Robert Paterson's Weblog

Food Banks - a failed idea - Social Supermarkets - A Winner #urbanfarming

Here from BBC on how the Greeks are dealing with the collapse of their system:

But the social situation has only worsened, the demonstrators - still incensed - feel ignored and many Greeks are now unrolling a quiet revolution.

Tucked away in a side-street of Marousi, a hilly, green suburb of northern Athens, you come across the local garden initiative.

Marousi's mayor has transformed the land from a derelict dumping ground into small allotments for 40 families battered by the current economic climate.

The sound of raking and digging fills the air.

What, at first glance, may simply look like a healthy hobby is actually a lifeline for people in this community.

Sowing seeds

Argyro Papazoglou and her husband Niko are pensioners. They tell me they worked hard all their lives but have now seen their state pensions drastically reduced.

"We had to do something," Argyro said. The allotment, she explains, provides them with 50% of their food needs, allowing them to make much-needed savings on supermarket bills.

The Marousi allotment project is one of a growing number of examples in Greece where people have pretty much given up asking for help from outside - whether from their national government or the EU.

Instead, they are taking matters in to their own hands and finding ways to help themselves, their neighbours and their local community.

As well as feeding themselves, all the families working on the allotment hand over a chunk of their produce to others in need.

The fruits and vegetables are passed on to what Greeks have dubbed a "social supermarket". It is an idea catching on all over Greece.

Some of these supermarkets are supported by the state but a growing number of private initiatives stack the shelves with goods - from oranges to olive oil to nappies - donated by individuals or companies.

Ray of light

Social supermarkets allow low income families to shop at cut-down prices.

The money they pay is then used to provide the most destitute with goods for free, even helping them with gas and electricity bills.

Greece's Child and Family group supports more than 4,500 families and has a growing army of voluntary aid workers, doctors and dentists.

De Urbanization - Population Strategy for PEI?

My niece sold her 700 square foot 2 bed condo in downtown Toronto for about $350,000. Young people are on the high wire in terms of their costs in a big city. 

Rather than trying to employ existing Islanders here on PEI in call centres - could we not make it easy for young families to come here AND still work in the big city?

It's a huge trend:- (link) It just needs a few smart folks to work on how best to do this.

A study by researchers at the University of Kansas shows that de-urbanization is gaining momentum. An analysis of data provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) showed that people are moving from big cities of more than 4 million people to smaller cities with populations of 1 or 2 million. The study, which was published in 2009, looked at data collected during the last decade.

One of the bonuses of living in a city used to be proximity to shops and services. However, now that consumers can buy almost everything they need online and have it delivered to their doors, do they still need to congregate in cities? As improvements in infrastructure make rural living more convenient, people are likely to decide that the benefits of living in the country - clean air, peace and quiet, and wide open spaces - outweigh the attraction of the bright city lights.

Thanks to technology, it will soon be possible to earn a living from anywhere in the world, so long as there is access to the Internet. With information travelling at the speed of light, physical distances shrink into insignificance. As virtual workspaces develop further, a colleague on the opposite side of the country will feel no more distant than the worker in the next cubicle. Combined with the many attractions of rural environments, these technological breakthroughs could soon lead to a mass exodus of people from the world's major cities. De-urbanization looks set to be an important demographic trend in the 21st century.

Why I am Backing Inspired Farmers Urban Farming Project #localfood #resiliency

I am backing the Inspired Farmers Project - they will start the first demo for Urban Farming in Charlottetown next week. 

The project is lead by Karen Murchison of the Queen St Commons and her partners at the Murphy Community Centre (Where most of the "Farm" will be) The City of Charlottetown, Cycle PEI, Holland College and the Food bank and Soup Kitchen in Charlottetown

It's a tiny project but has huge potential to make PEI more sustainable. If you want to make a difference that please help. Your help can be a few dollars or a donation of stuff.

You can donate $ here:

Or you can  help with stuff like this:

Here is how I see this project and why I am backing them and why if you care for the future of PEI, you might help too.

