Freeconomy Blog
Tue
29 Jul
The credit crunch, fancy suits and being computerless...
| 11 comments |
I can really feel the tide turning as regards all things freeconomic. Every week now we get inquiries from the mainstream media, and last week we won one of the UK Catalyst Awards, which are awards for social technology that helps communities given out by No.10 Downing St. If the PM Gordon Brown signs up to become a member, our work here will be done!
Just on that, I had no idea the awards ceremony was going to be the affair that it was. To say I looked like a duck out of water would be a bit of an understatement! It was a very dressed up affair, and I’m not sure they fully appreciated my ‘casual’ look. Waitresses and waiters approached you every two minutes with food that, to many, was very grand, and I can only imagine the amount of money that was spent on the whole thing.
It did however bring up a lot of issues for me. On a superficial level, the whole event looked superb as many commentators on the day observed. But I couldn’t help but think of something Mahatma Gandhi once said when he was trying to inspire a country to stop importing clothing from England. When I look at something nowadays, I don’t see its beauty from how it looks on a visual basis. I take its beauty from what it represents and symbolises to me.
So when I looked at all these fancy dresses and suits, I didn’t think, “isn’t this just marvellous”. Instead, I could see the amount of chemicals, dyes and pesticides that went into the making of the material, and the cheap, industrialised labour (sometimes sweatshop) that produced them. Is there any beauty in the finest cloth that causes pain, suffering and environmental destruction?
When I looked at the food I didn’t see some very well presented platter of tasty treats. None of it was organic and no one knew if any of the meat or dairy was even free range (which means it most likely wasn’t). So instead all I could see were plates of factory farmed and pesticide-ridden food, coated in additives and most likely microwaved to death. Can there be any flavour in the finest looking food that rapes our planet, tortures our fellow animals and is bad for our health?
And to top it all of, I was expected the shake the hand of Gordon Brown. A hand that was in a senior position when we decided to kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians on top of thousands of British, American and Iraqi soldiers. A hand that encourages GlaxoSmithKline amongst others to do what they do every day, and a hand that pens the deals which make it unbelievably easy for big business and almost impossible for small farmers. Needless to say that on this occasion I politely declined the offer. I really don’t think he is a ‘bad’ person – I don’t believe anyone is or in even the concept of ‘bad’ – but I am certainly not going to commend him for it.
On the plus side I met a lot of people doing really positive things that day. The founders of Liftshare, The Nag and LifeWorkLife (amongst many others) were all there, the latter being so enthused by Freeconomy that she offered free membership to all members of this community! More on that in the next blog…
On acceptance of the award last Thursday, I was asked why I thought the freeconomy community had grown so quickly and what would be its biggest opportunity in the future. It was interesting question as a few minutes earlier Ali Clabburn of Liftshare had just been saying that the rise in price in oil had lead to a huge increase in membership in his car-sharing project. Similarly, the ‘credit crunch’ will eventually have the same effect for freeconomy, as just as oil prices are forcing people to share their journeys, a lack of cash will force people to share their skills and tools.
I would be lying if I said I thought this reason for joining was definitely a good thing though. One part of me thinks that if people in the future only join this because they are forced to for financial reasons, it will not be a long-term improvement, as ‘IF’ the economy improves again (which is a genuinely big ‘IF’), then they will return back to their old ways. Thankfully the optimist in me thinks it is great, lots of people who historically wouldn’t have got involved will, and over time folk will realise that it is just a much better and nicer way of doing things, regardless of whether you are feeling flush or skint.
Apart from everything still being really hectic around here, the main reason I haven’t been blogging recently is that my computer blew up a couple of weeks ago, which unfortunately has made life a bit more difficult. The weird thing is that the previous day I had taken the decision to move to the outskirts of Bristol and work voluntary on a permaculture project, living in a great new caravan I amazingly got for free off Freecycle! The wyrd bit about it is that I had decided to go completely off-grid and local except for my laptop and mobile, as I ‘need’ them (or do I?) to interact with the world. Twenty four hours later, there was just the phone left, and I’m thinking it may also be on the way out.
