There may be war in Iraq, global warming all around us, and cruel poverty that persists in the world’s most prosperous nations and yet amid it all, we have to go on living. For as long as we have been mammals, humans have lived in close, neighbourly, mammalian villages, helping and supporting each other through life’s challenges. Today, a new movement is emerging that restores this sense of closeness, while preserving the privacy we have come to cherish. Among other things, it creates child-friendly, car-free spaces, and helps us to share many resources, living in closer harmony with nature on a smaller ecological footprint. I am handing my column over this month to people who share one of my many dreams for making this Earth a more beautiful, caring place.