Dave Pollard's environmental philosophy, creative works, business papers and essays.
In search of a better way to live and make a living, and a better understanding of how the world really works.

	Monday, March 2, 2009

Where I Might Be Meant to Live - II Back from a week-long vacation in Oregon. Tree took me to see an old-growth forest and the Oregon coast, both of which are spectacular. I decided it was a good time to review my list of the places I am thinking of 'walking away to', based on comments from readers and some of my own research. With my earlier list I said: I'm going to find someplace natural, someplace warm and peaceful, probably near forests and ocean beaches, perhaps build a cabana or a yurt, live mostly off local and home-grown foods, and reconnect with uncivilized life, with my instincts, with my senses and emotions, learn to pay attention, live in now time, play, reflect, explore and learn about the local ecosystem, and just be present. And from that stillness, I'm going to imagine and write about what's possible. You're welcome to come and visit, and stay as long as you like. It also occurred to me (slow learner, remember) that if I were to migrate semi-annually to two places, I could solve two problems: being closer to more of the people I love (at least half the year) and staying warm by summering in the North and wintering in the South. My first cut at rating the places I identified in my last list against my eight criteria uncovered no places with more than a 70 score, and a large number of places with scores between 60-70 -- too close to call. With a semi-annual migration, I can bump up the scores of temperate-zone places. Here's my updated list, ranked by score, with Northern (May-Oct) sites in blue and the Southern (Nov-Apr) sites in green (those in black text are warm all year): Area Warm (2x weight) Near Forest Near Beach Peaceful /Safe Un- crowded Progressive /Informed Well- Being Connec- tivity Sustain- ability Proximity to Love Immi- gration Health Care Score Aotearoa (N. NZ) •••• •• •• •• • •• •• •• • 90 Esperance (W. Aust) •••• •• •• • • • • •• •• • 85 Vancouver Isl (W. Canada) •• •• •• • • • • •• • •• •• 85 Oregon Coast (W. US) ••• •• •• • • •• • •• •• 80 Queensland (E. Aust) •••• •• •• • • • •• •• • 80 Hawaii (Pac Ocean) •••• •• •• • • • •• 65 Nicoya Costa Rica (C. America) •••• •• •• • • • •• 65 Belize (C. America) •••• •• •• • • • •• 65 Curitiba - Santa Catarina (Brasil) •••• •• •• • • •• 60 Cyclades-Acores (S. Europe) •••• •• •• • • • • 60 Caledon - current residence (E. Canada) •• • • • •• •• •• 55 Nature Coast (SE. US) •••• • •• • •• 50 Other Tropical Areas (Amazon, Thailand, South Pacific) •••• •• •• • • 50 One of my big challenges now is the immigration laws of the countries I want to walk away to. Few of these countries allow you to immigrate as a retiree unless you are very wealthy. For Australia, you need to bring into the country and leave on deposit A$750,000 (about CA$600,000), and that allows you to stay for four years with one four-year renewal option. For the US, a Green Card costs US$500,000 (about CA$700,000). For NZ, it's NZ$10,000,000 (about CA$6,000,000). Although it's hard to get information, it appears EC countries have similar rules. The idea of having to "buy" residency rights in another country, even when you have sufficient pension income from your current country of citizenship, is offensive to me. Costa Rica, Belize and Brasil offer retirement visas, which can easily be extended to permanent residency and citizenship; the proof-of-income requirement is modest (pension of $2000 per month or so). Temporary 'visitor visas' are more viable, but they require that you maintain 'permanent' residency and citizenship elsewhere. For Australia, you can stay up to one year. For the US, you can stay up to six months, renewable for additional six month periods. For NZ, you can stay up to nine months in any eighteen month period, so my plan of staying six months out of each twelve is a non-starter. All countries also require proof of sufficient funds to support yourself. So it looks as if I'm going to emulate a lot of Canadians and spend six months of each year getting away from the cold winter climate. Except I'm going to do it all twelve months of the year. Getting closer. 11:26:02 PM  trackback []  comment []

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