Book Contribution for "Regional Future Management" Volume 7: Establishment of a business under Regional economic perspective, Pabst Publisher, Lengerich 2013
By Prof. Dr. Ralf Otterpohl, Technical University of Hamburg (Translated by http://spaceoflovens.weebly.com ) Short version The city can only ensure a permanent and crises-proof supply of clean water, food and a livable environment with a functioning surrounding area. It is urgently necessary to develop concepts for the construction of productive village structures beyond the commuter settlements. To this end, the construction of socially attractive village structures in a beautiful environment is proposed based on highly efficient organic horticulture and many other production- and service facilities. The build-up of the humus layer is of crucial importance in order to improve productivity and to secure water regeneration, reduce flooding and drought, and prevent climate change. The New Villages can ensure their supply and that of the city in a kind of "garden ring" with a number of villages and 150 to 500 inhabitants in each village. By synchronized founder groups with cooperative financing models, the participating entrepreneurs can build an interesting, debt-free basis of life within 10 years, which already includes a significant part of old-age provision. In the medium term, new life perspectives can emerge for millions of people, which help to secure a future without hardship. Urbanization is not sustainable "In 2050, X% of all people will live in cities" and similar statements indicate the unreflected acceptance of a dangerous erroneous trend. Urbanization is the consequence of a globally extremely specialized society, which sees people essentially as consumers and workers. Urbanization creates dependencies on systems that are easily collapsing and which, in any case, only allow acceptable living conditions for a globally quite small minority. There is a lack of social visions for a future with diverse life designs for many. Our prosperity has to be disconnected from such global industrial processes, which are based on violation of basic human rights and the exploitation of our resources. With a seemingly robust economy it was over quickly, even in previously privileged regions of Europe. We are experiencing this in Greece and Spain, for example, where many active people are now going to the country side to be able to produce themselves. The formerly rescuing familial networks of city-country are braking up with every abandoned farm on and on. Agro-chemical farming is a dead end, leading at more and more sites through humus destruction to desertification and thus to climate change. The city needs a surrounding area with ecological horticultural culture and the preservation of fertile soils, only to retain water, food and a good local climate. The currently popular urban gardens are beautiful, but can only be a small part of a locally sustainable city; otherwise they degenerate easily to a fig leaf. Humans need diverse live perspectives, which are based on real value. Wealth and value creation in the rural environment Prosperity can be defined according to the Indian Nobel laureate Aratina Sen on the question "How much freedom can arise?”. Social perspectives, such as the new villages proposed here, are intended to particularly enable prosperity, the good life in freedom. The term “village” is been taken very ambivalent, there are connotations such as “rural idyll”, “no jobs” and “nothing going on”. Aging population and loss of infrastructure are very common currently. How to shape the villages of the future? How can the many millions of often governmentally funded and destroyed jobs on the countryside be regained in a significantly more attractive and ecologically positive way? Requirements for such a strategy can be:
Essential is the clarity about the necessities of life. The production of food requires a lot of work and fertile land. Soil can be improved very quickly, especially with small-part organic horticulture. This more fertile land is both climate regulating and the basis of improved local water supply, due to large scale soil improvement there are overall a good future prospects for many people in the region. Plants grow best if the soil contains very much humus. Dry periods are bridged by a high proportion of humus and heavy rain is sucked up like a sponge. At the same time, the ground water renews itself with excellently filtered water. Humus is the basis of life, of immeasurable value, it gives us life itself. However humus is to feed! Fortunately, the food of the soil is partly what is waste for us, but should be freshly prepared and crushed well. Woody and nutrient-rich bio-waste should form a meaningful mixture. What is important for a good future and rather effortless cultivation are the incredible possibilities of organic intensification, the use of the whole range of plant diversity and organic soil feeding. Even organic agriculture, particularly in horticulture, misses the particularly high yields with optimal soil nutrition. The plant then takes what it needs; it prefers the diet by bacteria and protoplasm (from decomposed living substances). In the meantime, it has been shown with very good science that plants can take up and digest macromolecules and even living bacteria (Paungfoo-Lonhienne et al., 2010). Permaculture gardener Herwig Pommeresche (Humussphere, OLV) has been harvesting 18 kg of onions per m² in South Norway for 18 years, where normally agrochemical as well as classical ecologically 2 to 3 kg can be expected. Similar to the carrots, which grow side by side and almost all are good and long. This is achieved by simple but ingenious feeding of the humus at high humus content. Kitchen waste or green waste is crushed in a blender, passed through a sieve. This gives good liquid fertilizer, while the in millimeters cut pieces are carefully worked into the humus-rich upper soil near the plants approximately once a month, and covered with mulch. From my own experience, I know that this creates an intensive soil life and thus the blackbirds are being enticed from areas, where the soil life is otherwise impoverished. The worms should then be protected. In Alaska there is a gardener who feeds plants with a very concentrated mixture of bacteria and thus also won many national prizes (Evans, 2010). Such approaches are feasible, which opens up new perspectives for the value of horticulture. Real value in synergistic village structures Soil is the basic production factor in the world; soil improvement improves productivity, water reclamation and stabilizes the climate. Property or a hereditary ownership right on a sufficient large piece of land means possible independence and security over generations. The well-known but hardly noticed possibilities of a highly efficient organic production of vegetables and cereals can already provide a basis for the livelihood. There can be a supply of fresh and wholesome products for the village and for the city nearby. In addition, a seasons comprehending supply can be set up via further processing. Beyond food, many other goods can be produced on the basis of crops. For this, old and partly forgotten knowledge can also be used. The following is an incomplete list of possibilities of commercial value added from locally available products. This list should show the possible diversity, but it is also clear that a lot of know-how, perseverance, further development, linking tradition and modernity (global knowledge) will be necessary. In many cases, a financial return in local dimension is rather to be expected, but at the same time partly low costs and ideally in case of high satisfaction in a stimulating social work environment. On some points enormous productivity increases with equal work from the global knowledge are known and noted, see also text and literature list.
