Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat is SEE? SEE stands for Space Environments Ecovillage, or more formally, Space Environments Ecovillage Cooperative, Inc. SEE is an intentional community for space advocates. SEE is located near Austin, Texas, in Bastrop County, where we have purchased 20 acres of land. SEE is a housing cooperative. What does a housing cooperative on Earth have to do with space exploration? We are establishing a community to help work on the very basic social and sustainability aspects of moving to space. While many ventures are concentrating on the technical aspects of colonizing space, no one seems to be exploring the social ramifications. While we are ordinary people, we do have a grand dream. If we are to help spread life throughout the galaxy, which must be done sustainably, we need to start now, taking small steps that lead to something greater. We do not have the funding to do massive technical research, but we can work on the basic problems of living in a remote environment. SEE is our first attempt. How does SEE help research the problems of remote communities? We see a future full of frontier communities, be they orbiting Earth, on Mars, Io or Titan. These communities will all initially be far from a centralized, developed civilization; they will all be remote. We are not only focusing on the economics of moving to space, but on the economics of sustaining remote communities. This is what we can start working on right here and now on Earth. SEE is located an hour’s drive from downtown Austin, approximately a five minute drive to the town of Bastrop, whose population is about 5,000. We are deliberately close enough so that people can initially commute to Austin for jobs, but in an area rural enough that some of the basic problems of remote communities will begin to show up. Bastrop County’s population is about 45,000, which is large enough not to face any of the problems of rural (remote) areas in strong form, but small enough for remote-related problems to show up in a mild form. These problems include schools, health care, transportation and fire service. Can you summarize the basic reasons for SEE? We are ordinary people with a common vision of a positive future. So we are setting up a community in order to:
(a) Provide an environment which fosters the discussion, thought, and
action about space exploration on a daily basis. Can you expand on how you plan to build resources? One of the purposes of SEE is to be a test-bed for starting a "thousand small businesses." We want to learn how to develop businesses that are independent of our location, so we can still have an income when we move to more remote locations. Most importantly, we want to develop businesses that would be useful for moving to space. It would be a delight if any of the small businesses we start grow into big businesses. While it is possible to commute to Austin from SEE for a job, our main goal is to become independent of a major developed area, so we can afford to move to a more remote location. The initial means to build resources is to help people save more. One device we use is to have all SEE members commit to investing 10% of their after tax incomes towards the goals of the community. The purpose of this investment is to have a resource that we control for seeding business startups. While this is high risk and potentially high reward investing, the pooling of money provides a means to invest diversely with more collateral and lower risk. We plan to be able to save more by having a higher level of sharing than is typical for Americans. We also hope that by mitigating the pressure to buy and consume more to ‘keep up with Joneses,’ the atmosphere of SEE will make it easy for its member to save more. We have studied consumption patterns of the average American, and estimate that expenses could be comfortably reduced by ten to thirty percent. To make SEE feasible starting with our limited means, it needs to have a low cost. Three specific means of reducing the cost of SEE are worth mention. First, the land for SEE was chosen because it had a low cost while being within a commuting distance of a sizable city. Second, we are initially using housing which is less than half the cost of standard housing. Third, residents will share common areas, such as a library, meeting space, and guest rooms. What kind of business experience are you starting with and looking to build? When people succeed in starting a business, they accomplish much more than just bringing in capital. They get detailed experience in the area of running a business, which includes all aspects of business, such as accounting, sales, production, and customer service. A successful business that can be moved to a remote location would greatly extend the area in which we could build communities. We need to learn how to start and grow viable businesses. If we can do that, we can reinvest the capital to generate more capital, and over time build towards the great amounts of capital needed for sustainable communities on the oceans and in space. The range of experience is as varied as our member’s backgrounds. One member owns a company which does HTML design and is an Internet Service Provider. Much of the work that he does can be done remotely, which make his business highly transplantable. This is a tremendous asset, as it could provide jobs to the residents of a remote community. This approach, of creating a business that facilitates telecommuting, is a wonderful example of the types of businesses that can help make a semi-remote or remote community economically viable. Another member is a partner of a start-up entertainment business. It produces and sells Japanese animation and live action videos for the US market. This type of business can be helpful for a group interested in space exploration. A number of authors have suggested, and we agree, that tourism and entertainment are likely to be early sources of capital for private expansion into space every time that the space frontier is expanded. Also, in the long run we’d like to develop a business incubator. This is a well established form of business which helps other small businesses start. The business incubator provides not just flexible space and the possibility of shared support personnel and equipment, but most crucially, provides consultation for its clients. Studies have shown that businesses started in business incubators have a considerably higher success rate than ones which are not. By developing our experience in starting businesses and making this experience available to others, we can make it easier for ourselves to start more businesses. Space communities will be relatively self contained, and as such they will need people with experience in many areas of business, as well as many different types of businesses. Such areas as hydroponics, electronics, robotics, and genetics, are all possible industries that SEE’s members desire to explore. Businesses that increase our knowledge of recycling technology are important in both the near term and the long run. It