We believe that a forward-thinking community is a self-organizing, self-managing community in which a flawless flow of resources and connections happens seamlessly.  A community that relies on its own tangible and intangible wealth for growth and safety at its core while interacting, exchanging, and collaborating with other communities and entities.

Project “KOLBEH” envisions a physical space – “The Center of Flow” – beautifully crafted in the heart of local communities where sharing and exchanging of goods and resources happen along with community connections. 

Please note that we are highly independent and by no means connected or affiliated with Smart Cities or Smart Communities concepts or entities.

As mentioned before, KOLBEH is a physical center and the Center of Flow in the heart of a local community.  

We envision placing “Food” as the centerpiece of Flow and as one of KOLBEH’s most essential and significant components – inviting the community to give, receive and participate in not just tackling issues such as food insecurity and climate change but also isolation, community connections, community engagement, and nourishment.

The community includes local businesses, supermarkets as well as organizations and individuals. Community members will be invited and encouraged to offer excess healthy food at their disposal to the community on a random or ongoing basis. The offered food will be available and accessible to everyone on a “Pay as You Wish” basis.  

We are exploring systems that can effectively monitor the incoming and outgoing flow of various food products for optimum quality and efficient circulation. 

Please review the following section to discover the necessity and urgency of this mission.

In 2021, between 720 and 811 million people faced hunger. Yet, one-third of all food produced in the world – approximately 1.3 billion tonnes – was lost or wasted, quite similar to previous years.

It is important to note that wasted food is not just a social or humanitarian concern—it’s an environmental one. When we waste food, we also waste all the energy and water it takes to grow, harvest, transport, and package. And if food goes to the landfill and rots, it produces methane—a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide.

• Globally, if food waste could be represented as its own country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China and the United States.
• About 30 percent of food in American grocery stores is thrown away. US retail stores generate about 16 billion pounds of food waste every year. Wasted food from the retail sector is valued at about twice the amount of profit from food sales.
• Approximately 30-40 percent of the food that farmers around the world produce is never consumed.
• Some countries around the world are ahead of America when it comes to managing food waste. France, for example, requires restaurants to donate food that is at risk of being thrown out but is still safe to eat. Cities in Sweden use food waste to create fuel to power public bus transit. In Denmark, you can use an app to find restaurants and bakeries that are about to close and purchase their remaining food at a fraction of the cost.
• Globally, we waste about 1.4 billion tons of food every year.
• Food takes up more space in US landfills than anything else.
• Americans discard more food than any other country, nearly 40 million tons – or 30-40 percent of the entire US food supply.
• Before the pandemic, 35 million people across America had food insecurity. The number is expected to rise to as much as 50 million in 2022.
• Wasting food contributes to 11 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
• One-third of all food produced is lost or wasted – around 1.3 billion tonnes of food – costing the global economy close to $940 billion each year.
• If one-quarter of the food currently lost or wasted could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people
• Wasting food is worse than total emissions from flying (1.9%), plastic production (3.8%) and oil extraction (3.8%).
• The resources needed to produce the food that becomes lost or wasted have a carbon footprint of about 3.3 billion tons of CO2.

But the good news is that reducing food waste is the 3rd most effective way to address climate change.

Source: Food Waste Facts (https://www.ozharvest.org/food-waste-facts/)

Textile and electronic waste pose significant environmental challenges due to their negative impact throughout their lifecycle.

Much like “Food”, other life necessities including clothing, home appliances, and electronics can be circulated, re-purposed, and made available to the community in order to avoid excessive and harmful wastage.  

Community members, including small businesses and organizations, will be invited and encouraged to bring tangible commodities to KOLBEH or take what they need on a “Pay as You Wish” basis.

An average consumer throws away 70 pounds (31.75 kilograms) of clothing each year. Globally we produce 13 million tons of textile waste each year, 95% of which could be reused or recycled. In addition to all this, the fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world.

The number of garments produced annually has doubled since 2000 and exceeded 100 billion for the first time in recent years.

