Category: Book

  • Pledging Allegiance to All Humankind

    Pledging Allegiance to All Humankind

    A Personal Tribute to The Venus Project

    By Harald Neslein  Sandø

    What if the future of humanity wasn’t a dystopia to fear, but a vision to build? 

    What if we stopped pledging allegiance to lines on a map, and instead pledged allegiance to each other?

    That’s what The Venus Project (TVP) dares us to imagine — and for some of us, that imagination sparked an entire life path.

    How I Met The Venus Project

    Back in 2008, after years of reflecting on what a truly humane and sustainable world could look like, I discovered something that felt like the answer I had been waiting for. The Venus Project’s vision of a global resource-based economy, guided by science and human well-being rather than profit and politics, struck a deep chord. It didn’t just inspire me — it challenged me. It made my own thoughts and dreams feel suddenly more real.

    Then in 2010, after moving to Sweden, I heard that The Venus Project was doing a World Tour with support from The Zeitgeist Movement (TZM). I had been working in video production, so I reached out to the organizers and asked if they needed someone to film the Stockholm lecture. They did.

    The talk was electrifying — not only because of the ideas presented, but because of the clarity and urgency behind them.

    🎥 You can watch the full 2010 lecture here:  

    👉 The Venus Project in Stockholm (2010)

    Filmed and edited by me, with additional footage from others.

    After the lecture, I had the chance to speak briefly with the founders — Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows. I learned they had been dreaming of turning their vision into a feature film for over 30 years. That stuck with me. I offered to help. I wasn’t a Hollywood screenwriter, but I had a background in video and storytelling, and I suggested that we could co-create the story by inviting input from the global TVP and TZM communities.

    They politely declined. They were holding out for a professional writer from the film industry.

    I respected that. But something had already started growing inside me. A spark I couldn’t ignore. So I did what I had offered them — but on my own. I launched a project called Waking Up, starting with the site wakingupmovie.com, and invited people from the TVP and TZM Facebook groups to collaborate. The response was overwhelming.

    People from around the world wanted to be involved — submitting one idea after the other to the storyline. I made it clear that all contributions were to be donated. This wasn’t about ownership. It was about vision.

    Still, none of the early ideas — including my own — felt quite right. I knew something deeper was needed. Something that went beyond blueprints and utopias. It had to be a real story. A human story.

    So I kept writing. And writing. And writing. <and ended up writing 99% of the screenplay myself

    From Spark to Story

    Years passed. I lived through many changes, including a massive stroke in 2015 that reshaped my entire life. But the idea never left me. And eventually, what started as a movie concept evolved into a novel: Waking Up – a journey towards a new dawn for humanity.  

    Not a feature film — at least not yet — but a short film-and a book so far.. A novel that explores what it might mean to awaken into a world without fabricated scarcity built on a Natural Exchange System instead. A story that imagines not just a better world, but an experience of it — one that still honors the complexity of being human.. 

    The DNA of The Venus Project runs through this book. Though it’s not officially affiliated, it shares the same dream.

    Honoring the Founders

    None of this would have happened without the tireless work of Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows — the visionaries behind The Venus Project.  

    Jacque, with his background in industrial design and systems thinking, spent his life imagining how we could restructure society from the ground up. Not just patch the broken machine — but design a new one that actually serves humanity and the Earth. Roxanne, with her relentless dedication, filmmaking skills, and grounded intelligence, helped turn his vision into something the world could actually see and hear.

    Together, they built not only a physical research center in Venus, Florida, but a philosophy that continues to inspire thousands — including me.

    They didn’t just propose another ideology. They offered a design — a plan rooted in cooperation, technology, and empathy. And they’ve stayed true to that mission for decades.

    Why The Venus Project Still Matters

    Today, as climate chaos worsens and inequality deepens, The Venus Project is more relevant than ever. It dares to say: war, poverty, and human suffering are not inevitable. They’re symptoms of outdated systems — not human nature.

