The Aquifer Project - A society for collaborative living
San Jose, California, United States
- Updated on: Oct 23, 2024 (about 5 months ago)
- Created on: Feb 15, 2023 (about 2 years ago)
Mission Statement
Connecting tools, solutions and communities, to bring Accessibility to Sustainability; environmentally, socially and economically.
Community Description
We are tired of living in a society governed by exploitation culture. Replace the flags with the colonial era with corporate logos and that's been our world for the last millennia. While the world wars to hoard resources, the people and the planet slowly die. It's time to evolve beyond a parasitic species, join us and together we will turn humanity into symbiotes.
There are many individuals and individual companies working toward collective change. What a sustainable future needs is a way to work and operate collaboratively instead of exploiting competitively.
Phase 1 of The Aquifer project is building local sustainability hubs. These hubs do 3 things for the public, organizations and businesses.
<ul> <li>Inform those who want to make a difference on the tools and resources for positive change.</li> <li>Connect those who are making a difference already to the resources and public drive to do so.</li> <li>Interact with the world by bringing the tools and the drive to the community.</li> </ul> Phase 2 will be identifying the areas of opportunity for sustainability and building the businesses or services needed for positive change.
Phase 3 will be establishing an academy of sustainability that can research and train best practices that are tailored to local needs. The academy will collect data from both the hubs and the businesses to create unparalleled data sets that will create a future that has more tomorrow than it has today.
Our communities, our businesses and the way we live will show the world that living sustainably is living better. We are a non-profit, that doesn’t mean we don’t make a profit, it simply means all profit benefits employees, communities and sustainability.
What does this all mean for you?
We offer the following.
<ul> <li>Knowing that the people you live and work with will never exploit you. The people around you on a daily basis are just as dedicated to being better as you are.</li> <li>Freedom to live life. Know your labor goes to improving the world for yourself and the rest of humanity instead of funding a Billionaires vanity war. Start a sustainable business or project with us. Move to a new region. Be free to risk, succeed, fail and learn together without risking your future.</li> <li>Guaranteed housing, utilities, transportation, employment, wages ect... Right now, every aspect of your life is taxed (through profit) to fund the lifestyle of the wealthy "Upper class", or you are the upper class and have to sacrifice your ethics to stay there. Living will no longer be a worry for you. Your children can choose to be grandfathered in and don't have to worry about their future either.</li> <li>Investment account that grows as we grow. You can cash out if you want to leave for short term or long term.</li> <li>Equal share of profits, equal share of control, equal opportunities to everything. Our project is made out of the people that join it, when you join YOU become a part of the project, you get 100% benefit with 1% increase every year you are a member.</li> </ul> What you are giving up
<ul> <li>The opportunity to "Get Ahead" of others. You will have to be content with being content and giving your life meaning.</li> <li>All of our properties will be information we collect to improve sustainability, moving beyond sustainability to terraforming earth. Once a year each property will be inspected and data will be collected to improve ourselves and share with the world. You will have your own space to call your own, but when/if you move on it will go back to the project. This being said, if you are moving on within the project, you will be able to pick out a new place to call your own in the area that suits you.</li> <li>We are not asking you to give up luxury, but you may have to redefine what luxury means to you. We are asking you to accept that "Profit" is not always money in your pocket but will always mean a better world for everyone in our communities.</li> </ul> We will start buying housing when possible, or taking donations, then refurbishing them with sustainable solutions. We will require citizens to open their housing to annual scheduled inspections and give feedback so we can test the practicality, comfort and sustainability of solutions, to make improvements and do other general maintenance. As the organization grows we will build more purpose driven housing to build more purpose driven communities in different climates and social dynamics.
We may also include shared housing options for those who wish a more social lifestyle or to act as transition housing and temporary housing for visitors. The rules and structure of shared housing will vary by need, availability and by design of related citizens as long as it stays true to our mission.
