My research into how to alter the DNA of corporations so that they don’t behave in destructive ways has led me to consider the role that money plays in our culture. An excellent book on this subject is the Moneyless Manifesto written by Mark Boyle. In this post I provide a quote from this book and also a link to the book in its entirety (it is freely distributed as a PDF).
“The moneyless economy defined:
When looking at how we define the essence of the economies of the future, it is vital that we do not look at i t through the same anthropocentric lens the current economic model was built with, one where humans are on top and everything else is considered solely in relation to its usefulness to us. Such a lens is responsible for reducing the Earth’s splendor and bounty – its salmon, its magnificent ancient redwoods, its rolling hills, its generous soil, its gushing rivers, its gloriously wild creatures – and the pageantry of life into things labelled ‘resources’, assigned meaningless price tags with no intrinsic worth.
With this is mind, the following is how I define a moneyless economy that respects all life on Earth – from humans to the microbes in the soil to wild animals – and not solely human life:
The moneyless economy is a model of economy that enables its participants to meet their physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs, both collectively and individually, on the basis of materials and services being shared unconditionally (i.e. no explicit/ formal exchange). Ideally (but not necessarily) these materials would be procured within walking distance of the people who benefit from them.
Such an economy would be carried out in a way that considers the needs of all life (and future generations of life) in that geographical region, giving equal consideration to all, and seeing it as an interdependent whole whose overall health is inextricably linked to that of its component parts, and vice versa.
A pure moneyless economy, in my definition, is the meeting point of the gift economy and the 100% local economy, and I believe that the physical and spiritual benefits of combining both are huge. Until the day that such an economy is either desirable or possible for you, just apply the aspects of it that work for you and your unique situation, keeping one eye on the converging crises that we will all have to face, together.”
Quote from the Moneyless Manifesto.