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silverj6@mchsi.com
Silver J. H. Jones
Silver J. H. Jones
2008
Copyright © 2002 by Silver (J. H.) Jones. All right, electronic, multimedia, and print, reserved. A publica-
tion of SSPEN - Systemic Symbiotic Planetary Ecovillage Network.
The purpose of this discussion is to provide you with some idea of how much, we the people, have in the
way of resources, and how we can go about reallocating these resources to provide for a long-term sus-
tainable civilization. We begin by estimating what the collective wealth of just one country is - the United
States. We then go on to provide a single example of what an ecovillage might look like.
The estimated total value of the bond market is ~ 30 trillion, but we were unable to determine what per-
centage of this total figure is held by individual investors. We will use 1/3 as a rough estimate of the per-
centage held by individual investors.
As a result of the stock market decline from 1999-2002, the 11.8 trillion figure has now dropped to 8.1
trillion dollars as of September 2002.
The total value of personally held real estate in the U.S.A is 13.4 trillion dollars as of September 2002.
This 33 trillion dollar figure is an important figure which is pertinent to our discussion, because this is
money that is totally under the control of private citizens. It can be moved or reallocated at the personal
discretion of these individuals or households. If we make the worst case assumption, that any attempt to
establish new and innovative ecovillage communities will receive no support from any other source of
funding other than the people actually involved in establishing these communities, this figure then repre-
sents the total pool of money potentially available for reinvestment. This is a substantial sum of
money. We do not anticipate that the entire American public will decide tomorrow to totally reinvent their
lives and reallocate their capital. However, this figure is still an important one, because even a small por-
tion of this sum, reallocated to new purposes, could provide a chance for considerable social change. If
these initial experiments prove successful, we could anticipate larger percentages of this capital pool
flowing into new communities over an extended period of time in this century.
If one were to total up similar figures for countries in the European Economic Union, Australia, Canada,
South America, Asia, and the Middle Eastern nations, we would be looking at an enormously impressive
figure.
• Each project should include a description of the surrounding community, and the facilities available
within that community.
• The current financial status of the land, owned outright, or the portion of the ownership which is mort-
gaged.
Landscape map
Visual materials such as photographs and maps are very important to help others to visualize and under-
stand the size and scope of your project. We would suggest the following visuals be posted on a web site:
• Try to provide an aerial photograph or Google Earth image of the land, minimally, and hopefully a
number of photographs from many different angles.
• Provide photographs taken from the ground of interesting perspectives of the lands topology.
• Shoot some video footage, and place some compressed video clips on the projects web site.
• Provide examples of the different kinds of flora and fauna resident on the land.
Resources
A thorough evaluation of the natural resources resident on the land should be conducted and presented on
a web site. Some examples of resources available to projects consist of the following:
• Land -Nine hundred acres of land consisting of valley with surrounding mountains on three sides in a
U shaped configuration. A creek with running water down the middle of the valley.
• Water - A running creek down the center of the valley. An underground water table of unknown status.
• Wind -Wind on the high hill tops which could be tapped for energy generation.