- Status: Forming
- Started Planning: 2015
- Started Living Together: 2025
- Visitors Accepted: Yes
- Open to New Members: Yes
- Please read the details in Membership below before contacting this community.Send Message
- Website: http://www.AquiferProject.org
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAquiferTeam
- Other Social: https://sustainingcontentment.substack.com/
- Contact Name: Michael Chock
Location
About
- Type(s):
- Ecovillage (organized around ecology and sustainability)
- Cohousing (individual homes within group property)
- Shared Housing, Cohouseholding, or Coliving (multiple individuals sharing a dwelling)
- Transition Town or Eco-Neighborhood (focused on energy/resource resiliency)
- Programs & Activities:
- Transition Town (post-petroleum and off-grid communities.)
- School, Educational Institute or Experience
- Volunteer, Internship, or Apprenticeship, or WWOOF’ing
- Ethical Business, Investment Group, or Alternative Currency
- Organization, Resource, or Network
- WWOOF'ing, Guest Farming
- Festivals, Conferences, Events
- Location: To Be Determined
Housing
- Status: We do not have land
- Current Number of Residences: 0
- Planned Residence Types:
- Single-family homes
- Multi-family homes
- Room(s) in a house or building
- Tiny house
- Housing Provided:
- Rental
- Work-exchange
- Included in Membership
- Land Owned By: The housing will be owned by a non-profit organization. Housing rights will be ensured by contract.
- Additional Comments: We need to build various housing to test the sustainability of every type of lifestyle. The first location will likely be a shared living space, designed to transition to a hospitality location for visitors. Those employed in one of the businesses owned by The Aquifer Project will be able to rent housing. Those who are "Citizens" of the Aquifer Project will be able to live in housing as long as they wish to remain a part of the Project and are actively working. (There is much more freedom and benefits to being a citizen than we could list here, including voting rights in the Non-Profit , investment accounts, vacation time, and more, please contact for details)
Membership
- Adult Members: 2
- Child Members: 2
- Percent Women: 50%
- Percent Men: 50%
- Visitors Accepted: Yes
- Visitor Process: We will have community stores that will act as hubs for sustainability, some of these may have attached housing that is not accessible to the public without invitation by the current occupant. We will be establishing housing and communities that is either hospitality focused or research focused, the terms of those locations will be arranged with the occupants knowledge. The Foundation for Sustainability will be open to the public. See website for details.
- Open to New Members: Yes
- Membership Process: Currently we are meeting in Santa Clara on Meetup https://www.meetup.com/aquiferproject/ , we will be adding virtual meetings so join to stay in touch. You can contact us through email TheTeam@AquiferProject and while we can't start offering citizenship now, your citizenship can start now. Any benefits from seniority or from duration as a citizen will start from when you started actively working with us and not when you sign the papers. We need help with finding and applying for grants. Help with social media and outreach. People with management or non-profit backgrounds to become board members of the Non-Profit and review the bylaws. People to review the business plan for the community store, give input and raise community support/involvement. We need programmers to start building assets. We need to start compiling a list of sustainable companies. We will be hiring out these services as we grow, but we would much rather have collaborators helping us build our community and better world.
- Additional Comments: We are not asking you to give up your dreams, just to find your dreams in a way that gives more than it takes. We are not asking you to give up comforts, just redefine what luxury means. We are not asking you to work for nothing, but to profit together as a community. We are not asking you to sacrifice a future for your children, but to build a better future that your children can grow up in. We are asking you never to retire, for everyone has value no matter their age and we shouldn't have to wait until we are old to enjoy the world around us. We don't want you to give up on life, but build the life you would like to live, to not be defined by someone elses dream of concrete monoliths, to build a world of beauty that we all can share together.
