Allan Savory: How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change

Mar 05, 2013 No Comments by Bruce Darrell

In 2009, Allan Savory of the Savory Institute was invited to Dublin to give the Feasta Annual Lecture. His work on transforming the way livestock is managed in order to reverse degradation of arid landscapes was seen as an essential tool in reversing climate change and desertification, and was included in the work of the Carbon Cycles and Sinks Network. The recording of his fascinating full presentation was put online, as well as a few extracts, in which he explains the details of the Holistic Management system.

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Report from the McPlanet conference

May 07, 2012 2 Comments by Brian Davey

Broken promises and naive expectations – that’s how many people at the McPlanet Conference held recently in Berlin clearly felt about the last two decades of global environmental policy. They believe that an imperfect-but-better alternative exists: protecting and enhancing the commons and community-based protection of biological resources worldwide, including in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa where land-grabbing is currently rife.

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Ronan Lyons Report on Site Value Tax now available

Jan 31, 2012 Comments Off by Dara McHugh

Ronan Lyons’s report on Site Value Tax in Ireland is available for download. The report assesses the obstacles to implementing SVT in Ireland and how these can be overcome. It also assesses the revenue potential of the tax and the distribution of land values in Ireland.

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“Working together for access to the earth”

Sep 27, 2011 2 Comments by Caroline Whyte

Recently I had a chat with one of the interns at a local biodynamic farm who explained to me that the farm is currently undergoing a change of ownership. What he told me about the future plans for the farm reminded me of some of the investment models described elsewhere on this site, so I thought I’d write a few words about it. [...]

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Finance for future communities: equity partnerships and investment unions

Sep 10, 2011 No Comments by admin

This week we are featuring two articles from Fleeing Vesuvius which explore ethical, equitable approaches to finance. Tim Helweg-Larsen describes his recent attempt to establish an equity partnership in North Wales and Oscar Kjellberg draws on the example of Mondragon in order to examine the role which community bankers could perform as intermediaries between local stakeholders in the future.

Fleeing Vesuvius chapters, News Read more

How Cutting Property Taxes Makes You Poor

Aug 22, 2011 Comments Off by Emer

by Emer O’Siochru, from the Smart Taxes Network. The Irish have a lot of learning to do about property taxes. Following the 1903 Land Acts, the new largely Catholic landowners who displaced the largely Protestant absentee landlords, immediately sought to deny their obligation to the people of the nation that had helped them win their fine farms. [...]

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Site Value Tax Brochure – Read Online

Aug 16, 2011 No Comments by Dara McHugh

Site Value Tax is a tax policy proposed by Smart Taxes Network. It would be an annual charge on zoned land, based on its market value, which would fund government expenditure and encourage productive and sustainable investment. Smart Taxes have created this brochure to offer a clear and simple explanation of what the tax is, how it works and the benefits it offers.

Open publication – Free publishing – More economy

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Briefing Papers, Project-Related Documents, Smart Taxes Network Documents Read more

The Commons of Soil

Aug 01, 2011 1 Comment

by Patrick Noble. I hope to show that the bad news presented by our inevitable austerity is only bad for what can be happily lost. Laws of physics, which are about to disappoint European and American desires may simultaneously liberate us onto a lost Common. All that is best in life is encompassed by common humanity and is in no way reduced by a mere oil-deprivation.

Report: Implementation of Site Value Tax in Ireland

Jul 22, 2010 No Comments

The Smart Taxes Network has just submitted an Implementation Paper to the Irish Government which aims to provide policymakers with guidance on the implementation of Site Value Tax in Ireland, assessing actual and possible obstacles, and providing solutions. You can read a summary and download the full report here.…

Recovery Stability and Growth: Unveiling a New and Just Taxation Policy for the Benefit of All

Mar 02, 2010 No Comments

Public Talk and Panel Discussion

Date and Time: Tues 9th March 2010, 7:30 pm

Venue: Robert Emmet Theatre (Nassau St. entrance), Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

€10 (at door)

Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev

Fred Harrison

March 2008. at our first Trinity lecture, Fred Harrison clearly predicted a rapidly approaching bank and property crisis.

April 2009. at our second Trinity lecture, Harrison outlined a policy which would prevent future Boom-Bust disasters.

November 2009. Site Value Tax policy becomes part of government policy.

March 2010. At this third Trinity lecture, Fred Harrison, Dr Constantin Gurdgiev and a panel of experts set out …

Dan Sullivan – Capturing the value of the commons: Land Value Tax as a community development tool

Jun 12, 2009 No Comments

Dan Sullivan contrasted the experience of Pittsburgh and Cleveland in the present downturn. Cleveland is struggling to stem a complete collapse of its housing market while in Pittsburgh, foreclosure rates are low, home prices are climbing slightly and construction rates are increasing. He attributed the difference to the fact that Pittsburgh has a site value tax and Cleveland does not.

Emer O’Siochru – Proximity Principle in Rural Planning and Development; integrating energy, food, soil fertility, carbon mitigation and shelter.