    TVP reminds us that with enough vision, science, and collaboration, we can design a world where everyone thrives. A world where we no longer compete over resources, but share them intelligently. A world not of sacrifice, but of synergy.

    A New Kind of Allegiance

    The phrase “Pledge allegiance to all humankind” isn’t just a slogan. It’s a reorientation. A declaration that we are ready to outgrow tribalism, nationalism, and artificial division.  

    That we are citizens of one Earth — and stewards of each other.

     Closing Words

    This tribute is my thank you. To Jacque. To Roxanne. To everyone who still dares to believe that a better world is not only possible — it’s necessary.

    And maybe, just maybe, it’s already being born through us..

    Let this be my pledge.  

    To all humankind.

    —

    About the Author:  

    Harald Neslein Sandø is a Norwegian writer, filmmaker, and visionary currently living in Spain. His debut novel Waking Up imagines a post-scarcity world awakened from the illusion of money.

    ORDER THE NOVEL HERE
  • Is the World Really Overpopulated – Or Just Badly Organized? Part 2

    Is the World Really Overpopulated – Or Just Badly Organized? Part 2

    A 3-Part Exploration by Harald Neslein Sandø Part 2:

    Designed for Scarcity – How the Current System Wastes Space

      From artificial lack to regenerative design — why our crisis isn’t population, but prioritization.  

    We live on a planet overflowing with possibility, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at how we’ve organized it. Scarcity isn’t something nature designed — it’s something we did. And we did it, mostly, to serve a game that revolves around profit, ownership, and control.

    While millions sleep unhoused in dense urban pockets, vast tracts of land sit idle — hoarded, speculated on, or simply unused because no one can afford the “right” to access it. Our world isn’t overpopulated. It’s misallocated.

    Urban Sprawl vs. Human-Centered Design

    Most modern cities are designed like factories: efficiency over empathy. They sprawl outward in disconnected blobs of housing, commerce, and industry — all separated by highways and concrete. People are packed into lifeless apartments while green space is paved over for parking lots. This isn’t the result of necessity. It’s the result of design rooted in profit, not people.

    Now imagine if we built for connection, not consumption. Walkable communities. Shared gardens. Efficiently designed homes with tiny ecological footprints and massive social potential. That shift alone could reclaim space and sanity for millions.

    Land Ownership: Hoarding by Another Name

    Under current systems, land isn’t shared or stewarded — it’s owned. Often by those who don’t need it, don’t live on it, and don’t use it. Massive private estates, unused investment properties, even entire neighborhoods bought up by hedge funds sit empty while others are told there’s “no housing.” In some countries, a small elite controls more land than millions combined.

    This isn’t a land shortage. This is a gatekeeping problem. We’ve turned access to Earth itself into a commodity, ignoring the fact that we were all born here — all meant to belong.

    Artificial Scarcity: A Feature, Not a Flaw

    Capitalism thrives on controlled access. If something is abundant, it has no price tag. So to maintain profit, abundance must be obscured. Whether it’s food, shelter, or land — the more controlled and restricted the supply, the higher the value.

    This means planned obsolescence in products, restrictive zoning in cities, and “infinite growth” on a finite planet. It’s not sustainable. It’s deliberately unsustainable. The system must keep you feeling like there’s not enough — so you keep buying, borrowing, competing.

    If you’d like to experience life in a world where the system has evolved to honor people, planet, and all living beings, check out the book Waking Up:

    ORDER THE BOOK HERE

    Regenerative Alternatives Already Exist

    The good news? Other ways of living are already being tested — and they work.

    – Eco-villages all over the world show how small, intentional communities can regenerate land, feed themselves, and thrive without waste.

    – Permaculture turns even dry, depleted soil into fertile ground using natural patterns and cooperation.

    – Projects like The Venus Project offer completely NEW cities based on function, sustainability, and human need — not money.

    And they’re not dreams. They’re prototypes. Seeds of a better system growing in the cracks of the old.

