Energy Security for Economic Empowerment

 Affordable, attractive , comfortable sustainable housing is definitely a piece of the big solution for homelessness, but by far not the only piece. If you are going to get enough impact to make a real difference, you have to be able to provide employment or opportunity for self-employment for a significant portion of the local unemployed population. Building tiny houses will not do that soon or by itself. Neither will can  recycling and craft co-ops, though those are still worthy efforts which I believe are necessary to provide diversity of opportunity in a healthy economy.

The only area I can see with enough economic power for a lift in local prosperity big enough to support really significant solutions for homelessness and poverty, is energy security. We are slaves to the electric outlet and the gas pump.Wind and solar are great where they work best, but will work some almost anywhere. The problem is that it takes a long term investment to get payback from solar investment in cloudy places like where we live.
 Excess nutrient heavy biomass such as food waste, agricultural and animal waste and sewage can all be used to make fuel as part of the process of cleaning them up.Ethanol and methane biogas are both produced as part of a composting process and can be burned to generate electricity, heat or provide clean air fuel for cooking. Making biofuels from waste not only cleans it up from a health and odor perspective, but it also reduces greenhouse gas production from the biomass dramatically compared to current methods, especially when you consider every gallon of transportation fuel you are not importing from thousands of mile away.
 This kind of biofuels production has been going on in China, India and some parts of Europe for decades. There's proven technology, and it's low cost, because most of its customers are low income. There is a 750 stall public restroom in India that powers a school and a medical clinic. The organisation that created this marvel has brought toilets to 10 million people in the time they have existed. Alcohol distilleries have had a couple of hundred years of design and development behind them. What's been missing in the past in this country has been will and education, and both have finally begun to reach enough people to create a groundswell. If we could manage a waste to fuels initiative around here it could make a big enough difference to support many other enterprises.

Leaving Room for the Little Guy

Facilitating access of low-income and homeless people to resources for subsistence and entrepreneurship-

Thrift store pricing and waste stream management-
Lately, here in Eugene, prices in the thrift stores have become a serious barrier for people trying to step up out of the lowest levels of poverty. Clothes and household items often cost the same or more than they would purchased new at Walmart. For those of us who can't afford Walmart, this is a big problem. There are far fewer places to find used clothing by the pound, and fabric and craft materials are increasingly being diverted into charity projects and out of the hands of budding business people. There is also the strange fact that Eugene area thrift store prices are higher than their equivalents in other places in Oregon, not universally but notably.

The reasons for the price increases are easy enough to understand. Charities that operate thrift stores are seeing big increases in demand for their sevices, and one good way to get funding for those services is to sell stuff at higher prices. There is also a large new market for upscale thrift. Many middle income people are feeling the crunch of the down economy and shopping at thrift stores because they need to down-size their shopping habits, and choose not to shop at big box stores. Thrift stores that provide a comfortable environment for middle class distressed shoppers tend to prosper. Also, the employees doing the pricing often have no idea what appropriate prices are for the myriad different goods they are pricing.

So, given these factors, how do we leave room for the little guy? How do we make sure poor families can still get what they need from thrift stores, crafters and others can have access to the waste stream to bootstrap their way into business, and thrift stores can enhance the prosperity of the entire community?

1. Separate vintage and designer goods from the rest of the stream and sell those at market prices to maintain funding needs of charities.Further separate out distressed vintage and designer goods to sell at reduced prices for refurbishers and repurposers.Collect vintage and antique items out of the stream made in specific countries, especially from the U.S. Offer these online. Make vintage and antique stuff Made in U.S.A the primary focus, and have sidelines with international and historical themes depending on where the items came from.
2. Sell normal clothes and household items at reasonable prices determined by periodic price surveys of area retailers or others TBD. Normal stuff at thrift stores should never cost more than it would at Walmart. Most of the time it should be less.
3. Before sending clothing, linens and fabrics off to other countries, offer them and whatever else makes sense in an "as is" store environment with rock bottom and by the pound prices, so struggling poor and bootstrap businesses have access to their means of subsistence.
4. When recycling of donated materials is done in-house, process the goods in such a way that they become raw materials for new goods. It's great if these raw materials become the foundation of new in-house fund raising projects, but also maintain access to local crafters through appropriate pricing, education and availability within the stores.
5. Contract with local organisations and educators to provide crafting and other healthy thrifty living classes and tutorial materials at thrift stores.
6. Establish in store and online" store fronts" (display areas) on etsy, ebay and sell stuff on craigslist and any other relevant popular sites to sell craft materials recovered from the waste stream and art made from repurposed materials such as handmade quilts and artist and crafter created instructions and furniture etc. (check out Etsy and Novica to get some good ideas of the possibilities)

