Can a non-technical, non commercial project be supported on Steem? The Steem ecoVillage Community
Imagine a world where you were truly secure, relying not on the vulnerable and unethical model of modern capitalism, but instead on the natural intelligence and reliability of the forces of nature. Imagine leaving the city and joining a small community, discarding the whole notion and concept of money as we know it, and instead embracing a new paradigm based on true team playing and synergy. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you didn’t have to play the game of success, being forced to sacrifice your life so that you can try to get ahead of your neighbour to survive in this modern world? Are you tired of the rat race? Can you see how unhealthy cities have become, the darkest most lonely version of the Orwellian nightmare manifesting right in front of your eyes? Would you be interested to hear of a way out? A way that you can sacrifice nothing, and gain true freedom. A world where being poor is no longer criminalised, and where money barely even matters anymore. Then welcome to the Steem ecoVillage Project!
Experienced, and ready for action!
I have spent nearly all of my energy money and time since 2001 discovering, learning and building sustainable homes called Earthships. In the past 11 years I have been very busy training myself up in the mountains of South India. It's never easy self building, and even more so in very remote regions with no support, skilled labour, or machines and specialised tools. Nevertheless that is the mission I embarked on in 2006, and since then I have acquired incredible experience and knowledge by simply getting down and doing whatever it took to manifest a truly off-grid sustainable home.. known today as Earthship Karuna. I have lived in this home for 7 years, and during that time I have come to realise the incredible potential of a properly executed sustainable community.
Success in the most challenging circumstances, Earthship Karuna.
For the last 7 years I have lived in complete comfort and luxury, with all my survival and comfort needs taken care of by my home. My only utility bills are gas for cooking, which costs me just $10 per month, period! I haven't got any centralised utilises, and am far away from any municipal offerings such as power, sewage etc.. Since this home has been designed with complete autonomy and self sufficiency in mind, it is able to provide me with all the power, water, and everything else i need to live. Whether it is 40 degrees Celsius heat, or -20 Celsius freezing, this type of home can keep me comfortable with no additional heating or cooling. The home heats and cools itself, with no power, no moving parts, using the natural forces of nature to drive it on indefinitely with virtually no maintenance.
EARTHSHIP KARUNA
Earthship Biotecture
This concept, called Earthship Biotecture, originated in the USA and was invented by Michael Reynolds way back in the 1980's. Since then this approach to self sufficiency has evolved to the point that I can now confidently say that it is would be totally possible to create a completely off-grid self sufficient community, and for people to live together in this community with virtually no bills and no need to work if you don't want to. This community would need nothing from the outside world, and would represent the epitome of self sufficiency and sustainability with an ultra low environmental impact, in fact a home built in this way today can have have a NEGATIVE carbon footprint.
This is a new paradigm, a completely alternative way to live and be in this modern world, and in my opinion the only way that makes any sense at all!
Inner City Strife!
People are still flocking to the cities in droves. Whilst cities offer people who are stuck in isolated rural areas the hope of a better life with more opportunities, they deliver exactly the opposite to 99.9% of those who make the choice to live in one. Cities today are the most unhealthy places you could try to live in, in every respect. The physical, mental and emotional state of most who live in the oppressed world of Inner City life is shocking, and no one as yet has demonstrated a viable alternative, until now! I am tired of hearing everyone say they are TOO BUSY! It is my very strong opinion that we Urgently need to provide the world with an alternative model to life, that works! It is also my very strong opinion that this can be achieved using the Earthship Biotecture approach, coupled with a diverse and strong community.
True security and freedom... for free!
This community would be FREE, in every respect. This means that there would be no buy in, no purchase needed to join in. There would be no ownership in the traditional sense. Everyone would have a home and what they really need, and the focus of life would shift totally from acquisition to expression. That is to say, people would be unburdened by the stress of trying to survive and compete. We would shift our entire way of thinking from competition to team playing. Collaborations would happen naturally, and creativity would take on a whole new meaning. When the motivations behind our actions are based on expressing our natural passions, without any concern of profit, success, or dominance.. we enter into a new world of existence.
