“Our goal is
to make self-sustaining economic zones in Puerto Rico focused on 21st
Century solutions, putting Puerto Rico at the forefront of the green-tech
revolution. We aim to not only raise funds for the rebuilding of Puerto Rico,
but to set the stage for state of the art infrastructure and an
entrepreneur-friendly environment. With some help, Puerto Rico can foster
startup cities to rival Silicon Valley.”
Advertised
attendees are investors, green tech entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), policy makers, media leaders, policy experts, Georgetown students, SEZ
developers, and “block chain” experts.
Block chain experts are crypto currency
developers. https://blockchain.info/
Special Economic Zones (SEZ) are located within a country’s
national borders and their business and trade laws differ from the rest of the
country. The explanation is that such zones include “increased trade, increased
investment, job creation, and effective administration.” It is creating a
mini-country within a country, independent of the sovereign laws of the land.
Joe McKinney
wrote a blog on December 20, 2017, Rebuilding
Puerto Rico, Tragedy Strikes, which described the financial and economic
situation of Puerto Rico following the disastrous Hurricane Maria from
September 2017, which had caused property damage estimated at over $100 billion
and tremendous loss of life during and after the hurricane.
According to
McKinney, Puerto Rico was destitute prior to the hurricane, due to its sovereign
debt of $70 billion and unfunded pension liabilities exceeding $50 billion. The
U.S. federal government’s $94.4 billion “care package” offset the hurricane
damage. Housing assistance received $31 billion, $17.7 billion for the power
grid, and $14.9 billion for healthcare. https://startupsocieties.com/ssf-blog
Acknowledging
Puerto Rico’s “government lack of fiscal conservatism,” McKinney wrote how a
$300 million contract with a Montana power company to restore the power grid fell
through. He admits that “governance” is the main issue. “When rebuilding the
economy, the problems of governance which originally caused it must be
addressed.”
The Startup
Societies Foundation (SSF) believes that “a green infrastructure must be built
in Puerto Rico and the population must be made wealthier in knowledge, skill,
and resources.” Humanitarian aid and financial help coming from U.S. taxpayers
is expected.
Proposing to
decentralize Puerto Rico, SSF suggests using special economic zones,
eco-conscious societies, sea steading, and other means to control the island.
“Sea
steading is a concept of creating permanent dwellings at sea, called sea steads,
outside of the territory claimed by a government.” Proposed sea steads are
modified cruising vessels, refitted oil platforms, decommissioned anti-aircraft
platforms, and custom-built floating islands. https://www.seasteading.org/
“Eco-conscious
societies” are environmentally friendly, nature-friendly, and green societies
where sustainable development (SD), the lynch-pin of United Nations Agenda
2030, governs all decisions about human activity, services, laws, policies, and
business activity, with reduced, minimal, or no harm upon ecosystems or the
environment.
The
immediate assessed needs for Puerto Rico were as follows:
1. Electrical energy networks by turning
to renewable energy sources.
2. Infrastructure that will resist
natural disasters.
3. A stable, attractive business
environment.
4. Fiscal freedom from accrued debts,
a.k.a. debt forgiveness.
According to
SSF, “100 % green energy [possible by 2027] in the form of biomass, wave
energy, and solar power remain untapped.” Immediate efforts to provide “communication
should come by deploying temporary telecommunication balloons to establish
basic telecom services such SMS and web browsing.” Puerto Rico could become a
poster child of a “startup society.”
Through the powerful
decentralization proposed by SSF, new property rights, new free markets, and new
trade, “Startup societies will essentially be competing for patronage from
citizens worldwide. What will happen in the long term in the startup societies'
paradigm is that individual societies will specialize in their comparatively
advantageous fields.” But countries are already using comparative advantage in
international trade. www.startupsocieites.com/ssf-blog/2017/11/18/the-dutch-disease-the-resource-curse-and-other-dirty-economics-words
On the list
of SSF problems are urban sprawl and farms. “Urban ecosystems are parasitic
upon nearby nature by definition and are thus a large detriment to the environment
at large. Megacities, megalopolies, and their sprawling suburbs and farms are a
problem in the transition to startup societies.”
