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  • From: Martin Naylor <martinwnaylor@yahoo.com.au>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] examples of sustainable businesses
  • Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 09:43:18 +1000 (EST)

Hi
Now let's push it further, churches corperations buissneses have been
created to keep people down.

All constucts of the mind have been done to do exactly that[and me and you
back to when we left the trees have done this through our stupid desires and
fears], That is all cultures, leaders of these particular constructs maintain
these no matter what religion or culture.

Understading this brings freedom from these constucts into the reality of
being here right now.

This has to be understood before we move forward, if not we stay in
conflict and confusion

Keep on keeping on

Martin

Sean Maley <semaley@yahoo.com> wrote:
--- Forest Garden wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> We are organizing a group of neighbors who are interested in creating local
> businesses. We plan on having a brainstorming session, networking for
> additional resources, and creating an action list for community support.
>
> We were wondering if there was a speaker or video available that had a
> presentation on examples of what has been done in other areas. Something
> inspiring, and showcasing businesses that can exist after fossil feuls. An
> emphasis on human-scale agriculture would be ideal....
>
> Please let me know if you are aware of such a resource.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Marjory

I saw the Ishmael email on the To: list and thought you may be attempting the
same thing as us
here in NYC. You may have seen some of my prior posts to the permaculture
community regarding
this. Here in NYC, I'm pushing for doing audits of what a given group eats
and uses, then
creating businesses that addresses these major needs. I suspect that real
estate and taxes will
comprise the majority of expenses. Taxes can be reduced by creating
businesses, as you are doing.
However, be careful to not underestimate real estate and subsequent banking.
Even businesses go
under keeping up with "lease" and "rent" payments that always trend up (See
"Progress and Poverty"
by Henry George for how this happens).

Therefore, businesses focusing on keeping the home green when renovating,
cleaning, and dealing
with "pest" issues should be able to leverage real estate opportunities and
lead to a more stable
tribe (more stable, due to owning their own land and homes, which weren't
constructed to require
high maintenance). Also, the things that make having a business doable would
make sense.
Services for taxes, accounting, and marketing will help launch successful
businesses. Beyond
business and real estate, a CSA can be extended to include things like
resources for making
clothes, shoes, transporting members between the city/"farm", and other major
items in our daily
lives. We have more than 36 CSAs in NYC alone (not sure of the tally this
year).

Some things like wine and vinegar production are so simple, that these things
may be easier to
keep "do-it-yourself". The CO2 generated would be better left indoors for
house plants to take
up. However, things like aquaponics would take up too much space in a city
apartment, so alcohol
production/microbrewery business could stack well with fish and herb
production. Like the CSA,
this may only be possible for urban dwellers when they partner with rural
groups. What rural
groups get out of a partnership is the simple fact that there would be too
much work on their own.
Even if foraging became the norm, there would still be a need for culture,
durable goods,
protection, etc.

So far, what we are doing here in NYC would be teaching each other foraging
skills (good foraging
in the mega-city, believe it or not), identifying the best neighborhoods to
infiltrate, and
starting our own businesses at the individual level. When facing $8k/month
rent for a tiny 2BR
apartment, the idea of leaving the day job becomes a threat at the family
level. In response to
the nightmarish real estate pyramid, we have started a charity to help people
make the transition
(Green Phoenix Permaculture, which is Ishmael inspired). I imagine many
Ishmael groups are having
the same discussions.

The NYC_Ishmael yahoo group is most recently discussing the formation of a
church. Although
jarring at first, we have come to realize that corporations, churches, and
other business
constructs have been created to maintain an unfair advantage over any
competing culture, as well
as the people these constructs purport to serve. Therefore, we need to
consider the creation of a
church to protect our efforts to form tribes and create the tribal land
trusts which make rhizome
(anti-hierarchy) living possible. We are also discussing a play based upon
having a "B" contest
with a staged assassination of the winning "B" at the end. We would market
this idea by taking a
page from "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, using a whisper campaign of the
phrase "Who is 'B'?"
Being the home of Broadway, we figure this to be appropriate to our location.

Any way, hope there is something useful here. Feel free to invite people into
your discussion
from NYC_Ishmael or GreenPhoenixPermaculture yahoo groups. The best track
record for me so far
has been Ishmael groups and PDC courses with folks like Geoff Lawton.


-Sean.

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