THE STEEM ECOVILLAGE
(this is not the design plan!)
And so I would like to present to you the Steem ecoVillage! Why Steem? Very simply because the people I have met on Steem UNDERSTAND what I am talking about. We are here on Steem because we understand that the system is broken, and we are the ones that are here to support and embrace a new way. Blockchain has provided us with possibilities that even the Internet could not deliver. We stand on the precipice of climate disaster, species annihilation, war, oppression, and total control by the mainstream. Whilst they have shackled the people of this world since history begun, the time for change has come. We have the technology now to save ourselves. We have the power to take back our lives and choose our destination. We just need to get down and do this properly and show others that it can be done, and overturn the false concept that we need to work and live in cities to earn money to survive.
The Steem community is stronger than many people realise. Those who berate it, and say it will die do not understand what it is. This is about so much more than money and rewards. Steem has the potential to create projects that shift the entire way we approach things, as we have seen with the great experiment of Steemit. Wouldn’t it be amazing if this Blockchain could support the manifestation this eco village. That would be an incredible real world impact that would shine as a terrestrial beacon of light and hope for us all to share and follow. One day I truly hope to be able to stand amongst my Steem friends and community, holding hands and celebrating this great achievement. I know that together we can do it, and there is no more time to lose. The only way is out, are you ready to jump yet?
A few months ago I wrote a post on Steem that went into more detail on this project. I declared my intention to manifest this community, that would be open to all, and based on natural giving. I pledged to offer my life to take this project on, with no interest in personal gain or profit, or indeed the need for money. I am ready to gift my life to this cause, because for me it is the most important thing that I think we need to see in the world. I have also written extensively on Steem to explain how Earthships are able to do what they do. If you would like to understand more about Earthship Biotecture or my vision for this community please check these two posts out!
1) 99 REASONS WHY EARTHSHIP S ARE FUC*!NG AWESOME COMPILATION
https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/99-reasons-why-earthship-s-are-fuc-ng-awesome-compilation
2) ecoTrain Mission Statement: Create An Off-Grid Community Based on Natural Giving!
Finally a third post I'm sharing here is one that shows the workshops I have led that I have posted about on Steem. This post shows you my passion and ability to lead groups of unskilled people to successfully build both small and large Earthships.
This is the mission of my life, and also the reason for the existence of the @ecoTrain account on Steem. People have often asked, "Where is the @ecotrain actually GOING?" LOL. So now you know.
@ecotrain prioritizes support for posts on the many topics relating to sustainability and natural living. We're excited by new-paradigm posts and are actively looking for contributors who think out-of-the-box and into a new and different future.
But we're taking it a BIG STEP FURTHER, and will be using the rewards from promoting this information to buy land and make this project happen.
I am confident I can do this because I have already done it, in extremely difficult circumstances, with no prior experience, and with a very difficult and ambitious design, more than once! If I could do this my myself, with no support, have to take on every aspect of a build in the most difficult location, with no skilled labour, then you can understand why technically I have every confidence that I can do it again with an amazing supportive community. Together we can build each other a better place and take steem from only your computer screen and use it as the power behind a real, physical community !
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If you are someone who has a lot of Steem power, please consider delegation to this cause. If you are someone who has hundreds of thousands or even millions of Steem delegated to good technical projects, then will you consider sending just a tiny percentage of delegation to me so that we can manifest this project?
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If you are someone who knows a Steem whale who is passionate about FREEDOM and the paradigm shift, please let them know about this post, because in life it is not what we know, but who we know!
Whilst Steem is largely a technical endeavour that usually supports technical blockchain projects, I believe we also need to also use it to promote and engage with the deep world issues that Blockchain is here to solve. Would it not be fu*!king amazing to see a successful Steem backed ecoCommunity like this on the mainstream news?! ... And how good would that be for the support and price of Steem?! ; -) Delegations will be used by the @ecotrain to curate posts on topics relating to Sustainability, and will help to engage others in this direction and generally support this theme.
