Sustainable Living
The substance of this page was Authored on and before March 09, 2004, (with small edits to update) by Sola Roof Guy -
BUILDING a distinctive Life Style
I would be very pleased if I could work with you to implement my vision of the Sola Roof Wiki as a DIY portal for Sustainable Living technology, that I like to call “livingry” (a word coined by Bucky Fuller). We believe that the knowhow for sustainable living must precede the capacity for sustainable development.
All the know-how presented on our site will be provided on a basis which means that there are no monopoly restrictions and no [conventional] payments required for the use of this technology. Furthermore the technology and information is available to all members for their personal non-commercial use without any cost (but also without any warrantee as being fit for any particular use) and can be modified and reproduced with only the obligations defined by our Creative Commons Public License. Our community is business friendly; any individual or group, who give Attribution and Share-Alike, can make commercial use of the know-how, provided that those who can afford, respect the ethical obligation to make a minimum payment of 1% of their revenue from the use of Sola Roof know-how, to Pay It Forward out of the value received and reflecting their desire to support the Grass Roots Projects. Many cooperative small professional and construction services business may be established using the Sola Roof platform; all with access to the same growing body of know-how. All funds (called Pay It Forward contributions) that flow from commercial Partners, who are Materials, Components and Product manufacturers and Service companies, firms and consultants will go (as described above) to the support of the current Grass Roots projects. Businesses, as commercial members of SE Net, will be linked to the non-commercial community members and relate to them not as individual customers but as a powerful and empowering collective purchasing group that can set (and improve) Open Source specifications and standards and obtain commodity prices.
The Sola Roof Community will break away from the worldwide trends towards consumer lifestyles where people have lost their sense of community and have limited opportunity to free themselves from the pattern of growth and high consumption driving an economomy based on exploitive competition. We will give a new option to break free from past patterns and experience a refreshing and vibrant Eco Living lifestyle, to learn about and understand Closed Ecological Life Support Systems that members may take home or adopt in their own communities. Modern cities create highly stressed, insecure and supply dependent populations that are isolated and separated from nature, neighbors and traditional values. The loss of individual and community self-reliance is characteristic of the process of globalization, which is gradually working to move people from rural and village environments into modern, urban sprawl cities. This is considered the price we pay for prosperity, but we intend to show an alternative lifestyle that is more attractive and productive; a Sustainable Living lifestyle, called Eco Living, that is satisfying on both the material and spiritual level.
Sola Roof is for the people and by the people:
Individuals are asked to make a voluntary contribution of money out of the benefits of their personal use of Sola Roof concepts in their homes or communities. Individuals and families in the developed nations (the North) are encouraged to assess the value received and in exchange offer a contribution to the Grass Roots initiative (Families helping Families). When these Grass Roots Projects have had a beneficial result and have helped families and communities in the South to rise out of poverty these people who have been helped are encouraged to extent their support and financial assistance to others who have need to build a Sola Roof project. This policy is similar to that of Habitat for Humanity and can involve the contribution of direct labor by those who have previous experience to offer in the construction and implementation of Solaroof projects. [our current collective channel for such action is the Sola Roof Coop]
The Benefits and Anticipated Results
Solaroof projects are appropriate for both the North and South and will help to bridge the development gap [see Closing The Hunger Gap] by enabling the North to consume less non-renewable resources and to use natural, renewable resources more efficiently. In every home or community our methods will create food & water supply security and safety and contribute to energy self-sufficiency that create the LOCAL conditions that contribute to GLOBAL security and peace.
The Grass Roots Initiative will engender Leadership and Participation by individuals, families and communities. It encourages the formation of Teams that will bring North and South together (through the internet and intranet) in a GLOBAL collaboration that brings wide spread human resources to focus on practical support for the LOCAL implementation of projects. The publication of project plans and results will assist the diffusion and adoption of best practices for sustainable development. The Solaroof policy of publication of know-how will inspire worldwide collaboration, has the potential to arrive at fundamental solutions to hunger, and could mobilize the creativity necessary to win the war on poverty. Sharing our experience with sustainable living and livelihood will help to pull everyone up the learning curve and many mistakes and loss of time and effort will be avoided while success is assured.
Sola Roof is an accessible DIY technology will restore grass roots control to people and attract those who desire to restore authentic communities in which to raise their children and protect the environment. Our SE Net will offer products that are designed for restoration, healing and environmental recovery. Residents of Sola Roof homes, villa and village projects will invest in an attractive resort-like lifestyle with recreational features, services and security not typically available in ordinary residential developments. There will be less stress and a greater sense of enjoyment of daily life, as if living at a retreat; Garden Home residences will be a refuge from the uncertainties of life the majority living a vulnerable urban life in cities lacking resilience to the stresses of the future, including Dangerous Climate Change. [Our PLENTY 4 All charitable movement will focus on the regeneration of deteriorating urban communities and abandoned City centres.] Furthermore our projects create income opportunities, distributed wealth, energy, food, water; and we are dedicated, project by project, to the elimination of the foundations of poverty and ignorance through building self-reliant communities.
I believe that Solaroof can enrich the lives of thousands and then millions of people and I look forward to your support and participation!