SSF proposes
the use of CO2-binding concrete, artificial photosynthesis, and vertical
integration such as the laudable architectural high rises in Hong Kong, “using
height to create solutions for societies.” “Vertical farming, padding external
building walls in specially engineered pollutant-recycling moss, the third dimension
is an oft-neglected aspect of environmental sustainability.”
Eco-villages
and eco-tech startups will “reformat the
current settlements large and small” by a “handful of strong-willed people who
may shake people out of the stupor of modern urban life.”
“The
establishing of smaller, more localized jurisdictions will help speed up the
competitive pressure mechanisms that will make citizen begin to convert their
current structures into something resembling nature.” https://startupsocieties.com/ssf-blog/2017/12/11/environmental-impacts-in-the-startup-societies-world-what-can-and-should-be-done
According to
SSF, startup societies may locate in disputed border territories, the wide-open
sea, and even Antarctica. The chosen land must respect jurisdiction and follow
U.N.’s Law of the Sea or the Antarctica Treaty. Then a status for the startup
society must be created within the current legal framework of the current
authority via sanctuary city or special economic zone. The current
authority may be local, federal, individual (president), or a group (Chamber of
Commerce). Lobbying and political maneuvering, persuasion through legal or
fiscal means, will eventually help found a startup society. “The
essence of government is fluid. It can be remade and reshaped into an
infinitely more complex but also streamlined version of itself.” https://www.startupsocieties.com/ssf-blog/2017/12/1/how-you-yes-you-can-build-a-startup-society
Quoting data
from the United Nations, the SSF blog mentions that half of the richest 10
countries in the world (GDP per capita) are city states such as Liechtenstein,
Monaco, and Luxemburg and are easier to manage. The truth is that these city
states produce absolutely nothing of economic value other than as beautiful
domiciles for the rich, the famous, and the titled. https://www.startupsocieties.com/ssf-blog/2017/12/4/on-top-of-the-world-explaining-the-statistical-success-of-modern-city-states
Startup
Cities is eyeing Terra Australis, Antarctica, the southernmost continent, with
5.5 million square miles, driest and coldest, populated by 4,000 people in the summer
and 1,000 in winter, appealing to the frontier spirit of Americans to establish
the SSF vision of tomorrow. The only problem is, the dreamers of IT, financial
technology, and other visionaries, do not have what it takes to be a frontier man
or woman.
According to
SSF, Chile, U.K., New Zealand, Australia, France, and Norway use certain areas
of Antarctica for scientific research but cannot exercise territorial
sovereignty over the borders per Antarctic Treaty System of the 1960s.
Russia and
the U.S. have a “Deep Freeze” unclaimed area between New Zealand and Chile.
Abandoned but maintained stations in this “unclaimed area” are utilized in the summer
months. Startup Societies might use untapped opportunity to colonize this area.
There is plenty of “powerful winds, extensive sunlight, and possible mineral
deposits [which] may make energy a trifling matter, with the right technology.”
SSF is convinced
that Startup Societies are the “future” through “competitive governance,
secession, sea steading, decentralization, and e-government.”
Competitive governance is “decentralized experimentation
driven by entrepreneurs and mobility of people and ideas, new structures that
solve protracted social challenges peacefully.”
The author,
Aleksa Burmazovic, extolls the virtues of frontier exploration - “barren land
out there ripe for people to turn into beautiful gardens of human achievement,”
https://www.startupsocieties.com/ssf-blog/2017/11/16/terra-australis-is-antarctica-the-next-frontier
I was
thinking about all the deserts on the planet with green oases and civilizations
that had died years ago, and all the mirages generated from too much heat and
hot air. I see Startup Societies as the techies’ newest scheme of U.N.’s
Sustainable Development, Green Growth, Smart Growth re-engineering of our
society’s future.
Eco-villages and eco-tech startups will “reformat the current settlements large and small” by a “handful of strong-willed people who may shake people out of the stupor of modern urban life.” Just the kind of governance we need. Maybe strong-willed enough to rule the sun and high winds in Antarctica to generate enough power to keep from freezing to death, supply energy for "artificial photosynthesis" whatever that is (despite absorbing the raw material, CO2, into concrete), and manufacture whatever is needed?
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