Many of you may have already seen this on the Today Show or in the L.A. Times, but we just got hipped to it last night. Two British Entrepreneurs have given the world a new lease on the phrase “it’s cool to care.” So we thought we’d take a closer look.

Mark James and Ben Keene have devised a social living experiment which they will conduct on an island in the South Pacific. After having arranged with the Fijian, Yavusa tribe to lease the island of Vorovoro for a period of three years, these two lads are now recruiting 5,000 citizens of planet Earth to join them on the aptly renamed “Adventure Island.”

While this may sound like the stuff of the internationally popular “Survivor
‘ television series, it is not. You see, all members will be actually only be involved in the running of the Island via the online community. The tribe will only exist in virtual reality. The website will become its virtual headquarters for Island brainstorming and discussions. Chances to visit their tribal “home” will come later, on a first come, first served basis, and only in short spurts.

So how will tribe members interact? Each will have their own profile, their own blog, their own chatroom, and the latest in online community technology. Many more issues and questions will be raised on tribewanted.com as the Adventure Island story evolves.

The website itself was created in January, 2006. Recruitment happens through their website, www.tribewanted.com. As of this writing, 10% of their population goal has been achieved. How does one join? Is there a tight screening process? Are members sent through a rigorous weeding out maze? Have you got to know somebody high up in government? After all, this is about building Utopia, isn’t it. No. Nope, and “not even”. All you really need is a bank account.

According to tribewanted.com, “You join the tribe by visiting the ‘join the tribe’ page. You decide which type of membership you want and then you follow the secure payment instructions through PAYPAL. Your place will be confirmed by email once your payment has cleared.”

There are three types of tribal memberships: Nomads get 1 year’s membership and 7 nights on the island for 120 Pounds ($220.00); Hunters are members for 2 years and can stay for 14 nights for 240 Pounds (about $440.00); and Warriors are member for 3 years and pay 360 Pounds (about $660.00) to stay for 21 nights.

So, let me get this straight: I join a tribe bound by democratic principles of cooperation in order to build a sustainable, vibrant, eco-community on a lush, South Pacific Island with 5,000 other like-minded souls, and the most I can visit my new homeland is 21 days over a three-year period?

Yup.

Just by rough calculation, if the tribe were evenly divided between all three groups, these intrepid “green” entrepreneurs will pocket a cool $2.2 million dollars! Actually, the Yavusra tribe will share some of that coin. And there is the expense of actually building accommodations on Adventure Island. In fact the first call for tribe members is for skilled labor. After all, someone has to build paradise. And it’s a sure bet that Keene and James aren’t going to pay for it.

In a lot of ways, it’s like MySpace meets Big Brother meets Biosphere all meeting at Club Med. And guess what, party people? We get to all watch it unfold on web tv. For tribe members, access to the online show is included in their membership fee. For the rest of us, it’s a one-time fee of $18.00.

Ultimately, is this an altruistic vision for the future? Well to that question, I answer unequivocally, “splunge”. In other words, there are some good things and there are some bad things about it, but I’m not being indecisive.

The notion of creating an eco-community, organized on democratic principles, and having a portion of the price of admission going toward the real Fijian tribe (the Yavusa) currently inhabiting the island does sound cool. But the fact remains that Ben Keene and Mark James are in it for the money. James, whose day job is as a television industry gopher, met Keene through Keene’s adventure travel website, www.careerbreakcafe.com. James admits to being keen on online trends in online communities and bringing those trends to the real world, aka “the market”. Keene has had a ken for sustainable real estate development since his stint supervising volunteer projects in West Africa. James will certainly profit in many more ways with this gig than he ever would have as a TV gopher. After all, he’s already achieved chieftain status–as in call him Chief Marika. And as for Keene, oh, pardon moi, Chief Bengazi, the worst that will happen is that careerbreakcafe.com will suffer sitesurfer overload from the cross-promotion of tribewanted.com on that site.

So is it a scam? Time will tell, and frankly, if my credit card payment goes through, I’ll be telling you all about it from the shores of beautiful Adventure Island.