Summary

Many of us already sense that our current economic system creates inequality and also engenders the ecological destruction of our planet. What we don’t seem to understand is why: for example, why does it lead to financial insecurity for many, even for those who, by all accounts, shouldn’t have to worry about money? And why exactly are we destroying our planet in our frantic conversion of nature into digits and little bits of paper we call money?

One of the main reasons our current economic system doesn’t work for everyone is because the revenue flow from the commons — which include all gifts of nature — has been privatized. All of nature is community wealth, including — and especially — land. People give value to land through the goods and services they provide to their communities. As communities become more attractive to live in, some property owners — but mostly the financial institutions that finance them — then extract this value, and this extraction is one of the root causes of wealth inequality, ecological destruction, and even economic recessions.

While land must certainly be privately used in order to be used most effectively, its financial value is created by the community and therefore belongs to the community. Whenever people use land, they can reimburse their local communities for their exclusive use of it through community land contributions that approximate the market rental value of land.

To transition from a land ownership model to a land stewardship model, local governments and community land trusts would compensate existing property owners for the land value portion of their properties, or offer a transition plan to acquire exclusive use of land without owning its financial value. These contributions would then be redistributed to all community members in the form of a Universal Basic Income — to prevent gentrification, reduce wealth inequality, and create a truly fair economy for all.