Freeconomy Blog
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18 Feb
The long-term vision for Freeconomy...
| 6 comments |
I have really felt a change in the seasons over the last couple of days – the bite has gone from the breeze, we've just had a couple of really warm days, some flowers are starting to show their faces again, the evenings are starting to finally feel longer and the birds are singing like they've noticed the change as well. At least that's how it feels here in the south-west of England anyway!
This has already made life a lot easier for me I can tell you. Cycling on ice was as unpleasant as it sounds, though I didn't really have a lot of choice in the matter. Shitting outside in a hole in the ground is a very symbolic thing and so it is, for me, almost a spiritual practice as well as an obvious physical need; but to do it when it is -6 Celsius at 6am does take a few minutes of self-motivation, as does washing dishes and clothes in icy water before dawn. And though having the wood-burner going in the evening is very cosy, it takes time that I don't have at the moment. So as much as I love Winter, I am very glad to see Spring come along!
Spring, I believe, is a time to plant all sorts of seeds, and I feel the time is right to plant some for Freeconomy now with you all. Members and friends often ask me 'What is the long-term vision for the Freeconomy Community?'.
I probably should start with what Freeconomy actually is. As it stands, there are Freeconomy Communities all over the world, from Dublin to Delhi, with one in virtually every part of the UK. Some of these towns and cities have got really active local groups, like Freeconomy Wrexham or Bristol for example, whilst some operate on a completely individual level with people simply helping each other in the actual communities where they live. Check out this little short film we made to briefly explain how it all works on an individual level by the way. Personally I would love to see it done both collectively and individually in all towns and cities where it now has a base.
In this respect, the Freeconomy Community has been much more successful than I ever could have foreseen it being after just a year, and so it really is an exciting time. Most of the worlds population live in big towns and cities, so I love seeing pockets of Freeconomy Communities grow up within these normal communities. If Freeconomy is going to be about solutions and not problems, then we need to create solutions for these large towns and cities, otherwise it will not actually be providing a solution. And, thankfully, it is.
Whilst I think this is a vitally important part of the strategy for the future, I don't think it is enough on its own, long-term, however. It needs to be tackled from two sides.
To go alongside the current strategy of building Freeconomy Communities within existing villages, towns and cities, during the summer I plan to begin work on a business plan for the first real-life Freeconomy community, a truly self-sustainable community that is based on the same principles and philosophy that this website was founded on. It is a business plan who's goal is to have a set of accounts that by 2013 will have £0 in every row of it's profit and loss account and balance sheet, at which point its only useful purpose will be as toilet paper or kindling.
In relation to sustainabilty, it will be a closed system, with everything we need coming from the land we live on once it is up and running, and all the initial infrastructure coming from within a certain radius of the land. In other respects it will be a very open system – it will be a place where any member of this online community can come and stay for free. It will be a Centre of truly ecological living, where education comes not only through doing but also through workshops, talks, books and courses, all of which will be run and distributed for free. It's main purpose will be to show how Freeconomy can actually work in real life and reskill people in the process, and serve as a model for any other group of people who would like to do something similar. Any freeconomist in the world will be able to come and experience it, stay and eat for free, help out with work, take any ideas they like, discard any they don't and merge it all with their own thoughts.
I think it is essential we show this works 100% in practice, not just as part of ordinary society (which, as I say, is vitally important), but also out on its own, proving that you can live without money and without being dependent on industrialised society and those who remain using money. The world is faced with some huge questions in the near future, and we urgently need to start experimenting and coming up with solutions.
So Freeconomy will be moving on both fronts – both as a way of rebuilding communities in existing towns and cities, but also having a real life one as a model and example and where any member can come and stay for free. The land will not be owned by any person or group, but stewarded for anyone who would care to enjoy it. It will have a basic core philosophy acting as a solid foundation, but other than that it would be run on a consensus basis.
Part of the reason for doing a year without money is to give it a trial run where I hopefully make loads of mistakes that I can then (hopefully!) learn from. One of my lessons already is that whilst it can be challenging doing it on your own and in isolation, doing it on a communal level could easily provide a great way of living, both for yourself and the ecological system you are part of.
This will take money to set up – which may sound ironic, but as I have said many times before, I believe that we have a great opportunity to use what we have now to build truly sustainable infrastructure for the future. For this I will be setting up a fund in December, from which I also plan to do a lot of work to make this website even more useful for its members (I will be sending out a survey during the summer to see what you all would like to see improved or added – if you have any ideas now feel free to comment below also).
What I have outlined above is just a taste of the vision – the long term detailed plan would take me days to communicate. Therefore if anyone is interested in finding out more, ideally just leave a comment below, though alternatively you can email me. Or if you would like to set up a group in your own town or city, I would be more than happy to help and let you know what has and hasn't worked so far in other places.
