The first step in building a bridge, be it metaphorical or material, is to envision a plausible plan. Next the bridge's planners would work backwards, using reverse engineering, from the final finished product one step, one stage, at a time until the bridge is un-built back to its landing points. Then, when begining conctruction itself, the first step for all bridges is building foundations that are capable of carrying the loads. The the case of the GG bridge it'd be cars, trucks, steel and concrete plus the forces that act on those loads like the winds, rain and tides. A communications bridge on the other hand would have to carry the load of many differing opinions, perspectives, interpretations and expectations all being buffeted about by the forces of ever changing knowledge and uncertainty.
The GG bridge successfully spans the Golden Gate Strait from San Francisco to Marin County, with a lotta luck our metaphorical bridge will span the wide river of distrust between the proponents and opponents in the often rancorous debate about the causes of, the long term effects of and the solutions to environmental degradation.
IMO the first necessary foundation for our bridge must be ending the name calling [shouting] from both sides. Today's goal was the overall plan of envisioning of a bridge between the encampments and acknowledgement our common humanity. Tomorrow the hard work starts, we'll begin by pouring some concrete and burying, mafia style, some of the pejorative name calling we've slipped into as a convenience and a rallying cry for our camp mates.