CONTACT ME ON
[email protected]
CHAT WITH ME ON DISCORD
@eco-alex
https://discord.gg/sxpEPJc
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Make The World A Better Place
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Oh man, that made my hear jump a few beats!!! I know exactly what you are talking about when it comes to making that change (without it, we are most probably heading into an age of very terrible time for the human race!).
I have only found the people that mostly understand this concept of dedicating yourself to a cause like this here on Steem too. For 2 years now, we've had this property and still no one has come to join us to build this very similar thing you're talking about.
I love being in it though... I know it takes time and I wish you all the luck and support for the Steem EcoVillage. Who knows, maybe something will push me to leave New York 😁.
Great inspiration, thanks!
I would so be up for joining you if I lived closer xxx we may need to have a few Steem Ecovillage communities xx
Ooh yes, I like this idea of having a few sister communities! You are welcome here anytime if you ever wish to come to this weird side of the pond @trucklife-family 😁!
This is what I've been envisioning as well. Communities around the world that people are able to move between if they want. Homeschooling could be partially done online allowing for a more diverse group of students and also to maximize the teacher's time.
@senorcoconut, I wish we lived near New York and we'd join you for sure!!!
I would so love it if you joined us, @riverflows! Why does this planet have to be so big...
Oh yes u have that land! How much land do u have exactly? Newyork conjours up views of cityscapes for me..’is there a rural new york i wonder!!
You know I thought that too!!! New York is in New York State - am I right @senorcoconut? That blew my mind when I found that out! So it's not all cities - I watched this amazing documentary called Gas Lands once (horrifying) - by a filmmaker called Josh Fox, and his family land was - I think the Delaware, from memory? - which was upstate New York, and I was like - where's all the buildings!
We do hear some freight trains come through town, blowing their horns here and there... and a little traffic, but otherwise there are no buildings in sight !
heehee yes there is much of New York state that is rural! The picture above os from our little 20 acres forest!
Its a shame usa is so tight on visas, else id be chatting with u on a collaboration... But once i do get ecoVillage #1 up you could take on #2 :). .. ill be posting more soon as i have a special plan just manifesting to make this all possible...
Ah you're awesome @eco-alex. I wish the best for #1 and I really hope I can come see you and help when the time comes. We can still chat 😁. Can't wait to see all this manifesting you're up to!
I've been thinking about this visa issue as well and it's another reason I believe that this vision ought to include multiple locations around the world, from the start. Isn't this what you recommended as the first step to success: Creating the vision!
the visa issue is a thing!
i think thats why im happy to start in europe.. where we have the broadest audience.. Then once the first community is up and running expansion can be in each country with the natives of that country mainly participating..
I'm definitely not into moving to upstate NY, which is way too cold for this Sunbelt kid, but we have roots in NYC thanks to Marek's dad and many of his friends living in and around Brooklyn, and so would just as definitely be up for a visit!
That said, for people willing to brave the cold, rural New York state is drop dead gorgeous, for real.
And, especially as we get our own place further toward completion, you're welcome to visit our own 16.5 acre piece of heaven in Middle Tennessee, midway between Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, which includes around 12 acres of woods, bordered by the Calfkiller River.
We're just about an hour and a half from BNA, which is the Nashville International Airport.
;-)
Accounts with us @eco-alex we are also very interested in the issue of freedom, that of leaving loads and making the world a better luagr benefits us all, ecological projects are great.
cheers! yes its time for (real) change! all aboard!
This is an amazingly cutting edge project design, and something I think will blaze fire in the eco-activist community (no-pun intended) once the right people get a hold of this info and your experience credentials. Funding for land is always the biggest obstacle with projects like this (and oh an obstacle it can be), but when there is a will, there will always be a way. You my friend have more of the will, means, AND experience than anyone else that has been grounding the intention of building sustainable communities as described in this proposal. You are doing and asking for all the right things to make this a reality, and more than that, you seem to have the flexibility and open-mindedness to create this almost anywhere, and be willing to move there on a dime to make it happen. Its easy to not be too busy when all your needs are met naturally - yea brother, lets get back to how we were meant to live.
