Economics is the study of the processes whereby human beings
transform and utilize aspects of nature, the results of which we call wealth.
Wealth, however, can have many meanings -- e.g. "The only viable social security
is your friends." On this basis THE PHISOLAMA FOUNDATION incorporates into its
many fields of endeavor, alternative views of what constitutes wealth and
thereby questions many -- if not all -- economic assumptions. Simultaneously,
PHISOLAMA supports and encourages alternative views of economics and their
associated paradigms.
PHISOLAMA includes within its purview the development of
alternative economic systems such as local exchange and bartering systems, local
currencies, and micro loans. Any alternative currencies which might be developed
by a PHISOLAMA project will be required to consider external, existing
governments' taxation as a real (and perhaps unavoidable) reality. It is not the
goal of PHISOLAMA to challenge existing economical activities but to promote
understanding of economic realities by examining the validity of current
assumptions on which economic thinking is based. It aims to offer alternatives
and in most cases, side-by-side systems which are not inherently conflicting to
demonstrate the viability of these alternatives.
PHISOLAMA designs of alternative economic systems will be
based on real criteria rather than arbitrary opinions or judgments by specially
appointed individuals or groups. For the foreseeable future, all PHISOLAMA
sponsored projects and communities will recognize the existing paradigm of
"colored currencies" (paper money without such backing as gold and silver), and
the need to combine local currencies and external currencies. At the same time,
PHISOLAMA will not support alternative economic systems or new currencies that
are interest bearing or promote distant management.
PHISOLAMA will, if chosen by consensus of a community,
support economies based purely on sharing and distribution, using no symbolism
or measuring of labor or use beyond fair distribution of commonly needed
commodities, with external money used only as an interface between the community
as a whole and the outside society.
Nature is a Life Source rather than a Human Resource. In the
same way a person cannot live through the violent removal of his heart, Nature
is externally our common body and we cannot live through it's violent destruction and shortsighted use.
Because of Nature's intrinsic value beyond the measurement of any conceptual
system, including economics, PHISOLAMA will seek to buy untouched land in
parcels as large as possible all over the world, and place such lands in
perpetual trust (unexploited, uninhabited and pristine).
Communities would have among other purposes: The goal of
watching over the use of the ecology by Humanity, to preserve it's health by publicizing misuse to the global
population, and detect and publicize unfair restriction of resources being
applied to any segment of the global population for any reason.
Mindful businesses are matched by the mindful consumption choices fostered by the rapidly
growing voluntary simplicity movement. Positive initiatives are creating
the outlines for self-organizing, life-sustaining economies that are:
·democratic and rooted in place
·comprised of human-scale firms,
owned by and accountable to people with a stake in their function and
impacts
·frugal with energy and resources, allocating them efficiently to
meet needs, recycling the "wastes"
·culturally, socially, and economically diverse, supportive of
innovation and the free sharing of knowledge
·mindful of responsibility to self and community
·bounded by permeable borders, that allow democratic
self-regulation
In such an economy, enterprises
would be owned by community members who work in them, depend on their products,
and supply their inputs - with each entitled to a fair return to their labor and
their investment.
Community economies would be self-organized by community
members according to their self-determined priorities and mutually agreed rules.
They would have their own speculation-proof currencies to facilitate local
exchange.
The Earth and its resources would be managed as the common
property of posterity, a sacred trust whose principal is to be maintained as its
product is equitably shared.
The design of production-consumption processes would give
high priority to working in balance with the natural productive processes of the
ecosystem, using local renewable material and energy resources, and generating
zero waste. Each community economy would have its distinctive features and
culture reflecting its history, the circumstances of its place, and the
preferences of its members All
would engage in mutually beneficial trade with their neighbors on their own
terms, while freely sharing useful information and technology.
If enough of us decide we value life more than money, we
have the means and the right to create an economy that nurtures life and
restores money to its proper role as life's servant. Moreover, the actions
involved are familiar and give expression to principles that underlie millions
of years of evolution, along with more recent human values of democracy,
community, and freedom.