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> if you haven't built up your own security through wealth, you're [going to be] fucked. Another approach is to build security through self sufficiency and co

> if you haven't built up your own security through wealth, you're [going to be] fucked. Another approach is to build security through self sufficiency and community based initiatives. For example, growing your own food wherever possible, or community gardens on common land. There is a long list of examples and ideas where future security, defining that as decent quality of life, health and education, doesn't need to be based around monetary wealth.

deleted 8y ago
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kazinator 8y ago
Modern society relies on mass scale agriculture which cannot be replaced by community gardens. If everyone had to meet their nutritional needs with a community garden that is within walking distance of where they live, we basically couldn't have cities. Growing your own food is work; where is the retirement plan? What if you're not able? Even if you are, many people want to do things other than farming when they retire. It feels like the ultimate defeat: what have I achieved in this lifetime of work, when I'm reduced to land-to-mouth existence, like an ancestor tens of thousands of years before me? Where is the progress? Theft is a problem in community gardens. If you just grow enough to sustain yourself and someone steals your produce, you're back to fucked.
jniedrauer 8y ago
I really don't think this is viable. I grew up on a mostly self sustaining farm. I've seen how inefficient and unpredictable it is at small scale. There are simply too many of us to revert back to an agrarian society. We have to create food at a very large scale. Which means we have to become better at sharing it.
jimbokun 8y ago
Almost no one in the US has a problem with getting enough food. Maybe substandard nutrition, but no one is going to starve. Healthcare and education are areas where a common option could make a major difference in people's lives. But I think the "community" has to be pretty large to make a meaningful impact.
- Hydraulix989 8y ago
  This may be true in socially progressive areas such as Silicon Valley, but it is far from the case anywhere else. Hunger is further down Maslow's pyramid. You can't even begin thinking about things like education until you are able to adequately eat. http://map.feedingamerica.org http://map.feedingamerica.org
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- robhunter 8y ago
  About 15% of the US population is "food-insecure" as defined by the USFDA. That's 40,000,000 people.
- Celarnor 8y ago
  Since the recession, the US' food insecurity numbers still haven't recovered to their pre-recession values. A disturbingly non-zero number of families have no idea when their next meal will be or where it is coming from.
noonespecial 8y ago
It doesn't matter how many cucumbers you can grow in your back yard or how good you are at fixing your 69 Ford when the heart meds you need to live are $600/month. Like it or not we're all in it together and we're doing kind of a sucky job of it right now.

deleted 8y ago

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kazinator 8y ago

Modern society relies on mass scale agriculture which cannot be replaced by community gardens. If everyone had to meet their nutritional needs with a community garden that is within walking distance of where they live, we basically couldn't have cities. Growing your own food is work; where is the retirement plan? What if you're not able? Even if you are, many people want to do things other than farming when they retire. It feels like the ultimate defeat: what have I achieved in this lifetime of work, when I'm reduced to land-to-mouth existence, like an ancestor tens of thousands of years before me? Where is the progress? Theft is a problem in community gardens. If you just grow enough to sustain yourself and someone steals your produce, you're back to fucked.

jniedrauer 8y ago

I really don't think this is viable. I grew up on a mostly self sustaining farm. I've seen how inefficient and unpredictable it is at small scale. There are simply too many of us to revert back to an agrarian society. We have to create food at a very large scale. Which means we have to become better at sharing it.

jimbokun 8y ago

Almost no one in the US has a problem with getting enough food. Maybe substandard nutrition, but no one is going to starve. Healthcare and education are areas where a common option could make a major difference in people's lives. But I think the "community" has to be pretty large to make a meaningful impact.

Hydraulix989 8y ago
This may be true in socially progressive areas such as Silicon Valley, but it is far from the case anywhere else. Hunger is further down Maslow's pyramid. You can't even begin thinking about things like education until you are able to adequately eat. http://map.feedingamerica.org http://map.feedingamerica.org
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
robhunter 8y ago
About 15% of the US population is "food-insecure" as defined by the USFDA. That's 40,000,000 people.
Celarnor 8y ago
Since the recession, the US' food insecurity numbers still haven't recovered to their pre-recession values. A disturbingly non-zero number of families have no idea when their next meal will be or where it is coming from.

noonespecial 8y ago

It doesn't matter how many cucumbers you can grow in your back yard or how good you are at fixing your 69 Ford when the heart meds you need to live are $600/month. Like it or not we're all in it together and we're doing kind of a sucky job of it right now.