What we do
Our planet is one small world in one small solar system. We think everyone on it deserves to understand how it works, for free, and a say in how we look after it.
The Local Solar System Foundation is a humanity-run project on planet Earth: people on our one planet, working in the open to understand it and look after it. We explain the science behind our planet’s biggest problems, we teach space and science for free in as many languages as we can, and we fund it all with transparent, pre-screened crypto donations. Every public address and every donation is listed on our transparency page.
We are organised as a DAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation: people who make decisions openly under written rules, inside a legal wrapper that is being formed.
Problems get solved for good when the solution also makes economic sense for the people who must adopt it.
That is what our tagline, Applying Capitalism to Science, means.
Four initiatives, one mission
Initiatives are areas of work and participation. They are not separate funds.
| Initiative | Focus |
|---|---|
| Blue | Urgent environmental threats: ocean and water pollution, plastics, air quality, sea-level rise. |
| Green | Energy and natural resources: resource use, population and consumption (educational), low-footprint wind energy. |
| Red | Quality of life: the Light Initiative for night-sky preservation, visual pollution, and the science of slowing and reversing ageing. |
| Magenta | Free space learning, our current priority: courses and interactive tools about the solar system and the space economy. |
How we work
We start at the source. Cleaning up after a problem is necessary, but it never ends. We look for the drivers: the supply chains, rules and economics that produce pollution in the first place. We will not solve ocean plastic by collecting bottles from beaches. We solve it by understanding why the bottles get there, and changing that.
We look from every angle. Science, industry, finance and regulation each see a problem differently. We aim to be a knowledgeable bridge between them, explaining the evidence to businesses, policymakers and the public in terms each can act on.
We teach, for free. Knowledge is the most durable tool there is. Everything we publish is free to read and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, so anyone can copy, translate and share it. Our learning platform needs no account.
We are open about money. Every donation is screened, reviewed and published, without personal data. See how donations work and the public ledger.
How we are funded
Everything here is free, and always will be. The Local Solar System Foundation began as a project in 2017, organised, without limitation, as a DAO and through other legal and trading entities, and its founders have funded it ever since, as they still do today. We are here to share our solar system: the small blue world we live on and the worlds that turn beside it in the dark. For us, as founders, teaching it is a joy and a privilege. Any financial help keeps it running day to day: the servers, the tools and the research, and the volunteers who take the work out into the world.
How we are organised
We are working to form a non-profit legal entity with limited liability, registered in a well-regulated jurisdiction, so that the treasury, contracts and intellectual property belong to the organisation and not to individuals. A Swiss association or foundation is a long-term goal once donations justify it. Until then, no foundation exists, and we do not use that word to describe ourselves.
Read more about governance, including roles, voting and the Council.
How the project is funded
Today the founders fund the project themselves, as they always have since it began in 2017, and they still pay many costs with their own money. That money does not go through the Treasury, so it is not on the blockchain or on our public page. Donations help the project do more: every donation goes to the Treasury, which keeps it running and growing: servers, software and licences, equipment, research, testing and prototypes, specialist help, suppliers and service providers, and legal, compliance and administrative costs.
Our volunteers give their time for free. Sometimes the work happens in a particular place, such as a dark-sky evening, a beach clean-up or a field survey. Then the Treasury may pay for their expenses or their travel. In this way, volunteers can help without spending their own money. Donations may not be tax-deductible in your jurisdiction: tax treatment depends on where you live and on your circumstances, so please ask a local adviser.
We will publish an annual public report on our activities and finances.
Get involved
You can help without giving money. Translate a lesson, review an explainer, write code, organise a dark-sky evening or start a local chapter. See the contribution board.