"Crypto Currency for Permaculture?" An Interview with Steve Cran, Green Warrior Permaculture. By Willi Paul, Planetshifter.com

"Hi Willi, nice to connect with another Earth Warrior. Collaboration? Well mate how about putting it out there to create a crypto currency based on land and permaculture enterprises. The current lot of cryptos have little or no real assets. If farmers could sell their land to the common Perma-Coin then they could continue farming without debt. All kinds of permaculture-based enterprises could then flourish using our own money. What do you think?" - Steve Cran, LinkedIn

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Interview with Steve by Willi -

Is the crypto market a scam (see thread on permies.com)?

My gut feeling is it is a big gamble with no real backing. Like the Titanic they say it is unsinkable but its only data on a computer. I can't dig a hole and hide it in my back yard. It only exists electronically. The virtual world is an illusion and this type of activity is designed to lock us into the virtual world as a new reality. It comes with strings attached.

How many crypto currency-based land and permaculture enterprises can you think of? What are the pro and cons?
I'd first start with creating Agro-communities where people had a tiny house community on a working farm and all worked together to produce a range of products. This would tackle many immediate problems such as unemployment, poor land management, labor shortage, etc. The land, the houses and the products are all linked with the coin.

The first farms would be chosen to create the most benefits. If you were a farmer struggling with a large plot of land and suddenly you had 40 tiny homes move onto the land with a sizable keen workforce you would be able to increase production as well as have a great social life. Farmers are mostly lonely because they work so much. This system would require development and solid leadership but it solves the elephant in the living room. We are weak now because the current system keeps us apart, and individually struggling on many levels. It means we would co-create in communities and be strong by working together.

There is a model in Hong Kong I just saw called the Hive Co-Farm. You have the producers and the value adders all working on the same farm and sharing the profits and benefits.

Humans are tribal by nature. They operate best at groups of 130 so anthropologists tell us. Each Perma Coin farm/community could be set up for that number.

There are countless enterprises that could join each hive. You could have a hive of hives. Its unlimited. As this economy grows the old slavery-based debt system dies.

How do you think permaculturist's values fit into the crypto scheme?

We could encode the currency through the block chain system so over time it could only be used for certain activities or eliminate activities that are anti-permaculture.

How do you compare the bit coin market with the legal marijuana scene?

That is a difficult question. Weed could be used as a solid currency. Bit coin needs a computer and is traceable. Weed is currently illegal in most countries. I just left the Philippines after 4 years of Permaculture work there because the president is warring on every kind of drug including weed. Maybe we could have weed coin and its made out of hash and you could break a bit off to smoke now and then-

For a bunch of soil diggers, it would seem unlikely that a virtual currency play would be a fit?

I would advocate for a solid coin that has a crypto shadow. Two ways to verify the coins somehow. The solid coin could have a serial number. There could be one coin for land and another for labor. The labor coin could have a use-by date so it gets circulated rapidly. I'm not a math genius but I'm sure somebody out there could work this out.

How would farmers sell their land to a common Perma-Coin Bank?

The farmer is most likely currently in debt to a bank. He sells the land for coin and the coin pays off the loan immediately. We would need some initial capital to pull this off. Then the farmer agrees to continue farming in a sustainable way. He may also agree to share his land with other users. Most farms in the West are too big and there is no labour to help farmers so they rely on machinery. As the farm is redeveloped along permaculture lines it becomes more valuable. This is because humans are now realizing that clean food is king.

The farmer can sell his high value produce with coin. The on-sellers can also sell their product with coin. All the people in the clean food chain, earth repair chain and Permaculture services chain can use this coin. What's cool is everyone owns the land in the bank collectively. After a time, people will donate land or bequeath their land after death, even if they are still using it.

Debt runs the banks, our mortgages, educations, our credit cards - and most farms. Are you saying that a crypto scheme can eliminate debt?

Debt is a form of slavery. We don't need it. We don't need banks that just suck from the system without giving back. I'm saying a totally new economy based on permaculture principles and ethics could emerge and leave the old system to compost. What is education? It's brainwashing to keep the current system in business for all generations. We can run our own community-based education. Credit cards? Not required. Most of the useless consumer products we buy are with credit cards.

What happens to the struggling barter economy under the Perma-Coin Bank?

It grows alongside the Perma-Coin system. This coin isn't exclusive. Bit coin and all the others will all compete for people's investment. Ours will grow strong because it has real tangible assets backing it. A person may barter goods and use Perma-Coin as part of the deal-

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Steve Cran (Full Bio) is a Permaculture Aid veteran, teacher, social activist, climate change resilience specialist and a very handy guy to have around after a natural disaster. With a 27-year career in Permaculture, Steve has developed effective, sustainable, recovery solutions for communities affected by natural disasters, war, or long-term poverty.

Steve takes on the challenge of assisting people living on the edge of survival, to rebuild their communities. Steve has developed projects in war zones, post disaster zones, poverty zones and in many difficult areas on this troubled planet where most people would not dare go.

Steve focuses on building productive working models and training the trainer from whatever community he's working with. The best results come from local people training local people to motivate the rest of the community. "The world's problems grow at an exponential rate so I design projects that solve problems at an exponential rate".

Steve has also conducted projects in Ethiopia, Philippines, the USA, Malaysia and Hong Kong. In each country he teaches and in each country, he learns. "I'm always the teacher and the student combined," Steve says. "Every culture has its best-practices and I share what I learn with all cultures I work with."

green.warriorsteve at gmail.com

Willi Paul is the Principal of willi paul studio and planetshifter.com. Willi partners with companies and individuals to provide custom contract media services including articles, interviews, edu-videos, roundtables and eWorkshops. He co-develops and expands each clients' creative vision and excels in delivering content in a captivating and authentic way. His target clients are Start-Ups, B-Corps, Incubators and Non-Profit Organizations.

Planetshifter.comis an online community resource, diverse database and outreach network that launched on Earth Day 2009. Planetshifter.com provides a deep database and wealth of information that includes 225 thought leader interviews with leading mythologists, permaculturists and artists, 1725 articles, 20 workshops, 104 New Myths, 40 eBooks and 173 edu-videos. As a globally-connected writer and activist in the Sustainability, Permaculture, Transition, SpiritNature, and New Mythology sectors, Mr. Paul is a visionary for the new global mythologist. Please find him on YouTube, academia.edu, Facebook, LinkedIn and DepthPsychologyAlliance.com.

willipaul1 at gmail.com