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~written in
backcast~
Creating the beginnings of order before and
shortly after the Paradigm Junction
A look back from 050APC
TS Note [g]: The pinnacle goal of BPG processes is
to eventually reduce human activity to that which can be sustained within
the Gaian renewing flows of nature.
When this occurs, optimum
population will be in balance with optimum
human activity and optimum human
happiness. In the following text, when these 3 Dimensions (population,
activity, happiness) are in optimum balance, this state will be referred to
as 3D-Optimum. This is the systemic
goal of human civilization.
To proceed with the Paradigm
Junction Proposal (PJP), a few members of the Gaia Preservation
Coalition (GPC) began to look for individuals with both a broad knowledge
of, and acceptance, of the human predicament and who also had a specialty
backgrounds in one or more of the many relevant areas. These would be needed to define the
basic structure of Blue Planet
Governance (BPG). With
referenced to the historic United Nations (UN), the team adopted the name, United Regions – Governance Design Team,
or UR-GDT. [R1]
As with the design of any new complex system, the UR-GDT
began the documentation of the, as yet imaginary, organizations spelling
out the basic interacting ground rules for; the State Of Gaia section, the Human
Activity Index section, the
Global Standards section and the Bank
of Gaia. The team members were
from all parts of the world meeting by internet.
Some contributors
were associated with the many existing relocalization
movements such as Transition Towns, The Zeitgeist Movement, Idle No More,
and various others. [R2]
One of the first tasks of the UR-GDT was to adopt a tool
used by successful corporations.
They established a Quality
Assurance (QA) system [GL]. The QA system is a means of ensuring that
documentation defining the various elements of the BPG processes always
meets the needs of the function that they are intended to deal with. The QA process usually included vetting
tests to ensure documents are complete and easily understood. Each amendment is sign-off at least two
approve others. The philosophy of
QA was to be incorporated in all aspects BPG, following the wisdom that had
been developed by large multinational corporations: This would be the
essential unifying control component of dynamic governance.
A group of lawyers and retired judges undertook to the
sketching of drafts of the multitude of laws that would be needed to give
the beginnings of clarity to such things as the transfer of property from
private ownership to leaseholder, with the Regional government being the
steward of its lands. They sketched
laws covering corporate responsibilities and their relationship to
shareholder Regions. Legal clarity
was need on the qualifications and commitment of various Regions of the
world before they could be accepted into the global dynamic society.
The emerging specialty documentation was always tested
for compatibility with the architectural design of the basic dynamic
engines. To ensure compliance the
various specialty team quality assurance leaders kept in close touch with a
group from the UR-UN-GDT systems dynamics group that directed system design. The overall project effort took on an “Apollo 13” sense of urgency where Failure is not an option!
The team backed-up their growing pages of documentation
in several global data banks using a variety of communication routes in
order to be robust enough to survive the inevitable attacks from the
moneyed interests that spearheaded corporate globalization. They had maintained a powerful
psychopathic influence in the affairs of the world for centuries BPC. When the new system of finance would
eventually make the old irrelevant, they knew that the Gods of Money [R4] would
not be pleased. As efforts of the
UR-GDT were becoming known, the banks and federal governments simply
ignored them at first. But when
proto-regional governments began to make significant exchanges using Gaia$,
corporate governments were lobbied hard to pass laws condemning the UR-GDT
activities as being against national interests, and therefore of a
terrorist nature. But long before
the emergence of the UR-GDT, many states, counties and cities had declared
themselves exempt from corporate bullying [R2].
Lessons learned by governments during The
Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 had shown that when ruling dynasties turn
on their own people they enter a no-win struggle. No sustaining action was taken because
the once robust nation-states were becoming destabilized from years of
failure to regulate their banking monetary systems and they had no means to
deal with the end of cheap energy and the end of growth.
One branch of UR-GDT wrote the draft constitution for a
regional government. Another
developed operating procedures for a regional Bank of Gaia (GB-R). One
part of the team began to sketch the working documents for regulation of
Wealth Factors (WF) and began to asses wealth data in various sample
regions of the world. They drew on
significant libraries of data already available from organizations like the
Ecological Footprint Organization
[Wicki] or from national and regional statistics
on wetlands, agriculture, energy, demography, etc. They even began gathering compiled data
on human happiness, attitudes and hopes.
For some people, even the possibility of an alternate socioeconomic
system turned around growing despair – it brought hope and a measure of
happiness. Exciting new
possibilities acted like a bifurcation junction in a sea of chaotic
disorder. Soon towns, counties and
states throughout the world began to take notice.
Gaia$ Creation:
Eventually the UR-GDT had to deal with the thorny issue
of how many Gaia$ should be in the closed loop global economic system, and
the purchasing power of a Gaia$.
While getting into the practical aspects of how to start
the monetary engine of the dynamic
society, these who were tasked with creating the Bank of Gaia decided to work backwards in time, envisioning the
needs of their future society, after the dynamic forces of BPG had reduced
population to optimum. They then
speculated on a suitable amount of Gaia$/capita.
In the years prior to Paradigm Change, scientific
opinion indicated that human optimum
population at BPG would somewhere between half billion to 2
billion. This assessment would be
subject to annual review. This
number presumed that almost all humans on earth will be part of the dynamic society by the time in the
future when BPG’s optimum population
would be reached. Without war or
other massive die-off trigger, this might take several decades.
When at 3D-Optimum, it was speculated that the average
person’s accumulated Gaia$ wealth would be $10,000. This was an arbitrary starting number
chosen to give some relevance to dollar values about a hundred years before
Paradigm Change. Besides the Gaia$
of individuals, a sum of $30k was added to represent the Gaia$ held in
government and corporate accounts: $10k + $30k = 40k. The speculated starting numbers meant
that when optimum population is
reached in year APC 0?? there would be 2 billion
adults X $40k = 8^10,
or $80,000,000,000, or 80 billion
global sum in thousands of BG-Rs throughout the world, as recorded by
BG-UR.
This speculative 40k Gaia$ per capita became the default
standard amount used to start the prototype economic system running when
enough people in several areas of the world - counties or cites - agreed to
become a proto Region of the new experimental system. They created on-line dummy Regional
governments and a BG-Rs as specified in the
emerging draft documents of the UR-BPG.
All engaged citizens received at least the basic monthly
payout. Some of the many existing Local Exchange Trading Systems
(LETS) [F5] decided to tie
their local currency to the Gaia$.
Besides the pioneering communities, several existing companies
started a not-for-profit section in order to be part of the historic
creation of the new paradigm, while keeping the rest of their operations
functioning in the old era. And as
the population of each proto region grew, 40k Gaia$ per person was added to
the local BG-R. This kept the wealth
per capita locked in to the starting numbers until it would begin to float
from dynamic forces after a critical number of global regions joined the
dynamic society experiment at a future date. As explained in the previous section,
wealth per capita would be different from Region to Region after WF
assessments and human population numbers began to enter the equation.
In the dying days of the growth paradigm millions of
people in all nations of the world were suffering the consequences of peak
oil, chaotic weather and the historic inflationary runaway of a bursting
fiat$ economy bubble – food prices soared and many were starving even in
onetime, first world,
countries. Of the relatively few
rich enough to remain reasonably buffered from the growing chaos, many
recognized that the energy-intensive/wasteful economic system and way-
of-life they had been born into was near an end. There was a thirst for hope of a stable
system of trade and commerce where everyone could participate at a
comfortable and equitable level. The
lack of an alternative socioeconomic system had been the key reason many
intelligent people remained in denial of the cantankerous elephants in their living room –
these elephants being that the issues of excess human population; global
warming/ecological decline; the loss of democracy and a failing monetary
system. The possibility of a viable
alternate began to break down the walls of denial. Twitter about the proposed dynamic society
went viral.
One of the tasks of the UR-GDT undertook was to sketch
the Human Activity Index, to
compile a list of industries that were essential to maintain order during
and after the coming paradigm change.
Some of the target essential industries were:
·
Basic and advanced communications for global
networking, along with computing devices of a wide variety;
·
Flow-energy equipment providers and
electrical grid operators;
·
Transportation systems of rail, marine
shipping, and non fossil fuel vehicles;
·
Farm machinery, particularly non fossil fuel
operated;
·
The food distribution industry;
·
Pharmaceutical product manufacturers;
·
Manufacturers of critical equipment for all
of the above;
·
And many others in a prioritized list.
While a few established manufacturers began a non-profit
section to operate in the new economy, many others were reluctant to do so
because corporations in the BPC era were designed only to enrich their
shareholders and directors - benevolence was not a part of their
creed. Many people who had retired
from industries put their skills to use by starting industries as outlined
in the draft non-profit documentation, and they received interest-free
loans from the BG-R. Some of the
early non-profit organizations expanded rapidly with branches in several
Regions. In these early transition
times, both Gaia$ and fiat$ were used but they were never interchangeable.
