples gardens or anything but I was thinking about a previous poster who said that they sorted out their communal garden in their flats and only after she made it nice did everyone else start using it. Well wouldn't the same happen everywhere?
People pay money to go to botanical gardens, so there is a market for this (if you know what I mean)

There could be communal run compost bins which would dramatically reduce waste and green house gasses. That compost would mean almost no costs because that's the main one isn't it?
Classes could be held at libraries and community centres about seed saving.
Everyone could save their pot noodle pots and yoghurt tubs for plant pots. Arts and crafts fairs could have children painting them, I just can't see a downside.

That is how I would fix the worlds problems anyway.

I think the problem in a lot of places is the concept of cities and too much urbanisation. We have a huge lack of balance in that millions of people are living in concrete jungles with lack of nature and greenery around them. We are made to feel as if we just exist (to work), not live. It's so mind-draining and exhausting and depressing. There is no real benefit to living surrounded by concrete, you can't see the sky or stars or moon very well and trees are few and far between.

Also many people living in urban areas are made to feel as if nature is not 'for them', while others living in the country think they own it and that it's only for them.

I would spread things out more evenly, fewer roads for cars, houses/flats spread out more with more trees and green spaces everywhere. in between .And m100x more allotments and vegetable patches for people to grow their own veg, eesecially if they don't have a garden.

Post-Covid I think it's time to rethink cities, there is no need for so many skyscrapers etc packed so closely together. More roads need to be pedestrianised

Excuse typos!

@DollyDinkle

I would get rid of religion as it is mostly at the centre of all the problems in the world.

Ditto.

Not too sure about some of the calls for women to take over.
Having worked, several times in a mainly female environment, bitterness , backstabbing and gossip would be the the predominant ethos I fear.
50/50 would be better .

I'd love to see the end of property portfolio building. So much 'buying-to-let' is freely allowed and is pricing vast swathes of the population from buying or renting properties.
Rents are mostly now, way in excess of mortgages and people/families are being crippled by greedy landlords.

I'm sick to death of seeing so many people being shoved out of London , families and friends being broken up , because London Boroughs are shifting 'poor' people to outlying regions where the Boroughs have bought up so much of the new builds where rents are cheaper than London. The Boroughs are then offloading their housing stock for a premium to developers who rent/sell on to oligarchs who hardly set foot in those properties.

Rant over.

@arield

Funny how giving someone a lot of money to do a job so the best people are attracted seems to only be for CEOs, politicians etc. and not teachers, nurses, social workers etc.

How do you feel about highly paid professors, specialist surgeons etc?

I don't see the link between professors/surgeons and CEOs and politicians.

Most highly paid professors are qualified in areas that benefit society and not mickey mouse areas.

and specialist surgeons have trained for years and again are of benefit to society.

No CEO is worth being paid millions.
As for politicians many are not worth the money that they are paid now never mind the money that the "best" should be paid.

MatildaIThink

Now do I think teachers, nurses and social workers should be paid more? Yes, absolutely! But they are also not worth £100k or more a year and nor could we afford to pay them £100k+ a year.

Strangely enough, the IMO, CEOs are not worth more than £100K either.

Whether we are talking economies of scale or not it, would be beneficial to society if the money that these people were paid were put back into society.

@Inextremis

Develop a world-wide education curriculum, which is compulsory for every child until age 16, in every country. It should cover core fact-based subjects such as biology, chemistry, physics, and geography. In addition to the worldwide core, each country/administration is free to add their own subjects to fill the school week, but any religious eduction is conducted outside of the main school system, and is optional.

In order to facilitate interaction and understanding, there should be a universal language in which education is conducted, taught in schools from the beginning. Not necessarily English - maybe another existing language, maybe a new one (this is all fantasy, of course!).

At age 16, every young person (with obvious adjustments made for those who would find this difficult due to their unique circumstances) should go on a state-funded exchange - for a year, to another area of the world far away from their own, to do community work. No exceptions, no buying yourself out of it, no excuses.

At 17, people could then go on to study further, or train for practical work, or whatever.

I think it'd be a good start!

Oh dear, I'm not letting you into my perfect world. Travelling at 17? I'm nearing 30 and it still doesn't appeal . Home is where the heart is!

‘At age 16, every young person (with obvious adjustments made for those who would find this difficult due to their unique circumstances) should go on a state-funded exchange - for a year, to another area of the world far away from their own, to do community work. No exceptions, no buying yourself out of it, no…’

This is just awful. So many authoritarian people on here.

Okay I want to add something. A pp said something about not letting people who seek power run anything. So why not have presidents, MPs and all of those lot have faceless identities. So they have to have a bag over their head or strictly radio. No one knows if they are black, white, female, male, posh, poor, disabled, able bodied, warm bodied, zombies. Just if they have good ideas then thats the priminister. and if they don't deliver, penalties! Personal financial loss. Deter lies. also stop swearing. I swear way too much

@MilduraS

I lived on a road that had a community herb garden on a big roundabout. It was lovely and I saved so much money on fancy recipes that needed fresh herbs.

