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| | == Abundance == | | == Abundance == |
| − | Abundance is a key aspect of RBEM. However, there are several conflicting notions of ''abundance''. In RBE10K, however, abundance is intended to come more as a result of ''enabling'' it than ''causing'' it. In other words, RBE10K communities will ''prioritise'' and have a preference for that which is or can be made from locally abundant resources, and avoiding that which is or requires locally scarce resources. The rationale for this is enabling for self-sufficiency and independence in each community. Abundance in this sense is a key factor for implementing sustainability. Abundance is also a key element for maintaining equality and peace in society.
| + | Residents of a community implementing the RBE10K system share equally all available resources. Free and unrestricted access to resources is dependent upon degree of availability. (unfinished) |
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| − | RBE10K will implement several strategies for promoting abundance, some of which can be the following:
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| − | * Sharing that which is widely needed or convenient but not in abundance
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| − | * Deeming the desire for scarce resources as an undesirable and even antisocial trait
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| − | * Engaging in creativity to maximise uses for abundant resources
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| − | * Directing research and development efforts towards tapping into and making the most out of abundant resources
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| − | * Promoting a celebratory attitude towards the availability of what is abundant, and demoting complaining attitudes about lack or scarcity
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| − | * Adapting the community's lifestyle to match that which is in abundance
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| − | Residents of a community implementing the RBE10K system share equally all available resources. Whilst there will be free and unrestricted access to abundant resources, anything that is needed or convenient and cannot be provided for abundantly will be shared. Sharing of scarce resources will depend upon need, purpose, priorities, and short and long-term objectives of the community. For example, a purpose that benefit many would take priority from one that would benefit few (since benefit can be subjective, there will be several modes for determining benefit). Other example can be a purpose for life-saving being prioritised over widespread convenience. Scarce resources will be registered and managed through the Intelligent Management of Available Resources system (IMAR) in order to maximise their benefit and effectiveness. The IMAR system will enable anyone listing current and possible uses for each resource available, and the rationale used in prioritising and defining how those resources are most effectively utilised. An RBE10K community intends on avoiding social conflicts resulting from differences of opinion about what is the best use for a given scarce resource, by promoting trust in, and involvement in the development of, the IMAR system. | + | |
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| | == Simple living == | | == Simple living == |
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| | == 10,000 people per community == | | == 10,000 people per community == |
| − | The number of people aimed for RBE10K communities is a key characteristic of RBE10K's strategy for implementing RBEM and making it available to as many people as would be willing to take on the lifestyle. The number 10,000 makes part of the project's name (10K), along with the proposal for in initial individual contribution of US$10,000. The choice of population number has the following rationale:
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| − | * Large enough to:
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| − | ** allow for sufficient skill sets and knowledge to a degree suitable for achieving community's self-sufficiency
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| − | ** maximise diversity of characters and personalities to develop and sustain a culture rich and varied
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| − | ** maximise a community set-up budget and the capability for purchasing in bulk and acquiring expensive equipment
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| − | ** be taken seriously as a social experiment
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| − | ** discourage external hostility or intrusion
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| − | * Small enough to:
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| − | ** allow for the possibility of knowing everyone in the community to prevent people from feeling minuscule, unimportant, or alienated
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| − | ** prevent a need for bureaucracy
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| − | ** enable a holistic connection and familiar feeling between residents
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| − | ** enable residents with a capacity for recognising non-residents in order to minimise chances of being intruded or robbed
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| − | ** avoid drawing the attention of governments which could display hostility towards RBEM lifestyle
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| − | The number 10,000 fits within rationales for large enough and small enough. Although this number is only a proposal, having it defined to a specific number allows for the convenience of defining a specific budget to work with, clear goals, specific urban designs, and other design and planning requirements. Any work done in terms of design and planning for a community of 10,000 residents can then be adjusted by upscaling or downscaling for different populations and scenarios.
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| | == $100 million US dollars == | | == $100 million US dollars == |
| − | The RBE10K Project planning for the acquisition of everything needed to get the community started, using a monetary budget. For simplicity and due to being the most widely exchanged currency and most people around the world knows what's their own currency's exchange rate to the US dollar, the RBE10K Project defines its budget in this currency, however any other currency would be equally useful. The proposed budget has to do simply with an amount that provides some realistic degree of purchase power for setting-up a community, rounded for simplicity, and calculated as the equivalent of a cheap new small car. The result of this logic is a budget based on US$10,000 per person, totalling in US$100 million for a whole community of 10,000 people. This proposal is the result of an expectation that most people who are not struggling severely financially, even if they have no assets, can manage to save US$10,000 within a year, both by making a few sacrifices, and by selling stuff they would no longer need in a RBE10K system community. This premise does not include people who have no assets and live in countries with, as compared with Europe and the USA, a very much income, and for whom saving US$10,000 would be impossible. Still, many people even in these countries, already have valuables and assets much in excess of that amount.
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| − | The RBE10K Project intends to end poverty in the world within 40 years, however, the project relies on developing means ''over time'' to provide a way out to those people with near to no savings or income. This project intends to being realistic and pragmatic, and even though it seems unfair that people with greater means can access this lifestyle before people who lacks such means, there is, unfortunately and to the knowledge of those who are working on making this the most effective strategy, no other way. Some of the people involved with this project are working on ways to assist those who have a strong interest in participating in this project but have no assets nor chances to create them, with a possibility to develop those assets in RBE-like enterprises, still participating in the monetary market and generating income, but non-consumerist.
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| − | The budget is intended to be utilised for setting-up the community, and pay in advance for ongoing services (such as Internet, land taxes, and health insurance) for which the communities will require obtaining some income later on, intended to come mostly as a result of their participation in the creation of new communities, or through donations, and leaving trading, employment, or other profitable means as a last resort. The whole budget is intended to be completely spent during acquisition of materials and services, and these acquisitions to be fully planned, costed, and detailed prior to requesting any moneys from anyone, i.e. no person is intended to contribute any money without first being fully aware of how ''exactly'' is going to be spent. In contributing with their share, each participant will obtain either a cooperative membership if the community sets-up as a cooperative, or one share if the community sets-up as a non-profit company. Both the cooperative or the non-profit company share options will require the participant to reside mostly within the community, and can be sold back to the community, allowing the community to sell it again to anyone interested, for the same original amount. No profit will be derived from memberships or shares, no person can hold more than one share or membership, and in the case a community decides (or is required to) terminate, everything owned by the cooperative or the company will be sold and proceeds will be equally distributed to all share-holders or members, for a maximum of the original amount, with any surpluses donated to charity.
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| − | One of the main purposes of the RBE10K Project is to determine what to purchase and where. For this it is paramount defining goals, needs, and a functional design for a community. The RBE10K Project assumes that with a robust design and plan (including a detailed purchase list) finding the people interested in participating in the trial will be a non-issue. The US$100 million dollar budget can allow for the purchase of equipment and machinery with a low cost-to-productivity ratio, from more efficient and durable clean energy generation equipment such as stirling solar dishes instead of solar panels, and for obtaining lower prices purchasing in bulk, such as purchasing food or cement by the tonne and deposited in silos instead of purchasing these products packaged. This budget would enable purchasing equipment to produce the community's own furniture and fittings (e.g. toilets, office furniture, concrete slabs), as opposed to purchasing these products already manufactured, thus enabling the community to produce as many as required for their own initial and ongoing needs, and most especially, for the needs of new communities, who would thus not be required to purchase either these goods manufactured nor the equipment, provided it can be shared. It could even enable the community to have its own transport ship, providing the communities with some extended freedom to travel.
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| | == Not an eco-village == | | == Not an eco-village == |
