Resource Based Economy
One Community is pioneering an asset based community development approach through a resource based economy as part of our open source project-launch blueprinting. Simply put, this means we are choosing to create a sustainable environment that provides an abundance of fundamental resources (matter, energy, and intelligence) to demonstrate a new post-scarcity paradigm where time is our only necessary currency. By doing this we show what is necessary to create an environment purposed for The Highest Good of All and supporting cooperation, sharing, and collaboration over competition and individual ownership because everyone has what they need to be comfortable. The community works as a collective to maintain itself, accomplish the world changing goals of our non-profit, and even support traditional capitalism business models through our entrepreneurial model both individually and when consensus elects to do so. Most importantly, through this asset based community development approach we are able to work together even more for the continuous evolution of our individual members, the community as a whole, and the world community through open source project-launch blueprinting.
RELATED PAGES
BECOMING A COMMUNITY PIONEER ● HIGHEST GOOD ● VENUS PROJECT ● OPEN SOURCE
HISTORY OF A RESOURCE BASED ECONOMY
The concept of an economic system like this that eventually evolved and became popularized by Jacque Fresco (of The Venus Project) in the 1970’s as a “resource-based economy,” was first envisioned by Howard Scott in the early 1900‘s and released to the public by the Technical Alliance (which became Technocracy Incorporated). At its core it is a philosophy of abundance, sharing, and cooperation in which all goods and services are available to all community members without the use of money, credits, barter or any other system of debt or servitude.
We believe the top three reasons for this approach are common sense, ecological sustainability, and social responsibility. Most people now realize that we live on a planet with the necessary resources to feed, clothe, and shelter our entire population but greed and rationing have made these resources so unavailable that over 10,000 children die every day because it is not profitable to provide the necessities they need to survive. This pattern of withholding what is needed, and the hoarding of possessions, is in our opinion both irrational and counterproductive to our survival yet it continues on the national, city, community, and even the family level throughout most ‘civilized’ cultures. We don’t think it needs to be this way.
COMMON SENSE TELLS US SHARING & COOPERATING MAKES SENSE
In our opinion, common sense tells us this hoarding and withholding of that which we are capable of sharing for the benefit of our fellow human beings serves neither the individual or humanity; valuing paper and shiny things over survival needs and perpetuating the ‘mine’ over ‘ours’ mentality is something we emphasize to our children NOT to do, but appear to have difficulty exercising ourselves. Despite all this, sharing and working together IS part of who we are, and what we as a species are moving towards, as part of our pathway to evolved consciousness. Most of us who know this are creating it in our families and communities already and it is not as far off as most people think it is.
Sharing of resources, and open-source sharing of ideas, is also significantly more ecologically sustainable and a pathway to enhanced efficiency, ingenuity and teamwork. By eliminating the need for everyone to own one of everything we free up resources for the expansion of all things shared and the replacement of things needing repair, etc.; working together as a community to collectively decide whenever we need to replace, upgrade, or purchase duplicates of things to maintain the comfort, efficiency, and feeling of abundance of our community. This reduces waste, encourages cooperation, and supports an on-going environment where relationships are valued over possessions.
RESOURCE BASED ECONOMY VERSUS SOCIALISM
Is it socialism? No, because asset based community development and resource based economies are specifically counter to large, over-reaching government bodies that make the decisions telling people to do something they don’t want to; and One Community is taking this a step further by committing to consensus governing. It is useful, however, to note that indiscriminate labeling and demonization of every time people come together to share and cooperate with one another is, in our opinion, significantly slowing our ability to grow as a species. A great deal of monetary resources and human energy have been put into convincing people that capitalism is something we should fight for and that, contrary to consistent evidence, the majority of pharmaceutical companies, food distributors and other profit-based corporations prioritize what is in the best interest of humanity over profit. Regardless of how untrue we feel this is, it is not our goal or purpose to convince or debate the topic; instead we’d like to just invite people to do something different, designed specifically for those who see its benefits and want to be a part of it.
This does not mean we are running a free community. What it means is that we do not trade, barter, or buy anything from each other within the community. Likewise, we do not individually purchase items beneficial to other community members with our own money, but purchase them with community funds instead. People visiting the community, investing in the community, desiring to purchase community goods, or building businesses with the support of the community still participate in the traditional capitalism model – it just isn’t the model used between Community Members.
CREATING AND MAINTAINING OUR RESOURCE BASED ECONOMY
As preparation for this asset based community development model we have created a “contribute your stuff” page on the private Pioneer section of the forum so we can keep track of what we will have available on day 1, and what we may wish to purchase as a community. Items contributed to the community are available for general use but remain the property of their respective owners unless they end up getting replaced by One Community. Pooling Pioneer resources in this way has already provided a massive selection of computers and other technology, books, toys and other miscellaneous children’s stuff, musical instruments, massage tables and other healing related items, everything for the kitchen, and more. Contributing items to the resource based economy of One Community is completely voluntary.
Once we are on the property (see the Progress Page for where we are in the process) additional essentials will be purchased, maintained, and owned by the One Community Non-profit organization as an operational expense. These items will be acquired based on consensus in a volume sufficient to satisfy the needs of the community, available to everyone for checkout, quickly replaced if they break, and require less than 1% of the resources of a traditional model when considering something like a camera, a tool, or other irregular use item.
By sharing and valuing things in this way we are demonstrating the effectiveness of what we believe is the future for asset based community development and the sustainability benefits of a resource based economy while allowing for the profitable participation in the traditional capitalism model, as desired by individuals, until it is no longer necessary.
Individual cost to participate in this resource based economy: 0$. How this resource based economy is financed can be read about on our Revenue Streams Page.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Do I have to contribute my items to the resource based economy?
No, people only contribute what they want.
Q: What if I change my mind about something I contribute to the resource based economy?
All property contributed to the resource based economy remains the property of the individual and can be removed from the resource based economy at any time.
Q: What happens if an item becomes worn out or broken from use?
The item is replaced using community funds and the new item becomes a “community item” and permanent part of the resource based economy.
