TemptyTrust

TemptyTrust is a system for cultivating cooperation in residential or cohabitation contexts in order to live more sustainably. There is much that households, apartment blocks and communities can do to find ways to use and maintain their facilities more efficiently to produce consumables; usually food. In doing so, they can develop better social connections. The purpose of TemptyTrust is to build and maintain trust through transparent self-monitoring by providing a means to account for consumption and contribution among people who have (initially?) tenuous connections. TemptyTrust means;

• ‘temptation’ – it’s tempting to trust; it’s tempting to cheat
• ‘temporary’ – because it is only a pathway to trust, so the system can be discarded when it has fulfilled its function, or be returned to when needed
• ‘trust’ – belief in the reliability of others; this is the goal (when it is reached, the accounting system is always there to revert back to if needed)
• ‘trust’ – the arrangement whereby someone or group is nominally responsible for property, funds and maintenance of the accounting system for the good of the participants, hence all finances of the Foundation are available on demand, showing income and expenses.

At it’s core, TemptyTrust is a set of spreadsheets, a pricelist, and guiding documents for both lessors (or curator) and lessees, depending on the community.

Participants’ labour is credited at an agreed rate and is used to consume the produce they create, measured in LETS Units. The idea is to contribute as much as one consumes.

To order the TemptyTrust package of documents, send a message through the Contact Page. The current fee is $50. You will receive the following documents:

• Documents for Lessors/Curators:
  • Guide to TemptyTrust
  • Member Details form
  • Task Allocation chart
  • Household Finances spreadsheet
  • Offsite Fortnightly Invoice spreadsheet
  • Manager and Offsite Fortnightly spreadsheet
• Documents for Lessees/Employees
  • About (Your Property) Brief
  • Welcome and Farewell to (Your Property)
  • Communicating, Working and Meeting at (Your Property)
  • Working at (Your Property)
  • Introduction to TemptyTrust for Lessees

Note that these are generic forms, and will need to be altered to suit your living situation.

How Western civilisation might collapse – Homer-Dixon
Not a lost cause. Even as we weather the coming stresses of climate change, population growth and dropping energy returns, we can maintain our societies and better them. But that requires resisting the very natural urge, when confronted with such overwhelming pressures, to become less cooperative, less generous and less open to reason.
“The question is, how can we manage to preserve some kind of humane world as we make our way through these changes?”