DAY 12, SPRING SPECIALS

|| days 12-11 || 20-21 March || Spring. Defiance. Jellybridge. || At  two minutes past six, the sun rose in London, the traffic stopped, people opened their windows, their doors, and all Spring Special events started the day with three minutes of silence to welcome the arrival of spring. // At six minutes past six, Alice reached the edge of the Young Forest and looked across the rolling, blossoming meadows and down to the lake, awaking but still in the shadow. She smiled, and for a moment she watched the buzzing insects hurrying from blossom to blossom, twittering birds hopping from branch to branch in the nearby bushes and trees, more birds flying in the sky, and three dragonflies hunting insects, flicking in and out of Alice’s view — a perfect moment. Still smiling, now with a cheeky glint in her eyes, she activated her phone. In her emails drafts box was Alice’s official invitation for Queen Lusana, Princess Felicitas and their families to the groundbreaking ceremony at three minutes to twelve on April, 1. The festivities will begin at eleven on the future town’s Central Square. Guests are advised to arrive before ten at the estate’s restored train station from where carriages will take them to the site. Alice nodded to herself and pressed send. ‘My personal spring special.’ Seconds later, in London, the Campaigns & Negotiations Team received a copy of the invitations, the signal to email a thick folder worth of documents to every member of the British government and to everyone who was even remotely involved with the government, such as think tanks, lobbyists and contractors. The documents included all sorts of issues which might become critical during the building phase or during the town experiment, and they included specifications where well-defined lines should be drawn before beginning to build the town. Seconds later, the ripples news office got copies of the invitations and of the documents, their signal to post an official statement which mentioned both emails and gave updates on some of the lawsuits the project was involved in, with a focus on those lawsuits which had been dismissed by this or that judge. In the meantime the sun had reached the canopy of the Old Forest on the Jellybridge Estate, and the first rays of light illuminated the land, lifting it from shadow to lush greens dotted with yellow, blue, white and red blossoms. Alice smiled, and with a nod to the sun, the forests, the lake and the meadows, Alice turned back into the Young Forest and slowly walked to Jellybridge House, enjoying the solitude, listening some more to the birds and insects, and inhaling the earthy smells of a forest after rain. ‘Another spring special for me.’ When Jellybridge House came into view, Alice’s phone rang. ‘Any! Good morning!’ Alice said to the head of THE. ‘Good morning to you, too. You sound happy.’ ‘I am! It’s spring. I can smell it in the air. I can hear it in the excitement of the birds. I can see it in every leaf which unrolls on the forest’s trees. I love every bit of it!’ Any chuckled. ‘You’ll also love the news I have for you.’ ‘Great! What is it?’ ‘The government finally told the public about their vote against the town. The fun part is that they published their statement the same minute ripple’s news announced your invitation to the royals for the groundbreaking ceremony.’ Alice laughed out loud. ‘That’s wonderful! The universe must be on our side.’ ‘Alice, I think it is.’ // At the same time, bookies across London saw an influx of customers who wanted to bet on a win for the town project. And the media seemed to alternate between uproar, confusion and applause about the coincidence. All of this rippled right into the office of the unlucky assistant who had sent the government’s statement about the vote. ‘NINE MINUTES LATE!’ the assistant’s superior shouted. ‘Nine minutes! How could this have happened? I told you: six o’clock sharp! Now we look like fools! How did this happen?’ The blushing assistant swallowed. ‘My computer— I had to restart it. It was stuck. I had to restart it.’ Meanwhile in a palace, the queen answered her private phone. ‘Oh, grandma!’ Princess Felicitas said, laughing. ‘Please, tell me you’re amused.’ The hint of a smile played around the queen’s lips, and she returned. ‘Let’s wait and see. It seems the prime minister has the urgent need to speak with me.’ By this time, the morning was ‘only sixteen minutes old,’ Tabansi remarked when he kissed Mudiwa in their kitchen. Mudiwa smiled and accepted a freshly poured cup of coffee. ‘I’ve never celebrated the beginning of spring,’ Mudiwa said, ‘but I already love it. Sixteen minutes into the day, and I love it.’ ‘Me too,’ Tabansi returned and leaned against the kitchen counter, saying: ‘There is no pretence to it, nothing artificial, no merchandise.’ Mudiwa nodded. ‘There is just the amazement about the natural world, and the reminder that we are part of it, that our bodies, too, react to the smells, abundance and energy of spring.’ Tabansi chuckled and pulled Mudiwa closer. ‘I’m just a little jealous that you’ll spent the day with Rose.’ Mudiwa smiled and kissed Tabansi. ‘And I’m a little jealous that you’ll be at our ripples office where thousands of Spring Special stories will flood the screens. You will see it all.’ ‘And I’ll tell you all about it tonight.’ ‘Oh, good!’ // While today’s campaign events were all about celebrating spring, nature, beginnings and human creativity, the project team didn’t lose sight of the fact that they had now officially been told to dismantle their campaigns, their project and their businesses. Celebrating spring as if the project hadn’t heard the news was part of their plan. But only a small part. A big part was, as Kojo (media at Jellybridge) put it: ‘—that we won’t slow down with our preparations. We have our Spring Specials in the region, at the train station and around Jellybridge House, but we won’t slow down. We want people to see that we’re as determined as ever to build the town.’ And any visitor who came to the Jellybridge Spring Specials could see that with their own eyes because in front of Jellybridge House, next to the Spring Specials stage, teams of helpers assembled the first tent towers, another team prepared more pipes for water supplies, others crafted more rafts for the lake gardens, and at the train station more teams stored away new materials deliveries. // Alice had a busy morning. After a chat with Kojo and Amahle about today’s events at Jellybridge and about the plans for the groundbreaking ceremony, Alice met with Olivia (head of the Building Site Team), Ualan (head of building materials supplies and coordination) and Megan (head of agriculture) for an update on how far they were with the preparations so that they could start building directly after the groundbreaking ceremony. Next Alice had a coffee with Jokull and Noel (programming) to take a look at the apps which would ensure a smooth running of everything at the building site from food supplies to material deliveries, from yoga slots to shift coordination, and more. Afterwards Alice went for a walk with Adeola (regional business liaison) for news on the talks with neighbouring villages, towns, and farmers, both for foods supplies and for cooperations. Colin and Beatrice (both admin) picked Alice up with a wagon. Jimmy, the master of horses, was driving. During the drive to the train station, Alice, Beatrice and Colin went over the building schedule for April, taking into account that Easter holidays required special measures because many families and friends of the project wanted to join as helpers over the holidays. ‘We can slow down over Christmas, I mean over Easter,’ Alice said, chuckling. ‘I think it’s important that we start at full speed. But if we slow down for families, kids, holiday volunteers, starting on day seven of the building phase, that will be good for all of us. And it will show that we care for people, and we care about involving them when they can make time.’ Beatrice smiled. ‘That settles it for me. And,’ Beatrice added with a smirk, ‘this gives us the opportunity to add another major announcement today.’ ‘Which exactly?’ Alice asked, smiling about Beatrice who rarely let her inner fighter surface. ‘We’ll announce that families with children can apply for an Easter holidays volunteer spot, since we have some three hundred spots to offer. Arrival is on the seventh of April from two p.m. on.’ Alice nodded, smiling. ‘Make the announcement big. Make it loud! On a related note, with the families coming, some of us can take time off, and we’d probably have something like an overlap time on the weekend when the holiday people leave and the regulars return.’ Colin nodded. ‘That’s the plan. Throughout the building phase, we work with a waiting list, whenever a sleeping spot becomes available, we fill it with people from the waiting list.’ ‘That’s good. Let’s add a statement about that, too. Make it loud, too! Today, we will pop up everywhere, on every subject, in any way, all present, always loud — and celebrating!’ Alice, Beatrice and Colin bumped their fists together and smiled. Shortly afterwards, at the train station, Alice and Beatrice met with Marci (workforce coordinator) and Xantha (volunteers coordinator) and learned that a group of volunteers would test three of the tent towers to find out whether they worked as planned. Shortly after this meeting, Alice and Jazz talked with the local police again to finalise their cooperation agreement, a copy of which would be sent to parliament, today. Alice wrapped this meeting just in time before the official re-opening of the train station which was part of the Spring Specials. Twelve minutes later, the first train arrived at the newly opened station and was welcomed with live music and much applause when curious looking visitors stepped onto the rainbow coloured platform. // At the same time, the town project’s international teams arrived in London to help at the campaigns, to give interviews, to add some of their own campaigns, to talk to politicians and their embassies, to prepare to join the teams at the building site and to support the project businesses and the Business Expansion Team. Last summer, the town project set