As I sit here on an early morning in December of 2022, it’s an amazing and awesome feeling to reflect back over the last five years, on the journey of writing this book, and how much things have evolved with our organization and outreach in that amount of time. In fact, when I started writing the book five years ago, there wasn’t even an organization. I often get asked the question “Why did I write the book Moneyless Society? What led me to create
Ten years ago, when I started all of this, there was only a practically unknown Facebook page with a couple of thousand followers, a random post here and there, and a website that acted more as a list of resources and hosted a few (relatively poorly written) blog articles by yours truly, which still remain… as much as I am embarrassed by them.
While we haven’t put a ton of time and effort into the website (…yet – we’re getting to that here shortly), we have managed to form an actual 501c3 nonprofit organization, complete with a board of directors, and amass a relatively sizeable following of sorts. We just surpassed 250,000 followers on our Facebook page, our podcast is in its second season, and we even just hosted renowned economist Richard Wolff.
Several dozen volunteers are helping us on a regular basis now and communicating via multiple channels to collaborate behind the scenes, and we are working with multiple other individuals and organizations to move the needle on many of our shared goals and projects.
We are also getting more and more donations via PayPal and Patreon, which is greatly appreciated and goes a long way in helping us keep the lights on, so to speak, not to mention helping us achieve our goals in moving all of this forward.
But I digress… Why did I write the book Moneyless Society? Well, it’s simple really. I want to help solve the problems of inequality and climate change/resource overshoot. Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our time, if not the most pressing issue of all time. Never before has our species been faced with the threat of a global planetary disaster on the scale and magnitude of what lurks on the horizon.
Inequality is another huge problem that needs to be addressed. The “have-nots” are getting poorer while the “haves” just keep getting richer. This is unsustainable and ultimately leads to societal instability. In a moneyless society, people and organizations would not be beholden to shareholders or the bottom line, so they can freely collaborate, share information and resources, and not be forced to choose between making profits or what is sustainable and socially just.
I also write the book because I love the world and I love life, and I love contributing to society and seeing people prosper. These aren’t simply issues that concern me or that I have some sort of sentimental attachment to. I believe they are THE most pressing issues of our time, and if we don’t do something about them, things are going to get very ugly, very fast.
That much is abundantly clear when you look at the state of the world today.
Inequality is at an all-time high, climate change is accelerating, resources are scarce and becoming more so, and people are angry and desperate. All of these issues are connected, and they will only worsen if we don’t do something about them. That’s why I wrote the book Moneyless Society – to try and help address and solve these problems in whatever ways I possibly can.
The good news is, we can choose to create systems and structures that inherently function and operate differently than the standard, capitalist models that exploit and destroy both people and the world around us. We can build cooperatives, we can create democratically owned and operated structures that give people the resources and capabilities they need to not just survive, but thrive. We can build automated community gardens, we can sequester carbon while doing so, and we can create sustainable means of producing energy. We can choose to consciously evolve our economic system to one that creates harmony, prosperity, and abundance for all.
I don’t have all the answers, but I do believe that a moneyless society is a major part of the solution if undertaken carefully and wisely. And that’s what this book is about – exploring what a moneyless society might look like and how we can get there. It’s an ambitious goal, for sure, but I believe it’s one that is not only achievable, but necessary if we want to create a world that is truly equitable, sustainable, and prosperous for all.
If you’re interested in reading it, you can find it here. And if you’re interested in learning more about our organization and how you can get involved, please visit our website or check out our podcast, Patreon, and other work.
While my work on the book is done for a while (we’re planning on releasing an expanded, updated, and revised version in a year or two, with revisions and additions from the feedback we get from this book), the work on the rest of all this is just beginning. The whole purpose of this book is to prime the flames for starting to build the framework for the systems and structures that are mentioned in the book, our podcast, other articles, and more. More people need to hear about the systems and structures that can usher in an age of cooperation and abundance – that we so desperately need.
Namely, we are planning on taking a portion of the funding generated from this book and our other ventures and creating cooperatives, communities, and a mutual aid network that will eventually provide what we call Universal Basic Goods and Services (as described in the book, the purpose of the Universal Basic Goods and Services system is to provide people with what they need to survive without having to trade their time or labor for money, in order to buy daily necessities).
So why did I write the book Moneyless Society? To help people just like you and I learn about these problems, and hopefully garner a bit of help in solving them. If you’re in agreement with us about these issues, then please know you’re not alone and know that there are other people out there working toward these goals. If you’d like to help us achieve these goals and have some time or money that you can devote to the cause, anything and everything is greatly appreciated. Every penny and every minute of effort makes a difference. Listen to our Podcast, fill out volunteer form, donate via our PayPal or Patreon pages, or just drop us a line at contact@moneylesssociety and let us know how we’re doing.
Thanks for reading. Together we can create a better society for us all.
