Financial Permaculture: Kinda Like Slow Money
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Slow Money, Transition Towns, Financial Permaculture—they’re all tied together. As more investors, entrepreneurs, and businessfolk see that there are better ways to run a business than rapacious, unsustainable, neverending-growth capitalism, they’re beginning to really embrace the concept of the triple bottom line: People, Planet, and Profits. In these uncertain economic times, places like Gaia University and the Ecovillage Training Center are branching out into helping startups, linking them with like-minded investors and offering courses on the best ways to craft a sustainable business.
From HopeDance.org:
What does the Permaculture concept mean when applied to business? This question was at the heart of the recent Financial Permaculture Workshop in Hohenwald. The goal behind this unique course was to bring the world of Finance and Permaculture together in a safe space to explore the interconnections, edges, and design possibilities. In Permaculture design, we notice that the edges between systems are where a lot of the creative energy dwells. There is certainly plenty of edge between the usually for-profit world of Finance and the usually non-profit world of Permaculture.
Fueled by strong connections with the global regenerative network though organizations like Gaia University and the Ecovillage Training Center, a local steering committee was put together to help organize the event. The steering committee was lead by the Center for Holistic Ecology, a local non-profit focused on sustainability and local economic development and Solari, Inc., a financial consulting company run by Catherine Austin Fitts.
The Design
Using Fitts’ idea of “the invention room,” the goal of the workshop was to allow for exchange of ideas and to work toward the design of creative business plans that would benefit the local community which hosted the event. For two months leading up to the course, the local team of workshop conveners conversed with the local community to generate a list of businesses that would benefit the community. After several meetings, the community interests started to crystallize and a list of business ideas became the core of the curriculum for the workshop.
The businesses chosen by the local community to be designed during the workshop were:
- a Community-scale Ethanol Plan designed to be a zero waste Food and Fuel farm demonstrating permaculture principles;
- a Green Business Incubator to help start-ups in the community;
- a Farmers Market and community kitchen;
- a Green retrofit for an old warehouse to create a marketplace and offices to house local artisans.
During the workshop, these businesses were designed by groups lead by a instructor who is an expert in that specific field and has successfully created a similar business, and a skilled facilitator to help optimize group dynamics and learning. You can find information about each design on the Financial Permaculture wiki www.financialpermaculture.practivist.org, and blogs focusing on the group experience and the significant learning at www.financialpermaculture.org.
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