     🌍 Main Takeaway:  

    We’re not overpopulated — we’re badly organized.  

    Our crisis isn’t one of population, but of prioritization.

    The Earth is generous. There’s enough land, food, and potential for everyone to live well. What we lack is not space — but a system that values life over leverage. The real scarcity is in our imagination — and in our willingness to rethink what we’ve been told is “normal.” If you yearn to experience a different world than the one we have today with a system like the one described above, you can order he book here:

    ORDER THE BOOK
  • Is the World Really Overpopulated – Or Just Badly Organized?

    Is the World Really Overpopulated – Or Just Badly Organized?

    A 3-Part Exploration by Harald Neslein Sandø

    Part 1: There’s Plenty of Room – We Just Don’t Know It

    > “The world is overpopulated.”  

    > “There are just too many people.”  

    > “We’ve outgrown the planet.”  

    These phrases get repeated so often, they’re rarely questioned. But what if they’re simply not true? What if the real problem isn’t how many we are — but how we’ve chosen to live?

    Let’s take a closer look.

    📏 Earth Has Space — Lots of It

    The Earth’s total land area is about 13 billion hectares. Of that:

    – Around 4.8 billion hectares are used for agriculture (both crops and grazing).

    – Another 1.4 billion hectares is classified as arable — good for growing food.

    That’s over 6.2 billion hectares of productive land. Now divide that by 8 billion people, and you get 0.77 hectares per person — that’s almost 2 acres each.

    For a family of four, that’s 8 acres — a huge area if you think about it. And we’re not even counting forests, mountains, or land that could be re-greened.

    —

    🏡 How Much Do We Actually Need?

    You don’t need acres and acres to survive or even thrive. With modern, regenerative methods like permaculture or biointensive gardening, it’s entirely possible to grow enough food for a family of four on 1,000 to 2,000 square meters — that’s about a quarter to half an acre.

    And it gets even better. Techniques like vertical farming, hydroponics, and aquaponics allow us to grow large amounts of food in very small areas — even indoors or on rooftops. These methods use a fraction of the water, no pesticides, and can produce fresh food year-round, regardless of climate.

    So when we say each person could have 2 acres — we’re not just talking survival. We’re talking abundance. Room for food, nature, beauty, and community — all easily achievable with the tools we already have.

    > In Waking Up, we see exactly this kind of life in action.  

    > Benjamin’s daughter, Amo, lives on re-greened land with her family and descendants. Their home is not a farm in the old sense — but a thriving, self-sustaining ecosystem that provides far more than just food. It’s a place of joy, learning, healing, and deep connection with the Earth.  

    > This glimpse into her life gives readers not just facts, but feeling — a lived experience of what’s possible when land is shared, loved, and designed for life.

    To really get the feel for how it is to live in a world like that, you can order the book here:

    Order

    🏢 We’re Not Overcrowded — Just Over-Concentrated

    If every human on Earth were given a standard 500 m² home lot (big enough for a house and a garden), the entire global population could fit comfortably inside Australia — with room to spare.

    It’s not that the planet is full. It’s that we’ve chosen to cluster into massive cities, many of them surrounded by sprawl, while vast areas lie empty, degraded, hoarded or underused. We’ve concentrated ourselves into pressure-cookers, and then called it “overpopulation.”

    🌍 The Earth Can Be Reborn

    And here’s the best part: even degraded land can be brought back to life.

    Massive re-greening efforts are already underway:

    – The Great Green Wall in Africa aims to restore 8,000 km of drylands across the Sahel.

    – China’s Loess Plateau Project turned a barren, eroded region into green, fertile farmland — and transformed the lives of millions.

    – Saudi Arabia, through its Vision 2030, is planting billions of trees to combat desertification.

    These aren’t pipe dreams. They’re real-world proof that even the most damaged landscapes can become abundant again — when we work with nature instead of against it.

    —

    🚀 Why Go to Mars When We Haven’t Even Tried Earth?