THE FREECONOMY BLOG is written by Mark Boyle, founder of The Freeconomy Community. If you want to respond, debate or ask questions, please just comment below; you will have to sign in first.
Comment on this Post:
driftwood comments ...
Your vision is spot on and im sure is shared by many within this community and many more in every walk of life. The skills and workshops to me sound very important in helping many including myself turning what at times seems a dream life into reality. Mark you sound like your really enjoying your journey mate. enjoy enjoy enjoy
Karen comments ...
wow Mark I am (almost) speechless what you are doing is amazing! I am awed by your courage.
I've just read all the blog posts I have missed out on recently and it was definitely a good use of my free time. I admit to being a coward because I don't take action on what I say and how I feel but reading about you doing has it made me realize that even if I just change one thing at a time soon I will be living in a way that is equal to the way i think which can only lead to happiness.
When I watched the Earthlings movie it made me so sad and angry at humanity yet I didn't really change my lifestyle. Although I don't wish to be vegan and probably not even vegetarian I am definitely going to cut down my meat consumption and only buy local free range meat preferably organic.
Thank you again for letting us share in your experiment.
Peace, love and best wishes
Karen
Jimbob comments ...
I know what you could do to really draw attention to Freeconomy and all the good things you're doing.
How about, walking to India using no money along the way, just relying on the good nature of people, sharing skills etc, skipping along in a hippy wonderland all the way?
Oh yeah...
Mark Boyle comments ...
*To driftwood*
Thanks, if it is ever something you're interested in at some point in the future, you'd always be welcome, same for everyone (though obviously not all at the same time!).
*To Karen*
Thats really good, I think that is the key, we all just need to question what we do every now and again. But good on you!
*To Jimbob*
Good to see you back. Yes as I am sure you know, I tried that, and it didn''t worked out as planned! Though I did learn a lot of lessons from it that hopefully i am using now, so I do realise the point that failed experiment had in my life.
What would you prefer I did by the way? Keep my mouth shut and let all the environmental destruction continue as normal? Personally I'd rather just live the good life and have time for family and friends than have to spend all my time attempting to raise awareness about what I see as huge problems (and what I see as their solutions) in the world, but I think that would be quite an irresponsible thing to do at this critical point in history.
If you were a farmer in India getting shafted by organisations and corporations such as the WTO and Monsanto, would you want people who have a voice to speak up for your plight or to just go about 'business as usual'? Put yourself in there shoes and then ask yourself what you should do, and I think you may see this in a different light.
But thank you for your comment, I'd really be happy to chat about things with you if you were ever up for it, I am sure we learned something from each other.
Joan comments ...
Wow Mark,
When I first started creating http://www.moneyfreeliving.com I really wanted to start the project off by creating a "village". I love that word since it denotes so much support and natural flow. One of the sites that inspired me was Simple Times Village http://www.ruralvillage.org where a woman has gone so far as to completely design and advertise a whole village based on bartering, garden plots in the city with goats, etc. (with some business). My understanding is they are at a standstill due to money or were at the time I checked. Could be some great ideas there. My town is in the phoenix stages or rising out from huge auto company shutdowns and I have started meeting with people to come up with some answers. I am promoting Freeconomy freeshare and philosophies at the table but find juggling different approaches to a city plan challenging. Any suggestions on that? Also if money is a problem then there are legal ways through that but it would take someone quite knowledgeable to get the paperwork going and be on top of an resultant issues with the governments and banks that could arise. The jury is still out on whether I want to use my head in such a way to figure all of that out rather than just try to step outside their system (if we can). More info on that at the site Spiritual Economics Now http://spiritualeconomicsnow.net.
Cheers Mark,
I am very excited about your determination.
Joan
Robert Howes comments ...
I admire what Mark is doing, and I really wish it were that simple to bring about a money free world. It isn't, and I fear we are being diverted from really making a difference in a way that is open to us already, that of using resources, including money, collectively. I am without any volunteers to help me out here in Swansea, where no-one in the Freeconomy community will lift a finger. David Collins came over from Dublin and helped out for four months, which was great, and another volunteer came through Eurotopia and stayed two months. But no Swansea member of justfortheloveofit.org seems interested. As far as I know, I'm the only member in my area to have done any free labouring for another member. I'm not complaining though, I'm pointing out that we need a halfway approach that pays people out of general profits made from selling our wares and services so that we are in a position to do work for each other in the group free of charge. I'd like anyone with some free time to spend some of it here in South Wales helping to start what could mushroom into a world wide movement that really makes a difference. This is not meant as a criticism of Mark's undoubted desire for a better world, it's meant to help bring it about. Contact me at robertcircle1@yahoo.co.uk
