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Comment by SneakyMannekuh on August 23, 2012 at 12:11

little update: i received an e-mail yesterday about an ecovillage in southern spain

they apparently send out a request for people to join in 

alas the mail is in dutch but the website is in English: http://www.holisticdecisions.com/

check it out people :D

Comment by SneakyMannekuh on April 25, 2012 at 9:36

http://www.alternet.org/food/155127/occupy_v._whole_foods_activists... 

Comment by siris144 on April 4, 2012 at 14:51

Something else, a blog on family's creating a paradise on earth.

For Dutch: http://paradiseislandfamily.wordpress.com/category/hollandse-vertal...

For English: http://paradiseislandfamily.wordpress.com/category/pisystem-english...

Homepage: http://paradiseislandfamily.wordpress.com/

Comment by SneakyMannekuh on March 7, 2012 at 13:15

the link to the website of Community Supported Agriculture project

http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml

(reading the site as i post this)

Comment by jess green on March 7, 2012 at 12:57

Check the soil association website on how to set up a Community Supported Agriculture project. Takes time, but in the long run a community can create its own food economy.

Comment by rick todd on February 21, 2012 at 17:26

Kalamazoo People Zoo; Yurt village No. 1

An economic community that is a redevelopment of (a) brown field site(s) into (a) permaculture village(s): low cost housing, economic production (work) for both direct consumption and income, a functioning example of sustainability equipped to replicate. An open-ended system comprised of associated non-profit/not-for-profit clubs organized to found and sustain such villages.

The village itself may be owned by a residents association, a church or even an individual and consist of yurt homes, a variety of workshops and a permaculture landscape. The total symbiosis gives it wide appeal, to low-wage workers who would gain an improved quality of life, as would higher earning households, from the community centered lifestyle. Unlike conventional housing, which often designs isolation into the project, yurt villages are a co-housing/new urbanism type development. Accessibility by persons of moderate or little means distinguishes yurt villages from co-housing, which is largely a phenomenon of the professional class. The most important distinction however is economic production integrated with the residential setting.

For securing this rich living environment, work is divided into five groups or clubs (along with an adjunct group or stakeholder) which are some what arbitrary yet span the range of human endeavor:

Guild of Architecture (GA); sees to development of villages, yurt manufactory, furniture making, construction services as well as textiles/tailoring and ceramics…

Union of the Machine (UM): heads, automotive/bicycle; appliances/utilities mechanics and engineering…

Agricultural Cooperative (AC): creates and maintains edible landscape, greenhouses, the storage and preparation of food…

Health Alliance (HA): provides therapies, dental care, midwifery and nursing…

Communication Association (CA): creates content in text, video and audio; education and entertainments…

The affairs of the local village, as such, constitute a sixth, the Social Organization (SO) which differs in being inwardly focused. It is the coordinating agent in each village and is unique to that village.

These categories or clubs and the facilities built to accommodate them are meant to be flexible with product/service development, an ongoing on-site process, in collaboration with other villages as they are developed. Along with communal production, private entrepreneurship will be actively encouraged. At the onset outside employment likely will be necessary, for some always wanted. The clubs run not-for-profit enterprises and charge a fee for access to club equipment for hobby or profit, serving an incubator function for those starting/running a private business and an educational function for all.

The clubs will be managed through a four tier arrangement; youth/learner paid 10, practiced (15), adept (20) and leader (25) with one, two, three and four votes respectively. Half of remuneration is paid in national currency half in credit for village product. Each club chapter self manages, promoting, demoting by this weighted vote. As more villages are formed, all club members wherever located are colleagues. This will facilitate rapid progress in the development of products and processes in all locations. Bonuses are a function of gifts, with the birth dates of all villagers appearing on the work schedule calendars of each club; crowd sourcing just remuneration. In addition to installing foundations for the yurt homes, club houses must be built or existing structures utilized as places to carry on various economic activities. They should come partially equipped in such a way as to allow immediate production with flexibility, to allow the club to shape the work. The position of leader is one that has to be maintained, if the project that someone led on is over and they are not now leading then they return to being an adept. Early on the pay may seem low, but as the variety and quality of village production improves the quality of life improves.

The yurt is the traditional shelter of central Asian nomads and has been adapted by many western manufacturers in Europe and the Americas. They are being used as homes and cabins in all climates; by families, commercial organizations and governments (The state of Michigan maintains yurts in the Porcupine Mts.) The growth of this sector has been rapid over the last fifteen or so years. Yurts appeal to those presently living in trailer/mobile homes because at a similar cost, the yurt is a superior housing form. Similarly, renters of sub-standard units would welcome the comfort of a yurt. As for the village, anyone working in low wage and/or unfulfilling occupations could be expected to find the prospect of doing varied and often interesting work a compelling proposition. Many other segments of society can be expected to be attracted to this life style; university students, the retired, environmental activists; for community, ethical consistency and the cost to benefit comparison with other choices. The yurt then is the ideal housing form for this project for its low cost, aesthetics and true mobility (unlike a so called, mobile home), being thus accessible, attractive and flexible. The ability to move individual homes to a different village one that is a better interpersonal fit, will allow each village to evolve into a very cohesive group. The vocational opportunities offered by this plan far surpass’ what the job market offers to the target segment, especially when it comes to satisfying, meaningful employment. For those who have many options in life the lure is ethical or aesthetic, choosing to give them selves to an entirely different arrangement, that is, at a minimum, is not part of the problem. Solutions (like this one) are what is needed, that get to the heart of the matter; economics.

