Buy Nothing Day

Reduce consumption and spread the word about the corrupt money system by getting involved with Buy Nothing Day (Nov 28-29). Don't forget to tell your friends!

http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

New Website!

Please join me over at ResourceBasedLiving.com where there is a brand new website for Resource Based Living. Here I hope to make it easier to organise our Take Action steps, guides, and latest news. It may take a couple of weeks to get the site fully up to speed, but when it is, I'm hoping that it becomes a comprehensive source for news and ideas.

Don't forget to update your bookmarks, but RSS readers should have been updated automatically.

See you over there!

Sun to Blame for Global Warming?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm going to buy an SUV now, and leave the tap running while I'm out.

http://on-line-tribune-front-page.blogspot.com/2009/10/global-warming-newsflash-for-al-gore.html

It's Not About Economics

Image by Tavallai

One of the most common statements I hear about "A World Without Money" and Resource Based Economies in general are that they are economically unfeasible. Yet this way of looking at the problem is too narrow minded. Not only will the rules of economics be obsolete, but economics itself will not even be relavent.

What will happen when robots/computers take all our jobs? Of course, they might never be able to do everything, but really, they don't have to. When the number of jobs becoming automated increases to a certain level - which I assure you that it will - there are going to be problems regardless. Things as we know it will collapse, and the world will face unemployment the likes of which we have never seen.

Will no available work cause mass poverty? If it does, the people will have nothing, and there will eventually be massive social downturn. At the moment, we're all being kept relatively sweet, but when the middle class can't feed themselves, society isn't going to last very long.

Or there's the possibility of a dangerous government "cutting a deal" with the people, promising small benefits while taking away more liberties or causing even more serious problems.

Alternatively, no available work could have some very different implications.

People could learn the beauty of self sufficiency and frugality. Their lives could become not about work but about living.

This would be fueled further by advances in technology making it easier to reduce our reliance on the current economic system. With technology such as home factories, personal automation, self sufficient energy solutions, and automated agriculture and transportation, the everyday person will no longer need to go out to work.

Will there still be a need to trade when we have all our basic needs? Perhaps there will always be a need for some kind of economics to trade in more luxurious items, creative works, and certain, otherwise unobtainable services. But this will be minimal when everyone has most of the things they need and perhaps won't have anything to trade anyway.

So say what you like about 'economics' - you might as well talk about traffic issues in Antarctica.

Change the Little Things to Change the World

Image by Rodrigo_Soldon

If you want to help bring about a greener, more caring world, a world without money, without poverty and the financial corruption that causes it, there are many things that you can do.

You could talk about it on forums. You could tell your friends how good the Zeitgeist movies are. You could watch more and more conspiracy movies until you hate the establishment so much that you feel like you're making a difference from your computer chair. All of these things might help, and spreading the word is definitely important. But there comes a time where you have to take what you have learnt, and put it into practice.

People often ask how the transition will occur. I think we should focus less on the politics. The transition will be a gradual thing, and although public protest might swing things in the right direction, it alone will not be the transition.

To change the world, we must look to ourselves. By this I don't just mean that we should recycle and then everything will be ok.

What we need to do is look at the problems we have at the moment (of which there are many) and think about how to solve them. Not all of them, but one of them. We all have ideas of grandeur but what it will really come down to is individual acts of brilliance.

As an example, and I appreciate this might be a tasteless one but bear with me, is the iPhone. This device has changed the way we live, even if we don't own one. Yet it's just a mobile phone that dared to take things to a new level.

I believe we can do this with many things. There is a growing market for greener goods and there are many areas that are not yet tapped into. Let's look at transportation. The options at the moment are:

• Sit in traffic
• Sit on a dirty bus/train
• Ride a bike and get killed

...Surely we can do better. And this is just one area.

Instead of worshipping Jacque Fresco, we should be using what he has taught us to design our own solutions to bring about a resource based world. Imagine how we want to live, what life will be like in a RBE. Then think about how we will do things differently in this world, and what will this cause us to need?

The potential for creation is immense. We're talking about changing our world from a monetary based one, where everyone wastes their lives in jobs they hate to one where everyone has what they need. This is going to have such massive implications that it opens the door to an untold number of possibilities.

As just one example, if a RBE has no "property", things will need to be hired, so what kind of systems could be created to facilitate this? In Sweden and other European countries they already have bicycle hire stands that are very successful.

In the interim, such ideas can make us a lot of money that will help shift the balance of power in our direction. The money can be used to further our cause, investing in more and more solutions.

But it's not about the money. It's about solutions. It's about making our lives better.

So let's stop trying to change people's attitudes by telling them about this grand new world, and instead, show it to them.

World Food Day: We Are the Root Cause

Every six seconds a child dies from hunger. I'm not sure what the "adult" figure is.

In an ActionAid report issued today, some of the richest countries are shamed for their measly contributions, and rightfully so. Hopefully this will prompt a change in attitudes and get the public on their governments' backs.

However, is it really likely to have much effect? In Europe, the US, Canada, Australia etc we have what we need so who cares about anyone else? It's their own fault for not being competitive in this wonderful free market thing and therefore having no money, right?

The fact is, we're doing nothing to change it. We could shout at our governments, we could give to charity, but like almost every other problem on this planet, it's all futile because we're not addressing the root cause.

For a start, we have all played an instrumental part in making sure they have no money, therefore no food, so that we can have our ipod-hungry lifestyles.

But more importantly, and less threatening to our lifestyles, is the fact that we actually have more than enough.

That's right. The poor aren't poor because there aren't enough resources to go around. It's about establishment perpetuated scarcity. False, money-driven limitation created to give the illusion of poverty.

People say that I have no concept of economics. I say poppycock. The world has no concept of economics. Money is created out of thin air every day - how is that- an "economy"? The only thing that gives it value is the fact that we can't give it to the poor. Yet we give it to the rich every day.

In the future, a world of full automation will destroy what is left of the economy by undermining the need for labour. While that might still be a dream, almost-fully-automated agriculture has been real for decades. We can feed the world for practically nothing. Yet we choose not to.

It all comes down to the balance of power. Realising the potential of renewable energy, we free ourselves not just from servitude but from hunger and poverty. This is not about the economy, or lack of technology. It's simple politics - the pyramid of power that has existed for as far back as we know.

Only letting go of this will let us feed the world.

London Zeitgeist Meeting This Weekend

If you're able to get to London on Sunday, The UK Zeitgeist Movement are having a meeting.

Information here:

http://www.thezeitgeistmovementuk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=415

Here's a basic agenda as discussed on the site:

1. Introductions - How we found out about the movement and the UK site and where we are from (The aim of this will be to get a bettter understanding of how to introduce new members and the areas we have active members in presently)

2. Action plans for London
Any activists that currently have projects underway. Who would like to get involved in which projects and any projects that people would like help in setting up.

3. A market stall in camden
presentation by Alex C

4. Plans for London Z-Day

5. Questions people have faced and had issues answering.

6. Questions members have themselves.

There will also be a young lady there doing interviews and writing a piece for a uni magazine so that will give us some exposure as well.

My thoughts: Getting everyone together to discuss ideas for bringing about a resource based economy will be both productive and energising.

We can only do so much with the internet. There comes a time to take it to the streets!

Stop Shopping the Planet to Death

Nice to see our ideas gaining momentum...great new site too!

http://moreminimal.com/2009/10/stop-shopping-the-planet-to-death/