appears that you envision SEE as a first step. What do you envision beyond SEE? The basic vision is one of a series of concrete and individually affordable steps to increasingly more remote communities which are attractive places to live and work in. The second step might be a similar community out of commuting distance to Austin but still closer to Austin than any other city.. That would be close enough to SEE that direct help could be given in getting it started, but people moving there would need to have jobs they could take with them. Some of the problems of remote communities would become more pressing there. Beyond creating more communities of the size of SEE, we have noticed that there is a lot of "dry" land in the United States, land that gets about ten inches of rain a year. This is roughly the area from the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma west through Utah. Some of this land is strikingly beautiful. There are some cities in this area, but not many. If we can develop businesses in remote locations, develop efficient recycling technologies, and have some solutions for some of the problems of remote communities, then these areas become open for communities which are both more remote and larger than SEE. A related organization, discussed later, is actively working to make the vision of floating cities a reality. These would be more remote than any community on land, and could make a good model for space communities. While our primary focus is on space, these ocean communities may be an essential stepping stone for most of us who want to move to space, just as we see our initial steps on land as leading to space. SEE is likely to remain as an entry way into a system of communities. In more remote communities, people will need to be able to have their own businesses since regular jobs will be scarce or non-existent. SEE, or other communities that are only semi-remote, will help people work together to build their own businesses. There may also be a role for small urban communities (Points of Departure) to help people who would like to move into the system of communities, but cannot afford to do so immediately. You said SEE was an "intentional community." What is that? "Intentional communities" are communities which form because of some agreement of basic values and goals. They differ in their political control, ownership, and spirituality. On these dimensions, SEE is egalitarian, has mixed ownership, and is secular. SEE also differs from most intentional communities in that it does not aim for an agrarian existence, but for a high technology existence. While we are highly concerned with what we eat, we think that living in space is going to be possible only through advanced technology. If advanced technology is needed to get to space, why is "Ecovillage" in your name? Although we feel our destiny is in the stars, we believe this implies care about the planet that has given birth to us. When we consider settling elsewhere than Earth, we are considering thousands or millions of years of living in a place, so it is simply necessary to live on a sustainable basis. While most space oriented groups pay little attention to the environment of this planet, and most ecology oriented groups pay little attention to technology, we believe that nature and technology can work together. One of the greatest uses of technology (including biological and social technology and, above all, new technology which starts from a sustainability requirement) is using it to help heal the damage that has been caused to the Earth’s ecology. Of many ecological problems facing the world, we are most likely to be able to do something towards loss of arable land, ground-water depletion and pollution, deforestation and accumulation of municipal wastes Space communities need to be nearly closed systems. It will be necessary to recycle almost everything. SEE can begin to work on closing systems. The water cycle will be an early focus. By developing effective water recycling methods, we can make more effective use of land which gets minimal rainfall. This will allow us to create value where there is little value now, an important theme in our vision. Not only will we be attempting to live in an ecologically balanced way by using our resources more efficiently, but we will be building our housing in an ecologically conscious manner as well. By learning about the implications of what paint and building materials we choose and what inside furnishings are available and how they effect the living environment, we hope to create housing that is not only more affordable than the common house, but healthier as well. Just what potentials do you see in advanced technology for remote communities? Using advanced technology we think remote communities can be made attractive places to live and work, while not being cut off from other people. In particular, information age jobs and businesses can produce a much higher level of personal prosperity and community financial resources than handicraft or agricultural based communities. Low cost computing, sensors and actuators will make automated aquaculture and hydroponics research possible which will ultimately be applicable to more remote settlements on Earth and perhaps to space settlements. Water is a critical resource for remote communities, and we can work now towards a high level of recycling water. Alternate energy technology is becoming cheaper and better understood. Remote communities cannot count on a wire back to a coal or oil burning electric generator. As of now, the economics of alternate energy still favors the oil burners, but increased use and advances in solar collectors and fuel cells may make them economically realistic alternatives. Solar collectors in particular are likely to be useful for communities in space. Physically disconnected, but real time high bandwidth linked groups are a social experiment extremely relevant to space settlement. Settlements in space may well not have a constant distance relationship to each other. There are likely to be size limits to structures which can provide an artificial gravity. Thus a likely future would have many communities in space of a limited size, and a great need for means to coordinate their activities. Are you planning to build rockets? While we have shelves of books on rockets engines, mass drivers, Moon bases, Mars bases, and many technical aspects of moving to space, they are simply beyond our means to work on. We do not have the finances nor the technical expertise. However, there are areas we can work on, such as the economics and sustainability of a remote space community, or how its residents will earn a living. How they will provide a high quality education for their children, and how they will organize affordable heath care, as well as a myriad of other humanistic concerns will be our focus. How did SEE get started? Among the many books outlining how we can get to space, Marshall Savage’s The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps differed in two regards. First, it included a call to action