Land stewards

This post was written back in February 2017 as a follow on to Next Stop ... Prime Minister, but remained in my drafts as I couldn't find the last few photos I wanted to include. It followed a theme of providing alternative options to deal with some of the problems we face. Even though so much has changed since then with Brexit and now Covid-19, I think it is still relevant now. Let me know what you think.

The remarkable beauty of an old slate quarry

After my 4th child was born, I made the commitment that I didn't want to work long hours in a stressful career anymore, for a company that just churned out products as cheaply as possible. I wanted to have an interesting, fulfilling and meaningful career, which was completely flexible around my family and allowed me to spend more quality time with them, when I chose to. Securing a future for all our children, by acting to prevent catastrophic climate change, felt like a worthwhile goal, so I signed onto a masters course, to arm me with the knowledge to go out into the world and battle greenhouse gas emissions.

The University of East London (UEL) had teamed up with the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) to provide the perfect hands on course for me. For each module you spent a week living at CAT, having lectures and practicals all day, often until late in the evening, then the rest of the month was spent at home preparing essays and presentations before the next module.

Old stone building with a green sedum roof and sunken garden at CAT.

At this point I need to describe CAT. It started out life with a small community transforming an old slate quarry on a very wet hillside into a beautiful, organic, sustainable, off-grid home. 30 years on the focus had shifted to being an educational facility promoting a low impact lifestyle, powered by micro-hydro turbines, wind turbines, solar panels and biomass. The award winning cafe on site served vegetarian food, a lot of which was grown intensively on site, and included an abundance of seasonal vegetables, herbs and flowers. The traditional thick stone-walled buildings, that had served the quarry many years before, were renovated to make them more efficient, but also opened up to bring in lots of natural daylight, improving the feel of the indoor spaces. Additional buildings demonstrated different techniques of timber and straw bale construction, but my favourite was the shop. The beautiful rammed earth walls, with their striated texture felt so warm and grounded, and designed with natural light flooding through the rooflights, it was a peaceful and calming space. Even more so because it was packed with hundreds of amazing and inspiring books that you wouldn't see anywhere else! (CAT publish their own books) The weeks were always so full that there barely seemed enough time for really enjoying this space.

Rammed earth walls and large roof lights for natural light in CAT's shop

With no mobile signal and very poor internet, we spent the week cut off from the outside world. I remember the shock of many arriving to find themselves with quite basic shared accommodation, completely cut off without news, TV, processed food or meat, in the constant downpour of cold, deepest, darkest Wales. A few jumped back in their cars and drove straight back home. But there was delicious hot food waiting for us and as we all sat on long benches full of strangers, from the most varied backgrounds you could imagine, aged from 18 to 70. Yet it was noisier than a playground full of primary school children. Everyone was immediately drawn into deep conversations with their neighbours, because suddenly you were surrounded by people who share your passion and dreams for a better world and are eager to learn more, yet have a lot they can teach you. These conversations only stopped whilst we listened attentively to the absorbing lectures, or when overcome by sleep in the early hours of the morning.

The strawbale lecture theatre, surrounded by welcoming open spaces.

After just one week I was filled with the confidence that we can do so much.... I can do so much. The negativity of climate change was blown away, by the knowledge that so much has already been demonstrated and achieved. I felt it wasn't good enough to just try and save energy as a job, but I needed to try and incorporate sustainability into every aspect of my life. Its funny that it all seemed such a big challenge then, like how could I ever grow my own food with a small garden and 4 young kids, yet I started growing just a few tomatoes in pots, then some peas and beans, and now I have an allotment full of vegetables.

The eco-cabins at CAT

I was really inspired to leave our cramped, 1980's "noddy house", devoid of character and not designed to support a sustainable lifestyle. I wanted to design and build a home for ourselves. Not just a home, but a lifelong home, designed to be flexible to our needs at every stage of ours and our children's lives, whatever changes befell us. Internal walls would not be structural and would be constructed in panels to allow the spaces to be re-arranged as easily as changing the decor. The doors would be wide and spaces would be clean and flowing to enable wheelchairs or baby walkers to access all areas. Walls would be super-insulated and glazing would maximise solar gain in winter, so it could keep us warm and sheltered even in the event of severe poverty. There would be a garden to give freedom for children to play, and that was sufficient to produce food when times were hard. Materials would be local and sustainable, so that maintenance involved digging up some clay to patch up the walls or replacing timbers. And when the world moved on and our home no longer met the needs of future generations, then the roof could be removed and the house would be washed away by rain or slowly decompose, so that a few years later little more than a weedy mound would show where our home had once stood.