Jun 12, 2009 No Comments

Emer O’Siochru believes that the proximity principle has to be turned on its head if communities are to become sustainable. She argued that, instead of bringing similar activities closer together to reap the benefits of scale and agglomeration, different activities should be beside each other to be more energy- and carbon-efficient. She wants new, low-carbon food, energy and shelter production systems to be integrated locally to transform and invigorate rural communities.

Recovery – can Ireland be first? – Fred Harrison, organised by Konrad Dechant

Apr 02, 2009 No Comments

Date and Time: Thursday April 2, 7:30 pm
Venue: Walton Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin…

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Project Feeds

Site Value Tax Petition to Minister Noonan

This residential property tax will be collected on every home in Ireland. The rate you will pay, under this system, depends on the full value of your property including the building. The square footage, the number of bedrooms in your home, energy rating, are some examples of the features that assessors will use [...]

Environmental Pillar policy on Site Value Tax

The Environmental Pillar has added its weight to the growing push for a Site Value Tax in Ireland. Today (18 October) it released a policy on Site Value Tax, outlining the social, economic and environmental benefits that would be delivered by its implementation.

The merits of Site Value Tax (SVT) : A public event at the Castelnock Hotel and Country Club

If you are interested in the Single most important decision our Government could take to navigate us out of our current mess You are welcome to come to a riveting and honest discussion on The merits of Site Value Tax (SVT) Otherwise known as “The Fair Tax” as the alternative to a ‘Property Tax” on [...]

News Digest

Green measures blocked by top EU official

José Manuel Barroso’s top official, Catherine Day, is pressuring environment commissioner Janez Potočnik to delay bringing forward new proposals in a number of areas.

RTE drivetime programmes on fracking

RTE recently broadcast two programmes which include interviews with people who have been adversely affected by fracking in Ohio and Pennsylvania. They are available here and here. A third report will be following shortly. …

3 petitions to ban fracking in Ireland

There’s been much discussion on this site of the problems with fracking. These petitions need 20,000 signatures. The frackingfreeireland.org website is a good source of information on the situation in Ireland.

Petition 1 (Northern Ireland only) Petition 2 Petition 3…

Events

Economics for Conscious Evolution: International Land Taxation conference

Feasta’s Emer O’Siochru will be speaking on the first day of this conference from July 24-28 at the School of Economic Science, 11 Mandeville Place, London W1U 3AJ. It will explore a wide range of topics relating to Land Value Tax and global economic justice. More information here.

Cloughjordan Ecolearn Experience Day: Transitioning to a Low-Carbon Society – Issues and Options, June 22nd

This one day seminar led by Professor Peadar Kirby and Feasta’s Bruce Darrell places into a wider global context the everyday issues of sustainability and resilience that the Cloughjordan ecovillage seeks to model.

“Fresh approaches to tackling climate change” – Feasta/WinACC workshop

Environmental activists and anyone with an interest in environmental law are cordially invited to a weekend seminar organised by FEASTA and WinACC (Winchester Action on Climate Change). The seminar will consider fresh approaches to tackling climate change and how they might be put into action. It will appeal to those who like to hear alternative perspectives, challenge conventional thinking, and explore ideas through discussion with others. Saturday June 29th – Sunday June 30th 2013.

Sharing for Survival comments

Comment on Panel: Biochar by James Bruges by Patrick Noble

Blimey James – Sorry to continue the correspondence and please end it if you feel so, but this is important. Life is variable as the quality and quantity of the dust which revives it. The mineralsation of complex proteins into the simple elements required for plant growth is a function of a complexity of life. The whole art of husbandry is regulation of the speed of that process. Return too much fertility to a field and we increase crop yield by diminishing that of a neighbouring field.

Comment on Panel: Biochar by James Bruges by James Bruges

Patrick Not really. It’s called entropy. The process that reduces complex life to dust. It happens all the time, not just by fire or pyrolysis. ‘The total mass of bio’ is not constant, it continually increases and decreases. By growing biomass in desert sand entropy is reversed. James

Comment on Panel: Biochar by James Bruges by Patrick Noble

Thanks James – Sequestration & carbon sumps are bees in my bonnet. I’ll try to keep my bees under control – they are confrontational in that they oppose some central first principles of the IPCC, Zero Carbon Britain 2030 and most university departments! A little geezer becomes passionate in proportion to the mass of his opposition.

Comment on Panel: Biochar by James Bruges by James Bruges

Patrick. Thanks for your response and the attached article, which I found interesting because you obviously know so much more about nature’s mechanisms than I do. When the use of biochar is driven by neoliberal economics (as with all aspects of life) it has dangers, as pointed out by BiofuelWatch.

Debt Crisis Conference

National strategies for dealing with Ireland’s debt crisis: exploring the options – September 22-23 2011

Feasta’s Autumn conference examined measures that this country could adopt to secure its economic future which would not leave it reliant on external factors largely outside of its control. Scenarios explored included the potential collapse of the eurozone. The conference featured prominent international and Irish economists and was aimed at economists, politicians, policy-makers, business people, social partners, and other key decision-makers.

Conference videos.

Conference programme (pdf)

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