This is a list of value creation opportunities with services in rural areas:
For rural resettlement there is much that can be learned from people living in economically disadvantaged regions of the world. So we can learn from West Africa that it is useful to have a low model diversity in cars and trucks that is robust and repairable. This makes maintenance and repair easier, old vehicles become spare parts bearings. Many countries have collective taxis that run a flexible liner service and also take goods with them. There are also "shelve stores", where suppliers are able to rent shelves in a shop operated by all tenants. Many techniques of development cooperation are also usable for us. Then there are the global traditional pre-industrial techniques and crafts that get a new significance in consideration of high energy costs and the desire for independence. A very cost-effective water and waste water infrastructure is important - many rural regions have been impoverished for a long time because the consultants involved in the turnover have built completely over-dimensioned systems. For the New Village, the Global Ecovillage Network (www.gaia.org) can also draw on a wealth of experience; however by a high demand on community not very many people could have been reached so far. Key elements for the realization of Garden Ring villages are funding models, besides the existing political will for a better future of the relevant area and development plans feasible on community level (an extended agricultural settlement privilege, etc.). It is inappropriate for democratic countries that banks have almost unnoticed profited by the "creation" of book money (about 85% of all money) since the introduction of democracy in England. The current discussion can be researched under the term "full money". In the process of lending, citizens and companies place real values against numbers on paper, about 70% of this multiplication of money is of benefit to private banks and not to the country. (Mayer, 2013) Fortunately this is recognized now, so states can easily end the financial crisis and indebtedness trap. On the basis of this knowledge it is possible to negotiate differently with banks. Local authorities and regional banks are to be addressed in particular. On the other hand, banks are not really necessary for village development. The Swedish JAK system (Humonde, 2012) is an interest free save-loan-save- model and can provide freedom from debt within 10 years by minimizing loan costs. This means that the most important part of a real-based old age provision is also completed. It is possible to build an at first small, highly efficient house for 1 to 2 people, with approx. 500 € per month after approx. 2 years, extended by a large greenhouse on perhaps 2500 m² own land and it is also possible to pay off all of this completely in another 8 years! The later neighborhood is getting together to plan and build the houses, also in co-operation with similar villages nearby. Building alone is already creating work. To prevent speculation in the New Village, a linkage of land prices to that of agricultural land makes sense. It is necessary to provide conditions for productive ecological management, as implemented in Lammas (Wales, UK). From the economic criteria, the development of new villages up to garden rings is feasible, it is now the chance for groups of entrepreneurs to build up models like this and develop them further in practice. Literatur: Evans, John (2010): The secret is in the soil, Alaska BounTea: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gh0LJncE9k (access 3.7.2013) Humonde: article about JAK = ground working capital cooperative model from Sweden, www.humonde.de/artikel/10052/ , other systems at Margit Kennedy, www.monneta.org Montgomery, David: Dirt, The Erosion of Civilization, University of California Press 2007 Kennedy, Margrit: Occupy Money: Creating an economy where everybody wins, New Society Publishers (October 30, 2012) see also www.monneta.org , http://peerconomy.org, Wikipedia entry “JAK members bank” Liu, John D.: http://eempc.org/film-channel/2009/12/10/hope-in-changing-climate.html A completely eroded region in the size of Belgium becomes a prosperous village region, Loess Plateau, China (accessed 8.7.2013) Mayer, Thomas: Demokratisches Vollgeld für sicheres Geld, schuldenfreie Staaten und ein Ende der Finanzblasen (Democratic full money for safe money, debt-free states and an end of financial bubbles – only available in German, translator´s note) will be published 2013, see also vollgeld.de Otterpohl, Ralf; Paulenz, Hermann: Barfusshäuschen im Gartenringdorf (Barefoot house in Garden ring village) - Productive rural life can turn agricultural deserts and dying villages into workshops for the future. Oya 18, Jan - Febr 2013, S 24 ff (Only available in German, translator´s note) Paungfoo-Lonhienne, C.; Rentsch, D.; Robatzek, S.; Webb, R.I.; Sagulenko, E; Näsholm, T.; Schmidt, S.; Lonhienne, T.: Turning the Table: Plants Consume Microbes as a Source of Nutrients, PLoS ONE 5(7), July 30, 2010 Pommeresche, Herwig: Humussphäre. Humus – Ein Stoff oder ein System? OLV, 2004 Siehe auch www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSShndKiA3g&feature=youtu.be (German) Rusch, Hans Peter: Bodenfruchtbarkeit. Eine Studie biologischen Denkens. (Soil fertility. A study of biological thinking – German only, translator´s note) OLV, 2004 (Rusch was one of the vary good soil researchers in the 1950s) Savory, Allan: Holistic Planned Grazing, TED Talk: how species-appropriate animal husbandry stops climate change, www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vpTHi7O66pI (accessed 8.7.2013) www.opensourceecology.org www.lammas.org.uk/ecovillage/planning.htm |
AutorRomana, inspired, touched and moved by also in love with the Ringing Cedars Series since 7 years. Native European, now living on her Kin Domain in Cape Breton Island, NS, Canada. Dedicated mom, wife, artist, downtime philosopher and enthusiastic gardener. Archiv
May 2017
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