Resource Based Economy

Open source and free-sharing a model of the effectiveness and objective financial and individual benefits of a resource based economy (RBE) has the potential to change how people look at both competition and cooperation. We can choose to create a sustainable environment that provides an abundance of fundamental resources and demonstrates a new post-scarcity paradigm where time is our only necessary currency. Integrating the benefits of cooperation, sharing, and collaboration to create a living example like this is a significant component of the One Community self-sufficient and self-replicating teacher/demonstration community, village, and city model.

This page includes the following sections related to One Community and implementation of a resource based economy:

• History of a resource based economy
• Why create a resource based economy
• A resource based economy versus socialism
• Establishment and maintenance of an RBE at One Community
• Resources
• Summary
• FAQ

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HISTORY OF A RESOURCE BASED ECONOMY

The concept of an economic system of cooperation over competition 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 participants 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. Greed and rationing, however, have made these resources so unavailable that over 10,000 children die every day. This pattern of withholding what is needed, and the hoarding of possessions, is in our opinion both irrational and counterproductive to our survival. Still, 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.

WHY CREATE A RESOURCE BASED ECONOMY

Teaching people the value of collaboration over competition has the potential to transform the world. It is a foundation of the One Community Highest Good society model and our approach to positive and permanent global transformation. 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 things over foundational survival needs, and perpetuating the ‘mine’ over ‘ours’ mentality, is something we emphasize with our children NOT to do, but appear to have difficulty as a species exercising for ourselves. Despite all this, One Community believes sharing and working together IS part of who we are, just like living and creating for the Highest Good of All. We also think this is something we 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.

One Community is working to demonstrate that sharing of resources, and open-source and free-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 efficient replacement of things needing repair, etc. We will also work 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.

 

A RESOURCE BASED ECONOMY VERSUS SOCIALISM

Is it socialism? No, because an RBE/asset-based community development is specifically counter to large, over-reaching government bodies that make the decisions telling people to do something they don’t want to do. 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 all forms of cooperative and sharing-based living and governance 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 and competition is something we should fight for, and that this competition and profit-based mentality is motivating corporations to “do the right things” for humanity’s health and happiness. Regardless of how untrue we feel this is or isn’t, 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 One Community will be running a free community. What it does mean is that living within our teacher/demonstration village will not include trade, barter, or buying of anything from each other. Likewise, we will not individually purchase items beneficial to other community members with our own money, choosing instead to purchase them with community funds. 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 THE ONE COMMUNITY RBE

Creating our initial resource based economy will be as simple as compiling a list of what people desire to share before we move. 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. Taking stock of and 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.

Once we are on the property (see the Weekly Updates Blog 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. Our model also allows for and supports the profitable participation in the traditional capitalism model, as desired by individuals, until it is no longer necessary.

Contribution to the resource based economy is completely voluntary and there is no individual financial investment. How this resource based economy will be financed can be read about on our Revenue Streams Page.

 

RESOURCES

Here are some great resources for learning more about the concepts of resource-based and gifting economies that we’ll be demonstrating within One Community at first, and then expanding outward as much as possible:

• One Community Page: “RBE? Why Do Anything Different?“
• Book: Chalres Eisenstein, “Sacred Economics” (Gifted Online)
• Article: “How to Run a Business in the Gift Economy“
• Web resource of resources: “Gift-Economy.com“
• Book: “The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property“

Here’s a video by Charles Eisenstein talking about the Gift Economy Path Forward that we are already on:

 

SUMMARY

One Community is committed to open source and free-sharing a strategy for resource based economy implementation and maintenance. Our interpretation of a resource based economy is focused on sharing, collaboration, and cooperation and we believe this is for the Highest Good of All. We are adding consensus decision making to this foundation and we feel that these two elements combined will provide significant personal, economic, and organizational benefits that future self-sufficient and self-replicating teacher/demonstration communities, villages, and cities will want to implement also. Participation in the resource based economy at One Community will be voluntary.

 

FREQUENTLY ANSWERED 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.

Q: Why has One Community chosen to implement a “resource based economy” within business models that support capitalism?

In accordance with our 4-phase global transformation strategy, we feel a profitable model is necessary to provide a path to becoming debt-free for those with debt. We also believe that demonstrating self-sufficient teacher/demonstration communities, villages, and cities as profitable investments is important for people (or even companies) who may want to use this model as an investment, retirement plan, or option for raising money for some other endeavor.

Q: How does One Community stop well-meaning ideas (i.e. more tourists = more money = expansion of project and more benefits for the world) getting out of hand to the point where the focus is making money (same as the current system) at the expense of the original ideals of the project and the benefit of the members?

One Community’s highest values as an organization is creating for The Highest Good of All. Every member (and future member) of our team is screened for alignment with this foundational value. We as a group see holding one another accountable to making every decision with this value in mind as an opportunity for constant improvement on the individual level. We also feel the inherent goodness of humanity will flourish naturally in an environment like One Community where all needs are provided for. With these foundations in place, even one person is meant to be sufficient to identifying a deviation from our goals and initiate a “course correction.”

Q: How do you prevent One Community from becoming an elitist club, which can only be joined by people with “above average” financial security?

Initially One Community is only seeking people with financial independence for the Pioneer Team because we see this freedom from debt as essential to the integrity of our open source goals and establishing One Community as a place accessible and capable of helping everyone. The Highest Good Business page describes how One Community will evolve with business models that can then help people from all demographics and financial sectors.