What does it take to grow a adaptive, enduring and vitally sovereign community?
It takes a human ecosystem…
In a balanced and harmonious ecosystem, the collective benefits most from each uniquely specialized part doing what it does best. It is a mutually beneficial feedback loop, a dance of interdependence in which each aspect is able to satisfy its own needs and fulfill its own unique contribution through creative collaboration with others. A healthy and robust ecosystem is strengthened by a complementary array of biodiversity which supports resilience and resistance to disturbances both within and without. The relationships within a thriving ecosystem favor mutuality, reciprocity and complementarity—ideal conditions in which all organisms as contributing members may also thrive and evolve. The whole supports the parts and the parts support the whole. By being sensitive to the overall balance and harmony, the collective can be responsive rather than reactive as changes inevitably come about. This brilliant orchestration guided by the vast intelligence of Nature is the model for which we, as the GWCC, aim to build a more sustainable Human Ecosystem model for small community governance.
What is the Greater World Community Collective (GWCC)?
Who we are.
The GWCC is a self-organized and self-governing group of individuals within the Greater World earthship community who’ve chosen to forge a new path distinct from our woefully lacking and oppressive HOA by offering community-managed solutions for improved communication, action and transparency.
The GWCC is a completely voluntary endeavor created by and for the people! Our intention is to uplift, serve and inspire not only residents and property owners within our community but those beyond who are also seeking a viable path towards small community sovereignty based in a more wholistic Living Systems approach.
Core intent.
Our original and core intention is to support greater unity and sovereignty within our community. As off-grid dwellers, we can find at least some common ground in our spirit of independence, resourcefulness, curiosity and adventure. As individuals, we each have something unique and valuable to offer from our accumulated skills, resources, wisdom and lived experience. Together we represent a veritable goldmine of shared knowledge, wisdom and experience beneficial to both our local and global community.
Through our commitment to organizing, forming stronger bonds as a community and sharing the resources of our unique experiences… not only is the impact of our individual contributions enhanced manyfold, so too is the reciprocal effect—both here in our local community and far beyond, like ripples on a pond.
Our approach.
In short, we listened, we organized and we responded creatively, logically and strategically. For every core problem we identified regarding the acting management and general well-being of our community, we took it upon ourselves to come up with a number of creative and achievable solutions. Those solutions are both practical and imaginative, serious and playful, long and short-term in nature. They address the immediate needs, perceived needs and future aims of our community while honoring the shared values and ideals of the collective. Most importantly, our effort is an open invitation to any and all members to be heard and allowed to contribute so long as they demonstrate basic integrity and a sincere commitment to the wellbeing of the whole.
For every problem, there is at least one creative solution!
Among our core tenets is "present no problem without offering a potential solution." This represents not only the most fundamental basis on which evolutionary progress can be built, it defines the spirit of a new and more proactively engaged culture operating from a mindset of creative and collaborative response-ability.
In alignment with this ethos, we’ve turned the 3 core issues with our current community management structure—communication, transparency and action—into 3 core pillars of our community improvement movement.
Action.
Heart-based engagement fuels our sovereign economy of exchange and reciprocity. It may be offering a suggestion, contributing to a community improvement project, participating in a poll or vote, coming together to support a neighbor… part of the core functions of the GWCC is to support member response-ability.
With multiple channels of engagement and many ways to contribute, any member can participate at any time, in whatever way and at whatever level suits their preference. Absolutely no commitment is obligatory. After all, the most impactful and mutually beneficial form of engagement is through inspired action!
Transparency.
Anything related to GWCC’s operations as a community-managed organization is made readily available to all members. We feel it’s of utmost importance to maintain a policy of complete transparency and with that, full accountability to our supporting members.
Through the GWCC community hub, all information regarding the organization’s documentation along with recordings of all meetings are organized, archived and made readily available to those seeking it. This is a self-serve hub accessible to all registered members. It requires no dealings with privately employed gatekeepers nor special permissions and offers no resistance, no dismissal and no deflection.
Communication.
Effective communication is at the heart of any successful group endeavor. In a world already oversaturated with noise, too much and too little is always a question. To improve communication and connectedness sans overstimulation we propose just a few integrated solutions for general news, calendars, project management, wellbeing (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual) resources and emergency updates all accessible through one centralized hub.
Each member may tune in or out of any topic as suits them and find their like-hearted sub-tribes within the community (“Circles within Circles”) through topics, committees and neighbor profiles on our community map.