tourism and Permaculture

Discussion in 'Forum Info and Questions' started by Alonish, Jun 11, 2015.

  1. Alonish

    Alonish New Member

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    Hi all,
    My name is Alon
    I am currently in finance in NYC and want to start a new phase in my life which will be more connected to nature.
    I am an Israeli citizen and considering starting my own tourist initiative which will include as many permaculture aspects as possible and still remain profitable
    I believe a more natural and flowing way of life is the way to go and would like to influence other people to do the same.
    The problem is where to start :)

    My thought is to start to travel across the US and see similar running initiatives and consult with as many experts as possible to deduce the amount of mistakes I'm going to make
    Would love to get some input, ideas current running locations I can visit and recommendations about educational centers where I can study the subject of tourism and permaculture (in and out of the US).
    Any information will be appreciated.

    Thank you in advance
    Alon
     
  2. marianne

    marianne New Member

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    Hi Alon,

    Great idea and I hope you pursue it! I was just googling permaculture tourism and came across your post. I actually am from the US (and also work in Finance :p) but live now in Germany and am looking for opportunities to take a week or two somewhere to apply permaculture practices, so if you start something please let me know! :) But as part of answering your post, I can recommend one site that so far looks to offer a great permactulture tourism experience in Nepal: permacultourism.com.

    Good luck and go for it!

    Marianne
     
  3. andrew curr

    andrew curr Moderator

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    GR8 idea
     
  4. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    May I suggest you travel via the internet as much as possible Alon - it is much better for the environment. You mught like to look us up in Australia at www.purplepearfarm.com.au
     
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  5. mullerjannie

    mullerjannie Junior Member

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    Hi Alon

    I'm going to have to make a few assumptions but will try to answer your question.

    If you are in NYC and in Finance you are likely on a healthy 6 figure salary. There is no way that as an individual, you will earn that with any industry based around shared effort. i.e. As a single programmer, developer, real estate agent,financial advisor or other careers are setup in a way to support the individual but I shouldn't have to lecture you about Capitalism, especially when you are in finance.

    This whole "going green" whether it's tourism, permaculture , volunteer work is quote a double edged sword. It's like trying to do ice sculpting in the desert. You can buy the biggest block of ice but as long as the surrounds is not supportive of your idea you will need to spend money to buy cooling equipment etc.

    It's the same with permaculture, ironically you can change the world with it but you need money which is what got us into the jam in the first place.

    Unless you are in an massive country (like the US\Canada\Russia) land is expensive. So I would says focus on acquiring land. (This requires money, preferably unencumbered). If you loan this you are going to sweat to find a good enough return from the get-go to pay off the loan. That is excluding interest and the volatility of interest rates. Again, going into this as a group hedge this risk.

    Anything sells as tourism or goods as long as there is a trend. People turn milk bottles into little greenhouses, I bet you someone didn't do market research on that. They felt like doing something creative and it became a trend.

    I'd quote a saying that's not my own. Think big, start small, grow fast.

    The catch with permaculture is it's integration and that some things don't scale. You can't start with a small pond and then bigger and then bigger. (Well you can but it's going to take ages.)

    What's I'm trying to say is that your thinking is more critical than anything else.

    Don't do it for tourism, you will lean towards a balance sheet. Balance sheets tend to make decisions for you. i.e. next I need to add a feature because it shows on the balance sheet tourists like to find out more about "livestock" yet you might not have catered for it in the initial design.

    I'm not saying what you want to do can't be done. It's a little like that "it's about the journey instead of the destination" . Some times I feel like it's just a BS saying... but by keeping it as a motto you gradually learn to appreciate the little things, and the little things which is inconsequential to the balance sheet makes up permaculture.

    There is a guy called Sepp Holzer who has done a bit of tourism \ permaculture but it's only categorized like that because the publishers needed to find an aisle to place the book in the shops. I bet you he wouldn't say he is into tourism or permaculture for that matter.

    If you are going to tame this tiger money is critical, it buys you time. It allows you to reach critical mass faster. It allows for experiments to fail without affecting the overall stability of the system. It allows you work fast.

    For instance, without money you plant seeds from a tree or you take cuttings. With money you purchase 5 year old grafted trees at the swipe of a card plant them in perfect compost bought from some Organics'R'us. The net result for both is a tree in the ground. I'm going to skip what happens after the tree just for argument sake.

    In the without money example you gained stacks of experience on how to propagate, how to sprout and grow seed. It's personal and spiritual. Something grows inside you.
    In the money example you have a tree in the ground. Heck, in all likeliness a contractor even planted it.

    The catch here is once your system is 2 years down the line, then you can learn how to propagate or plant seeds. Then you will still grow.
    But you might find yourself out of property! or the space to do it. Or that tourism is keeping you so busy keeping up with the latest health and safety standards that you might not have time to do it.

    If you are looking for bullet points, here is what I would do.

    1 - keep my 6 figure day job
    2 - reduce debt
    3 - buy land cash, i.e. no loan.
    4 - work the land in put in some basics, pioneers etc depending on the state. start building the soil, basic water capture, swales.
    5 - start with some ideas and SWOT them with what you can generate an income VS what will work for the inhabitants of the land VS your goal (tourism).
    6 - If you were diligent with journaling your findings , process and blogging it you start develop the attraction.
    7 - implement a small changes throughout that can provide you "branches" which you could unique develop independently without jeopardizing the system.
    8 - year 3-5 I suspect you grafted store bought trees will be fruiting, the clover and other ground cover has finally grown over your footprints of establishment such as carving into the earth etc.
    9 - At this point you might be starting to "earn" you might be able to start paying rates and taxes. (Which by the way you still need to pay because your neighbors are still in NYC working their day jobs so you will still pay rates for garbage collection regardless whether you recycle 100%).
    10 - Thinking whether this is for you.
    11 - quit your day job, cash your pension.
    12 - Buy your next piece of land.
    13- Use you financial background to publish your transition plan that you "live".
    14 - sell books to get a passive income which in turn feeds publicity which in turn drives tourism and educational courses.
    15 - When in doubt, propagate , raise seedlings, stay on track.
    16 - Use you financial back ground and now healthy income to give back!
     
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  6. rsim

    rsim New Member

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    HI, I am richard ..i will be taking some international school kids to hangzhou and was thinking to visits n do some volenteering work in hangzhou, anyone knows how to contact hangzhou center
    ..
     
  7. dyllos

    dyllos Junior Member

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    Fantastic reply MULLERJANNIE ! I hope you copy this and reply this to more of peoples' requests for direction - it makes a lot of sense. Also, would recommend listening to permaculturevoices podcast for ideas, inspiration, etc
     
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  8. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Senior Member

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    I'm visualisng Perma Disney World with day spa and monorail.
    Not everyone is coming from the same starting point or heading in the same direction.
    I dont hold high hopes for tourism ventures in a Post Peak Oil world
     
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  9. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    in the post peak oil world it will be urban refugees spreading out to recapture the food growing resources they'll so desperately need. the slower the event is the more likely it will be less chaotic and destructive, but it will be an adjustment on a huge scale. those of us who are already out here and doing what we can may be able to help a lot of others. i've always got extra plants and plenty of advice! :-o
     

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