Ryan and All,
Although single issue solutions like this one seem reasonable at first
glance, they are highly vulnerable in a world characterized by complex
interdependency. In this case the tax, if successful in relocalizing food
production could still fail to serve the goal of community sustainability
because it promoted all sorts of local production that eventually fail
because the farming systems themselves were not designed to be
sustainable. Save New York Farms, an effort that has been going one for a
number of years, suffers from this problem because it makes no attempt to
distinguish between farming systems that can withstand the end of cheap
oil and those that are trying to adapt to that future.
A tax or other solution needs to be designed from a comprehensive,
systems analysis of what is required to achieve the goal of community
sustainability, or it will contain elements variously described as
'bottlenecks' or 'weak links' which will cause failure of the whole
effort. Most strategies for social change suffer from this single issue
approach to problems that in our world derive, not from single causes,
but from a web of causality or 'system structure', which needs to be
understood and clearly reflected in proposed solutions.
My two cents,
Karl North
Northland Sheep Dairy, Freetown, New York USA
www.geocities.com/northsheep/
"Mother Nature never farms without animals" - Albert Howard
"Pueblo que canta no morira" - Cuban saying
On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:01:13 -0400 "Ryan Hottle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
> Dear Sustainable Tompkins Listserve Members:
>
> Quick idea I had last night:
>
> Operating a small scale farm is a challenging business when you
> constantly
> have to go up against the likes of Acher Daniels Midland and
> Monsanto. Yet
> healthful, local, sustainable food production is going to become
> absolutely
> vital as peak oil makes itself more and more apparent. Readers of
> *Barbara
> Kingsolver* certainly know this.
>
> *Imagine we put a tax/tariff on all non-local foods. The tax would
> be
> assessed to the companies who sold or distributed the food as
> opposed to the
> purchaser.*
>
> Citizens could then vote for what they money would be used for,
> though, the
> recommendation could be made that the money be split four ways:
>
> 1) To support help support existing farmers and to encourage more
> young
> people become farmers
> 2) To establish an emergency foodbank / community kitchen in which
> all food
> is purchased from local farms
> 3) To establish a regional seedbank of bioregionally strong and
> suitable
> seeds available to general public for planting
> 4) To start a "free tree" program whereby citizens would be given
> edible
> fruit and nut trees and berry bushes for edible landscaping that
> could be
> planted in their home gardens.
>
> The tax/tariff could be assessed such that it only applied to
> business
> grossing over a certain amount of income per year so that it did not
> put
> strain on small local businesses, but at the same time generated a
> moderate
> but nice little pot of money for important projects related to
> sustainable
> agriculture such as those mentioned above.
>
> *Ideas? Suggestions? Feedback?*
>
> Peace and Thanks,
> Ryan D. Hottle
>
>
> --
> Ryan Darrell Hottle
>
> The Renaissance Group
> Program Manager
> www.ConserveFirst.com
>
> Global Climate Solutions
> www.GlobalClimateSolutions.org
> oming soon!)
>
> Ohio Peak Oil Action (OPOA)
> Co-Founder, Director
> www.ohiopeakoilaction.org
>
> 30 N. Rose Blvd.
> Akron, OH 44022
>
> (740) 258 8450
> _______________________________________________
> For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County
> area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
>
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>
_______________________________________________
For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please
visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
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