Underpaid Genius

Principles - Slow Money: investment strategies appropriate to the realities of the 21st century

“In order to preserve and restore local food systems and local economies; in order to reconnect food producers and consumers and reconnect investors to that in which they are investing and to the places in which they live; in order to promote the transition from an economy based on extraction and consumption to an economy based on preservation and restoration; we do hereby affirm the following Principles.

I. We must bring money back down to earth.

II. We must bring our money home. We must put money back into local economies and carbon back into the soil.

III. We must invest as if food, farms and fertility mattered.

IV. We must invest as if carrying capacity, diversity and non-violence mattered; as if aquifers mattered; as if childhood nutrition and food deserts and obesity side-by-side with hunger all mattered.

V. There is such a thing as money that is too fast, companies that are too big, finance that is too complex. Therefore, we must slow our money down — not all of it, of course, but enough to matter.

VI. Organic seed companies, organic farmers, manufacturers of organic agricultural inputs, slow food restauranteurs, niche organic brands, local food processors, neighborhood retailers, CSAs, farmers markets, urban gardens, edible schoolyards — without them, there can be no durable economic health or quality of life, no durable food safety or food security.

VII. We must build the nurture capital industry.

VIII. We must give investors and philanthropists the tools they need to facilitate dramatic increases in support for small food enterprises — Slow Munis, new philanthropic charters that steer foundation assets in support of mission, funds dedicated to CSAs and organic farmland, and collaborative structures for local investors.

IX. There is something beautiful about a diversified organic farm. There is something beautiful about a CSA. There is something beautiful about Terra Madre. There is nothing beautiful about bovine growth hormone or Red Dye #4 or high fructose corn syrup. We must invest as if beauty mattered.

X. We must dare to imagine that after the Age of Industrial Finance and Industrial Agriculture comes the Age of Earthworm Economics. Let us recognize the words of one of its first proponents, who said: “I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer who puts back into the soil what he takes out,” (Paul Newman).

XI. We must ask:

—What would the world be like if we invested 50% of our assets within 50 miles of where we live?

—What if there were a new generation of companies that gave away 50% of their profits?

—What if there were 50% more organic matter in our soil 50 years from now?

XII. We need slow money…quickly.”

[via Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off - The Atlantic (July/August 2009) by Sandra Tsing Loh]

“Why Him? Why Her? [by Helen Fisher] explains the hormonal forces that trigger humans to be romantically attracted to some people and not to others (a phenomenon also documented in the animal world). Fisher posits that each of us gets dosed in the womb with different levels of hormones that impel us toward one of four basic personality types:

The Explorer—the libidinous, creative adventurer who acts “on the spur of the moment.” Operative neurochemical: dopamine.

The Builder—the much calmer person who has “traditional values.” The Builder also “would rather have loyal friends than interesting friends,” enjoys routines, and places a high priority on taking care of his or her possessions. Operative neurotransmitter: serotonin.

The Director—the “analytical and logical” thinker who enjoys a good argument. The Director wants to discover all the features of his or her new camera or computer. Operative hormone: testosterone.

The Negotiator—the touchy-feely communicator who imagines “both wonderful and horrible things happening” to him- or herself. Operative hormone: estrogen, then oxytocin.”

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I am am Explorer married to a Builder. Hmmm.

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“As far as the children are concerned, how about the tribal approach (a natural, according to both primate and human evolution)? Let children between the ages of 1 and 5 be raised in a household of mothers and their female kin. Let the men/husbands/boyfriends come in once or twice a week to build shelves, prepare that bouillabaisse, or provide sex.

Or best of all, after the breast-feeding and toddler years are through, let those nurturing superdads be the custodial parents! Let the Type A moms obsessively work, write checks, and forget to feed the dog. Let the dads then, if they wish, kick out those sloppy working mothers and run effective households, hiring the appropriate staff, if need be. To a certain extent, men today may have more clarity about what it takes to raise children in the modern age. They don’t, for instance, have today’s working mother’s ambivalence and emotional stickiness.”

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I completely concur. This is the future, just as soon an women get it together to throw the men out and build a matrilocal culture, again.

[via It’s Now Legal to Catch a Raindrop in Colorado - NYTimes.com]

“Now two new laws in Colorado will allow many people to collect rainwater legally. The laws are the latest crack in the rainwater edifice, as other states, driven by population growth, drought, or declining groundwater in their aquifers, have already opened the skies or begun actively encouraging people to collect.”

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The state governments are beginning to move towards a sane policy of letting people retain water that falls on their property.

I am hoping to find a version of the Langr theme with tags. Help?