01-01-2010, 07:44 AM
StillHope,
You have made a great start by deciding what it is that you want:
“...practical solution that enables people who want to work to get at least survival minimum...”
From my viewpoint, you have focused on the right place to start: work. Sometimes this means getting paid and sometimes it doesn’t.
I’d not offer you any magic solution, but a few ways and means I have found that do keep me and mine surviving, with or without paid employment:
Believe that what you do matters.
Start simple and learn how to do more.
Eat from the land. Grow food from seeds and plants. Forage for food where it grows wild.
Re-use and re-use some more.
Make what you can. I am not much of a builder or mechanic. However, I find that builders and mechanics do like to eat the food I grow.
Have a community of people who share and share alike – share information about job openings, share food, share ideas, share good times and bad, and share things even though the best things in life are not things. ‘Neighbors’ are more than just people who live next door.
When you buy, Buy Local. The math is that spending a dollar at a locally-owned business puts about 45 cents back into the local economy and spending a dollar at a non-local chain/big-box puts about 15 cents back into the local economy. The philosophical way to put it is, “what comes around goes around.”
Never, ever give up.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
You have made a great start by deciding what it is that you want:
“...practical solution that enables people who want to work to get at least survival minimum...”
From my viewpoint, you have focused on the right place to start: work. Sometimes this means getting paid and sometimes it doesn’t.
I’d not offer you any magic solution, but a few ways and means I have found that do keep me and mine surviving, with or without paid employment:
Believe that what you do matters.
Start simple and learn how to do more.
Eat from the land. Grow food from seeds and plants. Forage for food where it grows wild.
Re-use and re-use some more.
Make what you can. I am not much of a builder or mechanic. However, I find that builders and mechanics do like to eat the food I grow.
Have a community of people who share and share alike – share information about job openings, share food, share ideas, share good times and bad, and share things even though the best things in life are not things. ‘Neighbors’ are more than just people who live next door.
When you buy, Buy Local. The math is that spending a dollar at a locally-owned business puts about 45 cents back into the local economy and spending a dollar at a non-local chain/big-box puts about 15 cents back into the local economy. The philosophical way to put it is, “what comes around goes around.”
Never, ever give up.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park