That is so lovely to hear! Thank you so much for the most positive post on this thread. you deserve cake and a cuppa

Fucking hell -MNers pride themselves on being so liberal (don’t grass someone up for shoplifting, turn a blind eye to illegal activity) - I think this thread is indicative of the real MN

@adrianmolesmole

I think the problem in a lot of places is the concept of cities and too much urbanisation. We have a huge lack of balance in that millions of people are living in concrete jungles with lack of nature and greenery around them. We are made to feel as if we just exist (to work), not live. It's so mind-draining and exhausting and depressing. There is no real benefit to living surrounded by concrete, you can't see the sky or stars or moon very well and trees are few and far between.

Also many people living in urban areas are made to feel as if nature is not 'for them', while others living in the country think they own it and that it's only for them.

I would spread things out more evenly, fewer roads for cars, houses/flats spread out more with more trees and green spaces everywhere. in between .And m100x more allotments and vegetable patches for people to grow their own veg, eesecially if they don't have a garden.

Post-Covid I think it's time to rethink cities, there is no need for so many skyscrapers etc packed so closely together. More roads need to be pedestrianised

On board with this. I love this. I definitely do feel that nature is not for me and feel almost cheeky having a walk in the countryside. especially now I've found mumsnet and know the farmers don't like me and would prefer my children and I to walk on a tiny dangerous road than on the public footpath through their field.

Couldn't agree more with you, @LukeEvansWife.

Compulsory contraception for anyone aged under 21 - free contraception for all -and HARD enforcement and punishment of sexual abuse, porn, exploitation of children, exploitation of the poor and exploitation of animals.

Universal abortion as well. If we start by making all babies wanted babies then we'll reduce the population and reduce the pain in the world.

To me, this thread is fascinating, the human condition in a nutshell. Many of the more extreme ideas here have been tried by some pretty unsavoury regimes in the past, and clearly the fact we can’t agree on anything amongst ourselves then this reflects wider politics. We want things to be fairer but we also want to keep our freedom of choice, the advantages we feel we deserve. We hate rules controlling our lives and behaviour. We end up with compromise that satisfies no one. Not to mention the things we can’t control like illness and natural disaster.

Certainly we can’t fix this world or ourselves this side of eternity, but for all the talk of banning religion, I do feel that to genuinely love our neighbour as ourselves is probably the best advice we’ve ever been given.

OP, there is a project similar to your proposal running in Mexico City....

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/World/Americas/2008/0905/p07s05-woam.html

Get rid of all men.

I'm really surprised how many people think men are the issue.
Women can be just as evil. Sometimes worse than men. Look at the evil things that happened in places were nuns were in charge, laundries, schools, mother & baby homes, orphanages.

We need a balance of power and democracy. Anyone with too much power is dangerous.

Could we keep the Northern Irish bloke mentioned upthread planting trees in the mountains of Mourne?

I recommend anyone depressed to search out stories about him.

Cull the population to manageable levels then reset society with the remaineder. Remove all concept nationality / religion / race, unify language, and place a strict limit on wealth inequality.

Obviously a cull will never happen but I do think the wealth inequality and removal of nationality / race should be strived for.

Too many potential dictators in the world.

@FrostedFlakesAreMyJam

Ensure world-wide significant taxation on the Uber-rich - no more tax havens. NO ONE needs a billion pounds. No one needs a yacht or a private jet or whatever nonsense. This money can then be used to properly fund services. Also cap the max salary a director can take (I'm still talking huge amounts), so there isn't a situation where directors are on ten million a year and employees are on NMW and having to top up with universal credit/food banks, i.e. tax payers essentially funding the company directors lifestyle.

I think this is probably the best option.

I've grown veg before, and trust me, you would be mainly feeding slug, birds and caterpillars before people. There are also very lazy People out there, so a few people would be putting the hard work in for many to get the food. Lovely idea though.

Inequality is the issue here. A lack off social mobility, poor quality expensive housing, corruption, materialism and a lack of spirituality/regard for the planet. The drugs war, which many senior figures have a hand in is also a big source of problems. Half of these VIP fat cat types might make better, compassionate decisions if they weren't so fucking high on coke all of the time.

Sort these issues out and I think it would make a huge difference. I don't think over population is an issue, it's just that we are greedy twats who are generally selfish, so cause a lot of issues ourselves. Our brain and thinking style has not advanced in line with technology and we don't use it well. We are driven by our egos and fail to see how our actions affect others.

Get rid of women

See - sounds stupid doesn't it?