We Already Have It In Us: How Voluntarism is Building the New World.
Get this: On a remote beach in the Galápagos Islands, a group of people gathers under the sun, bending down to pick up pieces of plastic and other trash. They are not paid. There is no boss. No clock ticking. Just hands moving, hearts aligned, a shared sense of purpose. This scene has repeated itself for over 30 years, thanks to a volunteer program inviting ordinary people to protect one of the most extraordinary places on Earth.
This is not a dream of a better future. This is happening — right now.
And it’s not just in Galápagos.
Across the globe, millions of us are already doing the work of the New Earth, without waiting for permission or paychecks. It’s not radical. It’s not revolutionary. It’s not niche. It’s mainstream.
NES – the Natural Exchange System
In my book Waking Up: A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity, the Natural Exchange System (NES) is the system that has replaced money and trading. It mimics nature in the sense that there is no reciprocal exchange. Every part does its thing and is fulfilled in doing it. Plants produce food and oxygen. Bees collect nectar from flowers and so on. Humans do what feels most natural and interesting for them without any monetary transactions. It’s based on a natural flow of contribution — where people offer their time, skills, and care because they want to, not because they have to. It’s a system of inspired action, grounded in trust and meaning.
🌱 The Spirit of NES is Already Here
But we don’t need to wait for the future to experience the idea of a Natural Exchange System (NES) as described in the book. We simply need to see it — and recognize it for what it is.
Here are just a few powerful examples:
- 🌲 The Student Conservation Association (USA) has seen over 50,000 volunteers contribute more than 2 million hours each year to trail building, habitat restoration, and conservation research.
- 🌳 Bergwaldprojekt (Europe) mobilizes volunteers to maintain forests and ecosystems across Germany, Switzerland, and Austria — reconnecting people with the Earth.
- 🐨 Conservation Volunteers Australia engages over 10,000 local and 2,000 international volunteers annually in hands-on environmental work — from replanting forests to rescuing native species.
- 🌍 The Green Belt Movement (Kenya), founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, has empowered women to plant over 51 million trees, rebuilding ecosystems and communities together.
- 🇦🇲 Armenia Tree Project has planted over 8 million trees since 1994 — thanks largely to unpaid, inspired citizens.
- 💪 Voluntarism: A Massive, Measurable Force
If you think voluntarism is just “extra,” think again. The economic value of unpaid work is staggering:
🟢 In the United States alone, volunteers donated approximately 6.9 billion hours in 2024.
🟢 Each hour is valued at $34.79, according to Independent Sector.
🟢 That’s a total contribution worth over $167 billion annually — more than the GDP of many countries.
And that’s just one country.
Globally, the value of volunteer work is so vast it rivals national economies. According to international studies, if we tallied up all the unpaid hours humans give to each other and the planet every year, it would exceed the GDPs of most nations on Earth.
Let that sink in.
We’re not just talking about potential anymore — we’re talking about proof.
❤️ We Want to Contribute
Why do people do this?
Not for profit.
Not for status.
Not for survival.
We do it because it feels right. Because it connects us. Because it matters.
This is what the future looks like.
A world where contribution comes not from guilt or obligation, but from joy and connection. A world where we aren’t driven by scarcity — but by meaning.
🌟 The Call of the New World
The volunteers of Galápagos didn’t wait for NES to be formalized. They simply acted. So did the forest protectors of Europe. So did the open-source coders, the disaster relief teams, the community gardeners, the school lunch helpers, the animal rescuers.
NES is already here.
It lives in the spaces where money doesn’t reach — but humanity does.
The world of Waking Up isn’t some distant fantasy. It’s the world we’re already building, hour by hour, heart by heart. If you want to dive into this future and experience it through the eyes of Benjamin Michaels, you can order the book here.
So let’s name it.
Let’s claim it.
And let’s grow it — together.
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