Writing about Freedom

When a topic has been opened, suddenly you notice all kinds of other people addressing it. Instead of just letting it all pass by, I want to keep it rolling, making it grow into a huge snow ball, collecting all the more or less important aspects. Eventually, we may find some precious gems in it, which could be useful for realizing great and amazing things.

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It all started out with a few comments inspiring me to this post. Then the following day I came across an article by @wwf explaining why being part of our system, including our legal and financial systems, is supporting the enslavement of the world, no matter whether we're honest or hypocrite about it.

The solution? Working for free, that is not for money. Just like @notconvinced explained in his Quest for Personal Sovereignty: His idea is to ride his bike across the land, helping out with projects he can agree with, enjoying the freedom that comes with it. His skills range from scavenging materials to setting up off-grid electric systems, like the one on his e-bike.

Then, I saw another interesting post by @barge, who is looking for exactly such types of opportunities: working with plants and animals or natural construction projects, in exchange for a place to stay, and a chance to practice his life of freedom, which I'm sure many people can relate to who have been in those circles.

So let's see... all these folks, all these posts, all these inspirations. I actually feel very touched by them all. In fact, I would happily just get on my bike and start riding towards the next such project. A number of volunteer networks have been mentioned, such as wwoof for organic farms, HelpX, Workaway, or the Poosh for natural building projects. However, once you start meeting people, you inadvertently get to find other projects, probably much more interesting ones, which are not on any of these sites.

In fact, I can think of three places I could be helping right now, which aren't on any networks I know, but are friends of friends, or I came across them in a weird round-about kinda way. Take @mountainjewel, for example, who are building a cob house as we speak. Though I haven't met them in person, the articles they shared here on Steem are so amazing that I'd go help then in a heartbeat... if it weren't for other factors. Anyway, I'm certain it would not be too hard to find opportunities after opportunities.

The only problem is the money! So here we're back at the brainstorming @nateonsteemit started here. This is the least clear of all the pieces, but let me sum up what's in front of my inner eye:

So while I ride my bike and work on farms and construction projects, I'd keep writing blogs, keep taking pictures, maybe get a drone and make videos like @notconvinced, or even if not (after all, not everyone needs to do everything). All this makes great content on a website, but on a social media platform it can be highly inspiring, especially on one that's on the Steem blockchain! Now let's imagine, it's not just me doing it, but at least the other five steemians I mentioned here as well. (And given that we just started, I'm sure there are at least 50 others out there reading this right now!) That would mean lots of very interesting, highly informative, and probably entertaining posts... with a good number of up-votes. Yeay! Talking about quality content.

So where can we get the money to support the traveling helpers, builders, gardeners, and other types of volunteers between sites? How could we support not just them, but their hosts as well? I don't need to explain that while helping hands can be invaluable for a project, they are usually attached to hungry mouths and stomachs. And what about the material for the projects? Like the saplings for the reforestation, or the tools and material for the build?

Up-votes are a great start. Networked and coordinated up-votes even better. Combine the whole thing with some crowdfunding effort (preferably on the blockchain, like fundition), and organize a trust or something to keep the great effort moving. Okay, I have to admit, I'm not very familiar with invisible structures, so this is where my ideas run apart into a frayed vagueness, and I think I should also end the free write. (I just have to add all the links, and maybe a picture.) However, I hope with this post I managed to raise some awareness of the issue, and if nothing else provided some useful links to my inspirations.