How to be a self-sufficient society, requirements?

How does one become a self sufficient society?

What do you think is the maximum population per hectare?

Do we need religion in small societies?

Should every occupation become a trait which goes from generation to generation? Medicine? farming ? Etc.


The term self-sufficiency is usually applied to varieties of sustainable living in which nothing is consumed outside of what is produced by the self-sufficient individuals. Examples of attempts at self-sufficiency in North America include simple living, homesteading, off-the-grid, survivalism, DIY ethic and the back-to-the-land movement.

Practices that enable or aid self-sufficiency include autonomous building, permaculture, sustainable agriculture, and renewable energy.

The term is also applied to limited forms of self-sufficiency, for example growing one's own food or becoming economically independent of state subsidies.

Lots of people pose this kind of question on ATS, but the reality is, that due to permits and overzealous code enforcement officials, the average person needs LOTS of knowledge of building codes and a healthy savings account and/or access to large lines of credit, "just in case", professionals like lawyers or architects are needed to keep the project moving forward or fix unforeseen problems. If you don't have such skills, nor the means to bring on professional help, with little notice, you stand a very good chance of getting fined and shut down eventually. People here disagree with this sentiment, but it is a fact.

First legal, then while working with an architect or planner, buy the land they recommend based on your plans, followed by asking that architect or planner to help develop a master plan for the community, to be implemented over the course of 5-7 years. Again, doing it any other way will result in fines, liens or at worse seizure of the land itself. The government has bottled this kind of stuff up real tight, its home court advantage for them. Local governments know how to steal land from anyone, very few of those losing what they have, knew how to stop it. Don't be one of them.

For example, a planner/architect will tell you during the master plan phase, "You can never build a Aquaponics/hydroponics system because of code XXX" or "Building a Aquaponics/hydroponics system will require a $30,000 EIR". Off-the-Grid design and construction pushes zoning and building codes to the limit. People who subscribe to "do it yourself" will ALWAYS fail in that endeavor, once Code Enforcement shows up to inspect the property. I'd argue that having such professionals always available is relevant in ALL situations where you are building non-traditional, off-the-grid, systems for residences.

So, make sure you have a lawyer on retainer, find a way to receive and read your mail, and learn how to build things to code. You will be hounded for permits and taxes for as long as you own the land. There is NO WAY around it and I have seen many Neo-Pioneers loose it all because they thought they could ignore local government Code Enforcement and ignore court summons.

In fact, it would be best to make sure you at least serve on local government committees or get into an elected city council position in the jurisdiction where you property is located, just in case.

a reply to: Temudjin

By having citizens that care about the community, and are willing to act.

It's what humans do, interesting that....kind of ant like.

It's not an old question like boohoo said, but in the end there is the community and there is the woods. I would be covering in sweetness if I didn't mention either is a difficult road.

Hot, cold, and Luke warm is the nearest analogy I'm going to make.

Good old taking care of número uno.


Cheers!

a reply to: Treespeaker

a reply to: boohoo

Many are aware that, or at least in Sweden that Democracy and freedom and all that goes along with it is just a facade. We know that enormous cities fall due to the burdens humans puts on it, wars is a meaning to an end to make the wheel going, you call it by a word called trickle down. Many knows that the human population will be cut in major numbers and calls it famine, death and/or plagues or maybe just natural events. Swedes arent used to this way of life never have been. We always relied on our knowledge for small communities, we followed along as everyone else, and adjusted when it came to larger cities and made religion a factor when it came to moral and ethics.

Sweden is as this moment shutting off the outside, we are already preparing for what is about to come, enormous money is being spent on being selfsufficient. Cause its gonna be a long winter, i think Scandinavia will adept quickly, however the nations who rely to much on the state and cant care for themselves will have problem adjusting.

So my question is based on how the nature is balanced and not a utopia of human lazines.

a reply to: Temudjin

Are you saying "Winter is coming" ?

Edit to add something on topic

There are some great sites around the web on this - posted all the links and quotes from politicians in a previous thread but will see if i can dig them up again.

i remember a quote from a local mp (i think it was) that basically said you would be better of in prison than in one of these communities !!!!!

originally posted by: Temudjin
maximum population per hectare?

Zero of all is the food. Depending on the hectare you choose on the earth there is quite a lot difference for the situation you start the calculation with.

First of all it is a question religion / beliefs, the boundaries you "shall not cross". Actually your question in itself is "religious": What are pre-assumptions for a [computer program] to calculate the maximum population?

Second comes the human intelligence you have available in the population.

Second and half comes the creativity of the population. Can say also the social structure. If you decide to be the dictator of the society the amount of creativity may be very limited. In some sense creativity goes hand in hand with freedom.

Third is the adaptation to the conditions of the hectare. In a way this means the (real) savings of the population that you bring into use from the outside world. – Fishermen from Malaysia may not survive in forests of the north although in other respects they would be excellent.

Anyhow. A good start for a calculation would be to take the earth as the hectare and the total population as the population.

One superb genius may need a population of one million to support him being productive in his specific field. So the intelligence available depends strongly of the total population and the infrastructure, freedom. – The bigger the total population is the less it needs land per inhabitant.

a reply to: johnb

yes "winter is coming" we did just fine, we have a moderate lifestyle in the north. Some dont, but its just instincts put to its prime. We did great during the dark ages, we adjusted to the Viking era, small communities relied on barter. Pillaged rest of Europe particulary England. I would actually say Swedes have probably the highest concentration of psychopaths in the world, if it werent for our school system, we probably would war, just cause its war. Swedes dont need a justified cause for living ala natural. Its a strange people on a global modernized way, but in/for nature we are just perfect. Then we adjusted to the Renaissance and then the colonial imperium, and then we switched to french.

We arent religious "per say" but we are the most "religious" people in the world about 80% pay taxes to the church and over 90% believe in something, its a buddhist lifestyle in a Christian productive way. We are reforming our church to orthodox starting in 2016.

We will be affected by changes in the world but not to that extent that it will crash our belief system. We rely on our oligarchs to tell us what to do.

In the old days we had something called Ättestupan, if you couldnt provide to a society. You jumped from a cliff and die. Sweden is harsh sometimes evil. But if you can adjust its the best place in the world. But with privilegies comes more responsibilites. Thats why people who moves from abroad to Sweden usually moves out after a couple of years since they dont understand the culture.

So im wondering how many persons can live in a small community before it cant provide without outside help.

There eists a think-tank of sorts on subject called The Venus Project that you may want to look at www.thevenusproject.com... - basically Star Trek economy afaik.

The Venus Project proposes an alternative vision of what the future can be if we apply what we already know in order to achieve a sustainable new world civilization. It calls for a straightforward redesign of our culture in which the age-old inadequacies of war, poverty, hunger, debt and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as avoidable, but as totally unacceptable. Anything less will result in a continuation of the same catalogue of problems inherent in today's world. Today many people believe what is needed is a higher sense of ethical standards and the enactment of international laws to assure a sustainable global society.

-MM