A Narrative from Ambassador Josiah Haltom
My friends, my neighbors. When we speak of this shift—from guarding property to stewarding life—the most practical question that arises is, “But how does it function? Where does the energy, the resource, the sustenance for such a system come from, if not from the old engine of debt and extraction?”
Let me tell you how our Trust breathes. It does not run on currency that measures debt, but on a current that carries life. We call it the Current of Vital Accord.
In the old paradigm, money was created as a promise to pay back with interest—a born-in debt. It was scarce by design. Police were funded by taxes on this scarcity, charged with protecting the piles of it, and thus they became guardians of inequality. Their very existence was a line item in a municipal budget of lack.
Our Trust is not funded. It is nourished. And it nourishes in return. It exists within a Gratuity Economy—not gratuity as in a tip, but as in a state of gratitude and reciprocity. Here is how it flows:
- The Gratitude Ledger (The “Why” of Contribution)
We long ago stopped taxingproperty. We now cultivate participation. Each household, each enterprise, contributes to the Common Vitality Pool—but not under threat of lien or penalty. Their contribution is proportional to their health and resilience, measured by their own energy surplus, not their monetary hoarding. A thriving bakery contributes fresh bread and apprenticeship hours. A solar array contributes energy credits. A software collective contributes network tools. A retired teacher contributes wisdom hours.
· The Stewards’ Role: They are the visible nodes of this network. Their primary duty is to know the community’s assets and needs intimately. They help match surplus to deficit, preventing the scarcities that lead to conflict. Their presence is a reminder of our shared reservoir of strength.
- Resource Corridors & the Metabolic Balance Sheet
The Trust maintains a dynamic,living map—a Metabolic Balance Sheet. This tracks not financial capital, but vital capitals: social, intellectual, natural, and experiential. Is the community’s soil rich? Is its water clean? Are its young people mentored? Are its elders honored? Are stories being shared?
· The Stewards’ Role: They are the community’s senses and nervous system. They monitor these corridors. If they see a water quality indicator drop, they mobilize the hydro-kin (our water-tending specialists). If they sense a rise in interpersonal friction in a housing cluster, they coordinate with conflict mediators and social gardeners. Their “interventions” are acts of re-balancing.
- The Steward Seed Network (The “How” of Becoming a Steward)
One does notapply to be a steward. One is recognized. It is a calling, noticed by the community. Young people who show empathy, ecological aptitude, and emotional intelligence are invited into apprenticeships. They learn restorative practices, non-violent communication, basic ecology, first aid, and conflict mediation. Their training is an investment from the Common Vitality Pool, and their service is a return on that investment.
· Their “Pay”: Stewards receive a Life Grant—not a wage. Their housing, food, healthcare, education, and access to tools and transport are provided for by the community they serve. They want for nothing, so their focus can be entirely on service, not survival. Their wealth is measured in the health of their biome.
A Simple Example: The Falling Tree
In the old town,a storm knocks a large tree onto a house.
· Debt-Corp Response: Homeowner files an insurance claim (a debt contract). An adjuster assesses monetary damage. Police maybe tape off the “crime scene” of an act of God. A contractor, seeking profit, removes the tree at high cost. The wood is hauled to a landfill. The system sees only loss and monetary transfer.
· Trust Response: A steward is alerted. They assess: Is anyone hurt? (Well-being first). They mobilize the community woodworkers, who see the fallen tree not as damage, but as a sudden bounty of timber. The tree is carefully milled. Some wood repairs the house. The rest is used for a new bench at the community garden, or to craft toys for the children. The sawdust goes to the garden beds. The community’s total resource resilience increases through the skillful, loving processing of the disturbance. The steward’s role was to connect, mobilize, and synthesize.
So, you see, the “currency” is trust itself, circulating as care, competence, and reciprocal obligation. The “funding” is the ongoing, conscious redirection of our collective surplus energy away from hoarding and toward the loops of nourishment.
We moved from a model of “How much can we extract?” to one of “How much can we circulate?” The stewards are the gardeners of that circulation. They don’t carry batons to enforce the rules of a dying game. They carry knowledge, empathy, and tools to help tend the endless, beautiful, complex garden of our shared life.
Would you like to walk with me? I can show you the new guildhalls where our stewards learn. You can feel the difference in the air.
Ambassador Josiah Haltom
Steward Emeritus, Altruistic Community Trust of the Watershed
Mr. Coo Delivers a Narrative on Origins of the Guardians of Unity – Stewards of Life
About The Author