It starts often like this - with a community using a barren public space to grow food as a demo. The idea is to inspire us to think differently about the urban landscape. No longer only grass, concrete and isolated trees. When we see this in downtown Charlottetown, we can imagine how different our street could be.

This is not simply a new esthetic either. In World War II 40% of the food eaten was grown by people at home - most in cities. 

At the heart of this is the food and the health crisis. By making urban farming - which uses very small spaces and high intensity - important we all learn how to grow our own food. This Saturday there is a workshop on this. We meet our neigbours in a new way. We are more active and we have better nutrition.

We start to escape the trap of being dependent on Factory Food.  The Food Bank becomes a hub of a network of people who help each other grow food and cook food.  Growing food and making meals return as skills that most of us have lost.

This is big - isn't it? And you only have to make a small step to help. 

We start this weekend! 

PEI now has a Local Crowd Sourcing Platform - Bootstrap #crowdfunding

Do you live on PEI? Do you have a small amount of money to raise? Do you have a community that will support you?

Then Bootstrap can help

One of the lessons of the PEI Indiegogo deals is that most of the support comes from locals and all the money is Canadian. Another is that many financings here will be for smaller amounts of money.

Matt Sullivan has built a local tool to address these issues. 

• It is in Canadian Dollars
• Aimed at PEI and later at any small community like ours
• Designed for modest amounts

Called Bootstrap - you can find out more by going to this address and you can see the first beta deal for the Inspired Farmers here. 

Crowd Funding - Kickstarter and Indiegogo - An "Old Pro's" guide to success and failure

We got notice that Indiegogo has disbursed the funds today and Raymond Loo's campaign is now really over with the goal of $12,000 fully realized. 

This work is not easy. It is not as simple as filling in the blanks on the sites and launching.

In my old life I was an investment banker. I used to syndicate bond deals out of London. I never thought I would need these skills again but as I work on a number of Crowd Sourcing deals all the old lessons come to the front.

So here are a few lessons from an old pro. Take them as you choose. But remember, there are thousands of years of lessons behind the lessons I offer. 

Make it Personal - No matter how noble the cause, we are most attracted to a person. If you have a cause, then put a person in the centre. 

The Person Must Have Social Weight - The more the person is widely recognized as being a good person, being trustworthy and a person who helps others, the stronger the appeal. 

We can all say no to an idea. Harder to say no to someone we know.

Make the campaign about something aspirational - Design it so that our hopes and dreams are attracted. It can be the rebel game designer who gets shafted by the publishers and then appeals to the gamers to give the corporate funders the finger. It can be like Raymond, to back a food system that gives the finger to factory farming.  It is not enough to just ask for help  - get explicit about what this really means to others.

We care about saving the world but we care about people who are saving the world more. 

It's ALL about the inner network - People like Raymond have a small group of people who are close to him who love him and in turn have their own network. Think of petals on a flower. Their networks branch out - they touch each other but are largely different. The key is to know these people and to work with them well before you launch. Bring them into the planning. THEY do most of the lifting. And it they who you have to pay a lot of attention.

This is the deep structure of a deal done in the correct way. Think of who is at the root of each petal. Think of whom they represent. In London Underwriting, we use nationality as a key determinant. So there are Swiss, German, Japanese, American, Benelux, Canadian "Petals" and there are those that have a connection to the sector and those that have a connection to particular types of investors.

Fill in this Permaflower with your equivalent. Ask who and what is missing. Go and fill in the gaps - BEFORE you launch. As in the Art of War, the campaign is largely won or lost before you launch by the way that you have involved this core.

You don't need more than 8 people in your core. With 8 people each with 4 close friends with 4 close friends, you are connected closely to 4,000 people.

This inner 8 are the entire deal.  You have to work a lot with them BEFORE the launch.

You have to have a Road Show - You have to meet face to face with your inner core. This is the norm of underwriting in London and on Wall St. It's all very personal. So when you are invited or not or you turn down or not, there is a social impact. This is not a mechanical business. It is about as personal as it gets.

Most of the work has to be done BEFORE you launch.

