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| Permaculture - Paraguay |
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A Permaculture (Pecu) is a society that creates a sustainable lifestyle.
The Pecu forms a micro-economy that meets the needs of its residents.
It produces all essential goods and provides all essential services.
The land provides all raw materials for the construction of houses and for a
diverse organic agriculture. The Pecu produces surpluses that are traded for
goods it cannot produce itself.
What is it like to live in a Permaculture?
1. You live in a warm climate, in a house with garden built with organic materials.
You walk to work.
2. You do a moderate amount of work, stress free work, to generate an income
that buys you all the food and essentials. The Pecu guarantees your work and
income.
3. The food is organic. Diversity is enormous. All shops are in walking distance.
If you don´t feel like cooking you eat out. The restaurant serves the same organic
food and you can afford it.
4. Permaculture lifestyle is preventive medicine. The Pecu health service is based on
natural medicine and it is free.
5. Non essentials like cars, micro wave ovens, French perfume, etc. - you can have them
all, you just need to work a bit more. The Pecu buys these non-essentials wholesale
and distributes them on a non-profit bases, hence you pay less than in a free market
economy.
I am initiating this Permaculture in Paraguay.
Paraguay has a subtropical climate, no vulcanos, earthquakes, tsunamis or droughts,
but clean air, water and soil.
The election of Bishop Lugo for President promises political stability and the right
fiscal and administrative conditions needed to create Permaculture Paraguay.
Wilfrid Hartnagel
ceo, infoholix.net
A. Earnings and Expenditure
B. Environment
C. Health care
D. Economic principles
A. Earnings and Expenditure, Q + A.
The table below compares earnings and expenditure in a capitalistic society and Pecu.
In a capitalistic society you would work 40 hours per week to earn 100 and generate debts of 40 as a result (personal and national debt your benevolent government creates on your behalf). In the Pecu you work 20 hours for your needs amounting to 50 and no debt.
1. Mortgage + banking 35 / 1
2. Taxes 34 / 1
3. Health care 21 / 3
4. Motoring + travel 18 / 2
5. Non-essentials 13 / 6
6. Essentials 8 / 12
7. Food 11 / 25
8. Total expenditure 140 / 50
9. Debt 40 / 0
Some Questions and Answers:
Q1: Why are food prices so high in the Pecu?
A1: Low food prices in capitalistic societies are achieved through highly mechanized forms of farming and monocultures. These are often government subsidized. The farmer may obtain less than 10% of the shop price.
90% are for transport, import, wholesale and retail margins.
In the Pecu the farmer receives close to 100%. Transport from field to shop is minimal. The shop forms part of the farm. No further costs occur.
These 100% enable manual farming on a small scale. The farmer has a contract to supply a quantity that society needs at a fixed price. He has no competition, his income is secure but limited. Society benefits from a
secure supply and a huge diversity of fresh, organic food.
This diversity cannot be achieved with capitalistic farming as yield per hectare or acre determines what is grown. This causes some fruit to reach astronomic prices at times, so you don´t by them thereby reducing your
quality of life. If you were to buy them the above figure of 11 would be considerably higher.
In the Pecu mango jam costs the same as cherry jam or any other. The farmer gets as much land as he needs to supply the contracted quantity.
The cost of land is taken out of the equation. Society determines what it wants to use the land for.
B. Environment
Pecu is an environmental project according to the Kyoto Protocol and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
Briefly:
A European company has to reduce its emission of CO2. This may cost them 100 Euro per ton. They will opt for buying Clean Emission Reductions (CER) instead. CER are currently traded at a range of between 11 - 15 Euro/ton at the exchange.
The company can reduce these costs further through early investment in a CDM project.
This enables them to cover their own CER requirements and generate surplus CER which they can sell at the exchange.
The process of generating CER requires a Methodology approved by the Designated National Agencies (DNA) of the seller and buyer countries.
The Methodology measures the quantity of CER generated. This is a fairly easy calculation for a reforestation project with a few kinds of trees, but becomes complex when hundreds of different plants, fruits, vegetables, pastures and trees are involved.
This complexity is rewarded by an early investor who wants to make a social responsible investment whose objective he can identify with rather than buying CER from an anonymous source.
Some Questions and Answers:
Q1: Is Pecu primarily a CDM project?
A1: No, not at all. Generating CER is a consequence of creating a sustainable society.
It coincides with European legislation that promotes CDM projects in developing countries.
Q2: Does Pecu seek to maximise CER generation?
A2: No, in contrast to other CDM projects that seek to optimize CER by reforestation with trees that absorb and store as much CO2 as possible while young and growing the Pecu measures sequestration (absorbtion and storage) of all its agriculture. What is grown depends on the needs of the people, the generation of CER is a byproduct only, but an important one under all socio-economical aspects.
C. Health care
Health care services are an essential provision of any society. The way these are provided, the how and what, are a reflection on society. Nutrition is the basis for health. Pecu teaches Nutrition in its school starting at the earliest level. An educated society will take care of its health, reduce illnesses and the need for treatment and medicine.
Pecu makes available all forms of natural medicine that comply with the the principle of "First do no harm".
Pecu rejects all forms of medicine that have a calculated mortality rate (CT scan=1/1000; mammography=x? arguably 10-300/1000) and cause new illnesses by treating symptoms of one (pharmaceuticals, radio-therapy, chemo-therapy).
The health care system of the Pecu is called WorldWideHealth (WWH). Pecu residents contribute 3% of their incomes, these are distributed to 5 pools:
1. Availability. All therapists and providers receive an equal share.
2. Treatment. Divided into time spent by therapists.
3. Nomination. The patient will nominate therapists he/she wants to use again in future.
4. Medicine. Covers the costs of remedies and equipment.
5. Administration. Includes a balance fund to cover possible underfunding.
WWH adheres to the principle of "ability to pay and nobody should be refused".
Rules and regulations are made by the Pecu assembly.
WWH is not limited to Pecu residents. Any therapist anywhere in the world can join and make him/herself available to patients. Anybody can join as a patient. The administration necessary for global coverage will be created.
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1. Does the idea of living in Permaculture Paraguay inspire your imagination?
As a 1st or 2nd residence?
What skills do you have?
All skills that a society requires to function are needed.
You have questions - I have answers.
Wilfrid Hartnagel
Please visit my blog via the www button
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