The eco-cabins at CAT

It would be nice to place all the blame for not achieving this dream on the planning system, one that allows low impact buildings when they are intended to be used as holiday homes, but makes it extremely difficult to build something similar as a home to be lived in. Or place blame on the predominance of large house builders, who buy up the land and smother it with ugly developments of roads, drives and brick buildings, that concrete over nature and just leave handkerchief-sized lawns, with no space for trees or wildlife or craftsmanship and beauty. But if I am honest, and I do try to be, it is scary to step out of the comfort, security and conformity of that noddy house, and into unfamiliar territory filled with self-doubt, with a family in tow. So here I remain stuck until my courage and resolve return.

And so, in a very long-winded way, I come to addressing the comment from Rory on my last post regarding the lack of affordable housing in the UK, and the first step of my solution would be Land Stewards.

The Native American people have a belief system that we don't and can't own the land. In the millions of years that the earth has heaved and turned, we are but a passing whim. How can we own the land when our time here is so short and who owned it before us to say that we are now the owners? The earth had no borders before we evolved and will not after us, these are figments of our own invention, rules and constrictions that we have made for ourselves that form our own chains. 

Ownership has allowed the rentier class to develop. Most people earn a living working each day, providing goods or services, such as nurses, plumbers and factory workers. The money they earn is constricted by the hours they have available to work. The rentier class earn money by owning things, whether land or property or money, their income comes from loaning them out and charging a fee for it. So we pay them to live in their property or for the use of their money, not for the work that they do. Their earnings are not relative to the work they put in, but are more dependent on how desperately people need a place to live.

I would like councils to be able to apportion 1 acre plots of land to people who wish to be Land Stewards. As a Land Steward you are responsible for looking after that land in a sustainable manner and are entitled to use of the land for as long as you continue to do so, but you do not own the land. When you die your partner or children can apply to be the Land Steward in your place, or the land can be returned to the council to be re-allocated to another person. You would be entitled to build one dwelling and outhouses on the land as long as they are low impact, so that they can either be wheeled away or left to melt back into the landscape when you leave, with no long term damage to the land. No concrete would be allowed, not even for foundations, so drives would need to be gravel or wood chip or just tracks. Do you see where I am going with this?

If you offered a homeless person, or anyone, the right to their own piece of land, there is the potential that with support and hard work that they could make a life for themselves. Land gives people the opportunity to grow or raise some food for themselves and to build a shelter, but also the opportunity to learn new skills in the process. It encourages creativity and craftsmanship and re-skilling. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but that's fine. If all people get a basic income as discussed here and there are more flats and properties becoming available in the cities due to the surge in working from home, then there will already be a boost to city accommodation and reduction in demand should help affordability too. Then a shift for some people back to the countryside, and becoming self-builders or using local tradesmen, would enable a boost to rural communities. 

In addition the housing that Land Stewards build could not be tied to a mortgage, a loan of money from the rentier class, because there is no land ownership as a security to back it. This would mean that most stewards would have to build truly 'affordable' homes, using local materials or recycling. It would give people a chance to have shelter without the need to be on the property ladder. If people can build something special for themselves, then the demand for noddy houses would diminish.

Individual beach house

If you are wondering what this kind of affordable house building would look like, then walk along many of the beach roads in the UK. There are wooden beach houses, temporary holiday dwellings, often unique and individual and beautiful, even if sometimes in a shabby rundown sort of way. Or walk along the river bank and there are similar properties.

Another beach house in Norfolk

The landscapes that were painted by Constable showed small cottages dotting the landscape made of local materials with their thatched roofs. It is the surviving quirky, individual dwellings that we love, that makes a scene picturesque, something that our housing estates will never be. Let us give people back the opportunity to build beautiful homes and celebrate the diversity that will come from it. Lets do something that reduces peoples burden to the rentier class. Lets promote living sustainably from the land without damaging it for future generations

Changes after lockdown

As governments are starting to lift lockdown, or are at least asking about it here in the UK, lots of people are wondering what this new reality will look like.

I don’t think anyone is expecting everyone to go back to the normal commute and book a mini-break in Venice as soon as lockdown is lifted. Yes, there may be some businesses that don’t open again. Almost all companies will have taken this opportunity to re-evaluate staffing levels and possibly made some employees redundant to “streamline” going forward. Some may have made a business decision to close the office and work from home permanently, or move to online sales, to reduce overheads and give them a competitive advantage. I think most of us would expect to see a quieter city centre and more closed shops when we emerge from our isolation.

