The Life Co-op: A Developing Idea

What if we built our own institutions to create a better world and simply left the existing ones to rot?

Photo by Kien Lee on Unsplash

Suppose you could quit the rat race. Suppose ANYONE could quit the rat race. You had a genuine choice:

1. Continue working for a living, which for most people would mean long hours for a clueless boss, and collecting inadequate wages — as little as the owners could get away with paying, OR
2. Work 20 hours a week or less, and have all your basic needs — food, shelter, healthcare — taken care of adequately, albeit not extravagantly.

Within the rat race, you’d get MORE STUFF. By exiting the rat race, you get MORE TIME.

I think a significant number of people would choose number 2. And many who aren’t making a living in the rat race would absolutely choose number 2. And, over time, more and more people would choose number 2.

I mean think about it: would you prefer to spend your entire adult life maximizing the wealth of your ungrateful employer? Or spending your time with friends and family, with pets, with Nature? Even at the cost of having less stuff?

And what if this movement, this “life co-op” were designed to protect the climate and ensure your children a decent future on a livable planet? Aren’t you working NOW with the intent of…