The better the core the better the deal. And a way of getting other influencers in on the deal is to start with 3 of your own. Then you can say "X" is in. If "X" is a hitter, the "Y" will come in and so then will"Z". Sounds crass, but that is how people are. We want to be with people we admire. We want to be part of a success.

Face to Face trumps online. Real Syndicators spend face time with each other. It's so we can ask for help from each other. We have to care about each other. 

Reciprocity - To get you have to give - In this world you don't get far by being a "taker". Help as many other deals in your network as possible. Help can be to contribute or if you cannot do that then help by spreading the word. 

Again most of the work happens BEFORE the launch.

For there is more than your deal in your community. The more the community gets used to "Barn Building" like this - then the more capacity you build. The more you give, the more your social bank account builds and then so does your capacity.

Think about the size - Size is everything. The Underwriters took too much for Facebook and now everyone feels screwed.  The only way to get large size is to have something to sell. In Raymond's case it was meat. Others have sold CD's, books, Games and watches. If the reward is only honor, you cannot ask for much. 

The key perk size is between $30 - $50. 100 people coming in at $50 gives you a chunk. 100 coming in at $20 is not much. 

You have to design the perks so that most will pay in this range. It has to be worth their while.

If you do not have a perk that is a valuable thing, then you have to plan on small size. 

Bingo Perks - If you have a big "Bingo" Perk - then set it up so that it does not take Bill Gates to do it. Design it with how it will be taken into account. In Raymond's case the Bingo was a dinner for 10 cooked by a well known chef. We designed this so that 10 friends could get together - not impossible and fun. In Patrick Ledwell's case, he aimed at businesses that would have a Christmas party - his Bingo was to be their entertainer. 

A success in the "Bingo" is what makes the difference often. So design it with great care so that you have a chance to get it. 

Luck is important in any deal but don't plan for luck, plan for a realistic chance that someone will take the Bingo and get something from it. 

Financing is all about momentum - You are going out for dinner, you pass 3 restaurants. One is empty, one is a bit busy and the third is packed with a line up. Which one do you choose? The packed one. It's the same with syndications. Your deal must open with a bang and keep this going for the first 4 days. You must plan to raise at least 30% in the first week. You do this by getting your core to get in early. You must open on the first day with 5- 10%.

Don't beg!!!! - Each Day Tell a new Positve Story - The moment you start to beg - "Please help us" with less than 10% by week 1, you are doomed. 

If you are struggling you have to get more influencers to go public about their support and why they support this. Your job is to build confidence. 

Every day in the first week - tell a new story and better have another person tell the story of why this is good. When you have momentum, tell people about the success. Success breeds success. 

Timing - Financings go in waves. You want to be early in the cycle. What happens is this. There is a lull in the market. A new deal comes out that gets everyone's attention. We all pile in. Then another that will be bigger. We all pile in. At some point though, we all get tired and we all get tapped out. But many, seeing how well the early birds did, go to market. They don't do well. Some bomb. Then we get a lull. And the cycle continues.

You have to be plugged into your local network to know the cycle. To reopen the cycle, you need a special deal. 

Again this is not a simple, let's use Kickstarter and get money like Patrick did. For when you fail, you close a door for a long time. If you fail more than 3 times in a row, the door will shut permanently.

This is not a game - This is not Farmville. Once you have your money, the next round of hard work begins. As with a farmer with a CSA, now is the time that you truly create the confidence that will enable you to ask again at some time. You have to work hard to make sure that all you have promised happens well. You have to deliver and in a strong way.

You now have a community that has supported you. Look after them. Cultivate them. Honor them.

If you do this right, they will advocate for your enterprise all the time and when the time if right, you can go them again and get more financing. 

It's all about Trust - The Motto of the City of London is "My word is my bond". This is the eternal motto of anyone who seeks to ask others for money. It has been lost today in the big markets. But Crowd Sourcing is a return to how banking always was - a personal business based on trust.

Every thing you do either adds to trust or takes it away. Assess everything you do in this framework. 

Trust is the real currency here. 

HFCS - A Zombie World in the Making

The Vet College opens it walls - Learn about wild life May 22

The Atlantic Vet College is starting to open its walls. The plan is to make more and more of what it does available to the public online. 

