Planetary Confederation

“The present day global set of sovereign states is not capable of keeping peace, and it is not capable of saving the biosphere’s non-replaceable natural resources.

What we need is a global body politic composed of cells on the scale of the Neolithic-Age village community — a scale on which participants could be personally acquainted with each other, while each of them would also be a citizen of the world.”

Nations states are obsolete and stand in the way of global unity and cooperation. Humanity must reorganize as a decentralized confederation of ecologically sustainable communities connected worldwide by a common internet, transport infrastructure and legal framework.

The Planetary Confederation is a union of self-governing ecological communities distributed across the planet sharing the same vision and adopting common inter-governmental standards.

It is organized in 4 levels:

1. Ecological Community
2. Local Space
3. Regional Space
4. Planetary Confederation

1. Ecological Community

Ecological communities are the basic unit of the Planetary Confederation.

A community can be formed by one ore more traditional family nuclei with husband, wife and children, or by any other group of at least two adult people who want to live together. Every member of the Life Tribe can either join an existing community or constitute a new one along with other members.

• Membership

Every member of the WAM can either ask to join an existing community or form a new one along with at least another member. If a community grows beyond 300 residents it will be split in two.

• Self-governance

Each community will be governing itself through an internal Community Council. Communities can draft their own set of community rules and guidelines, and compile them in a Community Charter. The charter must be available online for all WAM members to read. All community charters must be in line with the World Ethos and compatible with the Earth Constitution.

Each Community Council may elect one resident member to represent the community in the Local Council.

• Self-sufficiency

All communities must provide for at least 50% of community requirements in terms of food and energy from the second year of existence onwards.

• Positive Ecological Footprint

All communities must compile a detailed geographical and ecological survey of the area occupied. Living and working spaces must be designed according to Permaculture principles. Food production must be 100% organic and industrial production must respect sustainable development standards. At least 90% of the total energy consumption must come from renewable sources.

• Demographic stability

All resident members must stay within the limits of replacement level fertility (2 kids per person).

• Self-reports

All communities must compile quarterly self-reports about internal operations and publish them online.

• Openness and transparency

All communities must be fully transparent about internal practices. All communities must set up a hosting facility able to accommodate from 1 to 5 external guests at a time (according to community size).

• Internet connection

All communities must be connected to the Internet by hosting a node of the WAM’s Distributed Web.

• Local transport

All communities will be incentivized to set up and maintain a local branch of the public transportation grid connecting them with the nearest Local Space.

In order to use the transportation grid, all communities must contribute to the building and maintenance of the local transport infrastructure.

2. Local Space

Every hundred or so communities, a Local Space will be set up. Local spaces are gathering grounds providing shelter for travelers and common infrastructure facilitating the exchange of goods, ideas and services.

A Local Space will be different from a city since it won’t be a place where most people actually live or work, but rather a leisure space where people go to meet, study and play together. The operational functions to keep the spaces running will be held by the resident guests, with the help of artificial intelligence and an automated smart-grid.

Imagine a futuristic university campus with people of all ages coming to study from near-by villages or from across the world, along with a constant flow of long-distance travelers and day visitors. Local spaces will be bustling with life and culture: open conferences and lectures, art workshops and festivals, health centers and spiritual retreats. There will also be dedicated areas for commerce, with bazaars and marketplaces. Temporary residents will reside in lodges and apartments located in the outskirts of the space.

These are some of the features of a Local Space:

• Internet gateway

Every Local Space must set up an maintain an Internet gateway connected with other local spaces.

• Transport station

Every Local Space must set up a station connected via public transport grid to other local spaces. For land-based long distance movement, electric trains seem like the best way to go, hence the station will be a train station and the infrastructure a railway. For islands and other exceptions, a water or air shuttle service may be set up in place.

• Local Council

Every Local Space must set up a parliamentary hall dedicated to the meetings of the Local Council. Local councils will be composed of all the members elected by the neighboring community councils. The Local Council will publish a quarterly report to the Regional Council, and every year will elect a local member to represent the space in the Regional Council.