Without looking at your other Earthship posts, one big question comes to mind about this type of housing: Will the big bad wolf of hurricanes, tornadoes, and derechos blow the house down? Has EARTHSHIP KARUNA had to endure any sort of extremely hash wind and weather patterns in your locality? What would happen if a ton of snow fell on it?
A word of caution moving forward (as it seems this will actualize in some form, somewhere). When living with many people, be extremely selective about who - most humans (even most conscious humans) are nuts, and even if they are good people or a close friend, they still may not make a good housemate or neighbor. Compatibility is a big deal when opting who you will be living with. This kind of consideration is a good step to include to avoid many kinds of unpleasantness where you live (your place of peace).
Outstanding project, utilizing Steem in an outside the box way - right up my alley. You have my support on this and I want to be a part of this initiative in any way I can - re-steemed. Bless up brother.
awesome comment brother,, THANK YOu ,, im really feeling your passion and understanding of what this is all about..
You ask some proper good questions here, let me start with the easier ones first!
Interestingly, when a tonne of snow falls on the roof, there is not only no issue with strength, but the roof will have the solar hot water heating pipes embedded within it.. This means that you melt the snow (using no energy or power, just the efficiency of a solar hot water heating system).. that snow melt then funnels into the underground cisterns and is used in the home. You can read / see more on that on one of my earthship biotecture transcribed posts:
https://steempeak.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/earthship-biotecture-transcribed-session-2-part-1-water-how-to-size-your-roof-choosing-the-right-materials-for-water-catchment
The question about the community and who lives within it is so important! It is a tough one, but i do have some strong feelings about it. The first point is that this community needs to be as diverse as possible, with people from the widest range of cultures and backgrounds as possible.
Second is that non violent communication would be a critical and taught part of the community. It is the most important part of a successful community and it would be instilled in everyone through workshops and classes for all.. Most people dont understand what non violent communication means.. I have written a few posts about it, its REALLY amazing when you understand it,, if you are interested please check this post out, and dont miss the video in there, which changed my view of communication entirely!
https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/probably-the-best-parenting-advice-you-ll-read-don-t-say-no-never-praise-complement-or-reward-no-demands-or-punishments-the-real
One more thing that is important to mention is that i feel that most peoples bad behaviours are a direct result of being oppressed and having to live in a system that is predatory and pretty evil.. Whilst it might sound a bit eutopic, it is my belief that when you gift someone a free life, help them make a home without charging them for it, and bring them into a healthy community who support them and respect them, most of the 'bad behaviours' will vanish. I have worked with delinquent children in a special school, these kids were out of control and had NO respect for the teachers, they were properly naught rude kids.. BUT i got on GREAT with them.. i gave them respect, spoke to them on their level, didn't judge them, and gave them time and love .. However corny it may sound, the power of love is quite incredible and can deal with 99% of the problems with people..
SO, having said all that, THERE IS ALWAYS ONE! and i think when there is a person who is clearly mentally ill or causing severe disruption to the entire community, and it cant be resolved, then as a last resort i would defiantly support them being removed from the community.. I have dealt with a woman who was FULLY power bipolar and would threatened to kill me and all the guest and chase people with sticks trying to beat them just for wearing the wrong clothes!! She was very ill mentally, and we managed to get her a home in Nepal where she is now in a better situation..
THANKS for the great comment again! <3 xx
The most important attribute, in my opinion, is having an open heart. Once this occurs within a person, everything changes. I'm definitely resonating with this vision and am interested in being a part of it!
happy to hear! please do keep an eye on my posts as I will be posting soon with more about this!
For sure, thank you for the informative reply and I will definitely be reading the post about non violent communication.
