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Summary
part 2 of a 2 part podcast
The subject of "building a better world in your backyard instead of blaming bad guys". Some people seem to think that by voting in the right politician the world's problems will be solved. Paul is not convinced. He'd rather pick up a shovel and do stuff to make the world a better place.
Paul relates how, many years ago, he worked as a librarian for the north west power planning council. His job was to file all the documentation, form which he learned a lot. The joke around the office was "conservation" - they spent a lot of time and effort trying to get people to use less power. Conservation and using less power is the answer but getting people to do it is another matter.
They move on to communities. Paul asserts that 95% of intentional communities fail, so he thinks we need a new model for communities. He feels what sabotages communities is drama, and thus he's keen to reduce drama. Beside no tobacco or drugs, there aren't many hard rules at Wheaton labs. The decision process is "independent thought consensus dictator hybrid". Sometimes consensus takes too long, so they have a dictator, i.e. Paul. Paul was recently described as a "tinpot dictator" and after he looked it up he quite liked it.
Paul relates the story of the property owner who sold the same property 3 times. Banks mostly won't touch homesteads, so you have owner-finance. People try to make a go of homesteading while still doing their worky job and this almost always fails, and they lose their money. What Paul offers is the ability to try it without the financial risk. He describes the process of being in the boot camp. Paul's idea is to come up with a reliable recipe for communities, and put that in a book so it can spread all over the world.
Next they talk about SKIP. SKIP was created to train people and verify them to inherit land from homesteaders who have nobody to will their land to. Paul feels about 85% of the people doing SKIP aren't actually bothered about inheriting land.
Paul and other engineers feel that at this time, going to college to get qualified for a job is a sucker bet. There are fewer jobs, and there are qualified and experienced people competing for jobs. The possibility is also approaching that robots will be taking over trade jobs in the future. College now only makes sense if you can get a free ride.
Now Paul is asked what he hopes will be his legacy in 100 years from now. He's not really looking for legacy. He'd like that his ideas such as WOFATI and the backyard food pump would be proven and widely adopted, and gardening gardeners would be everywhere, and hunger will be reduced.
Relevant Threads
SuburbanBiology's Youtube page
Paul Wheaton: Low input heaters, High output Gardens, Zero Sugar coating.
World's most efficient stove!!! Made of DIRT!!!
All about SKIP, PEP, Badges, BBs and More!
Community forum
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This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
David Lucey
Janelle
thomas adams
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Keith Kuhnsman
Cindi Duehmig
Banter Couch
Eric Tolbert
Paul Tipper
Paul F
Gerald Bernard