Political power is controlled (regardless of form of governance) by economic power, which is a function of design. When, as at present, both physical infrastructure and organizational charts are designed to empower the middle man (party B) then as a consequence parties A and C are disempowered. With an infrastructure (both physical and organizational) that suits A and C the costs associated with prioritizing profits for B are saved (A=producer, C=consumer). The working name for this first project (Kalamazoo People Zoo) is not just meant to be cute; it is intend to be a public example of people living right (in an ecological sense). This an open move to disperse economic power which in turn will disseminate political power, (see: Jefferson, Gandi, Tolstoy) by entering into new and better social contracts and refusing the contracts offered by those who can never love us. No crime is being fomented. Indeed, the ultimate goal is to intervene in the ongoing ecocide being perpetrated by the normal functioning of the economy. The making plain the intent to disrupt business as usual is crucial to the raising energetic enthusiasm, needed, because of the urgency of the moment. By attracting a large enough segment of the population, not only will yurts and yurt villages replace trailers and trailer parks, also people will be living more satisfying lives, no longer needy enough to take low wage work (causing wages to rise on the low end). Nothing is wrong with that; yet because of the effect on the vested interests, it is daring.

The competition is huge but weak; trailer manufacturers and trailer parks, through their own image problems, work to sell any alternative. Rentals, on the low end, also tend to offer little that anyone would choose given a choice. Likewise, the employment options generally and especially low wage work offer little that calls for peoples’ full talents or to provide for a satisfying lifestyle. However, on the second level of competition, where the output of the village is competing with other venders, the goods and services offered by the clubs will have to be of the highest quality as well as often not replicable by for-profit providers.

The villages may manage affairs according to the views of its residents in the case of resident owned villages, which is the preferred arrangement, or be run by the owner(s). In either case there is no role for the village, as such, in running the clubs; however, there is an obligation for residency, of participation in at least two clubs, for a minimum total 32 hours a month. However, residency is not necessary to join (work for) the clubs. Between the village administration and the functioning of the clubs there is clear separation; so the clubs can be collaborative even if the village is authoritarian or hierarchical. Villagers will buy their yurt and pay lot rent to the village which again can have any style charter as long as it is compatible with the clubs. Accounts are kept separately, each club being a not-for-profit corporation, the villages being as those living there prefer, in all cases the charter includes a mandate to replicate; for the village to procure land from proceeds of lot rent and clubhouse leases, for the clubs to develop into more and better villages.

As a career path/housing option, only military and religious vocations are comparable in being a total lifestyle choice, with this option having the advantage of being just what is needed at present for defense (economic resiliency) and a vehicle for doing God’s work (it can be promoted to churches as, Acts 2:44 villages). With 10% of Americans living in trailers, at least that number in substandard rentals and most working at jobs in which they find little satisfaction and paltry compensation, the prospects seem quite good. The main obstacles are finding localities that will grant variances and reaching people’s imagination; to conceive of work that is more than a job and a place of residence, as community. Once the procedure of establishing a village has been run through a few times each should be able to found a new community each or every other year leading to surging growth in this form of sustainable living.

This product/service is unlike any others that are marketed to the bottom quarter of society; high quality (due to untapped talent), empowering and ecologically relevant. Habitat for Humanity, helps low income people gain home ownership but, changes none of the context that low income families live in. Labor Ready can provide work for those otherwise shut out, work going nowhere. All mainstream housing and employment options do nothing to address the imperative that we as a whole must turn from a doomed system to sustainable and resilient production and healthy forms of consumption.

Perhaps as much as $100,000 of capital will need to be invested, for each household to be established in the village. This is to provide housing and places for everyone to contribute to the life of the village. An optimal number of households would be between fifty and one hundred. So, if only $1,000,000 were raised for start up a pilot group of ten households could be established. Once the clubs are registered as not for profit companies funds can be raised on-line from supporters of the idea. Locally, groups that hope to set up their own villages following on from the pilot project can be a source of start up capital. Chiefly churches and other religious societies could be expected to welcome ways to face our common dilemmas as community. The Communication Association should set right off with grant writing as this program is so broad and current there will be many grants that are targeted for projects that address social/economic/ecological crises Once village enterprises are running profitably they provide most of the funds for new village development.