• Universities

Local spaces may set up education facilities such as colleges, universities, research labs and conference hubs.

• Hospitals

Local spaces may set up hospitals and other medical facilities to serve the entire local territory.

• Theaters

Local spaces may set up entertainment facilities such as cinemas, theaters and sporting stadiums.

• Markets

Local spaces may set up marketplace facilities such as boutiques, bazaars, warehouses and distribution centers.

3. Regional Space

Regional spaces will be roughly similar to local spaces, only larger and fewer in numbers. They will be located in strategical areas for each bioregion of the world, and will provide an extra layer of interconnection to the WAM.

• Regional Council

Every Regional Space must set up a parliamentary hall dedicated to the meetings of the Regional Council. Regional councils will be composed of all the members elected by the neighboring local councils. The Regional Council will publish a quarterly report to the Planetary Council, and every year will elect a member to represent the region in the Planetary Council.

At the end of its yearly mandate, the Planetary Council will elect the 30 Planetary Court members for the next legislation.

• Regional Court

Every Regional Space must set up a permanent hall for the Regional Court’s sessions. The court will give a verdict about every legal controversy which involves members of the WAM currently residing in that region. It will be constituted by a popular jury elected between the regional members qualified for jury service.

4. Planetary confederation

The Planetary Confederation is a multi-layered global organization, governed bottom up by representative democracy. Its purpose is aligned with the World Ethos and its operative protocol founded on the Earth Constitution.

It is divided in four bodies:

• Planetary Council

Planetary councils will be held on a monthly basis in different regional spaces around the world. They will be composed of all the members elected by the world’s regional councils. The Planetary Council will publish a quarterly report to the WAM on global issues.

At the end of its yearly mandate, the Planetary Council will elect the 30 Planetary Court members and the Planetary Board that will serve for the following legislation.

The only administrative function of the Planetary Council is to run the Redistribution Scheme. The council can operate changes to the distribution algorithms, which must be notified in the quarterly report. The council cannot alter the ethical charter or the constitution. All modifications to the charter and constitution must be ratified by a general referendum with at least 90% of approval.

The Planetary Council is the only body that can initiate a procedure in the Planetary Court for permanent expulsion from the WAM.

The Planetary Council is also the only body that can officially represent the WAM in relation to other organizations.

• Planetary Court

The Planetary Court is a legal institution which represents the supreme authority of the WAM regarding legal issues. It is composed by 30 members elected every year by the outgoing Planetary Council. The 30 court members will be selected for their outstanding expertise on constitutional and legal matters, for their strong ethical values and for their humane wisdom.

The Planetary Court will pronounce itself any time a Regional Court’s decision is challenged, and every time the WAM must pronounce itself on the permanent expulsion of a member.

• Planetary Trust

The Planetary Trust is the treasury department of the Confederation.

Mostly a digital archive run by AI, it will catalogue all the real estate assets which are managed by the fund. The fund will acquire new land by voluntary donations of members only. Once donated, the land will become property of the Planetary Fund, a legal entity also operating in the old legal system.

The Planetary Trust will then lease this real estate free of cost to WAM members that want to set up a new Ecological Community. Tenants must sign a Care-taker Contract and respect the community standards at all times respect, otherwise the care-taker contract can be revoked by the fund.

The function of granting and revoking care-taker contracts will be performed by a Planetary Board composed of sustainability experts elected every year by the outgoing Planetary Council. The Board’s decision may be challenged to the Planetary Court.

• Planetary Fund

The Planetary Fund is a non-profit foundation established both in the old and in the new legal system. Within the old legal system, it will be the legal owner of all the property managed by the Planetary Trust.

Feel free to leave any comment or question below, and join the discussion on the dedicated forum.

Also in Eden Planet:

• Alternative Culture — A new vision for humanity
• World Ethos — Ethical charter for the new era
• Earth Constitution — Legal framework and eco-justice

Other WAM! publications:

Life Tribe

A new humanity

Coop Network

A new economy

Conscious Forum

A new consciousness