Community infrastructure
A number of facilities are planned for the facility. Each of the components plays a fundamental role in the
overall symbiotic environment. Those facilities with a (IP - income producing) following their names are
considered as potentially financial income producing facilities:
Meditation Center (IP)
• large central meditation room
• smaller rooms for workshops, training, specialization
• sound systems
• art display
• lighting systems
Conference Center (IP) (real time, broadcast, and reception) (IP and free)
• large main conference center
• multiple teleconferencing screens
• large screen projection facilities
• sound systems
• video systems
• computer systems
• recording systems
• audio and video archiving facility
• smaller rooms for special focus groups
• internet streaming facilities
Internet Network Connection Hub (IP) (broadcast, reception) • outdoor theater (IP or free)
• stage area
• backstage area
• seating area
• standing area
• sound systems
• lighting systems
Non-edible Gardens
• special garden areas
• sculpture
• seating and rest areas
Parking Area
• permanent residents
• guest parking
• truck loading areas
Spa (IP)
• therapeutic baths
• message
• steam room
• skin treatments
• nutritional education center
Waste Management
• septic systems
• gray-water usage and handling
• black-water usage and handling
• recycling collection and storage
• recycle processing
• biohazard area for storing fuels and other potentially harmful substances
Grounds Maintenance
• private road maintenance
• hiking trail maintenance
• tree and brush manicuring
• landscape maintenance
Security Center
• patrol of grounds
• dispute arbitration center
• search and rescue
• emergency notification
Building Maintenance
• painting facilities
Information infrastructure
Internet Network and Control Center (IP)
• computational grid (main processing system)
• clustered servers
• network
• caching servers
• storage
• backup
• satellite communications
• backbone fiber connection (T1, T2, T3)
• metro-fiber distribution
• temperature control
• power regulation
• local intranet
• global extranet
• teleconferencing facilities
• multimedia broadcast
• multimedia reception
• web site servers
• wireless internet service
Medical ecoMall
• If the community was large enough to support its own medical facility, it would be desirable to have a
medical, dental, and veterinary facilities. In smaller ecovillages, these facilities could be part time facili-
ties.
Retail ecoMall
A retail mall could provide an outlet for community business products, to the external surrounding com-
munity, and to the communities citizens. The placement of the mall should be outside the community, or
on the edge of the community, to avoid additional traffic and parking problems.
What we envision here are small malls, and in smaller communities these may be unnecessary, in medium
sized communities they could all be combined into a single complex.
With the addition of an eco-friendly theme, the addition of some clean energy strategies like solar, wind,
and ocean temperature differential generators, and some aquaculture vegetable and fruit farming, and sea
farming and harvesting facility, such a vessel could easily be classified as a proper eco-friendly aquavil-
lage.
The Venus Project (www.thevenusproject.com) designed by Jacque Fresco has also proposed a highly
cybernetic approach to both land based and sea based eco-friendly ecovillages for both land, the shore,
and the ocean.
The oceans are a vast resource that we have not fully explored, and we can no longer afford to continue
this oversight.
A full appraisal of just how much we can do with our oceans without harming their long-term viability
should be a high priority. We must learn to farm our oceans and not just pillage them. We must find ways
to increase our oceans productivity which include replenishing techniques, and we must preserve and pro-
tect the coral reefs which are presently in a serious state of degeneration.
Financial models
It is important to provide a financial plane which lays out the purposed methods by which the community
intends to develop its project financially. The following may apply to many different types of communi-
ties:
• How the funding to purchase the land is going to be handled, if the land has not already been purchase?
Methods of governance
Some broad outlines of how the governance of the land and facilities will be conducted is important. Ob-
viously this can be almost any system the members of the community wish to initiate, and can be changed
and modified at any time, subject to a vote to change the methods of governance by the community mem-
bers.
(not completed)
Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern
which functions to benefit life in all its forms.
The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and
thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their
functions, rather than asking only one yield of them; and of allowing systems to demonstrate their own
evolution.”
Just to give you some idea of what this 576 page book goes into we have provided a copy of the Contents
[3].
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Introduction
The philosophy behind permaculture
Ethics
Permaculture in landscape and society
References
Chapter 7 - Water
Introduction
Regional intervention in the water cycle
Earthworks for water conservation and storage
Chapter 8 - Soils
Introduction
Soils and health
Tribal and traditional soil classifications
The structure of soils
Soil and water elements
Primary nutrients for plants
The distribution of elements in the soil profile
pH and soils
Soil composition
Soil pores and crumb structure
Gaseous content and processes in soils
The soil biota
Difficult soils
Planet analysis for mineral deficiencies; some remedies
Biological indicators of soil and soil conditions
Seed pelleting
Soil erosion
Soil rehabilitation
Soils in house foundations
Life in earth
The respiration of earth
Designers’ checklist
References
Chapter 13 - Aquaculture
Introduction
The case for aquaculture
Some factors affecting total useful yields
Choice of fish species (varieties, food, health) and factors in yield