Looking beyond the local impact what could happen on a global scale? If you have been reading past the coronavirus headlines, you will see that oil prices dropped into negative figures for the first time ever. I was left scratching my head – people were willing to pay $37 to take a barrel of oil off their hands?

It is down to storage capacity – it is full. So even at rock bottom prices no one can squeeze any more in their storage until consumption starts to pick up. There were apparently more fully laden oil tankers at sea than there has ever been before and with few customers they had nowhere to dock. Most countries have agreed to production cuts, but at those prices facilities will be closing due to bankruptcies if they haven’t been mothballed. Production won’t ramp back up until the price increases to a level that is profitable.

If that doesn’t ring the financial meltdown alarm bells, then Germany announcing a recession that will take 8 years to come out of should. Firstly because all countries are cautious about announcing the full extent of their financial problems and secondly Germany was not one of the most Covid-19 infected countries in Europe, with only 87 deaths per million people compared to over 400 for Italy and UK ( taken from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ on 7/5/20).

Then you have to look at what the US are doing – I know it’s a mixture of horrifying and farcical watching the words fall out of President Trump’s mouth, but as the dominant global player it’s important.

War Games. The last few weeks there has been more antagonism with Iran in the Gulf, they have encroached into China’s territory in the South China Sea, and they are carrying out naval drills with the UK on Russia’s doorstep. Plus they have continued meddling in Venezuela which has the biggest oil reserves in the World. These provocations aren't really new, but interesting to see there has been no pause during the pandemic.

Historically wars have been seen to follow recession. Given that just the announcement of “tensions” from the US normally results in a boost to oil prices, a new war would have the added bonus of boosting GDP and providing plentiful contracts for re-building to US contractors, after the unfortunate country has been plundered.

There’s never much public support for war without a trigger. There needs to be a catalyst for governments to “react” to. Remember how slowly and ineffectually the UK government responded to the threat of Covid-19? Or how it took 3 days to comment after the Grenfell Tower disaster? This is normal, government is a ponderous beast to manoeuvre. When the response is fast and they immediately know conclusively who is to blame before the dust has settled and an investigation has even begun, then strap yourself in to be taken for a ride. This is where observing reports from different media outlets helps. When the media have been fed a story from government, they all describe it with the same wording and there is little variation from the national channels.

I’m just saying that overseas development and military hardware are likely growth industries, and that it’s not a good time for your potentially unemployed kids to sign up for military service.

High unemployment doesn’t necessarily mean there are no jobs around. Even in lockdown there is an increase in demand for delivery drivers and businesses supplying bikes and table tennis tables have been booming. Amazon is thriving, and as much as I avoid them and try to buy local, I can’t see this declining anytime soon. Unless we take action like France – to fine them for every non-emergency supply delivery that they make until they have ensured their workers are being protected from Covid-19. What we really need is a fairer tax system that taxes all turnover made in the UK, rather than a complicated tax on “profits” with lots of official loopholes, so that Amazon pay the same percentage of tax as all the small businesses they are wiping out ( I touched on this in my last very old post).

In the UK we may also see the trend of declining manufacturing industries reverse as we start to manufacture more essential goods at home. This is because countries will always protect supplies for their own citizens first. Plus transport of cargo has become more complicated, with borders more protected.

Flexible working and 4 day weeks may be more in demand, as people reassess their priorities after lockdown. If you can survive on 80% of your wages when you have time for cooking from scratch and no commute costs, then why not carry on with a more relaxed way of living? Part time working also provides more flexibility for businesses to have 20% of their labour hours in reserve if work starts slowly, so they are prepared if it ramps up again. This way they are retaining more of their trained staff with a broader expertise base, rather than opting for layoffs and then a recruitment drive once things pick up.

If the trend for homeworking continues then we could see the demand for properties in London decrease with more people choosing to live further afield. Whilst new office developments may slow, there could be bargains around for companies who can re-purpose them for higher value domestic units. Renting out hot-desking and meeting facilities could be a new growth area, to cater for companies with no main office space. I can imagine this gap being filled by Universities who may find online courses have become more popular for overseas students.

Once news outlets run out of Covid-19 drama, they will return to the normal fear-mongering about increases in crime due to the unemployed masses, so security products will be as popular as ever. I would like to hope that the new community spirit lasts and there are increases in the voluntary sector. The vacancies in the NHS may even get filled, as NHS workers are now getting the respect they deserve and there will be plenty of pressure from the public for more investment and fair pay rises. We can probably expect lots more from Extinction Rebellion too, as this pandemic has proved that the way to get change is to force a reaction.

I would love to hear about your experiences. What are your thoughts for the changes we are likely to see over the coming year?