which led to the formation of the First Millennial Foundation (FMF). Second, it included a step on Earth, a floating city called Aquarius. As it became apparent that even the step to Aquarius was well beyond the means and abilities of the people attracted by the call to action, several different routes to the same end were tried. SEE was one of those, asking just what kind of community could be done now. Later, the common thread of remoteness in all the communities contemplated was observed and came to be an organizing notion for the approach that SEE was making to the goal of settling the galaxy. What is the relationship between SEE and the FMF? SEE was originally started by people who were all members of the FMF. The FMF recognized SEE as a cooperating corporation, while noting that they were legally separate organizations. Originally, it seemed like the FMF might attract enough members that SEE would be able to recruit mainly from FMF members. However, to achieve tax exempt status, the FMF members relaxed their relationship to Marshall Savage’s book, and formed another corporation, the Living Universe Foundation (LUF). It was expected that the FMF would continue as an unincorporated association, still maintaining a Web presence. In the mean time, it seems that SEE will do best to recruit directly and from beyond the FMF/LUF. Since the goals of the organizations remain very similar, there is a strong community of interest between the two organizations. What relationships do you expect between SEE and the LUF? We expect a mutually beneficial relationship with LUF and other space oriented organizations. A group that has some members living at SEE has a physical presence, a place its members can visit. It is entirely possible for the low cost facilities at SEE to be used for office space. We have a small "vision museum," and expect to expand this as the community grows. What is it like around SEE? SEE is located in a semi-rural area. The lands to the west and east of us are ranches. The land to the north of us is undeveloped, but for sale. The land to the south of us has a subdivision of about 50 homes. It may well become more developed over time. We think it is much prettier than a city, largely because of the oak woods that occupies the middle half of the tract. We plan for our housing all to have a view of this woods, since it is a major aesthetic feature for us. We also plan to keep the woods as they are aside from firebreaks along the north and south sides. There is undergrowth that supports a lot of wildlife, especially in the (usually dry) creek beds. Preliminary forays suggest that within the woods we can bend a few twigs here and there to make some trails for walking and contemplation. The air is cleaner than the air in most cities. We encourage you to examine photos available here, to write us by regular mail (SEE, P.O. Box 630, Bastrop, TX, 78602) or by email (info@ecospace.org) with any questions you may have, and to come visit. We have a number of guest rooms, and we welcome visitors. How big is SEE likely to get? Studies show that secular intentional communities larger than 100 are rare, so we could conceivably grow as large as 100. Half of the land we bought supports a lovely oak woods, and it turns out that we are falling in love with this woods. Considering the specific land we bought, we think that 20 members (plus some children and visitors) might well be about where we would like to get to. What will happen when SEE reaches its limits? That is when we will start a second community nearby, but slightly more remote. How do you expect to grow? We are advertising to attract people who find the goals attractive and the reality of a community in place convincing evidence of progress toward those goals. Those who are interested enough visit us. Most of those who visit like what they see and some are able to make arrangements to move to SEE. Some others are able to help those who can move financially. Others join space organizations whose visions they were not aware of. How will SEE members interact with the local community? We expect space communities to be part of the whole human economy and society. We will be joining the local PTA, the volunteer fire department, and the Chamber of Commerce. We will know our neighbors, and they will know us. What zoning and building construction regulations affect SEE? The land we bought, by choice of state, county, and land has no restrictions on its use and no building code except for waste disposal. This has two aspects that are important to us. First, it will be possible to combine office space and residential space in a unified living space. Secondly if we convince ourselves that something is safe, we can build it. We expect the optimal housing for remote environments to differ from what is optimal in urban or suburban settings, but cannot predict how, so we prize the freedom of choice. What are the financial requirements for residents? The money required to move to SEE is in two parts. First is the membership fee of $8000. This covers the common portions of the community, such as the land, gravel for the road in, meeting spaces, guest rooms, library, waste disposal, and utility connections. Second is your personal living quarters. There are a number of options on this, ranging upwards from a cost of $4000 for an individual, and the amount depends strongly on just what you want for your living quarters. The members own SEE and so we need to take care of it. This includes annual maintenance costs, which are about ten percent of the initial cash costs. Finally, one of the main ideas behind SEE is many of us putting together money that we can use to back business startups that we think will further the goals of SEE. So there is an expectation that members will invest 10% of their after tax incomes to further the goals of SEE. I can’t afford that now. Is there financial help available? We work to help prospective and new members buy into SEE in various ways. First, subject to our being able to afford it, we accept members who can pay $2000 of the entire membership fee, allowing two years to make arrangements for the rest. During this time, it is also possible for members to rent private quarters. We also attempt to locate people who support the goals of SEE and are willing to make loans to people who want to move to SEE or have moved to SEE. If you want to get a loan, you should expect to have from $2000 to $3000 of the membership fee in order to get a loan for the rest. This money, your equity in your membership fee, is pledged as security for the amount of the loan. I’m interested. How can I learn more about SEE? The best way is to come and visit. Talk to us, and you will get a lot better idea of what we want to do. By looking around, you can judge how well what we have done fits into our plans. We need to schedule visitors, so send us email (info@ecospace.org), or send us regular mail (SEE, P.O. Box 630, Bastrop, TX, 78602) letting us know when you would like to come.
We hope to meet you soon!
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