a hundred benefits of SKIP (Skills to Inherit Property)

At the permies.com staff meeting this morning, we got to talking about this.  I thought it would be nice to make a list.

When I think about a global problem, like the rising rates of children with cancer, I think about what is the global solution.  And then I think about how the whole world will gladly adopt a solution if the solution happens to fit within their human nature.  So I have to think of solutions where 100 million people will derive some benefit, and reducing childhood cancer is a side effect.  

I think that if 100 million people pursued SKIP then there would not only be a massive drop in childhood cancer, but there would be a great benefit to each person pursuing SKIP.  Plus, a bonus would be that if a child did get cancer, there is a good chance that there is a SKIP property that has a very low toxic footprint and a high level of polyculture food grown in rich soil - a place where the child could go and their cancer might go away.

So as we try to list the 100 benefits of SKIP, I think part of the list is global problems that are solved or at least impacted for the better.   Plus the benefits to the individual pursuing SKIP.


primary benefits:  benefits to the individual pursuing SKIP (skipper)

  - possibility to inherit land that they otherwise would not have inherited
  - develop skills
  - develop a sense of accomplishment
  - a path out of the rat race, or a path to avoid the rat race

secondary benefits:   benefits to the entire population
 
  - reduction in carbon footprint
  - reduction in petroleum footprint
  - reduction in toxic footprint


tertiary benefits:  benfits to an individual developing a relationship with a skipper

  - will your property to somebody you find worthy
  - hire somebody you find worthy
  - rent to somebody you find worthy


What else do we add to this list?  Can we get to 100?  Are there more categories?

A fourth category could be:
Benefits to Otis's neighborhood
 - Homestead/farm stays as a farm
 - Local food is retained
 - New owners won't bulldoze it into a subdivision
 - New owners won't bulldoze it into a strip mall
 - New owners won't remodel it into a mansion
 - New owners won't turn it into a perfectly manicured lot and get mad about the rooster next door
 - New owners won't play with dirt bikes or 4 wheelers all day
 - New owners won't use pesticides or herbicides and poison the local ecosystem
 - New owners will be more like Otis than something unexpectedly different

primary benefits:  benefits to the individual pursuing SKIP (skipper)

  - Develop HOPE for something other than a 50 year rat race struggle
  - Learn ways to do things that are more "permacultural"
  - Earn apples for completing BBs
  - Get shiny badges in your signature line
  - Use your spare time to create things (wooden spoon, pizza)
  - Save money on plumbers, electricians, seamstresses, etc

secondary benefits:   benefits to the entire population
 
  - More skills in the populace that support less fossil fuels and less toxins
  - Less depression from people seeing Otis's dream turn into a strip mall
  - More "points of light" in the world where level 0/1 people can see folks living the Gert dream
  - Reduction in consumerism (5 million people building a fence saves a lot of fence materials)
  - Less housing pressure in the cities
  - Less load on the waste water treatment centers
  - Less load on the city water supply
  - Less load on the local utility

tertiary benefits:  benefits to an individual developing a relationship with a skipper

  - Satisfaction of writing those lousy kids out of your will
  - Way to find someone to help out around the place in exchange for parking their tiny house in the back 40
  - Warm fuzzy feeling of helping a young'un get going in the world
  - Warm fuzzy feeling of seeing youthful joy over baby chicks
  - Warm fuzzy feeling of renting to someone who has your environmental values
  - Warm fuzzy feeling of hiring someone who has your environmental values
  - Satisfies that need to shop = Looking at all the Peppers and trying to figure out who you'd like to give your land to

Hi! Im just now discovering SKIP! how do i sign up for this?  This is genius! Do I get all the info upon buying a book?

Mamaculture jessica Hodge wrote:Hi! Im just now discovering SKIP! how do i sign up for this?  This is genius! Do I get all the info upon buying a book?

Hi Mamaculture and welcome.

I would start here if I were you...Everything About SKIP

Have fun!

If you want to buy the "Skills to Inherit Property (SKIP)" book, you can do that here:
https://permies.com/wiki/160690/physical-copy-SKIP-book

Some people really enjoy the ebook because they can have it on their phone as they are out in the field doing projects, it is full of hot links that take them to the page here on permies where they can quickly check the minimum requirements and be sure they are gathering the necessary pictures.  



You don't have to buy anything though.  The SKIP program is totally free.  All you need is an account here on permies and start submitting badge bits!

If you have any questions you can ask them here:
https://permies.com/t/210060/skills-inherit-property/BB-clarification-thread


If you want to breeze though the program, be sure to read the requirements for each project and clearly show you have completed the badge bit by including all necessary pictures or video.  

Sometimes it seems to me that some people are scared to try new things. The neat thing about SkIP is that it is organized from easy to hard, so you could spend several months doing easy things from the sand BB's of many areas, building confidence as you go.

I also know people for whom the thought of an "exam" raises their anxiety level. Earning BB's is not the same as an exam. You can try the skill 10 or 100 times to develop the confidence to submit your pictures for evaluation.  Any time limit is imposed by you, not by the program. The program will wait patiently until you submit for a badge.

If you choose to learn things that may directly save you money, you can make money by learning. It might not be a lot of money, but most education costs money, and the SkIP program can save you money.