Government
- Decision Making: By a council, group of Elders, or leadership group
- Identified Leader: Yes, multiple identified leaders
- Leadership Core Group: Yes
- Additional Comments: The Non-Profit will be led by a board of members that will create and delegate subcommittees, it will manage all social assets. The board will be voted in by every citizen and member of the Non-Profit chain of command. The board has oversight powers of the Business. The Businesses will be member driven, with every employee being a member, it will manage all physical assets. The Business will have oversight powers of the Foundation. The Foundation will be board driven, the board will be voted in by donors and board members, it will manage all intellectual assets. The foundation will have oversight powers of the Non-Profit. These terms are currently subject to change with Michael Chock and Alexandria Chock retaining sole executive powers over the organization to keep the Aquifer Project accountable to it's mission, it's members and it's donors.
Economics
- Dues, Fees, or Shared Expenses: No
- Shared Income: Partial Sharing of Income
- Open to Members with Existing Debt: Yes
- Additional Comments: Citizens will be given housing in trade for their contributions. All funding generated by the project will be split to pay for expenses, improve businesses, grow businesses and fund the foundation. The exact percentages of these will be determined by the board but will fall into reasonable business expenses. While the allocation is set, the use is determined by the people who work at the business or project. A set amount of profits will be set aside for discretionary funding, each citizen will get a percentage weighted by their time spent working for the Project. Discretionary funding may be spent outside of the project but will have more value if spent within it. Discretionary funding should meet or exceed average wages (after housing, utilities, ect...). We will also establish an investment account, a citizen will be able to withdraw a percentage from that account based on time spent as a citizen, to use as they see fit (travel, retirement, severance, ect..). A citizen may choose to leave for any period of time and then return, but any time over set non-working allocated days will not add to their time as a citizen. This also means people can be part time citizens, with rent weighted against time spent working for the project. Non citizens may rent housing when they are employed by the project or when working towards our mission.
Sustainability Practices
- Energy Infrastructure: We use both systems.
- Planned Renewable Energy Generation: 100%
- Planned Food Produced: Almost All, around 90%
- Food Produced Locally: 100%
Lifestyle
- Dietary Choice or Restrictions: No - people may eat however they wish.
- Additional Diet Comments: We will be sourcing local as much as possible. Our community stores will sell goods that are produced within 100 miles or less of their location (were practical). We do not demand citizens purchase from our locations, but it will be available.
- Common Spiritual Practice(s):
- Agnostic
- Sustainability
- Spiritual Practice Expected?: No
- Education Style(s):
- Private Schooling at the Community
- Up to each family or individual
- Expected Healthcare Practices: Ideally we would like to create and provide sustainable healthcare, healthcare that puts people before profits, but this is not a current goal.
- Healthcare Options: Community Plan
- Additional Comments: We are planning on starting an agnostic church of sustainability. We strongly believe that whatever your personal faith we all have a moral and ethical obligation to give more than we take, to leave the world better than we found it. This is our one tenant, one we expect our members to work to achieve. We will have sustainability seminars and education that we will expect our community members to participate in as they feel comfortable. Art, nature and spiritualism will be a part of the community, but will be designed to not conflict with personal faith.. If you believe in a higher power than you must believe humans are flawed, as flawed beings we cannot claim that we alone know the ultimate truths of existence. We accept all personal faiths as long as your faith allows you to respect others, respect the planet and respect the generations to come. We will build shared locations for individual religious practices that will also be used for sustainability gatherings.
Cohousing
Additional Comments
We want to build different locations with different missions, it doesn't matter what your personality, your drive or your background, as long as you are willing to live in a way that gives more than it takes, we want to create a place for you. We are also open to collaborations with other communities.
Community Network or Organization Affiliations
The Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC)
Fair Housing Laws
This community acknowledges that their listing does not include any potential violations of the Fair Housing Law, or that they do not provide housing. For any questions about this topic please see our Content Policies and contact FIC with any questions or concerns: directory@ic.org.
Keywords
sustainability, community, education, research, caring, art, environment, hospitality, growth