    At the same time, we pour billions into fantasies of colonizing Mars — a dry, radiation-blasted desert planet with no breathable air, no water, and no life.

    Meanwhile, we ignore the fertile, blue miracle we already live on — one that could easily support all of us, if we just organized it differently.

    We don’t need to terraform Mars. We need to reclaim and redesign Earth, something that is infinitely easier than to terraform another planet. Earth already have breathable air, lots of water, flora and fauna, and not to speak of, we’re already here.

    🌱 We Have the Land. We Have the Tools. What Are We Waiting For?

    The idea of overpopulation keeps us small. It convinces us to expect less, fight over crumbs, and see each other as the problem. But the truth is: there’s more than enough — if we choose to share, regenerate, and design for life.

    📖 Want to feel what this future could be like?

    In my novel Waking Up, I take the reader directly into this re-greened, abundant Earth — where humanity has evolved beyond scarcity and competition.  

    Through the eyes of a man who wakes up in this new world, you’ll get to experience what life might feel like after the shift — when we finally begin to live in balance with each other and the planet.

    Coming soon: In Part 2, we’ll dive into why our current systems waste space, hoard land, and create artificial scarcity — and how a better design could provide abundance for all. Subscribe on the bottom to get notified about the next part..

    Order the book here

  • One Month to Go – And Why May 2. Matters More Than You Think

    One Month to Go – And Why May 2. Matters More Than You Think

    In just one month, something deeply personal and wildly hopeful will be released into the world.

    Waking Up is more than a novel. It’s a future I’ve seen my whole life.

    Even as a child, I carried this strange and vivid sense:  

    That I had come from a future where things actually worked.  

    Where people lived in peace, where systems were sane, and where things were built to last—not to break.

    I remember being genuinely baffled—why was everything here so poorly designed?  

    Why did things fall apart so quickly? Why were we constantly at war, both inside and out?  

    It felt like the world had forgotten something essential.  

    And maybe… maybe I came to help it remember..?

    That feeling never left me. It just took decades, a stroke, a divorce, and a long, humbling journey before it found its voice.

    That voice became this book.

    Waking Up follows Benjamin Michaels, a man who wakes up after a long sleep—both literally and spiritually—to find that the world has changed. Radically.  

    Gone are the systems that once kept us small. In their place: a civilization guided by a Natural Exchange System, where humanity has finally remembered who it truly is.

    It’s a story of healing, awakening, and choosing a different path—not just for one person, but for an entire species.

    If you’ve followed my journey—or simply feel a spark of curiosity about the world Waking Up paints—your support right now can make a huge difference.

    The way Amazon works is simple: when many people pre-order or buy a book on the same day, it creates a spike—and Amazon pays attention.  

    That visibility leads to momentum. And that momentum helps this story reach the people who need it.

    So if you were already thinking of getting the book, consider pre-ordering now—or setting a reminder for May 2.

    It may seem small, but it means everything to me. 

    Pre-order is available for the e-book. 

    There will be a paperback option also from April 29, but pre-order is not possible for paperback unfortunately.

    PRE-ORDER THE E-BOOK HERE: 👉 https://books2read.com/u/b50rkA

    Thank you—truly—for being part of this moment. This isn’t just my book. It’s our wake-up call.

  • Why I Wrote Waking Up

    Why I Wrote Waking Up

    A Vision That Wouldn’t Let Go  

    I’ve been fascinated by science fiction for as long as I can remember. As a child, I devoured books and movies about the future, eager to see what lay ahead for humanity. But again and again, I found the same thing—dystopian worlds, bleak landscapes, and civilizations on the verge of collapse – or completely collapsed. The futures imagined in science fiction were just as dark and hopeless as the world I saw on the news.  

    I kept thinking: Can’t anyone imagine a better future than this?  

    I longed for a science fiction story that wasn’t about destruction or oppression but about hope—about what humanity could become if we stopped fighting each other and started working together. But no one seemed to be writing that kind of story. And I never imagined that I would be the one to do it either.  

