*Groundcrew* – Sustainable Community and Sharing Resources in the Pioneer Valley
Joe Edelman
www.nxhx.org
*Groundcrew* is an internet project at www.groundcrew.us based on a collaboration economy — sharing our belongings, time, and skills — using cell phones, the internet, and an alternate currency.
*Groundcrew*: Sustainable Community and Sharing Resources in the Pioneer Valley
Achieving sustainability will mean reducing consumption, sharing resources, reducing isolation, increasing community, and creating networks of mutual trust. Groundcrew is an internet project, aimed at making the transition to a sustainable society adventurous, easy, and fun. *Groundcrew* creates a “collaboration economy” — sharing our belongings, time, and skills — by using cell phones, the internet, and an alternate currency. Text-messaging and live maps can make community into a game. Participants are encouraged to create positive experiences, help each other achieve goals, share resources, and have fun!
How does it work?
- Individuals join *Groundcrew*, and configure their cell phones to become mobile Agents.
- Agents organize themselves into Squads, specifying preferred activities or interests.
- Community Organizers use a web-based map interface, coordinating Agents on the ground in real time.
- Any *Groundcrew* member can post Wishes, Challenges, or Physical Resources to share.
- Organizers connect Agents and Squads with postings, giving them Assignments.
- All *Groundcrew* members use an alternate, local currency, called “POSX” (positive experience), to reward community goals. Members gain points when someone reports having a positive experience with them. POSX points are a reputation currency, similar to eBay’s seller point system. This economy gives Groundcrew members an incentive to honestly help each other, since high-POSX members gain advantages.
*Groundcrew* will improve the world by:
- Increasing availability and accessibility, to more easily address issues like transportation, resource-sharing, and adventurous fun.
- Supporting a Wish-realization co-op, granting Wishes, solving community problems, reducing loneliness, isolation, and anxiety.
- Restructuring economic incentives. Working to create positive experiences leads to higher quality, sustainable lives for all. Businesses will Eventually join the POSX economy.
- Relying on the pre-existing information infrastructure: cellular phones, the internet, and electricity. *Groundcrew* has zero extra environmental Impact from material-use or waste.
Global goals:
Achieving a sustainable world involves provisioning six billion people with basic needs and respecting the global ecosystem. With *Groundcrew*, communities can organize public action, share physical resources, and care for the commons. City life will change radically, as people engage productively without money. Actively participating in community life can be designed as an adventure, rather than a chore.