"It is evident that whatever we can contribute as individuals which might lead to humanity’s choosing to abandon with sufficient alacrity its futile preoccupation with politics-and the latter’s inevitable recourse only to war and the latter’s negatively accounted "spending"-is dependent upon our continuing health and agility, metaphysical clarity and spontaneous initiative."

R. Buckminster Fuller

First, gather locally those that need little convincing to act in the proposed direction. These people then form into the five clubs plus a committee for, yurt village No. 1. Each club and the village committee then raise funds to begin operations in their respective fields.

All yurt manufactures are solicited, choosing only products that are suitable. An effort should be made to find, a selection of vendors that share a vision of yurt villages, replacing trailers and leading society in a life-style that our progeny can take up and go on perfecting in perpetuity.

Next, upon securing yurts, land and capital, settle. The clubs can then ramp up operations (they should have already begun some venture or ventures during the fund raising phase.)

Then, begin reserving capital and seeking land and people for the next village in this line. Welcome initiatives to start new lines on this model and in association. Synergy can be maximized by being open to all who wish to pursue their vocations within the clubs, but closed to competitors through club held intellectual property rights. Growth in the first decade has to be fast enough to achieve a kind of velocity that by the time there is a reaction by vested interests their inevitable, just business, hard ball tactics fail.

Naturally at some point there will be enough yurt villages long before that point is reached, the clubs will branch out into other housing forms; new and redevelopments. Ultimate success would not be universal adaptation of this or any system but to set such an example of truly sustainable economics on such a scale and of such beauty that others will insist they live equally well, however achieved. When culture shifted from foraging to agriculture and again to our present industrialism it simply became how things are done now, later politics ratified it. Now, we must shift from production for private profit, to the pursuit of perfection in all our endeavors.

"If we pursue limitless ‘growth’ now,

we impose ever-narrower limits on the future.

If we put spending first, we put solvency last.

If we put wants first, we put needs last.

If we put consumption first, we put health last.

If we put money first, we put food last.

If for some spurious reason such as ‘economic growth’ or ‘economic recovery,’ we put people and their comfort first, before nature and land-based economies, then Nature sooner or later will put people last."

Wendell Berry

There will be no solutions from above, neither corporate nor governmental. Government responds to economic power; as for corporations, how could a return to private ownership of politics, corporate ownership of the planet on which we then are only tenants, lead to anything but genocides? As recent events have shown, unlike in good financial times in which the advantage of the rich over all others gradually increases, in a crisis wealth is passed to the top instantly.

It is of no comfort that our civilization is sawing the limb on which it rests and that those that own the saw will fall as well. There is no use in railing at the willfully ignorant; rather, let us move towards the trunk and in from out on this limb. Since, as the economy goes through its machinations the poor in any society will bear the brunt of any slackening of growth and see the least of any boom they will experience this new mode of life as a step up from the first. With American poor, what we have is an example of a global middle class; not sufficiently bribed to be loyal to the present system, come what may; yet with sufficient resources to make the necessary change first; change that all must make before or after the limb breaks.

The timing is auspicious, since many talented people are available, especially available for utilization of their talents, as the full measure of peoples gifts are unwanted by comparative advantage economics. It is those that feel a calling to a vocation that are brought in first, it is their visions that will give all five clubs and the village(s) a sense of purpose. This armature is to be used to stand up myriad ventures, like many that have already begun, with the difference being the focus on growth (aping the corporate game for the purpose of scaling up) and the full spectrum of vocations, rather than the, one off, narrowly focused, fair trade shop or organic farm. It is through this growth and saturation that the advantage can be pressed against unsustainable economic practices; once upwards of 10% of U.S. citizens are no longer employed or customers of wasting industries the profit will have gone out of it (at least here). This on going and burgeoning concerted effort (which this approach is an expression) to change fundamentally how economies function and for whom, is the best way to mitigate the harm from the damage already done and is the only way to safeguard resources for the prosperity of future generations. The illogic, that only through conversion of natural capital into liquid assets can we afford (?) to preserve Nature, can not be left to stand any longer. The theoretical work has been done, numerous pilot and proof of principle projects are up and running all that remains is to scale up and bring down that which will fall in any case, almost empty and largely abandoned or with a full crew.

　

　

Comment by SneakyMannekuh on February 21, 2012 at 14:27

made an appointment with some people who have same ideas, making new communities who are selfrelieance :D

lets see where this gets us, will keep you updated on this

Comment by SneakyMannekuh on February 20, 2012 at 11:19

nice link to the raibow gathering rick mentioned :)

http://www.welcomehere.org/

Comment by SneakyMannekuh on February 20, 2012 at 11:15

nice link of sneaky kabouter :)

http://www.rivendellvillage.org

Comment by SneakyMannekuh on February 17, 2012 at 10:25

"we will need to assemble the means of production as well as completely collapse the money system"

so very true rick, those are primes on my to-do list. i will look into these rainbow gatherings, they sound like a nice starting point.

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