Here is the track I just released that pertains to your message here, please give it a listen (a resteem would really help me out too but you do not have to).
https://steempeak.com/@elamental/20190907t065551626z-shift-the-focus-master-version-4-new-original-song-by-elamental
Also, do you know how I can pay to get this track post more exposure? - I have no clue how to do that but I would like to.
I downvoted for your excessive use of voting bots rather than anything against your initiative
The voting market is very harmful to our ecosystem on Steem. You can't have a place where buyers get paid to promote while sellers make almost as much as 100% self voting and expect that there isn't some form of cost involved. And the cost is over time, every stakeholder has chosen to either sell votes/self vote/circle jerk which completely outcompeted curation in terms of returns and lead to the utter failure of our platform to function as a content discovery and rewards system based on honest curation.
After the economic initiatives were implemented in the last update, fighting against this type of abuse is no longer futile or prohibitively expensive, and some of us have chosen to do just that.
With regards to your initiative it may be a very worthwhile one and certainly worthy of attention and financial support. But I'm afraid for the reasons above I'm against it being subsidized through the use of vote buying directly.
thanks for your reply trafalgar.. Im glad the reason is at least not due to the content.. this was a test of the community response in the light of HF21-23 // and i am starting to get a sense of where we are all with this.. protecting the economics and incentive to others to join in with steem is Very important, and does superseed any individuals motives for promoting a post.. i can see that, i respect this.. i understand.. It was really a mistake to promote it this much, i was like Oh shit last night when it hit #1 and $100.. next time ill do some math before i bid !
thanks a lot for explaining yourself,, it really helps!
have a good one!
Recently I sent 20 Steem to smartmarket to promote a post and after the payout I saw in my wallet that I got less than 20 Steem author reward. So maybe because authors get only 50%v now, the whole thing is not profitable any longer anyway?
Yes correct, and also flags can make it even worse. Bid bots are starting to manually curate now! The gAme is finally changing!
I am flagging vote seeling, but you seem to get it and I really like the post and the project, so no vote, no downvote :)
;) xx
I am sad that people downvote.
i understand.. i did ask all the main downvotes on this post, and none of them did it because of the content.. just because of #newsteem and the new way of doing things.. so im not upset... there are SO many supportive comments here, i am happy with that! <3
How wonderful!!! I shall meditate on someone gifting you land somewhere to make this a soon come reality. We are so blessed by your energy, your spirit. We can definitely manefest our visions with such focus and devotion .
Resteemed and upvoted.
I love you sally <3 hari om
Follow me I'll follow you back
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Awesome idea, I'm still waiting for someone to actually form a new country on-chain. This is one step in the right direction
Have you heard of Liberland?
Yep, and I'm a donor. But they are super slow, and not focused on blockchain first I think
This kind of project is exactly what the world needs. The maths behind it need serious consideration though. Steem itself cannot sustain continual funding of such projects without an equivalent amount of money coming in to the eco-system. Clearly, most investors aren't looking to fund such projects or they would be already funding them via crowdfunding and elsewhere and we wouldn't even be having this conversation because Steem would be somewhat superfluous. I'm not saying I'm against funding such important transformative projects via Steem - but there has to be some kind of exchange taking place for this to work via Steem reward payouts. This is a similar challenge to the one I face at ureka.org, which is the online equivalent of your eco village idea (ureka runs steem too now, but also includes private messaging, groups and privacy in general). I need to find a way to generate 'profit' in order to justify good delegations - so if you want to discuss the possibilities for that and even to team up, then let me know. <3
Amazing timing! And great comment.. Ive literally just finished a two hour chat with yabbmatt about this and weve hatched an incredible plan to make this viable! Watch this space!’ Xx
Oh great, ok - I look forward to hearing about it. :)
Once i post you will understand.. then ill be happy to chat with u for any potential collaboration! This is a big project with huge potential...and you are someone i wouldnbe very happy to collab with!
Excellent ok - I have a variety of resources to tap into in the right circumstances, I'm excited to maybe be able to help out.
All of this delgation and steem based postinf is really just an awareness drive,
Its not how i intend to get real funding!
