The picture above gives the essential features of our vision for PlaNet Diss, a pilot project for a local sustainable and collaborative community, based in Diss, Norfolk, UK. At its centre, is ‘synergy’ people working together to provide such basic needs as food, transport, energy, caring services. The other areas are there to keep it stable and working effectively.

This combination is what we feel is our innovative contribution to the many projects around the world beginning to build communities with sustainability, collaboration and social justice at their core, building a movement to provide solutions to humanity’s deepest environmental and social problems.

The picture is described in more depth in two documents attached to this post: “The social model for the PlaNet Diss project” and “The software description for the PlaNet Diss project”. The picture is the end point of the social model and the starting point for the software description.

From the social model document:
Very many of us see the main economic and political structures around us as literally insane: destructive of people and the natural world, not leading to a ‘good life’ for most. We are looking for and building the beginnings of a society that actually works: that protects the natural world, provides a modest but comfortable living for all (rather than wasteful throwaway consumption), people doing jobs they like on a basis of trust and integrity, and especially, where people of all backgrounds treat each other well and live in relative harmony.
We see this happening from the bottom up, not the top down. It isn’t a matter of waiting until sympathetic governments get elected, and certainly not a matter of overthrowing anything. The early steps, as in this project, will start with a small group of people, perhaps a few per cent of the local population. For them, it will provide a modest improvement in their lives, but mainly will allow us to learn the skills of doing it: how to coordinate a bottom-up, self-governing community, how to organise to provide some of the basics of life and in so doing provide some local employment, how to work on a basis of trust and respect, how to build a community-based exchange system that reduces people’s dependence on external money.

The purpose of the software is to connect the members of PlaNet Diss in various ways, but especially, to act as a scaffolding for the social vision, reminding them of the overall social model and enabling them to access the various parts (exchanging, getting information about other members, seeking resources for handling conflicts, taking part in the self-governance, and planning.)

The current step, in preparation now, will be a ‘Green Living Day’, to be held in Spring 2024 in a new ‘community space in the heart of Diss’: No 8 Marketplace. Its purpose is to “come and get a taster of sustainable living, with local food, entertainment, small group workshops, and more… Help us map out and start more sustainable living for Diss”.

The Green Living Day will include stalls and entertainment, but also planning discussions and prototypes of community infrastructure that form a key part of sustainable living, specifically a) a communication system that incorporates a local social network (PlaNet Diss), b) a Community Fund and Exchange System that allows people to earn and save money by dealing with people they know and trust, and c) a Peacemaking group that offers training in communication skills and support for handling conflicts constructively.

If the above resonates with you, we invite you to read the documents and comment on them, either on this blog or in other media. Or write to me at garyalexand[at]gmail.com. In particular, we need help and advice on the infrastructure in the previous paragraph.