up sixteen international teams: Argentine, Buenos Aires, Australia, Sydney, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Canada, Vancouver, China, a small town in the Yunnan Province, France, Paris, Germany, Berlin, Iceland, Reykjavík, India, Mumbai, Mexico, Tampico, New Zealand, Wellington, Romania, Bucharest, Russia, Moscow, South Africa, Injaberg, US, New York, US, San Francisco. In February, as part of the project’s expansion efforts, additional teams were set up in the following countries: Bulgaria, Ecuador, Ireland, Egypt, Mongolia, Italy, Nigeria, Norway, Paraguay, Spain, Philippines, Turkey, South Korea, Ukraine, Tunisia and Vietnam. All told, the town project presently had the support of thirty-two international teams, each counting between thirty and two-hundred team members. Some other people arrived in London, too: Tom’s lawyers. This news coincided with a meeting of the town project’s lawyers who were discussing some other high profile troublemakers. Tom was admittedly not just another name. His lawyers spelled trouble and repeated Tom’s demand that the town project and the project businesses were to be dismantled to redeem Tom’s investment which had never been meant to finance a global business empire. Alice talked with Emine, who co-chaired the lawyers’ meeting with Javiera. And Emine told Alice not to worry. ‘That is: if Javiera, me and our teams can’t defeat these guys, then no one can.’ ‘Hm. I actually find that reassuring,’ Alice said. ‘Did you know that none of the queen’s lawyers wanted to face you alone?’ Emine chuckled. ‘No. I didn’t know that. Alice, I am worried. But everyone here is prepared to fight, and THE is helping. So, back you go to your Spring Specials.’ ‘Ah, I don’t get to see much of the specials. Though, the opening of the train station was fantastic. I’m so glad the visitors took time to explore the new mosaics, the roof garden, the train lodgings, cafe and workshop, and all that. And I love the spring installations on the square in front of the train station: trains built of plants and flowers. These sculptures look marvellous without looking super manicured, more like wild trains, but still trains. Ah, you have to see them.’ Emine chuckled. ‘Sounds amazing!’ ‘They are. Isn’t there a Law Spring Special?’ ‘There is!’ Emine replied. ‘Several actually. Some are about the beginnings of laws, asking what makes laws necessary and how can laws grow into something mature and nurturing, like all living things. My favourite events are those for kids who are interested in law. We invite them to be those early spring flowers, and we give them a tour of what is possible if we manage to make good laws.’ ‘Sounds great!’ ‘It is!’ // At about half past ten, Alice joined a group of regional mayors at a Spring Special Breakfast in Marble Town, organised by the mayor’s office and set up by hundreds of towners who had brought their tables and foods to the streets for a community breakfast. Just before the breakfast, the mayor of Marble Town said to Alice in private: ‘I know some MPs personally. Two of them called me Friday night, after the vote, and said I’d better be careful and not do the breakfast. I said: Of course. One of them understood what I was saying. And I’ll say it to you, too. London has no right to take this decision. This is our region. And what I hear is that more and more people here are intrigued. Sceptical. A bit afraid. But intrigued. Your team here, they are doing a great job. They talk. They are accessible. They listen. Do you know the last time someone listened to us? I decided not to cancel this breakfast because I want to remind the government in London that we exist! And have a mind to think! And a voice to speak up! And we have the hands to prepare breakfast for all.’ // Meanwhile, on the streets of London, Liverpool, Brighton great open air galleries where created by the cities’ people, each photo and drawing celebrating the wonders of spring. In Brighton a special photo event got nationwide attention: DISCOVER LICHEN & MAKE WORLDS VISIBLE. Find lichen on old trees, on metal fences, on the forest floors and on the dunes, zoom in with your phone, take the picture, and add it to the largest collection of lichen photos ever. Why? Because lichen are something fantastic! They aren’t plants. They are what happens when bacteria and fungi enter into a mutually beneficial relationship. This is called a symbiotic relationship, and it’s something that creates amazing worlds. It’s also something, we humans could test among ourselves. What happens if two minds don’t compete but feed each other and build on what each mind has to offer? Which kind of world would materialise? What happens if humans create systems which aim at nurturing instead of exploiting? What happens if we rewilded nature and ourselves instead of destroying nature and numbing ourselves? Mutually beneficial is not just courageous, not just clever, not just inspiring and uplifting. It’s what creates wonders. By noon, the people in Brighton were discovering the most astonishing lichen photos, and they send out calls to people across the UK and across the globe to add their discoveries, and share their thoughts on what kind of symbiotic relationships humans might be capable of. // Not long before one o’clock, Alice returned to Jellybridge, and found Jimmy (master of horses) and Beatrice (head of admin), sitting on the main stairs to the house. ‘Join us, Alice. Join us,’ Jimmy said. ‘See this basket Betsy packed for us? It’s packed.’ Alice chuckled, accepted an apple, and sat down next to Jimmy, smiling broadly. ‘I love this,’ she said. ‘We should have a town-wide spring break, for a whole week, to celebrate and enjoy the magic of spring, to dance, swim, sing, lounge, stroll, laugh, smell—’ ‘—Yes, smelling would be a big thing,’ Jimmy chipped in, grinning, and Beatrice said: ‘Brilliant! The week should start when spring actually starts.’ ‘Well,’ Jimmy chipped, ‘some of us will have to feed the horses.’ ‘True enough,’ Alice conceded. ‘Maybe we can all do it together.’ Jimmy shook his head. ‘Alice, I have the highest respect for you, but I won’t let just anyone into the stables!’ Alice smiled. ‘Fair point.’ ‘We can solve this,’ Beatrice said, opening the basket again and taking out a sandwich. ‘Those who provide emergency services in week one, get a week off after everyone else. And the following year others do the emergency jobs in the first week.’ ‘I wouldn’t call feeding horses an emergency service,’ Jimmy remarked teasingly. ‘But it could be. Could be.’ Alice chuckled. ‘I like it.’ ‘It’s brilliant,’ Beatrice said. ‘Celebrating the arrival of spring for a whole week. It’s brilliant! And if a week doesn’t work, we can celebrate in groups over three weeks.’ ‘That’s good, too,’ Jimmy said. ‘Don’t you agree, Alice?’ Alice twitched the corner of her mouth. ‘It’s a possibility. But I really love the idea of us all starting spring together. It wouldn’t be so much about having holidays as about being with nature, the kind of coexisting that ravels in everything that is, a time to bond with nature for the next months. You know, like quality time with our life partner nature.’ ‘I love the imagery,’ Jimmy said. ‘It’d do us good to have the time to see what’s happening around us.’ // By this time, London, Bristol, Edinburgh and other cities were transforming in ways unseen and unheard off. One major UK-wide campaign was titled CREATING SPACES FOR NATURE. And everywhere — on pavements, squares, streets, highways, lawns and in parks — areas were roped off and given back to nature with boxes and barrels of wildflowers, spaces for insects, bridges for mammals, tree trunks for snails and other invertebrates, little ponds and streams for insects and fish. In some places artists created patterns with these green spots across a square or park. In other places craftspeople and designers set up wildflower cafés, lunch trees and flower bridges. The most impressive works managed to interweave wild and human spaces, for example, via hovering gardens, swing bridges and flower boxes on facades. ‘I’m depressed,’ a participant told a reporter. ‘We try. Today, we really try to make the human habitat natural again, but there are so many dead materials, so much disinfection, so many barriers. It’s like we try, but we can’t really break the crust of our own making. I’m depressed. I want us to redesign our cities, connect to nature, be part of nature again, but we’ll need a lot more than a day or a few weeks of campaigns. I’m glad we got this inspiration. But we need to— we need to break the crust of our own doing. We are part of nature. If nature suffers, we suffer. If nature dies, we die. It’s not enough to rope off parts of our dead world for nature. We need to find a way that makes us part of nature again, a way to embrace life not plastic.’ // While more people than usual were on the streets and engaged with nature, there were also millions more engaged about nature online. The reason was a challenge issued by the town project to rewrite descriptions of insects, mammals, birds, flowers, trees, crops— in short of every living organism. ‘Rewrite Wikipedia?’ a reporter asked a young family who had gathered in their garden for the task. ‘Yes,’ the mother said. ‘Nature is not something aloof, or something for people who speak Greek and Latin. Nature is who we are.’ The daughter, 16 years, nodded. ‘One reason why humans lost their connection to nature is because we don’t live with nature any more. And those who had the money to explore nature, to study nature made nature into something exclusive, unreachable, disconnected unless you learn an academic language. But if you do, you become part of a bubble, and you’ll be disconnected to the people who aren’t in the bubble.’ The non-binary child, 12 years, agreed. ‘I learned that from indigenous stories. Their children are always in the forest, at the river, on the trees, and that’s where they meet animals, where they find fruits, that’s where they have adventures and experience what will later be their story of the forest.’ The son, 14 years, nodded. ‘The town project challenges us to watch the butterfly and write about our observations, to tell our personal story with the butterfly. Stories connect.’ The reporter put his head to one side. ‘But that isn’t scientific.’ The daughter snorted dismissively. ‘If it is scientific to alienate humans from the natural world, then science causes harm because people need the connection to nature. We need to be part of nature. Science has a place, no doubt. It just needs to get off the highroad and join us, explore with us and use their knowledge to fill the gaps we can’t fill with our own observations and words.’ The father nodded. ‘I am a biologist, and I have been waiting for this day, for the day when we stop chasing titles and begin to involve everyone in writing nature’s stories, in mapping nature’s ingenuity, in finding the names that are most fitting and meaningful for this or that living organism.’ The son, 14 years, nodded. ‘Planet Earth is dying. If we get everyone interested in collecting stories about the animals and plants of the planet, then we have everyone focused on what is most important because without nature, we won’t have enough to eat, we won’t have air to breathe, water to drink. We will die. But with nature— with nature everything is possible, and exploring it together, making discovering it a project of the people of this planet, I think that’s better than any superman comics because it’s real, with real consequences, and real saving our planet from the end of the world.’ // ‘Isn’t it too late to save the world?’ a journalist asked Alice at an interview in the Jellybridge library. Alice shrugged. ‘I don’t know. And I don’t care. I won’t give up on humanity or the planet — no matter how dismal things look. It might be too late, but I’d rather go down fighting than congratulate myself on some well-nourished cynicism, or some sort of superiority complex which keeps me from joining the adventure of rethinking our world.’ ‘Can you save the world, Alice Adler?’ Alice twitched the corner of her mouth. ‘I don’t think the world needs saving. I think it needs shaping. You see, saving implies that there is something like an ideal state of the world, and that that state has been disturbed by some villain, and now I slip into my costume, and thanks to my heroic actions, I restore that ideal state.’ Alice shook her head. ‘For all I know there is no previous state of the world that wasn’t flawed. In fact, I think, we are presently seeing the consequences of centuries of failures and mistakes. And I’d conclude that returning the world to some former state is not desirable — and it’s not what I’m about. I am about taking a look at our world, past and present, and ask what could be rethought, what could be created, what could be reshaped so that we get away from self-destruction in our personal lives, in our societies, and most urgently in our natural world. That’s not saving, that’s exploring, asking questions, thinking, shaping, testing, adjusting, more thinking, more shaping, more exploring, restoring, rewilding, taking action. Can I do that? Can I rethink and reshape the world?’ Alice paused for a moment and let a small smile appear on her face. ‘Yes, I can. But I don’t want to. I don’t want to because I think that no single person should shape the world. I think that we should rethink and shape the world together — as the people of the planet, not as competing nations, not as competing races, not as competing genders, classes, religions — just as mysterious, vulnerable, potentially clever people of planet Earth.’ // Around this time, a dispute erupted on the Hub’s campaign square between those who insisted that deadwood was called deadwood and therefore would always be deadwood, and those who had taken a deep gulp from the town project’s rethinking potion and said: ‘The term deadwood is unfitting. It makes people believe that this wood is worthless and can simply be taken and burned — when it is, in fact, a habitat for bacteria, fungi, lichen, mosses, clover, saplings, snails, spiders, ants and many more organisms. If anything, the so-called deadwood should be called nurturewood because in its decay the wood is a nurturing habitat for all sorts of organisms, and it is a vital part of the ecosystem.’ There were similar discussions about other names and terms. ‘Cup lichen look more like trumpets than cups,’ one contributor argued. Another agreed and wrote: ‘Makes for funnier stories, too. How did you like the lichen concert on the dune, or so?’ ‘Yeah! Let’s rename them into trumpet lichen, and a forest of them would be a trumpet lichen orchestra.’ ‘How can you make fun of nature?’ ‘It’s not making fun. It’s having fun. Fun connects. Connections make sure we’re not so bleeding thoughtless about nature.’ ‘Not a bad point.’ ‘Yeah!’ ‘I’m with you.’ ‘Trumpet lichen! You have my vote. Love the orchestra, too.’ For all discussions many photos, sketches and videos were posted. The most shared video was that of a small snail with a long spiral shell, on the main trunk of a beech tree. In the video the snail moved the shell into an upright position above its body and then in a circle back down. Though this snail was native to England, few had ever seen it, and many assumed that this kind of snail only lived in water when, in fact, it lived on the ground and on trees. Officially, this snail was called door snail because inside its shell it had a bone-like structure which it could use to close its shell’s opening. ‘Which is cool,’ one commentator wrote. ‘But you don’t see the cool door. What you see is how these snails deal with their bulky shell. They can move in the traditional snail way: head front, shell on top. And they can move in all sorts of other ways: shell hanging sideways, or when they slide down a tree, they’re upside down, their head towards the pointy top of the shell. And when they come together, they are literally all over each other. As for the acrobatics in the video — elegantly moving the shell above its body — that seals the argument: These snails should be called acrobat snails.’ // On the streets of many cities and towns, people saw some wonderfully bizarre contributions: dogs of all sizes pulling small wagons with flower boxes; people wearing hats with bird nests, or clothes made of grasses and spring flowers; others handed out boxes with wildflower seeds; some dug up pavements and planted trees. As more and more people joined the festivities on the streets and brought their own contributions: photos, plants, poems, songs, cartoons, costumes, foods, drinks and more, the press had a hard time to decide whether to highlight the anger of the political class, the fuming of corporations and everyone who opposed to the project, or whether to call it a day and celebrate spring and the many stunning events, too. As so often, there were some reporters who couldn’t help following their usual routine of trashing whatever there was to trash, and they filled their echo chambers with questions like: Why are these town people partying when the government told them to pack it? // How long will we have to suffer this ridiculous project? // When will the police put a stop to this madness? // Celebrating spring is an attack on our traditions! It’s pagan! We are Christians! // How can these people get away with disobeying the government? Do they think, they are above the law? // The town project does everything to bribe people into supporting them. // Don’t fall for spring. This is a con. These people will destroy civilisation as we know it! They are out to take our freedom. //// Even though some of these comments reached the streets, the general mood outdoors seemed to be that celebrating spring was much more fun than bickering and bitching. ‘It’s honestly great to be at this positive event,’ a mother with two kids told a reporter. ‘This project has asked many important, heavy, challenging questions, but they also know how to party. For me that’s saying a lot. I don’t think, I ever appreciated the start of spring this much.’ // Meanwhile, at the Spring Specials around Jellybridge House, the air was filled with laughter and music, people were dancing, others chatting, some hanging up more nature photos on strings spanned between the new tent towers, and others prepared more fruit cocktails at the bar around the fountain. Inside the house, on the fourth floor, Alice and Raiden were in a meeting with the Building Site Team. Presently, they were talking about live-cams at the building site. Beatrice (admin) shook her head. ‘We need to give people some privacy. I heard that THE has a system that uses thermal cameras, which provides anonymity, and which only switches to a normal camera when something suggest a critical situation.’ Anthony, head of Building Site Security, nodded. ‘It’s a more expensive and more complex system, but it allows for anonymity and makes sure that the alarm is only raised when needed.’ Alice frowned. ‘Do we need cameras to protect the site against theft?’ Anthony shook his head. ‘That’s unlikely unless one of the workers turned out to be a thief. But we’ve spanned a wide security net around the estate. It should be difficult for outsiders to get on the site without us knowing. No, the thermal cameras would serve two purposes: to react quickly to accidents and to collect data for experiments run during the building phase, like how many work hours a day are best for people. None of this requires face recognition.’ Alice nodded. ‘OK. Then let’s have the thermal camera system. I’m always for anonymity, and I’ve never been a friend of putting everyone under surveillance only because of a few terrible people, or worse only because some misguided government operates under the illusion that people need to be controlled, and that power lies in watching everyone’s movements. Which makes me wonder whether we should translate this point into an experiment which proves that surveillance increases anxiety, while communities who build trust among themselves thrive.’ Raiden nodded. ‘Only those who are complicit in injustice and exploitation need to protect themselves against the frustrations of those they harm.’ ‘Well put!’ Beatrice said, several people nodded, and Noel, a member of the programming team, said: ‘Love this! You only watch people because you’re afraid of them. If you build a community that has reason to trust each other, you can go down dancing to the spring songs.’ Daria, also a member of the programming team, chuckled. ‘That’s my friend saying that the sooner we get through our list the sooner we can join the party.’ ‘I also meant what I said, my friend. But you’re right, I love the spring vibes and while I know, we can’t slow down, I also love us all celebrating. Celebrating together creates bonds, bonds help to build trust, the more trust the less surveillance, the more freedom, the more just breathing and dancing with each other. So, what’s next?’ Alice smiled and looked at the list in front of her. ‘Animals in town is next. Megan?’ Megan stood up and went to one of the black boards which showed plans of the future town. ‘We’re still running simulations to determine how our town can be as unobtrusive for flora, funga and fauna as possible. As you can see on this map, a copy of which is in your folders, we want to add patches of wetland as oases, wildlife corridors throughout town, like sheltered paths, bushes, bridges for animals and plants, patches of self-seeded plants, town gardens and small town farms, roof gardens, all interconnected to accommodate nature’s way of being connected and moving around. We’re waiting to hear back from a geologist who examined the site and collected data to determine whether waterways used to run across this site. If so, we might try to restore these waterways in particular for the wildlife. We will also determine which areas we’ll rope off between November and June so that animals can hibernate and breed safely. Some areas will be blocked completely, such as the land beyond the lake and several parts in the forests. One of our experiments will be to find out whether hunting could and should be part of our town’s function within the ecosystem. The reasoning is simple: We might be allowed to re-introduce some bigger hunting animals, but unlikely enough to keep natural prey at a population level that works for the ecosystem.’ ‘You lost me,’ Beatrice said. ‘Then I’d better find you again,’ Megan returned with a smile. ‘Every functioning ecosystem regulates itself so that no plant, no animal, no fungi dominates — which is something humans should learn from nature: Dominance leads to imbalances. Imbalances lead to collapse — and I’m running ahead of myself. Back to the ecosystem which regulates itself. The ecosystem we find at Jellybridge lacks quite a few animals, plants and fungi compared to a comparable intact ecosystem. Among those species missing are hunting animals who would take care that, for example, the deer population has a size that is beneficial for this local ecosystem. Humans have taken the role of hunter for thousands of years, and while I welcome the rediscovery that every animal has a soul, that no animal should be killed for sports or without gratitude, I suggest an experiment where we test whether taking the role of the hunter to balance our local ecosystem is a direction we could or should take. A big advantage of mindfully curbing the populations of deer, and any other unnaturally dominating species, is that we won’t have to fence off any areas. If we don’t hunt, we’d have to protect all areas we want to rewild by putting up fences. But that would contradict our aim to make our town into an area where animals and plants can cross instead of getting stuck at its boarders: nature knows no boarders and for an ecosystem to thrive, it needs to be connected to all its parts.’ // The setting sun was watched by millions of people who joined in a three minutes of silence to mark the end of the first day of spring. As darkness settled, screens went up across the UK, and today’s best clips of nature discoveries, poetry slams, story snippets and appeals to fall in love with nature and rewild the planet flickered across the screens while helpers prepared the dance floors for tonight’s spring parties. // Alice and Leo hosted a party for the Jellybridge staff and the Building Site Team. ‘It’s an excuse,’ Alice said to Jimmy, the master of horses. ‘Hosting means, I get to be at the party, too.’ ‘I hear you, my friend. I hear you. And I’m glad you’re here. Though there’s no need to spoil us. We’re on your side, all the way. I still can’t believe that parliament had the audacity to vote against the project, and I’m still laughing my head off that you had it in you to invite the queen herself to the groundbreaking party, nonetheless. I couldn’t be prouder to play a tiny part in this government-inflicted comedy. And we’ll have the groundbreaking! I can feel it in my bones!’ Alice smiled. ‘Thank you. Every bit of reassurance is an energy boost.’ ‘Any time you need a boost, come visit, or call. Any time! We’re here for you.’ ‘Thank you! It means so much. See that was another reason why I wanted to host the party tonight: to say thank you. Everyone on the estate is such a great support and the Building Site Team are fantastic.’ ‘It is! And now, dear Alice Adler. Will you grant me a dance.’ Alice laughed. ‘I’m not a dancer. But yes! I think the beginning of spring should always be marked with dancing and laughing.’

© Charlie Alice Raya, book 4, building, 2025