An hour of help earns one credit. Unlike standard money, there is no price placed on different kinds of service. Regardless of the type of help given, an hour is an hour. The purpose of time banking is to reweave communities by valuing the contributions of all, joining unused resources to unmet needs. … Read more
Tool Library Practicing Cooperative Economics Through Shared Ownership
A tool library is a cooperatively managed tool room/set of tools from which people can borrow tools when they need them instead of everyone having to buy their own set. It is a community resource dedicated to building community and fostering sustainability by providing residents with tools and the power to use them. We loan a wide variety of tools to community members free of charge. Tool libraries reduce the costs of maintaining and improving the places in which we live, work, and play. This … Read more
Making charcoal briquettes for fuel Recycle waste charcoal into new fire-starter
Charcoal biquettes or 'earth orbs' are balls of compressed flamable matter for starting and maintaining a fire. How to make them: Collect the remains from charcoal cooking fires. Mix the charcoal remains with corn cobs or other such material and Pyrethrum Plant (Dalmatian insect flower, Big Daisy). This plant improves the combustion (fire power) of the orb and its smoke chases away mosquitoes. If no pyrethrum is available, you can replace it with a local plant with similar properties. Mold the … Read more
Seed Bank Saving Seed
Seed Banks are cooperative constructs where local seeds are stored, saved and borrowed out. Our seeds is our heritage. They are used to local climates and they are thus adapted to locally harsh conditions. We need to empower our communities to go back to their roots and restore the culture of the use of indigenous seeds. Farmers can be empowered to come together and share seeds in different forums, but the most sustainable one is where farmer groups establish operational seed security systems … Read more
Lack of water in desert Wise use of water for agriculture
La fougara est un systeme d'irrigation de l'eau invente pour permettre de quantifier l'eau necessaire pour les differentes plantations dans le desert. C'est un systeme complexe et tres ingenieux qui remonte quelques centaines d'annees. C'est un systeme unique dans le Sahara que l'on trouve dans les Oasis du Gourara pres de Timumoun. Ce systeme d'irrigation est inspire des Qanats en Iran. … Read more
Drying mechanism for rice Building drying box from local materials
This link features instructions on how to build a fixed batch heated air drying bin from local materials. The goal of this design was to create a dryer that could maintain rice quality at a low capital and operating cost yielding a reasonably high dry time while remaining accessible to small-scale processing. … Read more
Mushroom Permaculture Mushroom cultivation
Mushroom growing can be done very low-cost and low-input. Additionally, it needs relatively little space. As the process does not happen on fields but in bags or jars, it does not require much or high soil quality, nor nearly any external input apart from the initial compost. It can therefore create economic opportunities in areas where other agricultural activity is hard. The only important thing regarding mushroom cultivation is that it is done properly. Which means that the sterilisation … Read more
The Credito The currency used in and around the ecovillage of Damanhur, Italy
The Credito is an alternative monetary system that is used in Damanhur, Italy. It is used by around 100 businesses and about 2000 people. Damanhurians see it as a way to give nobility to the concept of money, by not considering it an end in itself, but only as a functional tool for exchange between people who share ideal values. … Read more
Creating a Local Currency for use in Women’s Co-operatives Generating wages for women in the co-operatives
The new system will be more transparent and can be directly exchanged for groceries, vegetables and meat at the local market. It can also be exchanged for money. … Read more
Promoting Women’s Handicrafts Women's co-operatives provide a market for local handicrafts
As part of the cultural tradition, women learn to make carpets, hair accessories, scarves, and pieces of traditional clothing. In addition to marketing Argan, cooperatives would encourage the women to produce more handicrafts by marketing these pieces as well. … Read more
