If we want to keep and attract young people to the West Coast, my suggestion is this: Turn the West Coast into a Transition community. Young people all over the globe are extremely angry and worried about human-caused environmental destruction driven by over-consumption and war. Many get extremely excited about Transition style communities, that are changing human habits to solve problems of over-consumption (which often leads to war, via fighting over raw resources like oil, precious metals, and arable land). Idealistic, and passionate youths even move to these places. Heres my vision for the West Coast: 1. Economics: community-owned and run co-ops for food production, plantation forestry, special timbers, and value-adding. Vegies in large-scale polytunnels, as in the Netherlands Berry farms benefit from our acid soils. Wakame and other kelp for soil health / insulation / Japanese cuisine. Shiitake mushrooms thrive in moist climates. Timber furniture with a design school. Adventure tourism promoting healthy lifestyles, coupled with how our community sustains itself (e.g. farm stays). A gorse biofuel bricquette factory, turning gorse into woodheater logs. Also, we can convert half our finances to a community exchange currency, like the Tasmanian CENTs, meaning federal currency pays for imported products from beyond the West Coast. 2. Education: advanced mini-colleges taking students for practical experience in our sustainable industries. Many young people from all over the world would love to spend 3-6 months in such a thriving environment, working for food and lodging, just to have this experience. Some would stay on, and others would leave to tell others to visit. These colleges dont have to be linked to UTAS, but offer courses run by skilled locals. 3. Mental health and community resilience: People out of work now, could use a Work for the Dole program on the West Coast, to get new industries up and running. One team of sensitive and humane people would be trained as counsellors, to deal with psychological distress and character-building. Another team would work on computer literacy. Another team could focus on health (diet, cooking, exercise, illness prevention). Another team would focus on food distribution, so that farms and shops with surplus food get it to those in need. Another team focusses on salvage and recycling. While on reduced incomes, the CENTs currency (untaxed) would help finance food, woodfire fuel, and other forms of exchange within the West Coast. A big aspect of mental health is a bigger perspective, so wed set up a special collection of books on wisdom in humanity. We certainly have enough strong characters, practical skills, and the imagination to pull off something as ground-breaking as this. We just have to be strong enough to live simply during the Transition phase. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 03:21:57 +0000
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