• By throwing away clothes prematurely, customers miss out on $460 billion of value every year.
• Most clothes that enter the supply chain end up in landfills.
• Clothing manufacturing creates over half a million tonnes of microfibre pollution that ends up in the ocean each year. Half a million tonnes of microfibre is the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.
• The fashion industry is a massive contributor to the 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions released each year.
• The Ellen Macarthur Foundation reports that if this trend continues, over 150 million tonnes of clothing waste will clog landfills by 2050.
• Globally, an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste is created each year. The equivalent of a rubbish truck full of clothes that ends up on landfill sites every second.
• The fashion industry, which is worth $1.5 trillion globally, and employs more than 300 million people along the value chain, is a significant contributor to textile waste & carbon emissions, and is responsible for as much as 10% of all global pollution, making it the second most polluting industry after aviation.
• Landfilled textile waste increased by 40% in the USA between 1999 and 2009.
• Less than 1% of the material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing.
• Textiles account for 22% of total global mixed waste.
• We throw out over 2 billion tons of household material waste globally each year. This includes home appliances, e-waste, and more. That’s more than 60 tons of waste every second.

References

1. https://www.statista.com/topics/5091/apparel-market-worldwide/
2. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/publications/A-New-Textiles-Economy_Full-Report_Updated_1-12-17.pdf
3. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-020-0039-9
4. Peters, G. M., Sandin, G. & Spak, B. Environmental prospects for mixed textile recycling in Sweden. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 7, 11682–11690 (2019).
5. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI%282019%29633143 (2019).
6. http://www.reverseresources.net/about/white-paper
7. Cooklin, G. Garment Technology for Fashion Designers (Blackwell, 1997)
8. https://www.just-style.com/analysis/changing-trends-in-world-textile-and-apparel-trade_id134353.aspx (2018)
9. Wang, L., Li, Y. & He, W. The energy footprint of China’s textile industry: Perspectives from decoupling and decomposition analysis. Energies 10, 1461 (2017)
10. https://quantis-intl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/measuringfashion_globalimpactstudy_full-report_quantis_cwf_2018a.pdf
11. https://unfccc.int/news/un-helps-fashion-industry-shift-to-low-carbon

For many centuries, humankind has defined wealth as money and possessions, and also as one of the most prominent metrics for power and status.

We would like to color outside of those lines. We believe our survival and success as a species will be severely restricted if we perpetuate the old narrative.

Project “KOLBEH” is designed to make basic necessities accessible to all without over-emphasis on citizens’ available or disposable cash while positively impacting the environment.  In pursuit of this practice, we aim to unhinge fixed-value-propositions and price-consciousness cultures.  We also aim to create a container that does not impose and inflict shame – on anyone – due to a shortage of monetary resources when in need of proper nourishment and basic life necessities.  A person might wish to pay ten dollars for an apple or 10 cents.  Either choice is respected. 

But also beyond that, the project is focused on demonstrating the true wealth of communities, not just by monetary measures, but the creativity, contribution, collaboration, compassion and care – the true wealth inherent in each community.

Project “KOLBEH” is unconventional in its approach, focusing on and nurturing the innate richness of communities and not the lack due to stagnation, segregation, and isolation.

By adopting innovative systems within the context of physical centers and beyond, we aim to untap, unleash and support the flow of wealth – both tangible and intangible – in neighborhoods and local geographies on a long-term basis.

Real-world communities are messy, fragmented, and segregated yet full of incredible talent, hidden resources, and untapped potential.  Only a conscious, comprehensive approach with a full understanding of human nature and subtle cues can unleash, contain and cultivate these untapped resources.

As technology advancements create a new culture of change, we aim to tackle fundamental issues utilizing the magic of these technologies in the heart of local communities and within the real-world context.

We are highly invested in the integration and implementation of DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and Open-source AI models in KOLBEH’s core component due to our commitment to open, transparent, secure, and decentralized systems.

The goal is to seamlessly monitor, measure, manage, and automate the flow of goods while paying close attention to the organic nature of human interactions, community engagement, and participation. The grand vision is to meet community members exactly where they are – at their own pace and within their own relevant context and offer them the necessary space and tools to self-manage and self-organize organically. 

