I’ve grown to know and love Dr. Jack Hickel (son of Gov. Wally Hickle, former Secretary of the Interior under Nixon; father of the economist Jason Hickel), Ian Liang, and the various board members of the Institute of the North. They have a huge mandate there at the Center for the Commons. Their mandate eventually so convicted me that I pursued a short film that would highlight their mission. I wrote, directed, and produced it. My good friend Derek of Flying Treasure did the cinematography and editing.
Alaska’s an owner state. Something more like a medieval commons: every citizen in Alaska, according to section 8 of their constitution, is basically a shareholder in the state. That means when the resources of the state are extracted or developed, the developer owns the people a royalty. Those royalties go into their sovereign wealth fund, which is invested in the world economy, and pays out a dividend from those earnings to the tune of about a thousand to two thousand dollars per citizen every year.
I’ll let the video say more and I’m sure I’ll have more commentary on the future, but suffice to say they’re doing good work and I want to focus on them with a longer piece. I’m currently investigating partnerships and potential sponsorships towards a longer film with an eye on the United Nations here in NYC. If you’d like to help fund that venture — or know someone who would — please drop me a line at lanceschaubert AT gmail DOT com.
I’ll share a few photos from the trips:
These flowers were winners in the Alaska state fair, where they grow a great many absurdly large vegetables, the kind that keep Kafka and King both up at night.
More prop planes and pilot’s licenses per capita than anywhere else.
And of course Tara and I had a good time.
If you want to see the full photo album, go here. But one of the easiest ways you could help is to either make a tax-deductable year-end (or recurring) donation towards the project or subscribe to this Substack as a founder.
Remember that liking this post, restacking it, sharing it and commenting is a free and easy way to help raise awareness for our work. We really think it’s important to push these ideas to the forefront of the conversation in terms of economics, internet, natural resources, and basically any other field that even touches on poverty issues.
I have much, much more to say about this. I’m sure I will eventually, but I’m curious for your feedback in the comments: what do you think about the idea of a commons managed for the maximum benefit of all local stakeholders?
What would your town and county look like in ten years, so managed?
How can we get your local neighbors to collaboratively manage your local resources with this in mind?
And would there, in the end, be any legitimate reason for poverty?
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