Safety in a Failing Economy

[Sachita]

This is a very interesting article about how a household of 7 people live together on only 21.00 a day.

http://www.verdant.net/sharedhousing.htm

[Sachita]

Originally Posted by Sachita

This is a very interesting article about how a household of 7 people live together on only 21.00 a day.

http://www.verdant.net/sharedhousing.htm

As you read it you'll see that their mortgage is over 2000.00 a month! Can you imagine in other parts of the country where its cheaper?

I know a couple that was laid off from huge companies (IBM-HP) earning over 100K a year. When they were laid off they could no longer afford the huge mortgages and car payments they had. They were forced to foreclose on their homes. They sat down and came up with a great plan and its working. In fact they are in NC, just south of me. Both couples walked away from their homes. They rented a house in the country with a few acres of land. Nothing fancy. They kept ONE car and a truck. Three of them went to work and one stayed home. The jobs they were able to get were nothing close to what they were use to but they easily paid their overhead and two of them work part time. The rest of the time they car pool each other, grow all of their own food and take some to the market. They bought a big oven and one of them bakes bread and other baked goods bringing in a few hundred a week just from those sales.

No one is killing themselves and they will all tell you that they are happier then they have ever been. They are healthier, more at peace and relationships stronger.

[aishah]

yeah, mortgages in oakland are ridiculous. unfortunately that area is still one of the best places to find other radical organizers, sustainability oriented folks, etc. for shared housing - i have lots of friends who live in community living situations out there, especially disabled folks. one of the reasons i love kansas is because of the low cost of living here. when i first moved out here people were trying to talk me to moving out to the bay area because of how much awesome organizing is happening there, but imho the idea that if you are radical or into sustainability or other social justice issues you should move to the bay/portland/toronto/new york is really damaging - that vision is not sustainable for the future. we need to be community building and organizing everywhere, not just four cities in the u.s. even if it is easier to move to where the building is already happening. that's one of the reasons i love the allied media conference (it's a social justice conference that focuses on a lot of different issues - i do disability justice work there - but they have sustainability tracks as well as community tech tracks and other tracks) - allied media projects is doing in detroit what we need to be doing everywhere - actually bringing these principles into our own communities rather than moving where it's already easy to practice them, if that makes any sense.

/ramble

[aishah]

forgot to add - sachita, that is one of the things i love about the model you are building (& sharing with other women). that it is accessible to different communities/built on a model that is actually sustainable. versus a lot of folks i've seen doing sustainability organizing work in a way that is in reality unsustainable in a lot of communities. if that makes any sense.

[Sachita]

Originally Posted by aishah

forgot to add - sachita, that is one of the things i love about the model you are building (& sharing with other women). that it is accessible to different communities/built on a model that is actually sustainable. versus a lot of folks i've seen doing sustainability organizing work in a way that is in reality unsustainable in a lot of communities. if that makes any sense.

not entirely no lol

I know what it needs to be. Who the people are that make it happen, I don't know. I'd love for it to be all queer but I'm more interested in good humans who don't get caught up in labels. I think it would be cool to have a very diversified group of people- kinky, poly,BF, spiritual, whatever. we come together for a much much bigger concept and although different we appreciate everyone's "thing".

My main motivation is to build a small loving community that focuses on food safety and teaching others to do the same. Thats why I am posting here and want to share with all of you. I would love to see more of you ban together and do what I hope to do.

[Sachita]

‎"We live in a technological age and have the notion that every problem has a technological solution. In the process, we've lost the experience of magic in our daily lives. Self-sufficient living allows us to experience magic daily, and it's wonderful: the magic of germination, decomposition, the cycling year, the relationship between soil and plants, the diversity of birds and insects and how they do this great wheeling, complex dance." — Harvey Ussery

No matter where you live or where you are in your journey toward self-sufficient living, you'll be inspired by the accounts and advice shared by Harvey and eight other modern homesteaders in our piece below.




http://www.motherearthnews.com/moder...z12fmzkon.aspx

[dykeumentary]

Originally Posted by Sachita

‎"We live in a technological age and have the notion that every problem has a technological solution. In the process, we've lost the experience of magic in our daily lives. Self-sufficient living allows us to experience magic daily, and it's wonderful: the magic of germination, decomposition, the cycling year, the relationship between soil and plants, the diversity of birds and insects and how they do this great wheeling, complex dance." — Harvey Ussery

No matter where you live or where you are in your journey toward self-sufficient living, you'll be inspired by the accounts and advice shared by Harvey and eight other modern homesteaders in our piece below.


http://www.motherearthnews.com/moder...z12fmzkon.aspx

Just thought since things don't seem to be getting that much better here in NYC, I'd stir the pot and see what people here think:

*Do people who think "government is too big" expect that Wal-Mart, or their hedge fund will rescue them today from their flooded house or to help their elders evacuate?

*How many more disasters will it take until people consume less (generally), and consume more things that are grown locally and sustainably (specifically)?

*Did you know that NYC built their low-income housing in flood zones, and so the poorest and most needy of the area's residents have been without elevators, hot water and heat since Sunday?

*How will poor people in areas with no power vote for elected officials who oppose global corporate capitalism? How will anyone vote if there's no power at their polling place? Oh wait, mega-corporations are people now, so they will be fine to vote.

*What can we learn from this storm, and all the "100 year storms" that happen annually in these days?

[Sachita]

ooooo would love talking about that. I have a bunch of kids I have to prepare a Halloween thing for but will be back!