A guide to TGA and Transition for RBE supporters: Let's lead the way.

Just starting out? Read this revised Introduction first: http://globalassembly.blogspot.com/2015/09/introduction-to-global-assemblys.html

[Warning: This is going to be a really long document. You don’t have to read it all at once. Feel free to break it up and read a section each day or whenever you have spare time.]

Talk is cheap

RBE needs to move out of the realm of internet debates and into the real world. 

So many of us want to see change. I want it. You want it. Preferably before we die. We're awake, and we know what's up. But looking at the situation now, things feel hopeless. The elite is too strong and we're too weak. Everyone wants to make RBE a reality, but without concrete step-by-step goals, interest wanes and effort fizzles. It seems like all we can do is share our ideas online and hope for the best. 

That's trash thinking. We can do something now, and we don't have to wait for "collapse" or beg for permission. The first step is uniting all of those who are "awake" under one banner and working together. 

This is the step-by-step transition plan so many people have been waiting for. This plan is realistic, immediately actionable and permissionless. You can get started today. No, really. 

Anyone who says you need to wait until the collapse to start doing anything is sorely mistaken. By the time collapse happens, it will be too late. And besides, the collapse won’t happen unless WE make it happen. Along the way, this paper will detail how we can fight back against the three dragons of modern society: Big Business, Media and Big Government. They are like hydra; you must work on all three heads at once or the other two will collude to stop you. Time is running out, so if you like what you read, please share it with others so we can get as many people as possible on the same page. 

Credit

I can’t take full or even half credit for developing this transition plan. It belongs to everything I’ve read on sustainability over the years. Some of them are my ideas, others I’ve gladly stolen from other people. I try to give credit whenever I can. Together, they’ve been combined to create something that’s easily duplicable, costs nothing to start and engineered for rapid growth. In the final analysis, our plan combines concepts from the Buy Nothing Project, The Transition, Time Banking and Ubuntu, among others. 

Our Focus

In order to be successful in the short term, we must resist the urge to establish new ecovillages or “sustainable communities” in the wilderness. Such efforts are doomed because it’s not enough to be “sustainable”. You must be abundant. Merely being sustainable implies that you produce enough just for you and wall yourselves off from the outside world. Abundance means that you create far more than you can possibly use- and that is the key. Closed systems don’t last long. Even Earth is an open system, constantly receiving and radiating energy from the sun.

You can’t change the world by running away from it. You have to stay right where you are and build your network there. “Ecovillages” are easy to ignore. They aren’t in your-face like the 24/7 deluge of advertising and consumerism poured into our heads daily. Not to mention the unfortunate fact that nobody wants to move. We have lives to live, and despite all the rhetoric pioneers are hard to find. 
Our short-term focus must be converting existing cities to a resource-based economy, not building new ones. Citizens should be given the opportunity to transition-in-place and save money, slicing all their bills in half by following the programs The Global Assembly (all of us) develop together.

The biggest problem with ecovillages is that they’re not a cost-effective use of limited resources. They cost a lot to build, they require new materials, and they don’t fix our fundamental problems. Even though people who imagine building small sustainable communities now have the best intentions, there’s no way ecovillages can help realistically reach the masses or cause large-scale transition. Ecovillages would be perfect when we get a large number of people on board (at least 15-20% of a local population), but not before.

When I say this, I don’t want anyone to take it as a knock or insult against people who are currently developing ecovillages. It’s just advice for future people considering it. If helping transition isn’t the goal and you are personally interested in a retreat for yourself or a small group, then it’s fine to ignore this section. But in the current economic climate it just makes sense to transition-in-place- and ultimately it’ll have a larger effect than any alternative.  

Resource-Based-Economy as a state of mind.

It’s not about the buildings or technology. It’s about the people.

The Role and Purpose of The Global Assembly: Why we need to come together if we want anything to change

The Global Assembly has an important role to play in transition- to understand why, it’s good to first understand how it’s *different*. We are not a consciousness-raising or awareness movement like TVP or TZM. We don’t even consider ourselves a movement at all. We are a brand. And our “product” is a system for creating stronger neighborhoods that save money.

Capitalism is ruled by brands. Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Walmart, Visa.. Each of these companies has built up a sizable reputation and “image” that’s so powerful; you can recognize their logo and what they stand for from a mile away. The Global Assembly serves as a single public-facing “brand name” to advertise all the disparate sustainability/sharing economy/RBE initiatives under. It is not a top-down movement controlled by a person or group of people. Remember, our individual local projects may be independent; but presenting a united front to the public gives us more clout. By sticking with a single title, we can quickly build social capital instead of diffusing it across several memes. Using the name “Global Assembly” is recommended but not required. The most important thing you can do to show solidarity is displaying the blue & white circle logo.

You can imagine this becoming very prominent if we all agree to feature it in our on-the-ground efforts. Think about the brand recognition RBE could get if you see this logo everywhere- on yard signs, flags, bumper stickers, decals, t-shirts etc. An online store will allow people to purchase merchandise, with the projects funded voted on by the organization’s members. We want instant recognition, so we should cover everything we do with this logo. When local activists do field work, they can wear solidarity t-shirts and hats.

The Global Assembly is more of a symbol than organization. The (actual) organization will be bottom-up in nature, with the local levels selecting the higher ones. As it swells in numbers and strength, each group can contribute a portion of collected time credits upwards to help fund global efforts. The name of the organization also hints at its’ ultimate purpose: forging a bottom-up parallel institution based on the principles of true democracy.

Local groups are mostly independent except for when it’s time to spread messages/calls to action. We need to work together to push the same message at the same time so we can rapidly get eyes on important news. 

Next Page: http://globalassembly.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-guide-to-transition-for-rbe.html