Earthship Colony
This idea is long term and unlikely to meet fruition, however I would like to get my ideas down here any way.
After I have experiance with the Earthship and hopefully after I have put some money aside, I would like to buy a large chunk of land (because this will not be my primary residencce, it does not have to be in Michigan) and start developing it for a community setting. The goal would be to create a place for people to learn about this type of lifestyle. Someplace that they could live for free and learn about the systems.
Principles
What we Are
- Focused on Learning
- A Community (health research about belonging to community)
- Secular
What we Are Not
- A Cult (keep your money, you can leave any time)
- A "return to simplicity", we will use technology as it suits us, though we value self-sufficiency, it is not to the exclusion of other values
Gardens
I've used the calculation that a person needs about 1sqft of garden per meal. So 150*3*365 = 164,250sqft of garden space.
Buildings
Basic Homes
Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchenette and a small sitting area. Individuals get their own room, couples share a room. The three bedroom setup supports families (parents, boys, girls). We'll try to keep the average occupancy around 1.75 people/room, so we need about 86 rooms, for about 29 buildings.
Library
Not quite in the traditional sense, I expect there would be very few actual books. But it would be a place for people to go and do research.
Mess Hall
Meals are prepared, served and eaten here.
Bath House
Because each building does not have it's own full bath, this is where people bath. It would be nice to include some luxury items like a sauna and hot-tub. Perhaps some gym equipment as well.
Workshop
Tools and building materials.
Utilities
Combined, water, power, heat, sewage and compost. The primary heat source would be solar. Sewage would provide methane (through a digester). After it has ceased releasing methane, sewage would then move on for composting, which can also be used to help heat water. The warm water can by cycled through radiators in homes to help regulate temperature. The methane can be used for cooking, and serve as the final step in heating up water to a temperature sufficient to run either a Stirling engine or a steam turbine.
Stages
Building should probably be done in two stages, The first stage will be largely temporary. Designed to handle 1-25 people. After that, we can go back through, tear down one building at a time and build a long-term structure designed to handle 150 people.
Algorithms
I've played around with using genetic algorithms for layouts. This would be a good opportunity. It could plan walkways and gardens, take into account factors like the distance from each home to important buildings (mess/bath). It could even take into account building phases so that the initial period (1-15 people) works well, but so does the growth from 15 to 50 and so on.
Social Structure
Decision making will be a largely democratic process. People can choose their involvement. Having a group of this size self-organize should happen pretty naturally.
Almost all subsistence needs can be met by the community (food, water, shelter). The community should also provide it's members with health insurance (see Money). Clothing, on the other hand, will be left to the individual.
This being the modern age and all, it would be very effective to use a Reddit like system for the democratic process. Member could participate in discussions and up/down vote what they agree/disagree with or simply based on how relevant the discussion is.
Based on group-think, the following may be a balanced approach. Open a topic for discussion and set a time-line for the following steps. Some time for solitary consideration. During this time individual are encouraged to educate themselves and consider the topic, but discussion on the topic is discouraged. By the end of solitary consideration, those who wish to can submit proposals and statements. After this, all submitted proposals and statements will be released for everyone to review and discussion (both online and offline) is open. Individuals can continue to submit proposals and statements, but now group collaboration will also be accepted. In the final stage, proposals are nominated for consideration, a final round of debate happens and the topic is closed with a vote. Part of the final vote also selects an individual or committee (or no one, depending on the nature of things) to resolve the final proposals. This group is responsible for merging all the language and resolving contradictions. This group could be independently elected, it could be either the author or nominator for each bill, or each bill that passes could have a separately elected representative.
I formed this idea a while ago, but this may be a good place to employ it. A council could be formed with 'vote entrusting'. Individuals entrust their vote to a representative. Only reps can speak and vote in council meetings. Who ever holds the most votes is the chair. Votes by reps are public, but after reps have voted, individuals have an opportunity to change their vote, this remains private. This scheme cuts the number of members that can sit on the council automatically in half. Reps can't betray their constituents, because the constituents can just flip the votes back.
Money
This could be a bit touchy. For the most part, the organization and it's members money should stay separate. People absolutely do not pay to be a member and they are not guaranteed an income. They earn their stay with work. But the community will need some funds. These should be accomplished with community projects. The most basic is that any surplus food can be sold. It may be possible to build and sell things. But the area where I think the most potential lies is in services. A community of 150 well educated people can probably provide a lot of digital services and make a decent income. But this could create some issues in how people are valued in the community.
The goal would be generate a profit. Some of the profit would be held to protect against future deficits, to build a trust and to improve the community. But some of the profit should be given back to the members.
Another note that should be put here - I think that ostentatious displays of wealth would be damaging to the community. People should be encouraged to avoid this.
Swarming
Or budding or whatever other terms there are for super-organism reproduction. At around 100 we will being preparing to split. I actually expect there to be some pretty clear lines of division within the colony at that time, so splitting along those lines will probably make sense. Now there will be two colonies with slightly divergent philosophies. There will still be strong ties and cooperation between the colonies, but they will become mostly separate entities. As the sum of these colonies approaches 180, we will again start planning another division. This time only about 1/3 of each colony will go. Over time, it will transition from mass-emigration to a constant trickle. The colonies will hold their numbers closer to 150. At that point I would like to see a structure arise where colonies can become specialized and hold more nuanced philosophies. Like minded people from all the colonies can communicate and when a niche is identified, they can collect and form a new colony. Also, at this point, people should be able to move between colonies. Not regularly, but as the nature of the colonies shifts.
Chores
One of the challenges would be dividing up chores. This could be done with envy-free game theory. We'll start with an arbitrary point system. Something like every needs to earn 100 points every two weeks. Now create a list of everything that needs to get done. The algorithm will give people two choices do A for X points or B for Y points (the question is theoretical, members will answer a few dozen questions like this while the algorithm is calibrating). Each answer nudges things a little more into balance. By the end, it should be fairly balanced so that everyone will earn their points and everything will get done.
Some chores will not be available to everyone - these will be "skills" or "skilled-chores". They just require some training before they're available.
Beyond that some highly specialized roles will be "jobs". Some jobs will be taking on responsibility for some large section of operation. For instance someone will be responsible for running the kitchen. Other jobs will help earn revenue. When people take on a job it give them some allotment of points per week.