What do we think of The Venus Project - Resource Based Economy?

I think it was @colinsmith who is familiar with The Venus Project - looks interesting!

Saw this a few years ago. I like it. Done properly it would allow us to move fully into the cities and leave the rest of the world wild.

And basing our economy on the physical realities of the world means that we would have to make it sustainable. Our current model, being based upon profit for the few, forces us to be both unsustainable and inequitable.

As an example down on the west coast of Te Ika ā Māui we have some fairly large deposits of iron sands. It was estimated just a few years ago that there was some 300 million tonnes just off of Taranaki. An Australian company had the license to dig 20 million tonnes per year. In other words, at that time, that deposit would last 15 to 20 years. About a year ago that company reported that there was actually two billion tonnes of iron sands there but at the same time they applied to extract 50 million tonnes per year. Some of that would go to our steel mill at Glenbrook but most would simply be sold offshore. We'd get a small royalty for it.

Thing is, that's not a sustainable economic model. Firstly the iron sands would rapidly run out leaving us with only the iron and titanium that we had in NZ that we could recycle. And secondly we'd rapidly run out of the small amount of money that we got as well from having to import stuff.

We wouldn't end up being wealthy from this transaction because we would have run out of the resources we need to be wealthy. Run out of the resources needed to maintain our society.

YES! YES! YES!
While it mentions that politicians are not useful in this type of world, because they do not have the expertise, let alone the correct facts and information to work with (usually) ... I think that the Internet Party, as a party with the core principle of developing policy based on fact and research, is ideally suited to lead the way on this concept. Even if it means politics becoming obsolete, well wouldn't that be considered "job done" then?

If we agree to the above, then we need to put forward a strategy of steps, to show how we might achieve this. And the time frame should not be too long either, as we would not want to work hard on this all the while that climate change is eliminating us anyway!

Yes - but rather than taking a stance on an ideological stand point, I believe that working towards creating actual systems that provide for an organically inclusive social-ecological societal way of interaction among the population will naturally lead to transformative socioeconomic outcomes that end up looking just like the the utopian idealisms that have been envisaged along the way.

I agree ... so what is step one? What is your idea for starters? ... and then the longer plan .. we might as well start putting some structure into it here ...

I have an idea on the tech side of things. But the concepts I've synthesised are quite messily hashed together atm - will post re: that back here a bit later when I've had time to tidy it up and make it more presentable...

I think Colin Smith was having problems accessing Loomio so hopefully it will be fixed. As far as I know Colin is doing a course related to understanding and studying the specifics of the Venus project so once he gets on he can post his insight into this theory.

I have been aware of the Venus Project for some time and I decide a while ago that the vision offered by the Venus Project is what I wanted for my children and grandchildren. My concern has been - how do I get people to know about it before the world turns completely to custard. To that end I have recently applied for training with them “training the trainer” so that I am able to hold my own in a discussion and train others. It is a two year course – minimum of 5Hrs per week.
If you are unaware of what the Venus Project is their latest video is on Youtube, https://youtu.be/Yb5ivvcTvRQ it is 1 ½ Hrs long so make sure you have the free time to watch it. Yes it is a long video but it covers a lot of ground and shows that the issues are varied not always simple and are often intertwined. www.thevenusproject.com
My training has yet to begin as there is a waiting list of people waiting to be trained. That is both good and bad. Good because it means there are others who will continue the vision globally. Bad because I want it now and I will not be trained in time for this election.
I believe that it meets most of the aspirations of what people are looking to achieve in the Internet Party. It is most gratifying that people are aware and generally supportive in the above posts.
I have been pondering if I should put forward a proposal that the Internet Party recognises the vision and that we look to adopt the principles that it offers in our policies.
Specifically, the Venus Project is looking to build the first city based on the applied principles. If we were to make a statement that we would begin development of the first city of this kind and begin to transition our economy once this was achieved, I feel that this would be a huge point of difference from anything else offered by the other parties. We would be offering a real solution to the people of New Zealand. The worst that would happen is that we would raise awareness of the Venus Project and start a discussion. (Air Time) This is a discussion we need to be holding with our young voters our children and grandchildren. It is for them that we need to hold this discussion and it is something that we can get them motivated to support us.
New Zealanders have not been afraid to step outside the box.
If there is support within the membership, could we start a thread specifically for the subject? (I would like to do that anyway)
I have spent a large amount of money on VP training materials. (Still waiting for it to arrive) I am happy to share this material with anyone who is interested.

Yes, I am totally up for this Colin.

Just a wee note: In preliminary discussions about this with leftie friends, I am getting "we love it, but we don't see how it is possible to achieve" response ... we should be aware of this when we write it up / prepare to field questions. Personally I am an optimist, and would break it down into do-able steps. How cool to achieve this! All we need is to want to, enough.

Thanks Miriam, I will let you know when the training material turns up.

I think it would be a very easy sell, it is a world that people would like to see but delivering is another issue.

We need to somehow raise the public awareness of the VP while prevent large multinationals from getting nervous and have our current governors hand them perpetual leases so it does not matter who is in power they still have access to the resources.
I get the impression from the VP videos that they think it may not necessarily be feasible until the monetary system finally collapses (that’s “when” not “If”) and chaos ensues. If this is the case then how would we get the message out and for people to see it as a possibility for themselves and others? We would need to be able to quickly bring across a working model to stop the chaos, very few would be necessarily be listening just grabbing whatever they can at any expense.

I am quite buoyed by the positive support vibes from the individuals on this forum. What needs to happen to get “official support” for the VP ratified by the party as one of its current (longer term) objectives? It would be nice for me to be able to pass back to those who are running the VP that there is a political party that is willing to support their vision. This would gratify their efforts and may open up an even closer conversation with them.
:heart: :nz: