FAQ
Here at the Planetary Republic of Bioregional Sovereignties (PROBS), we believe that we can really design systems for planetary Peace. But what is PROBS?
The Planetary Republic of Bioregional Sovereignties (PROBS) is a vision for humanity: a planetary safety net that protects our shared Earth, while giving real power back to local communities. Think of it like a United Nations that actually has the tools to defend the commons- air, water, soil, space- but instead of centralizing control, it roots sovereignty in bioregions, so people can govern with the land and culture they belong to.
Why is PROBS necessary?
Because the biggest threats we face- the climate crisis, pandemics, natural disasters- they don’t stop at national borders. We need a way to act together as a species and honor the sovereignty of people in the places where they live.
How would PROBS be different from the United Nations?
The UN is a forum for nation-states. PROBS would:
Root sovereignty in bioregions, not political borders- so decision making is tied to ecology and culture, not just old lines on a map.
PROBS is building a post-nationalist world, whereas the UN does not have that same aspiration.
PROBS would uphold a Planetary Bill of Human Rights.
Bioregionalism is the commitment to meet life’s essential needs — food, water, energy, shelter, materials, and culture — from within your bioregion.
Resilience: Meeting needs locally makes communities less vulnerable to global shocks (supply chain collapse, fossil fuel dependence, geopolitical conflict).
Responsibility: When we meet our needs close to home, we also see the impacts. If our soil erodes, rivers dry, or air becomes polluted, we can’t hide it behind imports.
Right scale: It doesn’t mean isolation — bioregions can trade. But the goal is that no bioregion should be unable to feed itself, power itself, and shelter its people from its own ecological base.
Diversity of solutions:
Energy → local solar, wind, micro-hydro, biogas.
Nutrients → regenerative agriculture, compost loops, watershed health.
Materials → prioritizing renewable and recycled local resources.
Culture → rooted in place, telling the story of that land and people.
Do we need to require that all of our needs be met bioregionally?
Not absolutely — but it is a guiding principle.
Priority first: Each bioregion should work to meet its core needs — food, water, shelter, energy, materials — as locally as possible. This builds resilience and accountability.
Solidarity second: Bioregions can still trade and exchange, but trade should be based on sharing abundance, not covering survival gaps. For example: it’s fine for coffee or spices to flow between regions, but no bioregion should depend on fragile global supply chains for basic food or energy.
Practical framing: The goal is that every bioregion could sustain itself if cut off from global trade. Anything beyond that — trade, cultural exchange, surplus sharing — is an added strength, not a crutch.
In short: Bioregional self-reliance is not an iron law, but a compass. The closer we align to it, the stronger and freer humanity becomes.
Who would be “in charge” of PROBS?
Nobody is in charge of PROBS in the old sense. It’s designed as a network, like fungi:
a planetary backbone that holds shared safety, commons, and coordination.
bioregional teams that make decisions rooted in the realities of land and culture.
What is PROBS’ stance on violent revolution?
PROBS is nonviolent by design.
Violence repeats the old story. History shows that violent revolutions often replace one hierarchy with another. They break systems but rarely build the cooperative, inclusive ones humanity needs.
Survival requires trust. PROBS is about creating new ways of governing that people actually trust. That trust can’t be built at gunpoint.
A parallel path. Instead of trying to topple existing states through force, PROBS builds parallel structures — Inclusion Circles, Bioregional Assemblies, Inter-Bioregional Councils, and a Planetary Republic — that gradually grow legitimacy and capacity until they become indispensable.
Defensive, not aggressive. PROBS supports planetary defense (against disasters, collapse, or even external threats), but not armed rebellion against governments.
In short: PROBS is revolutionary in vision, but not in violence. Change comes from building something better — and inviting people to step into it — not through bloodshed.
What would PROBS actually do?
Respond to planetary-scale threats (climate, disasters, asteroids, pandemics).
Manage and protect the commons (air, oceans, atmosphere, space).
Ensure everyone has access to clean water, food, shelter, medicine, transportation, education, and safety.
Support local communities in making their own decisions with real power.
Ensuring that the Planetary Bill of Human Rights is adhered to.
Isn’t this just “world government”?
No. Traditional world government implies centralized power. PROBS is the opposite: it decentralizes most power into the bioregional level, while holding only the minimum planetary functions we all need- like protecting Earth from existential threats (dangers from space, natural disaster response, etc) and ensuring all participating bioregions are adhering to the Planetary Bill of Human Rights.
Won’t Nation States resist this?
At first, yes. But PROBS isn’t about overthrowing nations- it’s about building parallel structures that can solve problems nations struggle to solve alone. As people see PROBS work in practice (clean water, disaster response, local empowerment), support will grow from the ground up until we don’t need nation states anymore and can operate through networks that extend across and between land masses.
Isn’t this too ambitious?
Every big step in history once seemed impossible- democracy, abolition, universal suffrage, space travel. PROBS doesn’t require a sudden revolution; it grows from pilots, local experiments, and networks of trust and mutual aid that gradually link together.
How can we try to prevent corruption and abuse?
By design:
Transparency as default. Decisions, resources, and data are open.
Distributed power. No single point of control- checks and balances come from having multiple bioregions.
Rituals of accountability. Regular reviews, rotation of roles, and a living record of commitments kept.
Who decides what is a bioregion?
Bioregions are based on ecology and culture, not politics. They can be mapped using watersheds, soil zones, and ecosystems, then adapted by local people who actually live there. It’s science + lived identity, not top-down borders.
What about defense and security?
PROBS isn’t a military bloc. Its “defense” is planetary safety: disaster response, climate adaptation, asteroid defense, pandemic coordination. It reduces the need for war by shifting focus from nation-against-nation to species-against-existential-threats.
Won’t powerful elites or corporations capture PROBS?
That risk exists in any system. PROBS reduces it by:
Anchoring decision-making locally, where communities can resist capture.
Making planetary commons legally untouchable for private profit.
Designing transparent open systems where exploitation is harder to hide.
How do we know that Humanity can cooperate at this level?
We already do- through the internet, global science collaborations, climate accords, and humanitarian response networks. PROBS builds on what works, but ultimately reforms structure, resources, and rights to make cooperation reliable.
What happens if some regions don’t join?
That’s ok. PROBS isn’t all-or-nothing. It can start with a few bioregions and expand as results attract others. The model is federation, not coercion- nobody is forced in. That being said, opting out of participation also opts you out from the mutual aid networks that PROBS provides.
What happens if some regions don’t join?
That’s ok. PROBS isn’t all-or-nothing. It can start with a few bioregions and expand as results attract others. The model is federation, not coercion- nobody is forced in. That being said, opting out of participation also opts you out from the mutual aid networks that PROBS provides.
Is this about ideology?
No single ideology owns PROBS. It’s not left vs. right- it’s survival versus collapse. It’s a framework anyone can adapt: indigenous governance, ecological science, open tech, democratic traditions- all have a place here.
What about nuclear weapons?
Nuclear weapons are currently humanity’s most dangerous inheritance. PROBS aims to:
Reduce arsenals step by step.
Secure materials globally (no loose nukes).
Redirect investment into actual planetary defense systems.
Keeping nuclear disassembly as a long-term goal- (not as a naive demand for tomorrow) while maintaining the ability to rapidly reassemble nuclear weapons for planetary defense.
Is PROBS Abolitionist when it comes to prisons and carceral systems?
PROBS is rooted in a Planetary Bill of Human Rights - meaning every human has a right to safety, dignity, and due process. From that starting point:
Yes, PROBS is abolitionist in spirit.
The current carceral model (mass incarceration, punitive warehousing, indefinite detention) is incompatible with planetary human rights.
PROBS supports approaches that heal harm, restore communities, and address root causes rather than simply punish.
But PROBS is also pragmatic.
We recognize that communities need tools to protect people from violence and harm.
That means transitional systems: secure but rehabilitative spaces, not cages-for-profit.
Focus shifts from retribution → restoration, healing, and prevention.
Alternative justice models that PROBS uplifts:
Restorative Justice: bringing together those harmed and those responsible to repair relationships and obligations.
Transformative Justice: Addressing the structural conditions (poverty, trauma, inequality) that create cycles of harm.
Community accountability practices: local, bioregionally-rooted ways of keeping each other safe without relying on mass imprisonment.
Does supporting PROBS qualify as treason?
No. Treason is a very specific legal category: in most countries, including the U.S., it means levying war against your nation or aiding its enemies in armed conflict.
PROBS is not about war. It’s a nonviolent movement that builds parallel structures of cooperation and care.
PROBS is not an enemy. It doesn’t “aid” foreign powers against nations- it seeks to protect all peoples from planetary threats (climate, disasters, pandemics, nuclear risk, asteroids).
Rights-based, not regime-overthrow. PROBS focuses on guaranteeing universal human rights and ecological safety, not dismantling nations. Nations remain free to exist- PROBS just offers a higher layer of coordination. Joining PROBS is an act of loyalty to humanity, not a betrayal of a country.
Is PROBS legal under current international law?
It’s legal to form movements, NGOs, and treaties; PROBS grows like any federation of agreements.
How will PROBS be funded?
PROBS will be funded through pooled planetary funds for commons protection, local contributions, and equitable global resource levies.
Does PROBS aim to replace religions or cultures?
No, it protects diversity- bioregions honor their own traditions within a planetary framework. The only time PROBS would but up against religion or culture is if said religion or culture was causing the Planetary Bill of Human Rights to be infringed upon.
What about people who are displaced from their traditional homelands that are now occupied by others?
The PROBS framework is designed to make space for healing, restoration, and sovereignty in ways current systems often block.
Recognition first. PROBS begins by acknowledging the reality of dispossession and colonization. Bioregional sovereignty means nothing if we ignore who lived with and cared for the land before.
Pathways of return and repair. PROBS is creating structures for:
Land back (where possible).
Shared governance between current residents and displaced peoples.
Cultural and ecological restoration projects that honor traditional knowledge.
Preventing new displacement. By treating land, water, and air as commons and protecting human rights universally, PROBS works to stop future waves of displacement caused by war, climate collapse, or extraction.
Why not just reform the United Nations into PROBS? Why is PROBS necessary?
The UN has done important work- peacekeeping, development goals, humanitarian aid- but it was built in 1945, in a world of empires, Cold War blocs, and state-centric power. Its structure reflects that history, and those limits can’t just be patched over.
Why the UN can’t simply become PROBS:
Nation states only. The UN recognizes governments, not bioregions, Indigenous nations, or displaced peoples. PROBS is built to center those voices.
No real resources. The UN relies on member states for troops, money, and enforcement. It can’t act independently on planetary threats like climate, asteroids, or pandemics. PROBS would hold shared planetary resources directly.
Power imbalance is baked in. The UN Security Council gives veto power to 5 nations- a permanent bottleneck. PROBS is designed as a federation of bioregions, not a hierarchy of a few superpowers.
Reactive, not preventative. The UN responds to crises. PROBS exists to anticipate and prevent existential risks, while also protecting the commons proactively.
Why PROBS is necessary:
Because planetary-scale threats (climate collapse, nuclear risk, pandemics, asteroid impacts) require planetary-scale action, not just dialogue.
Because justice requires giving voice to peoples and ecologies that the UN doesn’t recognize.
Because survival in the 21st century means moving from “nations negotiating” to humanity coordinating.
How does PROBS ensure that everyone can be included in decision-making?
Inclusion circles are designed for multi-channel participation:
Local assemblies (rotating, with childcare and food support).
Digital platforms (forums & surveys, in all languages, accessible even on low bandwidth).
Community stewards who reach out to groups often left out (youth, displaced, disabled, marginalized).
Do Inclusion Circles require full consensus for decisions?
No. PROBS uses consent-based decision making:
A decision moves forward unless someone has a paramount objection.
Disagreements are logged and reviewed later- but small blocks don’t freeze the process.
For irreversible, high-stakes decisions, circles aim for broader consensus, with clear time limits. to avoid paralysis.
What happens in emergencies where there’s no time for the calling of Inclusion Circles?
Each circle designates emergency delegates ahead of time.
Delegates can act fast during crises (disasters, outbreaks, threats).
Every emergency decision is reviewed afterward at the next circle.
If a delegate oversteps, they can be recalled or replaced.
How do we stop Representatives from turning into rulers?
Representatives in PROBS are messengers, not sovereigns:
They carry short-term mandates (36 months max), not blank checks.
They must publish regular reports (digital + oral at assemblies).
Any circle can recall its rep if they betray their mandate.
A strong cultural norm reinforces humility: reps open reports with, “I speak only as entrusted by my circle.”
Here’s a link to our draft Inclusion Circle Charter.
Does PROBS threaten the rights of private property owners?
PROBS makes a distinction between personal property, productive property, and planetary commons.
Personal property (yours to live with):
Homes, clothes, tools, personal belongings — these remain under personal or family stewardship. PROBS does not abolish them.Productive property (yours to use, but with accountability):
Farms, factories, or businesses that directly affect communities or ecosystems are respected, but must operate within bioregional agreements. That means your right to own and use comes with a responsibility to neighbors, workers, and the land.Planetary commons (things that everyone agrees that nobody owns):
Air, water, usufruct plots, oceans, atmosphere, and space cannot be privatized or sold. They are held in trust for all beings, stewarded collectively through PROBS.Nobody maintains the right to engage in practices that pollute a bioregion’s resources.
How can I get involved?
Learn and share: start conversations in your community.
Map your bioregion: Understand the watersheds, soils, and cultures around you.
Connect: join or form a local PROBS circle.
Contribute skills: Storytelling, organizing, research, tech, art, teaching- everyone has a role to contribute.
Where do we begin?
With small teams. PROBS begins as a handful of people clarifying the vision, testing local pilots, and keeping a living record of what works. Over time, these seeds grow into a solidary planetary network.
Read our Five-Stage Plan.