The UR-GDT persisted through several years of chaotic
change and occasional wars, droughts, famines and floods. Gradually many parts of the world were
exchanging goods and services using Gaia$ because it was the only stable
economic system available. All
transactions were tracked and recorded at each fledgling proto BG-R and
summed at the proto BG-UR. As the
number and density of Regions joined in, the BioRegional
governments were formed and eventually the Associations Of BioRegional (AOBioRegional)
governments became essential to coordinate wider trade issues. Many historic national and state/provincial
borders were straddled or otherwise ignored as BioRegions
were formed where convenience and neighbourly
co-dependence trumped obsolete border lines.
And finally in 2BPC
it became clear that it was time for the United Regions to begin to
officially assume the role that the UR-GDT had designed and developed. When participation in the dynamic society
had reached about 30% of the people of the world, on December 21, 20?? The UR General Assembly declared the new
era had begun. Since this
represented a major paradigm change in the relationship between humans and
our Gaian home, and our new role as dependent
care takers of nature, instead of takers
of nature. It was time to make it official.
And this special day, solstice, December 21 became APC000. And the rest is history as humanity’s
outlook slowly began to grow brighter by a little bit each day thereafter J.
The Early Transition Years
After about 10 years of somewhat chaotic global trade
and Regional development, about 65% of global population lived within an
operating dynamic Region. However,
there remained some areas of the world where the people could not let go of
their ancient cultures or religions making it impossible for them to accept
some of the BPG terms, such as to accept that humans are a part of nature,
or that females have equal status with men, or that fertility rates must be
regulated by their Region. Global
trade became more and more difficult for these areas as the rest of the
world moved on. Eventually nature’s
impartial methods reduced their population through overgrowth and
die-off.
Fortunately, with new human expectations and new
corporate goals of the new era, the rate of draw-down of Gaian resources
soon became dramatically less than it had been BPC: especially in Regions
of areas that had been formally known as industrial nations where billions of fiat$ made many people
feel rich enough to paid no attention to thrift and efficiency. In the consumerist socioeconomic system,
about 50% of energy had been wasted.
Tombstone Debe:
It was understood by the UR-GDT that the Human Activity
(HA) of more than 7 billion people was far more that the planet could
sustain permanently, as made clear by the Ecological Footprint organization. They also knew, however,
that to make a relatively non chaotic civilized reduction in population by
attrition, it would take several decades to achieve the optimum levels and
a sustainable state. Therefore, the
BG-UR would need to provide enough funds to maintain civil infrastructure,
trade and commerce, and personal finances, during the transitional era of
negative growth. During the time
between paradigm change and 3D-Optimum, the resources of Gaia would
continue to be drawn down. And the
extra Gaia$ needed to operate society while humans are beyond Carrying
Capacity (CC) would effectively be a loan against future well-being,
against the young and following generations. In order to impress individuals with the
urgency of orderly negative growth, this extra money in the dynamic system
was called the Tombstone Debt as
a constant reminder that their Region is still in ecological overshoot.
Every Region was assigned a part of the Tombstone
Debt. As the Wealth Factor (WF) data
began to accumulate at the Human
Activity Index, the assignment of this debt was slowly shifted as part
of the dynamic process. Regions that
could maintain a nearly positive WF balance would have their portion of the
Tombstone Debt lowered. Regions with a large negative WF balance
experienced a low wealth per capita, so WF regulatory controls encouraged
less resource throughput and tighter fertility restrictions. Eventually as populations and resource
throughput dropped, these Regions moved toward balance and the Tombstone
Debt was slowly paid off.
Note: Ball park hypothetical numbers: Presuming 7B
humans at PC, expecting 2.5B at optimum, and fertility rates adjusted for
population decline, to reach optimum these would be the time:
Fertility to give a 1% decline/year, optimum
reached in about 126 years;
Fertility to give a 1.5% decline/year, optimum
reached in about 84 years;
Fertility to give a 2% decline/year, optimum
reached in about 64 years;
Fertility to give a 2.5% decline/year, optimum
reached in about 50 years;
Just what the rate would be with one child per
female, cannot be predicted - too many variables. But it would likely be less than 2.5
%/year.
New Regions joined, adult citizens started with a bank
account with 10,000 Gaia$. For home
owners, property taxes changed to lease payments on the land. Taxes on property previously owned by
corporations changed to leases from the Regional government. Relative values of individual items took
some wild swings in the beginning causing the need for temporary price
controls but eventually supply and demand ruled, and relative stability
emerged. Goods that travelled a long
distance had transportation energy costs included in price, therefore, to
“buy local” if possible became elementary.
