Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] The Long Emergency and Financial Planning

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Sean Maley <semaley@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] The Long Emergency and Financial Planning
  • Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 06:57:11 -0800 (PST)

----- Original Message ----
From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr."
<lfl@intrex.net>
To: permaculture
<permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 4, 2007
3:59:35 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] The Long Emergency and Financial
Planning

> Problem locating marketing opportunities for sustainably
grown produce.

Laura C Frazier wrote:

> Hello folks,
>
Our biggest conundrum right now is how to approach
> financial planning
including investing and subsistence living in the
> face of a "long
emergency." We live in the Southeastern USA: North
> Carolina. I wonder
how others are shaping their financial futures at
> this time. What kind
of trends do people foresee?


I know my neighborhood wouldn't be
typical, but the concept would be the same. There are hundreds of families
per
block who all have poor food choices from sources they don't really know much
about. The CSA locked out new members at 80 last year (it was a favor to
accommodate
more than 50), so it wouldn't be outrageous to have hundreds of familiesto
start another CSA with proper promotion (deliver to the park and be on your
way, as
neighborhood volunteers organize the rest).

Rural areas have food, but
poor economics. Urban areas have money, but poor food choices. You'd think
the
two would get together. If only I had the time to do the website to
facilitate
this. With an 8 million person population, it isn't hard to find volunteers
here.
North Carolina may not have a city of this size, but the dynamics should be
the
same. All you need is one poorly served high density neighborhood to package
100 families paying $400 up front in May and then bring them a week of
seasonal
veggies. Would $40,000 make it worth driving into the nearest city once a
week during the summer and some of the fall? Our CSA already comes in for
the farmers markets, so this is just money in their pockets before the seeds
finish sprouting.

Another thought:

http://potluck.com/media/the-unsustainability-and-origins-of-socioeconomic-increase.pdf

Form
a small steady-state economy. One can start with the CSA model and slowly
pool
funding into this "small economy".

Example collection of 100 families
we'll call a rhizome:
1. Each family contributes $100 every month
($10,000/mo or



$120,000/yr).
2. By
lottery or whatever makes sense, pay off each families debt with
each
still paying that debt, but back into the rhizome (rhizome
now
grows ~10% beyond monthly contributions). (+$12,000 year 1,
+$25,200 year 2, +$38,520 year 3, etc actually more, but for
conveying the point of compound growth
> $400,000 after 3 years)
3. While a
target savings approaches, hold monthly potlucks, learn cottage

industry skills, and have fund raisers (sell off your consumer economy

bobbles like the TV, Stereo, record/CD collections, etc).
4. If rhizome
funds exceed debts, consider starting businesses that lead
towards
self-reliance, allow members to leave conventional jobs, or raise

funds for the rhizome. Use the funds to support these ventures. The
idea
will be to take the urban dwellers disproportionately higher
salary and
siphon it from the global economy to secure a network of
private

economies.
5. A first
major rhizome purchase will secure a food producing land base,
if a
CSA farm hasn't already become a part of the rhizome through

partnership (buy out the farm in this case). While not recommended,
the $10,000/mo contributions will support a $1M mortgage if you feel
like we are really close to the edge of the cliff.
6. Work towards transitioning the urban
dwellers $600/mo food budget

into the
rhizome economy.
7. As funds become available, secure homes/pay off member
mortgages
8. Members never charge each other money/time from within the
rhizome
9. Help other rhizomes form and work towards a rhizome
network
10. As the network matures, the labor pool will shrink. A defense
plan will
be needed for the network to prevent conscription by the
global economy.
The race is between a shrinking labor pool, fresh water
supplies, energy
productive capacity, natural disasters, and hierarchy
just plain collapsing.



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page