Project KOLBEH will begin operation as the ‘Center of Flow’, in the heart of an urban community.  A Physical Locale, accessible to local citizens with a spirit of sharing and an elegant design.

Local businesses, organizations and community members will be invited to participate by offering their excess and dormant resources, be it food, clothing, home essentials AND talent.  They will also be invited to take what they need – on a “Pay as You Wish” basis.  

A dedicated team of staff and volunteers/pioneers will actively facilitate and oversee the continuous flow of goods and food. The objective is to ensure optimal resource replenishment while carefully monitoring both incoming and outgoing flows and to achieve a state of perfect equilibrium.

Project KOLBEH is not meant to be in competition with local stores or markets. It is meant to promote contributions and contributors. We believe that participating businesses will find a stage to promote themselves by showcasing their products as well as exhibiting care and presence in the community.

The project also serves as a catalyst for fostering human connections, acting as a lively ‘community hub.’ Its ultimate aim is to eradicate social isolation, reduce resource and food wastage, and make a positive impact on the environment.

We believe that conventional corporate structures, such as ‘for-profit’ or ‘non-profit,’ fall short when it comes to achieving our ultimate goal of stepping into the future and tackling community-based fundamental issues.

Our work is centered around offering innovative models that better align with this vision.  The closest structural framework to this vision is the Open-source model and culture for which there is no official regulatory body outside of the software development realm.  As such we aspire to pioneer a model that integrates DAOs and Open-source culture, forging a unique structure. 

Real life is dynamic and messy.  The line between measurable results and organic dynamism is blurry.  Very blurry. 

We begin this mission with a full understanding of our urban communities’ current nature of segregation, and disconnections.  We also understand that placing ‘Food’ as the centerpiece of the project can cause much chaos and even anarchy.   

We have designed a specific operational structure for an organic implementation of the project and best practices.  This will only be discussed at a later stage of conversation and discussions. 

Project KOLBEH is not designed to inherit the current societal classifications and categorizations – i.e “the less fortunate, the fortunate, the needy, the charity, etc.”

We believe everyone has something to offer given the right opportunity and that everyone is open and willing to contribute things, talent, and time – given the right context and circumstances. Our goal is to set the stage and create systems to do just that – a ‘community nexus’ and ‘community fund’ to enable and ease the flow of resources within proximity, accessible to all.

We envision the project to be presented with a spirit of elegance, reverence, and abundance – building foundations for self-managing, self-funding systems for long-term sustainability and sustenance.

We also envision expansion within neighboring communities to maximize access and ultimately move towards the development of an interconnected, decentralized grid of sovereign communities.

KOLBEH is a Persian name.  It means “small house”.  It is often used metaphorically to represent a cozy and intimate space, evoking feelings of warmth, simplicity, and a sense of home.  Its symbolism is also associated with community, hearth, and sanctuary. 

As a physical abode, KOLBEH symbolizes our “Center of Flow” in urban communities – the flow of food, basic necessities, talent, and community connections.  Within its defined physicality, It integrates a well-thought-out “System of Flow” that utilizes advanced technology tools in service of organic humanness. 

The project, therefore, requires a reasonable budget for space rentals as well as system architecture, staff and consultancies. 

Please refer to the attached spreadsheet for further details. 

Project KOLBEH is the brainchild of Vida Mas – a system thinker, an IT consultant, and community builder. 

Of Persian origin and having lived in North America and Europe extensively, Vida understands the intricacies of communities and the important role they play in the cultural and environmental dynamics of our world – from East to West as you will.   

Vida is able to easily perceive the Big Picture as well as the fragmented parts and pieces and the significant connections among contributing parts.    

Astute with technological innovations and advancement, Vida synthesizes technology silos and fragmented pieces in order to create a whole that is even bigger than the sum. 

Vida is also in the process of founding a new Operating System for Local Entrepreneurs, Artists, and Freelancers.  The mentioned Operating System is meant to be introduced in tandem with Project KOLBEH.  Both initiatives are purely focused on local developments, sustenance, self-sufficiency, ecological solutions, and ground-up economies.  A new bold step toward interconnected, self-organizing ecosystems. 

All of Vida’s creations are rooted in her extensive personal lived experiences.