Here is a list of problems that I think need to be looked at as an integrated whole. That's why I've put this as a Forum topic. I've also put each of these in Activist Solutions as a separate problem.

1. Stress – Generally
2. Boredom – Particularly among youth
3. Poverty
4. Energy Consumption and Destruction of Farmland through Development
5. Workforce Dissatisfaction, Overwork and Stress in the Workplace
6. Workplace and Corporate Culture
7. Anger In the Workplace – Both Overt and Covert

Forum topic related to:

The intentional Community has attempted to deal with stress in the following way:

Modern life is a pressure packed affair with too many projects, too many deadlines and too little time for family or oneself. The bottom line, in my view, is that most stress is caused by lack of vision, mission, clarity and boundary-setting.

Forum topic related to:

Public/private programs such as conservation easements, purchase of development rights, and transferable development rights are severely limited by “private property rights.” Government agencies such as the EPA and educational efforts of such groups as the Sierra Club are equally powerless to stop the continual paving of farmland.

Forum topic related to:

You say "using all means at our disposal…through a process that respects the views of all citizens." How do you even get most citizens to express their views? If we could make that happen, and all the very excellent policies you describe were expressed as the will of the people, how would they all be implemented? How would they be paid for? I’m not particularly cynical, but I am aware of the difficulties involved. If the people’s views were known, as they pretty much are on the Iraq war, what’s the next step?

Basic services, such as childcare, libraries, public transportation, and schools, remain at levels that are less than half of what they were pre-Katrina. More than one third of all hospitals and acute care facilities remain closed in the city.

Local governments, which are in dire need of tax income, are allowing developers to pave over too much land. This leads to many other problems including urban sprawl.