Although the UR provided guidelines for Regional bylaws,
in the first few years each Regional government created many new by-laws
and regulations to deal with their specific issuers.
Economists soon adjusted their thinking to the closed
loop dynamic systems and became enthusiastic about working in science based
economics, rather than in the dismal
science, as economics had been labelled a century before.
By 015APC, in many parts of the world, the dynamic
society was operating close to design intent. Government offices from the old era were
still government offices, many bank buildings still operated as a bank. But
now they operate quite differently.
And as intended, the newly developed criteria for decision making
effected human behaviour. Such changes had been suggested about
100 years ago by Lorna Salzman when she stated:
Neither Nature nor
evolution can provide a moral guide for human behavior or technological and
ethical choices. What they can provide is an impartial, scientific
explanation of which choices are most likely to enhance human welfare and
survival, and which ones are more conducive to societal collapse or species
extinction. The burden of decision-making ultimately rests on human
intellect and rationality, with the hope that humans will alter their
behavior and institutions in the right direction.
~~~~~~
Note: Figure 4 shows
civilization’s dynamics with no goal except growth. The AbRealitiy
trio of money, banks and corporations had caused management power-creep
that now largely influence government regulations to allow exaggerated positive feedback of the drivers of
human activity (large red arrow).
(2) Figure 7 (next) shows human interactions in 050APC. In this scenario, the dynamic systems are
operational and both negative and positive feedback balance human’s regulating
dynamic interactions with Gaia, in the optimum heading at speed toward BPG.
<<<<<ó>>>>>
Back to Index:
http://gaiapc.ca/PJ/BGP/1a-Index.htm
To Envisioning
E: http://gaiapc.ca/PJ/BPG/4e-DynamicFlows.htm
[R1]
The United
Nations –Government Design Team effectively became a Shadow
Government: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_government]
>>
[R2]
Communities push back against corporate capitalism:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/corporate-control-not-in-these-communities
Mt. Shasta, a
small northern California town of 3,500 residents nestled in the foothills
of magnificent Mount Shasta, is taking on corporate power through an
unusual process—democracy.
The citizens of Mt. Shasta have
developed an extraordinary ordinance, set to be voted on in the next
special or general election, that would prohibit
corporations such as Nestle and Coca-Cola from extracting water from the
local aquifer. But this is only the beginning. The ordinance would also ban
energy giant PG&E, and any other corporation, from regional cloud
seeding, a process that disrupts weather patterns through the use of toxic
chemicals such as silver iodide. More generally, it would refuse to recognize
corporate personhood, explicitly place the rights of community and local government
above the economic interests of multinational corporations, and recognize
the rights of nature to exist, flourish, and evolve.
These commnuities
are beginning to band together. When the attorney general of Pennsylvania
threatened to sun Packer Township this year for banning sewage sludge
within its boundaries, six other Pennsylvania towns adopted similar
ordinances and twenty-three others passed resolutions in support of their
neighboring community. Many people were outraged when the attorney general
proclaimed, "there is no inalienable right to local
self-government."
>>
[R3]
Polly
Higgins is a barrister, author and international environmental lawyer
advocating a different approach to preventing the destruction of our
planet. Instead of our laws protecting the property rights of the
few, we can shift to laws that impose responsibilities, duties and
obligations for the benefit of the many.
Voted by the
Ecologist as one of the “Worlds Top 10 Visionary Thinkers” for her earlier work advancing the Universal
Declaration of Planetary Rights, Polly has submitted a second proposal to
the United Nations: the Crime of Ecocide. http://www.pollyhiggins.com/Welcome.html
>>
[R4]
Gods of Money: F.
William Engdahl, 2009
"Some 60
families--names like Rockefeller, Morgan, Dodge, Mellon, Pratt, Harkness,
Whitney, Duke, Harriman, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, DuPont, Guggenheim, Astor,
Lehman, Warburg, Taft, Huntington, Baruch and Rosenwald--
formed a close network of plutocratic wealth that manipulated, bribed, and
bullied its way to control the destiny of the United States."
He
continues: "They operated in absolute secrecy, lest the general
public understand how the banks' money manipulated political decisions
behind the scenes, including decisions to go to war or to keep the
peace."
Further data
on Engdahl is in the MCP Appendix.
>>
[R5]
Local Exchange Trading
Systems (LETS) also known as LETSystems are locally initiated democratically organised, not-for-profit community enterprises that
provide a community information service and record transactions.
<<<<End
of section>>>
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