So is my laptop blowing up the next day a message from the universe to do what I believe in 100%, or just simply just some built-in obsolescence in modern day computers? My heart says the former, though I am still unsure of what to do. If I don’t get a new one, I will be living as I believe but less able to respond to matters regarding my Freeconomy and my local food work. If I do get one it means I can interact really easily with the rest of the world and get the various messages out there, though going against everything I believe in. I would love to know what you guys think I should do. Regardless to say that if I do get one it will be second hand.
I am really excited about moving out to help on this project - called Radford Mill Farm - partially because it is going to allow me the chance to live as self-sustainably (and I’m hoping money free eventually) as I want to. I’ll cook on a woodburner that’s made from an old gas bottle and bicycle parts that I got my hands on, make my own candles from local (and what I slightly controversially call vegan) beeswax, defecate in a hole next to the caravan and pee on the compost. And learn how to make a
cob oven amongst lots of others skills which I see as vital to a truly sustainable future. Plus it is a really beautiful bit of countryside!
Just to end with – our local Freeskilling evenings are a real hit, with 50 people coming out for last weeks forage with the Self-Sufficientish guys Dave and Andy! Next week we are going to be learning how to make our own wine, cider and beer!
Thank you by the way to all who voted by the way, I’ll keep you updated regarding what comes off it!
Comment on this Post:
Matt-M comments ...
Hey,
If you're working in an environment where the host has a PC, i'm sure they wouldn't mind you keeping in contact with the world via theirs.
Alternatively if it's second-hand i'm sure you'd be able to find someone who might exchange it for some of your labour.
I hadn't heard of the Radford Mill Farm project before, but having just checked the site, it sounds interesting. Are you able to get any further info about voluntary work there? At first glance it read as though the land/building was to be renovated over the coming year by an army of volunteers, but now it reads more as a weekend trip to help out at the end of each month.
All the best
Matt
Beth comments ...
Woo. You're living the dream baby! Great news about the catalyst award. It's totally deserved. I'm glad to hear you're moving to the farm. How about maintaining a communal computer somewhere outside of the farm so you have to be strict about when you use it. I think it's all about routines.
Sebastien comments ...
Hi,
I simply want to thank you for who you are. I dream to see more person acting as you do. Your reaction to this awards ceremony was very great.
Please, got a computer to share what you live, if you don't share it, there is no meaning to live it.
All the best,
Seb
Don comments ...
Welcome back, Saoirse! I wondered where you had got to. And congratulations on the win!
I agree with the others:get a second hand laptop. There are lots out there and you may well save one from ending up in the council tip.
Incidentally, did you know about the Japanese community that has zero waste? That's right, zero. It's not exactly zero in the sense you mean, but it's a start. Read about it at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7502071.stm. There is a short video clip as well.
Kieron comments ...
Mostly sounds good
FYI - Beeswax = Not Vegan!
I hope you're not eating that bee puke honey either
Hippy!
:D
Sam comments ...
Nice work refusing mr browns guilty hands.
You shouldn't get a laptop, there are many portals to the web which won't cost you money. You'll probably use it for essentials rather than getting lost in the realms of facebook etc if you don't actually own one. That's my experience anyway..
What inspired you to get a caravan then MB???
:p
Gary comments ...
There is nothing wrong with technology, the way it is percieved. I think it is about time this divisional manner is addressed as that is the illness created, divide and rule etc etc. We need to embrace all we have to make this world a better place and change where we created wrongly as quick as possible. Running off to the mountains so to speak, which I have done in the past and lived well, serves only one thing, the self, dreams come tumbling down and you realise your only running away. If we made the hydrogen unit to fit the cars as is we would all be able to run around zero emmission free and also power the laptops, houses and all we have for free. For me it is action not reaction that will make the difference. The suppression would fall overnight if we choose it too.
ClaudiaBriggs comments ...
I guess that to get the loan from creditors you should present a good reason. Nevertheless, one time I've got a short term loan, because I wanted to buy a house.
MossLeona31 comments ...
It's known that cash makes us autonomous. But what to do if someone doesn't have money? The only one way is to get the credit loans and financial loan.
Erickson20Jeanie comments ...
Various people in the world take the personal loans in various creditors, because it's comfortable.
