tikiwanderer (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} tikiwanderer) wrote,@ 2009-07-05 10:23:00 |
|
Because I'm still thinking about it
angriest asked if we'd won the 90 million in last week's lotto, what would we honestly do with it? It's something I've thought about on a number of occasions, though not usually with as high an amount. Now, I didn't win anything - I paid the tax on people who don't understand statistics like most people. But because I've spent plenty of time thinking about it, a lot of the details are starting to form. So I thought I'd put my answer here, or at least where it's up to.
There's three stages. The first, like most people, is to stabilise the housing arrangements of ourselves and senior relatives, though with the added thing of setting them up sustainably water- and energy-wise. So, buy a house and redo/renovate it for sustainable living someplace where we'd actually want to live, cover outstanding mortgage debts or set aside money to do so when my mother hits retirement age in a few years, install water tanks and solar panels or wind turbines, rebuild for passive solar, etc etc as needed.
Second stage is to gift in the direction of certain non-profits that I support. Focused gifts, to help them try and achieve certain of their aims. CERES, to employ an appropriate green technology person and keep going on some good projects as well as renovate / maintain some existing ones. The Alternative Technology Association, for some of their high-urban-penetration projects like the distributed wind power research they've been doing (and again, include salary). And lastly the Tracker School, in particular to support them running a standard course in Australia (if that's what they honestly want to do) - which involves a bunch of capital for the local research, shipping and instructor flights, and to set up the basic infrastructure to host a full class of 100+ students for a week's intensive without damaging whatever bush area they're in. Each of these three non-profits does good work at getting large numbers of people to improve their life quality, increase their sustainability and reduce their impact on the Earth.
The third stage is the big one, and where most of the cash would end up going. The overall aim is to support the small communities of Western Australia to increase their sustainability and reduce their reliance on the greater infrastructure. There's several things I could do, depending on how much money I actually had, and what projects local councils were willing to get involved in - I'm not one to force new development on people because then it doesn't get used. The projects would also include funding for training locals to maintain utilities and provide services, if locals willing to undertake the training were present - the aim being to make whatever goes in something that can continue to be used for twenty years.
Some of the possibilities that I've thought through for this third stage:
* Set up a research project, fund and company to design, engineer and build appropriate and sustainable power sources for interested towns in the WA wheatbelt, to create distributed power sources and make shires as self-sufficient energy-wise as possible. (I'm thinking solar thermal ponds using salt water from the groundtable, biomass using oil mallee plantation leavings, wind power, or whatever seems appropriate for each area.)
* Convert Narrogin into a Solar City with solar panels on most houses and businesses. (I worked out once it would be possible to do this with I think it was about one million dollars, if the townspeople were willing to be part of such an initiative. I know the council would support it - they said so when I asked them for details for doing the math.)
* Develop a series of electric car charging points at suitable distances down the Albany Highway, Brand Highway and SouthWestern Highway in WA, that were solar powered but grid-connected. The project would involve local councils and also include training people in local towns for electric car repair/support.
* Build self-powered / self-watered nursing stations in the smaller places, that can be used either by permanent nursing staff or by a district nurse on a regular circuit as the council thinks appropriate. (I can't provide the nurses or fix the shortage, but I can make sure the infrastructure is in place to provide an outlet for basic health needs).
* Invest in communications infrastructure in country areas, so that there's less cherry-picking in who gets the better services. What I mean is, you don't just get the good quality services in the places where there's a high density of people to pay/compete for them. This could also include support for 24 hour health-related phone support lines, in a combination with the above point.
Sure, I can't do all of this with 90 million. But I figure I could get a few five-million 1 MW power stations around the place, and some new nurse stations to boot.
angriest asked if we'd won the 90 million in last week's lotto, what would we honestly do with it? It's something I've thought about on a number of occasions, though not usually with as high an amount. Now, I didn't win anything - I paid the tax on people who don't understand statistics like most people. But because I've spent plenty of time thinking about it, a lot of the details are starting to form. So I thought I'd put my answer here, or at least where it's up to.There's three stages. The first, like most people, is to stabilise the housing arrangements of ourselves and senior relatives, though with the added thing of setting them up sustainably water- and energy-wise. So, buy a house and redo/renovate it for sustainable living someplace where we'd actually want to live, cover outstanding mortgage debts or set aside money to do so when my mother hits retirement age in a few years, install water tanks and solar panels or wind turbines, rebuild for passive solar, etc etc as needed.
Second stage is to gift in the direction of certain non-profits that I support. Focused gifts, to help them try and achieve certain of their aims. CERES, to employ an appropriate green technology person and keep going on some good projects as well as renovate / maintain some existing ones. The Alternative Technology Association, for some of their high-urban-penetration projects like the distributed wind power research they've been doing (and again, include salary). And lastly the Tracker School, in particular to support them running a standard course in Australia (if that's what they honestly want to do) - which involves a bunch of capital for the local research, shipping and instructor flights, and to set up the basic infrastructure to host a full class of 100+ students for a week's intensive without damaging whatever bush area they're in. Each of these three non-profits does good work at getting large numbers of people to improve their life quality, increase their sustainability and reduce their impact on the Earth.
The third stage is the big one, and where most of the cash would end up going. The overall aim is to support the small communities of Western Australia to increase their sustainability and reduce their reliance on the greater infrastructure. There's several things I could do, depending on how much money I actually had, and what projects local councils were willing to get involved in - I'm not one to force new development on people because then it doesn't get used. The projects would also include funding for training locals to maintain utilities and provide services, if locals willing to undertake the training were present - the aim being to make whatever goes in something that can continue to be used for twenty years.
Some of the possibilities that I've thought through for this third stage:
* Set up a research project, fund and company to design, engineer and build appropriate and sustainable power sources for interested towns in the WA wheatbelt, to create distributed power sources and make shires as self-sufficient energy-wise as possible. (I'm thinking solar thermal ponds using salt water from the groundtable, biomass using oil mallee plantation leavings, wind power, or whatever seems appropriate for each area.)
* Convert Narrogin into a Solar City with solar panels on most houses and businesses. (I worked out once it would be possible to do this with I think it was about one million dollars, if the townspeople were willing to be part of such an initiative. I know the council would support it - they said so when I asked them for details for doing the math.)
* Develop a series of electric car charging points at suitable distances down the Albany Highway, Brand Highway and SouthWestern Highway in WA, that were solar powered but grid-connected. The project would involve local councils and also include training people in local towns for electric car repair/support.
* Build self-powered / self-watered nursing stations in the smaller places, that can be used either by permanent nursing staff or by a district nurse on a regular circuit as the council thinks appropriate. (I can't provide the nurses or fix the shortage, but I can make sure the infrastructure is in place to provide an outlet for basic health needs).
* Invest in communications infrastructure in country areas, so that there's less cherry-picking in who gets the better services. What I mean is, you don't just get the good quality services in the places where there's a high density of people to pay/compete for them. This could also include support for 24 hour health-related phone support lines, in a combination with the above point.
Sure, I can't do all of this with 90 million. But I figure I could get a few five-million 1 MW power stations around the place, and some new nurse stations to boot.
