You kept me busy reading this long post :-)
It is nice to hear your side of things. I have to let some elements sink but the vision is good.
I don't believe in getting returns on agriculture, goods production etc though unless all labour is voluntary and non paid which is an utopia.
What is your vision on inhabitants doing their things like e.g. Sam does massages, Jef makes Jams, Louis does yoga courses and why not Annabel rents out a teepee she bought? I believe more in the returns on these kind of activities, will they contribute a percentage to the community?
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First, thank you for the upvoted and your wise words!
I whole heartedly agree, selling agricultural produce is the most wasteful and pollutiing of possible revenues. In fact, my dream is to one day have a small scale delivery system, entirely clean energy. Something along the lines of a tesla fleet and sailboats, or the new electric aeroplanes.. But that's a long way down the road.
As for the time when the village has members living comfortably and ready to earn revenue in their own endeavours, that is definitely the goal. But in the beginning, there are mostly expenses, and not very much for people to live off the land yet. Ie, a house, water supply, food production, etc.
At this stage, the revenue will be used to fund the founding and infrastructure (not the concrete kind yeah..?) necessary to start the project.
But I do agree, food sale is the last resort, after hosting, retreats, festivals, courses, and various small scale one off projects. I believe this will be more than enough, but, as the saying goes, hope for the best prepare for the worse? If we have to sell produce just to kick start this thing, I will not refuse..
yep like michael says i agree.. anyone can and should follow their passions.. whatever everyone does on their own...we will also have a food production system going on on a pretty big scale,, at least enough to feed 100 people.. If we make more than that we can and should trade it, or if not sell it.. I would imagine that we would be able to trade off any surpluses with our neighbours and communities that are around us who may also have surplus of things we dont have.. we can of course gift some too if there are people nearby in need...
As for return, I hope and plan for the Ecovillage to be a place where no one pays a percentage to the village. Instead, people invest their money in their community.. For instance, I want a new compost area in the village, and I have some money I made from my massage. I can take that money, and buy the community a new compost area. (bad example, as you would build one, but you get what I mean..)
I see it as Fukuokas compost theory. Instead of going around, chopping down, building compost piles, turning them, and then going around spreading it throughout, why not just chop and drop, and let the ground do the rest?
Instead of going around, asking people for money, meeting, deciding what to do with the money, going around and giving it back to the people to do the work, why not instead just let people keep their money, and they will invest it themselves.
This may sound naive, utopian, and downright rediculous (as some people have told me) but I've seen it work.
In fact, it's the only way to ensure quality work. When people a feel invested, not just with their buck, but with their heart.
we have to chat some of this out ,, maybe this is one point that we see things differently,, im not 100% if i am reading it right.,. are you saying that anyone making money does not share any of it with ecoVillage?
Instead they just ' do their own thing; in terms of financing their ideas?
What i like about sharing some of the percentage back is:
Theres more actually, but that gives you an idea of my thinking.
Also worth mentioning that the process of spreading this out can be done quite easily if its though through well. First off is anyone making money would give a portion of profits direct to ecoVillage rather than to individuals (unless they are paying people for their time (staff).. THat makes that step very easy. Then ecoVillage will distribute that to the community as appropriate (this part needs some careful thought)..
Maybe something along the lines of:
1 40% of the money received is distributed equally among all members
Thats just a rough idea.. but you get the idea.
this might be one to chat verbally on as its gets a tad complicated
some people will do, some people not, that can create a bit of tension if the people that do it, expect everybody to do it but they shouldn't expect that, it's gonna be interesting :-)
So, how multiracial, multinational are you thinking? Will you be very oriented towards people from your country or do you think that will absolutely not be the case? It is my experience that Hebrew finds Hebrew and it quickly becomes a Tel Aviv experience. The problem being that not many non Israeli's speak Hebrew and it is also not easy to learn.