New Year - May You Enjoy Abundance & Joy Throughout 2010

HAPPY CHRISTMAS - Celine Dion's Version of John Lennon's Song

May you enjoy peace, prosperity, and love during the holiday season and beyond.

ENJOY NATURE WITH SATCHMO

====HOW TO RETROFIT SUBURBIA====

How can people prepare for severe shortages, climate changes & financial chaos when most of their wealth is tied up in their homes?

The following excerpts were also posted on Life After the Oil Crash Forum: http://www.doomers.us/forum2/index.php/topic,48742.0.html

RETROFITTING SUBURBIA

by Jim Costa, Milton, FL

I have spent the past five years planning how just such a community could be organized and built from scratch. The goal was to put 500 persons on 200 acres to live sustainably as described on the forum. Food, utilities, housing, medical assistance, advanced education would be provided. During all this process, no one would profit from another as it would be a cooperative venture. See web site at: http://www.co-opvillagefoundation.org/ or http://www.prospervillage.org.

It was hoped that one Village would open up financing for many more sustainable Villages. My fear is that there is no longer time for this to happen. Now I want to share ways to convert existing suburban neighborhoods into sustainable co-op villages.

Millions have invested their wealth into their homes. In the event of a crash, those homesteads have to provide enough food (growing, processing and preservation), water, shelter for extended family, home businesses, assisted living facilities, schools, etc. How can people do that?

This is how we converted our home. Feel free to share your ideas and suggestions after reading it.

Home Conversion: We live in an older home on 1/3 acre in a small rural community near Pensacola, FL. We own a mobile home next door that my stepson lives in. We altered our home to become the center or core for creating a cooperative community in the event of a crash. We did this all on our own, without help from neighbors and without their knowledge.

A few homestead modifications are:

1. Sank a deep well with a submerged electric pump as well as a manual pump. This was located in the front yard accessible to anyone. We also added a white metal roof to lower interior temperatures and to make rainwater collection safer.

2. Installed tubular skylights throughout and two wood burning stoves, a functioning summer kitchen. Solar panels will be installed next.

3. Prepared the house to be a central meeting/dining hall. Removed carpeting and replaced with easier maintenance tile and wood.

4. Created a library stocked with over $1,000 worth of survival books.

5. Built Square Foot Gardening Boxes capable of feeding multiple families.

6. Loaded up on food and medical supplies.

Mini Farm:
1.We also have a double wide mobile home on a one acre lot nearby.
2. We added a second mobile home to the property and built a large wrap around porch.
3. We added more square foot gardening boxes to feed 25 persons.
4. Built a chicken "condo" that can produce two dozen eggs a day.
5. Installed well system same as at home (electric and manual).
6. This farmstead can accommodate up to 25 persons.

Perhaps we could publish a free framework or outline for the process of the retrofit. to serve as a quick-start for others to pick up, modify for their own needs and implement? If you have suggestions or ideas, please share them.
Jim (costa4669@bellsouth.net)

THE FUTURE... MUST WATCH VIDEO!!!

It's urgent that we solve housing, food production, financial and environmental problems. The video below shows how much population growth will impact the US and world. We don't have the luxury of time for slow changes. We need solutions now.

Prosper Village has affordable solutions.
www.prospervillage.org

HOW DO THEY SAVE SO MUCH?

Sharing resources has helped civilization for thousands of years. People pay for shared services that benefit the majority. Examples: Fire department, schools, hospitals, roads, airports, etc.

Prosper Village shares resources too...such as solar energy and food growing. We eliminate the cost of duplicating products that often end up in garage sales, Goodwill or trash bins when people downsize or move.

Most families have lawn mowers, ladders, hundreds of DVDs, several TVs and two cars. Is any of it worth the mountain of bills or sleepless nights? What if one car could be eliminated? How much would be saved? Substitute a short stroll across a nature path to a 20 hour work week and eliminate long commutes to multiple jobs. Fewer cars on the road. Reduced costs for car payments, insurance, gas, tolls and stress.

Financial relief means greater prosperity. How helpful is that to people and the planet?

Jack Reed spoke before the United Nations Eco Visionary Summit. Prosper Village is the kind of place that would have people wondering: "Those people are living a whole lot better than we are. What do we need to do to get from here to there?"

40K For Lifetime of Living

People are stressed. Many are desperate. Some wonder, "Will We Have Enough?" Boomers worry about retirement. Millions are losing jobs and homes.

Some hope a lottery ticket will bail them out. Others sign up for a 'Make Millions' Internet scheme. Few get ahead this way. What if people could design their own bailout plan...a plan that uses no government assistance?

In this age of great talent and brain power, affordable alternatives to tent cities and low rent projects must be designed. It can't be rocket science. People in earler times struggled but most helped each other and could live comfortably without spending a fortune. Then STUFF happened. BUYING STUFF happened.

We waste money on things we don't need. We transport exotic fruits we've never heard of cross-country. Why? Limp lettuce and green tomatoes have reduced nutritional value compared to locally grown food. It's expensive, wastes fuel and the FDA must hire inspectors so we don't get sick eating it. Is the cost to import and transport millions of items cross country really worth the emotional and financial toll spent working hundreds of hours to pay for it? Yes, some products are needed. However, why buy a tomato from California when it can be bought locally?

There'a a better, easier, cheaper way to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle without spending a fortune. It's Prosper Village.

Imagine living comfortably for the next 30, 40, 50, or more years on $40,000. Imagine if that fee included a 20 hour a week job, utilities, food, housing and basic health care? Would you have more time for yourself? More time to spend with family and friends? Wouldn't that be more valuable than a new car? Granite counter tops? The latest designer purse or jeans? What's more valuable...time or things?