Examples of #4

1. Cut the fronts off logo t-shirts for quilt blocks. Sell in bundles.
2. Spiral cut remainder of t-shirts to make yarn, shred to make stuffing and sell as craft materials
3. Market worn and damaged blankets as quilt batting
4. Sell damaged denim clothing as craft material
5. Make glass tiles specifically sized for mosaic work and stained glass effects
6. Make anything at all out of waste window glass (architectural brick?)
7. Create a real version of the pseudomythical bottle brick, a food or beverage container designed to also be used as a building material and thermal mass system.

The Moveable Cottage

My dear friend Bruce suggested I write this one As If it had already happened, so I'm giving it a try. This is my hope. You the reader can help make it a reality.

The Moveable Cottage is an opensource design community dedicated to designing, perfecting and building very small living spaces classed as campers and travel trailers. Our website features information on what is legal in many local areas, as well as how to access that information yourself for areas not yet researched by our community. Many different sets of plans for designs that have been perfected by our community are available for download, as well as opportunities to participate in designing and perfecting new ones.We also provide information and cooperative technical support for those looking to go into the business of building moveable cottages.

We have a special focus on resource efficiency, use of recycled and repurposed materials and low cost construction. As well as making great homes away from home and guesting space at home, many of our designs are also used to house people who have been economically or environmentally displaced in a variety of locations all over the U.S., and increasingly in other places as well.

We are proud to say that our design work has facilitated the formation of more than 50 successful small businesses dedicated to building moveable cottages suited to the conditions and legal requirements in their local areas.

All this began here in Eugene, Oregon out of an urgent need for housing for the huge and growing numbers of economically displaced persons already present by early 2012. We needed homes for people that they could be proud of and comfortable in, to help bring people back into participation in making a pleasant and healthy social environment. Beautiful, affordable, moveable cottages enabled us to integrate displaced people into our community in ways that respect the needs of both new and established residents.

Bridge Society

The Bridge Society
It is in the shelter of each other that the people live—Irish proverb

1.Community commons space (tea room, dance floor, child play space, late night quiet place)

2.Student , traveler and transitional housing/lodging for elders , families ,and others (hostel/inn)

3.Food security and health education and action (gardening, food processing and preservation to cooking , exercise and beyond, (1 in 3 diabetic within 15 years, food travels over 1500 miles between farm and table, conviviality builds community)

4.Personal and family development and communication education ( opportunity to learn to work and play well with others))

5.Community meeting space (physical, virtual and melded via skype, livestreaming etc.)

6.“Maker” shop (see Maker movement) ideally including desktop CNC, 3-D printing and anything else needed for rapid prototyping, small machine shop, wood shop,metal shop, sewing...sufficient to design,
make and repair tools and objects of use of many kinds

7.Strong web presence for scheduling community activities on and off site and virtual, maintaining guests and members ties to home communities, real and virtual, internet business activities...

8.Micro-business incubation and development for locally oriented community scale businesses. When I say locally oriented and community scale, I don't mean such a business could never grow to serve larger markets, but that they would focus on filling a special kind of local need. These needs are in the area of improving community food, resource and energy security. Another way to say it would be: These businesses market products and services to help local physical and virtual communities to become more sustainable, both environmentally and socially.


Relocalising Center
Localising Community Center
Renaissance Center
????


Structure as a 501c10 non-profit fraternal organization, with some functions being funded as fraternal activites, others as charitable and educational activities.

501c 10 groups are an easy fit for operating for profit businesses where the profits go to charity. Their limitation and strength is that the for-profit businesses they are allowed to operate without tax on income are only those which serve members.
-For-profit charity has powerful potential as a change engine that serves the public good, especially if the missions, services and products of the for-profit businesses are designed to help in the process of moving towards a sustainable future. (think local and regional rainwater catchment equipment and services, home and community food security and health products and services...) Make profit and do good on both sides of the bottom line. Target donations to charities working in the same field of interest, and truly make your living building the good world we can all live in.
Occupy Your Future!