#20

Science and thinking rationally are taught early on, and arts and thinking creatively are taught at the same time. Flexibility and creativity and dedication to solving problems and knowing or finding facts will be a basic mindset. 

The goal is to create an informed populace that doesn't easily give in to scare tactics or superstition--and that can help make others' problems better as much as ours.

#19

The main exports will be cultural and artisanal--local food, drink, and handcrafted products, or art, literature, plays, movies, music, Olympic athletes, philosophers, inventors, and scientists and other people who think and create. Not raw materials that could be found somewhere else cheaper, bankrupting the country.

All of these would be a natural outgrowth of a community / country based on hand making, arts in life and public space, free and innovative thought, and dedication to improvement of people, space, systems, and the world as a whole. An artsy, forward-thinking, creative society.

#18

Money is de-emphasized.

Internally:

Everyone who is a member if the community is given the same amount for regular work, and extra work is rewarded with extra benefits rather than more money. Food, water, shelter, and power are all taken care of just by being part of the society, and all come from inside, so that no one need to pay for them with anything other than work-time. A lot of stuff is community property--food, most entertainment and tools, etc--so personal property needing money is mostly just stuff we can't make at home. 

The rest of everyone's income goes into the community fund for upkeep and expansion and improvement.

Externally:

There is always a fund for a certain number of people to go to school or travel or work outside the community, so long as they bring their knowledge and experience back. People who work outside mostly do so to feed the fund and the community bank, or to acquire stuff we can't make ourselves.

In daily life, the goal is to not need money for regular interactions, and for the community as a whole to mostly check out of consumerism, except where we would choose--in selling exports, for example, or for funding travel to other countries.

#17

The society is founded on conservation and stewardship, not conquering or using it all up. Leave more and better for the future. Improve the space you inhabit.

#16

Marriages are mutual, never arranged or pressured, and can be as permanent or impermanent as the couple decides--from a year to eternal. Divorces are allowed and not punished, and there's a ceremony of unbinding to give closure and even out any grudges. 

Marriages are between whoever wants to be married, any number, any gender, as long as they're considered adult and everyone is consensual. Probably some lead-up ceremony and coinciding to be sure they want it. Same with divorce.

#15

Fostering.

In cases where parents and kids aren't compatible, or when parents can't care for their kids, a kid can find someone else who will suit them better--so long as they all stay useful and do their work and learn their lessons. It's a way to keep peace and avoid unnecessary conflict, and to keep people integrated and useful to the community, rather than angry, sullen, withdrawn, or violent.

#14

A built in system for expansion / founding further communities when populations get too high to support the goals of the community and the functioning--and the environment's ability to support it.

Also for how the new communities will relate to the mother village.

#13

As much for free from the world as possible--catch water, encourage beneficial animals and insects, wild craft and forest tending for future wild crafting, reuse as much as possible, compost everything, work in systems, as much variety of everything a possible. 

Power from solar and water and wind, and stored on-site, maintained by locals. Augmented with home-made candles and woodfires and lamps. As much of the machines made and maintained at home as possible.

No or little to no debt and obligation to outside systems not in local control.

#12

Centralized bread, meat / butchery, etc; individual eggs and veggies. Everyone has their own garden for that.

#11

Communal food, at least at lunch or dinner; a communal kitchen, and small, basic ones at home. A communal food bank for the winter, so no one starves.

#10

Apprenticeships.

All work that doesn't need special training--maintenance, planting and harvesting, cleanup, etc--is done by everyone. But specialized work is done by people who know their stuff and pass it down to others who show a talent and a wanting to learn it, and is recorded in notebooks so that if something happens and they're not around, apprentices and others can teach themselves without losing knowledge. Redundancies--more than one apprentice, more than one master, journeymen out looking for easier and better and more training, etc. Preserve skills and knowledge.

#9

A town archive to keep the history of the town itself, with space for each family's own history including a family tree and memorials for dead ancestors. A chronicle of town events, kept by a person who's job it is to note births, deaths, marriages, divorces, courts, elections, harvests and plantings, weather events, town construction, animal stats, celebrations, and so on--a diary of the people, kept in the archive.

#8

Seasonally-determined year:

-starts at first planting or at the time of the first animal births; before that, the celebration-preparation

-the planting season

-the tending season

-the first harvest and preservations

-the second harvest in early fall

-the third harvest of the animals, and the preservation of meat

-the resting season, starting with the honoring of ancestors and ending with the longest night

And then, cultural holidays:

-the naming of te babies, for babies over a year old

-womanhood and manhood for teenaged children (they choose which they feel like and do that, and there's in-between shades, too--a place in the society for all genders)

-founding day

-important memorial and celebrations days based on the community history

-eldering day for people who passed beyond childbearing and daily work age during the past year

-celebrations for returning community members who went out for work or school or were shunned

-births and deaths and marriages and divorces

-celebrations for community-important events like new businesses launching or closing, school classes starting or ending, new buildings going up or new tools being made or bought, etc

Basically, a framework of seasonal actions and lots of community celebrations in between, to have something to look forward to and to break the monotony of work.

#7

"Sobremesa" - "a stretch of time after the meal when the entire family, no excuses, stays seated and talks"

--National Geographic Dec 2014 "The Communal Table"

#6

Getting out should be built in--out of the house, but also out into the world, out to historical or culturally significant sites, out Into nature. Out of bad situations by having other places to live, other places to retreat to when things are too rough, a system of support and intervention for being stuck with dangerous people or situations--and a system of ways to avoid having those sorts of situations to begin with.

#5

National Geographic - December 2014 "The Communal Table"