Peoples Economy and Eco Design

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PROUT Institute of AustraliaThe purpose of this presentation is to give some practical examples of how people's economy might function in the future.P R Sarkar said: "In drafting the economic plan of a particular region,local engineers, economists, scientists, professionals, technicians,farmers, industrial labourers, intellectuals and other specialistsshould be consulted ... "The above quote of Sarkar includes a wide range of skilled persons inthe drafting of an economic plan - not just economists. Why? Becausepeople's economy is mostly about community design. And design requirespeople with diverse skills - such as practical, technical, creative,analytical and synthetic thinkers and doersPeople's economy can be seen in the development of urban agriculture inCuba over the past decade. The Green Team with the AustralianConservation Foundation also promotes this concept. The 'teikei'cooperatives in Japan are another example. Teikei are agreements set upbetween groups of farmers and city households where farmers sell organicproduce directly to the households and the households give an advanceguarantee that they will buy what the farmers produce. Recently theidea of Teikei has taken off in Europe and the United States where it isknown as "Community Supported Agriculture". There are now more than 1000CSA farms in the United States.A prolific example of people's economy is the green pharmacy conceptwhich has been developed in Cuba and in projects in Brazil. The FutureVision Eco-village in Brazil operates on the slogan "prosperity throughbio-economics". It is a community development project that demonstratesProut's economic principles in action. See the website at:www.visaofuturo.org.br. In Cuba, the green pharmacy concept has beenintegrated into the country's health system.The ZERI foundation is another excellent example of economic design inharmony with nature. The philosophy of this group is that the wastesfrom one enterprise should become the input to another. Thus there is noleakage of waste outside the local area - everything is recycled. TheZERI idea is to cluster enterprises that have the possibility to form aclosed cycle. ZERI have several projects operating in Columbia.One of ZERI's Columbian projects is to increase the efficiency anddecrease the waste from a coffee plantation. Typically coffee waste isdifficult to deal with because it is not easily bio-degradable due tohigh caffeine content. However the group has found a means to treat thewaste and increase grower's revenue at the same time.The system employs the recycling of nutrients and wastes within a coffeeplantation. The coffee waste is used to grow shiitake mushrooms whichfetch a high price in the market. The mushrooms have a capacity to breakdown the coffee waste and make it digestible for cows and pigs. Cowsprovide milk and pigs provide meat for the grower who also has twoproducts to sell. In addition, manure from the animals fuels a biogasdigester which provides the heat to support the mushrooms.

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