Dear all
Thanks to those who offered ideas and help about household needs. I found the Family Budget Unit and the Governments' Expenditure and Food Survey useful, although both have their limitations. What I failed to find were many measures that were easily adjustable for those living a rather different life - like those I am working with - who are building their own homes, sharing vehicles and childcare, and often exchanging goods. One of the interesting particularities about the Lammas project (www.lammas.org.uk <https://securewebmail.le.ac.uk/Exchange/jp109/Drafts/RE:%20Household%20needs%20research%20-%20help%20needed-2.EML/www.lammas.org.uk> ) is that they need to prove that they can generate 75% of their household needs from the land, which of course requires them to define household needs first - which are likely to be vastly different for those attempting a low impact lifestyle than the average household in the UK. At the same time there is a danger that such groups end up justifying their financial poverty in order to be environmentally sustainable, and thus subvert campaigns such as the need for a 'Living Wage'.
I think there is much research yet to be done in this area - so if anyone has further ideas please contact me.
Thanks again
Jenny
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Dr Jenny Pickerill
Lecturer in Human Geography
Department of Geography
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester
LE1 7RH
UK
work tel: +44 (0)116 252 3836
mobile tel: 07788520037
fax: +44 (0)116 252 3854
email: [log in to unmask]
web: www.jennypickerill.info <http://www.jennypickerill.info/>
Anti-war activism project: www.antiwarresearch.info <https://securewebmail.le.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.antiwarresearch.info>
Autonomous Geographies project: www.autonomousgeographies.org <http://www.autonomousgeographies.org/>
Lammas low impact settlement project: www.lammas.org.uk <https://securewebmail.le.ac.uk/Exchange/jp109/Drafts/RE:%20Household%20needs%20research%20-%20help%20needed-2.EML/www.lammas.org.uk>
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