Subject: Wealth is energy and energy is wealth

From: April Sampson-Kelly <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 19:00:45 +-1000

Wealth is an abundance of energy provided as vegeatable and animal and other materials and or services.
Energy stores potential wealth.
A community can aim to contain its wealth by buying local products and services.  It can also maximise its natural resources such as solar and wind, clean water and soil.
Through the passive use of free energy sources our energy supply is not limited.  We can increase the storage of the energy supplied by the use of natural stores such as trees (which store water and sun through photosynthesis) We can increase storage of rain water with dams and swales and soil cover (mulch) and we can increase the capture of condensation with canopy on food gardens.
By ensuring that all persons in the community are valued and well employed we also maximise the communities wealth.
When we view wealth as that which comes from energy especially natural energy sources, we can see that we all have the potential for greater clean wealth.
One of the current abuses of wealth is the use of ancient stores of wealth to our own detriment - i.e. pollution from fossil fuels, loss of diversity from forest destruction, loss of soil from broadacre farming and more.
 
Future generations are going to have two major debts to carry before they can even store wealth:
1. They will be accustomed to the false wealth levels enjoyed by the generations which used up fossil fuels (stored wealth)
2. They will be spending wealth cleaning up the mess. (and many today are already doing this)

We can aim to both enjoy clean wealth and store it for future generations.  We can establish and develop cultures that are in tune with the resources they depend upon, we can all aim to be productive in a wide range of skills including being responsible for our food on the table.
April