permaculture

[Dennis Argall <dennisargall@bigpond.com>]

On 23/11/2004, at 10:41 AM, Scott Pittman wrote:

> Dennis this is the same dilemma that German farmers found themselves  
> in Germany back in the 1830's which led to the formation of Financial  
> Co-ops which evolved into what we know today as Credit Unions  We  
> chose this model when we founded the Permaculture Credit Union.
> I also visited a unique banking system in Thailand which was a  
> Farmer's rice bank, in which all the Farmers of a region place a  
> certain percentage of their annual crop into the co-op, where it is  
> stored and can be used by other farmers who have had a bad year as a  
> loan.  Basically both of these systems are user owned and because of  
> their structure there is little to no incentive for usury.
>
> I think that this is a great subject and is often neglected in pc  
> conversations - this is the invisible part that is so critical to the  
> sucess of the visible.
>
> Scott Pittman
Gee, Scott, I signed on to this list after LL had copied that message  
of mine from SANET - and great perseverance brought me to find your  
message at the end of that toilet roll of digest material!! :-) Hope I  
haven't missed response from others.

Thanks for the comment.

I am actually at the point of departure for travel until 5 December,  
Sunday week. Will introduce myself properly when I get back. Will also  
extend discussion of these subjects then.

Also drawn to my attention is the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh:  
http://www.grameen-info.org/

and I am also aware of this cow bank concept:  
http://www.vcn.vnn.vn/duan_detai/ 
COW%20BANK%20PROJECT%20IN%20VIETNAM.htm

I think somewhere along the way there is virtue in the prospect of  
having a bank/banks for dealing with micro-needs not just with  
enthusiasms to chuck money, but also to assist people do those things  
that in permaculture circles we should be familiar with, to minimise  
need for cash and indebtedness. This would be banking of a new kind.  
:-)

I will still have the mail piling up in my absence, will rake through  
and mulch ideas people put forward in the interim if you want  to  
discuss. The actual project in Indonesia is very small and absolutely  
at start-up, so I'm not keen to provide a link to it on the web at this  
point, boat might drown. LL is in though, I'm pleased to say, and can  
discuss.

cheers

Dennis
aplaceof.info