Fundamental Needs
Organic produce at a farmer's market.
Image by Howard Silverman.
In the midst of unprecedented wealth throughout the bioregion, there are still rural and urban pockets of poverty, hunger, sub-standard housing, and poor health-care.
The long-term cross-cultural studies of economist Manfred Max-Neef suggest that fundamental needs fall into nine universal categories: subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, idleness, creation, identity, and freedom. reliable prosperity is structured to meet these needs for all people. household economies, local economies, and bioregional economies ensure that these needs are met as locally as possible.
A regional food system provides healthy food from reliable regional sources, minimizing the need for food imports of unpredictable price and quality. It emphasizes broad access to food resources across the landscape, as well as stable land tenure for farmers and fishing rights for fishermen. It treats food security — availability of affordable, healthy food — as a fundamental right.
Health is the most fundamental need of all, and the health of people is utterly dependent on broader ecosystem services like pure water, clean air, fertile soil, habitat for food production, a stable climate, and many others. These ecosystem services must be properly maintained as an investment in public health. In addition, a wide range of health care modalities (e.g. Western, Eastern, Naturopathic) should be made available at affordable cost.
Shelter for all implies that a wide range of housing types is available, with an emphasis on sufficient levels of affordable and healthy housing. In reliable prosperity, there are abundant opportunities for people of all ages to have access to knowledge in order to develop new skills and livelihoods, participate in civic society, and deepen their sense of place.
Fundamental needs are best met in ways that build community and society. They are the foundation for human development. An emphasis on fundamental needs leads to a sufficiency for all rather than an excess for a few. This in turn reduces resource consumption while greatly enhancing the quality of life. As work is aligned more and more closely with genuine needs, it gains meaning and becomes more joyful.
Ensure that everyone in the bioregion has fundamental needs met as a non-negotiable condition of attaining reliable prosperity. At a minimum, these needs include nutritious food; shelter; healthcare; education; and ecosystem services — all provided affordably and reliably.
Case Studies
Examples of this pattern in action:
Partnerships For Change
Partnerships For Change is a San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) "social profit" organization, dedicated to the acceleration of social and economic transformation through innovative media, participant-centered conferencing, and public policy initiatives.
Organizations whose work incorporate this pattern:
Sustainable Community Roundtable
References:
Illich, Ivan. Celebration of Awareness: A Call for Institutional Revolution. Heyday Books. Berkeley, CA. 1989.
Max-Neef, Manfred A. Human Scale Development: Conception, Application, and Further Reflections. The Apex Press. New York, NY. 1991.
