Just One Acre... Barriers to Entry in the Green World

Walls are falling down.  That is a good thing and a bad thing.  The "Green" movement is picking up steam and that means some great things for the planet.

In the world of economics, things that keep people out of a particular business are called barriers to entry.  These can include a number of things, not the least of which are cost and capital investment.  The more popular certain things become, the cheaper they become.  We are seeing a lot of that stuff come down.  That is such a good thing.

Our most recent project has been building a chicken coop for one of our local schools.  In the past, there have been a number of barriers to entry.  If we set the goal at teaching kids about the natural world then we see that what used to be pretty hard has gotten easier.

Technology and innovation have gone up, while cost has gone down and so long as the primary goal is kept in mind, then we see that the thing (using chickens, and in our case a whole farm) to teach children about the natural world, where their food comes from, and have some interaction with it, then we see that it has become easier. 

In the past, we would have had to build on coop on each school's campus.  This model has the barrier to entry of high cost that some schools cannot afford, poor management due to intermittent attendance, and a number of other problems that go into the politics of working with schools.

Our plan?  We have partnered with several schools in our area and we are building the coops off site.  This allows us to have free access to the coop when needed and keeping a small flock of 8-10 birds allows the kids to keep up with them, name them, and see them without even leaving their classroom.

Let's look at it beyond that we are able to see that there are a number of other byproducts of a mission like this.  For one school, their robotics program is working on an Arduino based feeding system.  Any student who can get a wi-fi signal will be able to feed them remotely with programs in place to not over feed them.

The kids have also started neighborhood compost piles and the chickens will be well fed while creating nitrogen rich fertilizer for their gardens.  So they are seeing and working with the circle of life and sustainability.  They are engaging with science, technology, engineering, art, and math in each area of this project.

The rush of community has been amazing with people in the area volunteering their chickens and their compost.

One school that we are working with tested positive for lead in the water and so we are looking at the problem solving mechanisms that go into that. 

Overall though, we are able to form a community while being only a couple of miles from the school, but not being AT the school.  Why?  The barriers to entry have fallen and continue to do so.

The cost of this entire project?  So far we are $120.00 and most of that was for tools (drills and a saw so far).  The kids are learning how that cost, for a project like this, is construed as a capital cost i.e. the things that you have to buy to get your thing going.   How do we raise that money?  Well that is another key embraced by the community.  We collected aluminum cans.  People are free to donate and donations are appreciated, but the vast majority of the things we are able to do are facilitated by hard work (another key).

Students are engaged for the long term, they are invested in cleaning up their community, knowing where their food comes from, seeing how the natural world works and we allow for another tool for teachers in the area.

As we move forward, though, we are looking at how to do more.  The students will be developing a CSA and a farmers market in the spring, and we are gaining sponsors left and right now.  For the time being, we have begun a project on very solid ground with the largest commodity being hard work and kindness.

We are proud to work with other organizations on this and other projects and look forward to our gathering on Earth Day April 20.  Other people will present their Just One Acre Projects and we will see green innovators, urban farmers, and earth activists come out for three days of movement.  If you would like more info, please contact us at life@thelifecooperative.org

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