Powerful technologies and development projects are funded and implemented by economic systems that are optimized for extraction, competition, speed, first-to-market advantage, ownership, and institutional prestige.
The problem is that people and ecosystems most affected are brought in or intervene with protests—after decisions have been framed by investors, developers, governments, and technical experts.
Historically this has been seen in damming rivers for hydroelectric power, where benefits such as electricity, irrigation, and flood control were counted first, while displaced communities, damaged fisheries, altered river systems, and downstream ecological losses were ignored.
The pattern is now visible in AI data centers development, solar geoengineering proposals, and local development pressure in conservation areas. The proposed Stratos AI data center in Utah would cover more than 40,000 acres and require about 9 gigawatts of power. Local opposition cites concerns for water, energy, heat, and other ecological impacts. Data-center electricity demand is projected to double by 2030, with AI-focused data-center demand tripling.
Stardust Corporation’s geoengineering proposal would scatter millions of tons of silicon into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight.
There is presently neither community nor planetary consent process. CAN is designed to provide such a process.
CAN is a database-centered technology that can be localized for any community anywhere. Each community acts independently locally, while compatible records technology causes alignment between communities to emerge globally, without central control.
Initial CAN pilots are proposed:
in Playas de Tijuana and Point Loma/San Diego, communities within a deeply interconnected border region. Tijuana had 1,922,523 residents in 2020, while San Diego County reached 3,336,081 residents in 2025.
The border crossing between the communities in San Ysidro handled 14.8 million personal vehicles and 6.8 million incoming pedestrians from Mexico in 2024, showing the scale of daily interdependence.
The Tijuana River sewage crisis demonstrates how decisions, infrastructure and environmental consequences cross these jurisdictions and affect people on both sides.
Global warming affects everyone but especially the 3.3 to 3.6 billion people the IPCC identifies as living in highly climate-vulnerable contexts. More than 4 billion people live in cities, and nearly 7 in 10 people are expected to live in urban areas by 2050, where land use, energy, housing, transportation, water, and infrastructure decisions will determine climate outcomes.
CAN gives communities the ability to reduce effects of economically prioritized systems and weak processes for public consent after the fact.
CAN provides the guardrails necessary to prevent irreversible harm before decisions are made.
CAN restores the missing public input by incorporating community knowledge and experience into the design and implementation of technology, enabling communities to include affected people in decisions that affect their quality of life. CAN provides a means for grassroots people to build consensus and shape sustainable development necessary to reduce global warming and adapt to climate change.