    Yet, somehow, that’s exactly what happened. Maybe it was my destiny.  

    From an early age, I had an unshakable sense of justice. I was deeply shocked when I first learned what people did to each other—how conflict, exploitation, war and suffering were simply accepted as part of life. It didn’t make sense to me. Why couldn’t we just create a world where everyone had enough?  

    Growing up, I was fortunate in some ways. My mother rented out rooms in our house, which gave us a small financial cushion—what I thought of as “free money.” That experience made me wonder: why couldn’t everyone enjoy something similar? Why did some people struggle while others thrived? That curiosity led me to a deeper question: where does money actually come from? As I explored the monetary system, I realized something crucial—not everyone could own houses to rent, because if everyone did, who would be left to rent them? The system was built on an imbalance, and for some to win, others had to lose.  

    That realization stayed with me for years. Then, when I discovered The Venus Project (TVP) and its resource-based economy (RBE), everything suddenly clicked. Here was a vision of a world where everyone could live rich, fulfilling lives without exploiting anyone else. It was the kind of future I had always imagined, one where humanity had moved beyond scarcity, competition, and money itself.  

    But there was a problem—this kind of world was almost impossible for most people to picture. The world as we know it is built on transactions, debt, and profit. To ask someone to imagine a society that functions without money was like asking a fish to imagine life outside of water.  

    I could imagine it, though. I could see it quite clearly. And I realized that if this vision was ever going to reach people, I had to find a way to present it in a form they could engage with. That’s when I started writing Waking Up.  

    At first, it was a screenplay. I wanted to tell the story through film, the most powerful medium for immersing people in new worlds. But just as I was working on developing it into a full production, life took an unexpected turn. A massive stroke left me unable to move the left side of my body. But luckily, cognitive function was not impaired. What followed was a long, difficult recovery, made even more challenging by a divorce. The film project, which I had once imagined would take only a few years, was suddenly an uncertain dream, indefinitely postponed.  

    But something strange happened. Even in the hospital, when I could do little else, the ideas for Waking Up kept coming. It felt like the story wouldn’t leave me alone—as if it had to be written. I scribbled down ideas whenever I could, one handed filling pages with notes on my phone that I later incorporated into the screenplay. I kept refining it, making it the best possible version of itself.  

    Yet, getting a full movie produced was proving to be nearly impossible. After 14 years of developing the screenplay, I had a realization: if I wanted this story to reach people, I needed another way. That’s when I made the decision to transform it into a novel.  

    The timing of this decision was almost surreal. Years before any usable AI existed, I had written Waking Up with a concept called the GAI— the Global Artificial Intelligence. It was an advanced, benevolent global AI that helped humanity evolve beyond scarcity. At the time, this was pure science fiction. But then, in 2022, ChatGPT was launched, and suddenly, AI became a real, practical tool.  

    When I finally decided to adapt Waking Up into a novel in 2024, it felt as if my own GAI had stepped out of the story and materialized in the real world, ready to assist me. Had I attempted to do the adaptation by myself, it might have taken another 14 years.. Especially with only one hand working.. But with AI’s help, it became a smooth, organic process—one that felt almost inevitable, as if the book was simply meant to be written now.  

    As I wrote, I realized Waking Up was more than just a story. It was an invitation—a way to help people imagine a world where humanity has truly awakened. It isn’t about preaching a specific system or ideology. It’s about showing that another way is possible. A world without war. A world without exploitation. A world where humanity has finally learned to work together, not against each other.  

    Now that the book is finished, I feel like my role has shifted. The story has been told. The next step is to see where it goes. I still dream of seeing Waking Up adapted into a film, and I have ideas for expanding its world into sequels. But above all, I hope the book sparks discussion. I hope it challenges people to rethink what’s possible.  

    Because if enough of us can imagine a better world, maybe—just maybe—we can take steps toward making it real.