I've had an idea (a vision if you like!)

Like all my best ideas, this came to me the other night as I was trying to get to sleep. I had to get up and write it all down, so that I wouldn't forget.

The Decade

Every decade seems to have its own personality. You hear people talking about the 70’s (disco and bad fashion), the 80’s (AIDS, great indy music and different bad fashion), the 90’s (poll tax riots and no fashion) and the Noughties (Climate change and war). What will the next decade be called and what will it be known for? I think it is time we plan in advance to make the time between 2011-2020 the best decade ever.

The Tens, doesn’t really have a good ring to it, so why don’t we make it THE Decade. Make it the time when we as the population of a wonderful planet, make it the fantastic place to live that it should have been if we hadn’t mucked it all up with our pollution and overcrowding. Repair the planet and prepare it for the future, to make it better for our children’s children.

We should make efforts to make at least one MAJOR change for the betterment of the planet each year. We could target those who can do something about the BIG picture and those who can afford to fund the changes.

Ideas for what I think could be done are:

• Lobby the worst offending nations for pollution and FORCE them to comply with the Kyoto Accord and beyond, to reduce emissions and to encourage transferring over to “clean” sources of energy.
• Banish religious intolerance worldwide, making it illegal for bias in favour of and against any religion. No one should be punished for believing or persecuted for not believing.
• End the world’s dependence on oil. We do not need it anymore, it is just greed keeping us dependent. Electricity, Hydrogen etc can be used to power cars cleanly and should be made the preferable alternative to petrol.
• Stop molly-coddling criminals. Make punishment for criminal offences feel like punishment. Make life mean life. Make prisons places you do NOT want to be. Get rid of the televisions, pool tables, etc. Make prisons places of hard labour.
• Stop the litigation culture that has been inherited from the US. Make people responsible for their own actions.
• Make people work for their benefits. If a person requires asylum, make them work for the help they receive. Give them a job that no one else wants. If they do not like it, then they can always go home. Charitable companies can always do with more workers, so they can also help out with these. Make people work full time for any benefits they receive.
• Make people pay for their own children. The planet is overpopulated as it is, why should those without children pay for those who can’t afford to keep their own children?
• Reduce production of weapons by the “rich” countries and the selling of these weapons to the “poor” countries which the “rich” countries then label as THE ENEMY!

So, how do we go about getting these things done?

• Lobby your MP.
• Use your influences at work.
• Give money to charities promoting these values and projects.
• And smaller things, if you can afford to, change your car to a non petrol one;
• Recycle as much as you can (this will also help you if the government brings in its green taxes!);
• Save yourself money on your bills by turning off appliances when they are not in use;
• For short journeys, walk or use a push-bike;

These are all basic ideas. I know it is nothing original, but the original thing, I believe is to propose a date to get these things done. Make this world a sensible, clean and safe place to exist. Get on with everyone, or at least get on with our lives without attacking others for getting on with theirs. Spread the word and make "THE DECADE" a widely used term, an aim for everyone and a target for the governments of the world to be held accountable to.

Make 2011-2020 THE DECADE that healed the world.