We start on May 22 with a livestream of a popular workshop on how best to interact with wildlife. On PEI we all have foxes and coyotes close to us. We all have birds and skunks. How do we coexist best with these neighbours?

As we learn how best to do this - we will expand our online outreach. You can find out more about hoew to get connected by joining the AVC Friewnds and Family Community - it's free and organizes a lot of cool events such as Vet Camp and the ever popular Open House where all kids who love animals have a whirl.

Here is the info:

People and wild animals are increasingly crossing paths, which can result in human-wildlife conflicts. AVC will present a community workshop entitled “Living with Wildlife” on May 22, from 7-9:30 p.m. in Room 287N, The McCain Foundation Learning Commons at AVC.

A team of wildlife experts will provide information and answer questions about the “do’s and don’ts” of dealing with wild animals. The speakers include Dr. Marion Desmarchelier, AVC Zoo, Exotic Animal and Wildlife Service; Dr. Heather Fenton, AVC Wildlife Pathology Resident; Chuck Gallison, PEI Department of Fish and Wildlife; and Jody Kocsis, Technician, AVC Zoo, Exotic Animal and Wildlife Service.

Admission is free, and everyone is welcome. The workshop is part of AVC’s award-winning Community Workshop Series and is sponsored by AVC Friends & Family.

People who are not able to attend the workshop in person are invited to view it live at a link that will be added towww.upei.ca/avc/friendsand family on the evening of May 22.

Why we are becoming more stupid - 2 ways to get smart again #health

For some two million years of our evolution our brains became larger. John Hawks, anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, says there has been a dramatic reversal. Over the past 20,000 years, the average volume of the human male brain has decreased from 1,500 cubic centimeters to 1,350 cc, losing a chunk the size of a tennis ball.

This is major downsizing in an evolutionary eye blink. Hawks claims that If our brain keeps dwindling at that rate over the next 20,000 years, it will start to approach the size of that found in Homo erectus, a relative that lived half a million years ago and had a brain volume of only 1,100 cc. (Link to more)

So here it is. The brain is shrinking. We are going back. 

What might have happened? I suspect two factors. After agriculture, most of us became domesticated. We literally became like sheep: animals who relied on our masters to shape our lives. We depend more and more on systems we don't control or understand to live. So we don't have to think. We stop being aware. We don't need as much brain. We were like wolves, then German Shepherds and now we are Pekineses. 

Then - The embodiment of wild and wisdom - Now the embodiment of the opposite

Two utterly different representatives of leadership!

And secondly we eat a very poor diet. At the advent of agriculture we lost 6 inches of height from poor nutrition.

Since 1980, we now eat an industrial diet. 

By 2050 nearly 100% of Americans will be obese.  We eat an Idiocracy Diet now like this one. 

It took a million years for us to lose our gut as a primate. The key to the new large brain was nutrition. When we learned how to use fire, we could eat more meat.

(The Gorilla is not fat - he has a huge gut to process all these veggies)

As we ate more nutritional dense food, our brain grew larger and our gut smaller. We became more smart and so better hunters and ate more meat and so on. 

We don't gain more gut - we just get fat. This is what most people will look like soon. 

Human Evolution is in reverse now. So what to do?

If you live like a sheep, you will become one. Become a "hunter gatherer" again. Work to control your own world and depend less and less on "THEM". Become "Wild" again. Largely support your self. Progressively disconnect from the system. 

Easier to do, eat more brain food - dense nutrition - eat more meat. eat real food. Cut back on the grains. We are not chimps or Gorillas. We have been designed for millions of years to eat food that is dense with nutrition.

Eat Real Food - Live a Real Life.

Are you a Robot or a Human? - "Fit"

My regular readers have had to endure months of my banging on about my "diet". I think I have not described what I am trying to do broadly enough for while what I eat is having a massive impact on me, I think that the larger context is more helpful.

via smartpei.typepad.com

The History of Food - Why we are being poisoned today

Eating healthy takes a lot of effort in today's society when we are surrounded by food that is bad for us - but the alternative is you will get very sick and die.