Author: steve
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The citizen pays all, whilst what she wants is taxed and doesn’t want is allowed free.
Preparing a project to explore the finer art of taxation I created this diagram to illustrate the various fee and tax relationships that exist between the entities in the political economy. Some rather striking things emerge from this simple diagram: there are a lot of transactions going on, separating them all out from each other…
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Secret alternative rules of Monopoly show how everyone can live in prosperity
I am utterly astonished. We have heard of the DaVinci code, but there is a MONOPOLY code. The secret rules of the game from the early 1900s show how, by changing the rules, everyone can live in prosperity. Back in the early 1900s a woman called Elizabeth J. Magie patented the Landlord’s game to be…
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Thoughts from the man’s weekend leadership workshop
here are my notes, gathered from my recent tweets from the workshop MAN IN MISSION. #12 after having spent the weekend in the circle of men I seem to be even more appreciative of female energy! #11 It is not a male culture we live in, but one of D.I.E domination, individualism, exclusion. Hostile…
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Living on biomass only: a thought experiment
Let’s suppose we design a society to live on biomass only. What sources do we have available and how are we going to divide the uses of that biomass to get the most out of it? And if there is a lot of carbon in the atmosphere will we still need to carbon compensate and sequester even if we…
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Time to form the culture we want – starting with small acts of kindness
This is a translation and adaptation of the leader column I submitted – in my capacity as JAK board member – to JAK’s alternative economy magazine, Grus och Guld. JAK is a member- owned cooperative bank offering interest-free loans. Like many JAK members I am driven by the desire to change society for the better.…
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New eco-village design
This new design (Click on it to see a larger image) is a first sketch for the assignment to design a village layout for a project in Brazil, a village that will house a conference centre in the middle of six sustainable farms. The centre and village will get its food (and coffee) from the…
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The V2V fund
A lot of people nowadays long for a different lifestyle – a feeling of being close to nature, being part of a community and having somewhere they can enjoy living with a good, green conscience. But making the change is a huge step for many. You need time to get to know what you are…
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Circle way training
No matter if you work with neighbors, in a cooperative, in a Transition Initiative or among volunteers, good relations and social cohesion are critical not only just to success, but maintaining good feelings and energy in the community. We’ve taken the best of what is available and put together an introductory training that prepares you…
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Envisioning a world without work
We are getting closer to 1984 and Brave New World, where people work but that has nothing to do with the cost of living, rather something they just have to do. In this article in the Guardian, Nina Power analyses the disparity between the value add workers bring, to the amount of wages they take home. The theory has been that if…
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Swedish Foundation postulates fees as cure for externalization of P and N
Inorganic phosphorus in the form of the phosphate PO3-4 is required for all known forms of life, playing a major role in biological molecules such as DNA and RNA where it forms part of the structural framework of these molecules. For humans it is essential in food and Sweden imports some 730,000 tons of fertilizer a year,…