OK, that's good to know. I've worked in a variety of environments over the years and it's quite a challenge to create a truly ethical profit model in a world that doesn't really pay much attention to ethics! I'm always open to new ideas.
I dont think it gets much more ethicalrhan this .. for all involved.. it looks like a win win win to me.. i think the synchronicity of your comment is no accident! More soon brother!
I can say though that the vegan food market is going to continue to grow exponentially.. Having that expand into ethical housing too is definitely a possibility.. An Earthship fast food chain. :)
It would be combination of both, and many more things... ethical housing, living, and sustainable commerce all combined...
Agreed.
Amazing initiative. Kudos for everything you've done and for what you're planning.
Also, related to topics like minimalism, homesteading and choosing yourself, all so much needed in this day and age.
Also, ties well into what I've been considering - setting up the FREEDOM Network - a personal and financial freedom circle powered by crypto where members all contribute (whether with work, funds, marketing, dev work, etc.) to grow the value of the network with proceeds distributed back to the members. Which will make more sense when it breaks even and starts making money. The ultimate goal is the members' financial freedom.
They can offer any type of services to the public, anything members are willing to offer, from freelancing to consulting, to marketing, etc.
But building a sustainable village for the members takes it a step further. And a step closer to their freedom. The network will have its own token intended to facilitate transactions, both within the network and outside (e.g. the public buying services), make them more liquid, raise funds and increase the value of the project.
And it could be both Steem- and outward-facing, e.g. powered by an Ethereum token.
A concept akin to that of private cities, not unlike https://liberstad.com for instance but with a twist.
Technology is putting power in the hands of everyday people, so now more than ever is possible to break free of the urban corporate shackles and be your own economy, government or institution if that's what you'd like.
The internet has already made remote work possible, so location is not that important as it used to be. And with VR which is forecast to become indistinguishable from real world in the next decade, it wouldn't matter where you are. So, your concept will become even more relevant for freedom fighters and today's city people alike.
It kind of reminded me of Michael Singer (the author of the Untethered Soul and the Surrender Experiment) and his Temple of the Universe. He was only seeking refuge in the forest, a quiet place to meditate. And look what happened.. :)
Please keep moving and keep us posted. I'd love to get involved and let me know if you'd consider bringing non-Steem users onboard. That could also foster Steem adoption, so it's a win-win.
Great supportive projects like freedom network are just awesome! Ive heard of similar initiatives and they can work so well! Great initiative.. wishing u much success with it!
Ill surely keep you posted!
Great, thank you and much success to you as well. Looking forward to the update and please let us know if you set up a Discord channel or similar. Thanks! :)
U can keep an eye on our channel for updates
https://discord.gg/89uBH5j
Yes, YES, FUCKING YESSSSSS!!!! I already told you that a Steem village is the ultimate dream! I have visions and dreams of soooo many amazing Steemies together living together in a place like that. I LOVE it! Now, we just all need to visualize this into reality. <3 <3 <3 And your home...man, that's quite something.
Thank you! SO glad u are getting this.. the Steem community is so powerful, and inspired.. and how amazing would it be to have a group of us do this together!!! This is all i live for these days, my only desire.. to manifest this .. I cant think of anything else worth giving my life to!
Watch this space!! <3 xx
Absolutely! It's going on my vision board! :) What a life we'll have. I can see my kiddos and those of other Steemians run around together, LIVE, have fun and learn while they're having fun. @artemislives' cups of tea sound great to me.
I'm looking around for a MUCH bigger teapot!! :)
Ah, I know what I was going to do: delegate more Steem to the @ecotrain! No, for real, I remember seeing one of your posts a week or so ago, where I decided to go all the way and delegate 1000SP. And then... well, sometimes you just need a reminder. In any case, I'm quite excited about this eco village project, and would love to help in any way I can, from delegating steem to physically building the structures.
THANK you so much for this support! Yes i have you in mind (intuitively) to be a part of this creation when it happens... i mean, you are one of the FEW who knows how to pound a tyre! ;-))