Hi friends, nice to meet you all! I am excited for this community. To introduce myself, I’ll share some of my ideas!
I believe the most important thing we can do right now is to build sustainable communities that regenerate and circulate resources for the members of the community, instead of allowing resources to trickle out, up, and away from our pockets. This includes cooperatives on energy, land, homes, food, and economy.
Energy:
I want to build communities that produce their own power, and use power efficiently. This is done through efficient or decreased home power consumption, power generation, and storage. I think forming community energy coops would be something to consider. I think the members of the community should “own” their power.
Land:
A right to private property, and the right to build our own little sanctuary in this world starts with owning property. It is becoming more and more difficult for the average citizen to own their own property. Atop this challenge, much land ownership is going out to large corporations and private equity. Can our communities form coops of co-owned entities to help keep land and property in and for the community? Could a community co-own revenue-driving properties such as rentals, vacation destinations, farmland, and recreation? Can we coop homeowners into communities that turn land management into a benefit for them, instead of something that takes away from them?
Food/Markets:
I believe communities should take ownership of where their food comes from. There should be enough incentive for farmers to transition from cash crops to food that benefits the surrounding communities directly. But as a result of industrial agriculture, farmers have become too many steps removed from their end consumers, unless they go to farmer markets. By building coops of food, we can build new markets to incentivize food security in partnership with our farmers.