Understanding Local Abundance

Every community has a starting point: people who know the place, living systems that sustain it, businesses that already work and resources that could be used more thoughtfully. This course begins by learning to see those strengths. You will choose a real opportunity and develop the evidence needed to decide what to do next.

What abundance means here

Abundance means the useful strengths and resources already present in a place. It can include a healthy watershed, a recurring material stream, skilled tradespeople, trusted relationships, cultural knowledge, a workshop building or customers whose needs are underserved. Some resources are plentiful; others are fragile or shared. Their value depends on their condition, the people responsible for them and what is appropriate to do with them.

Look beyond the obvious

Start with what people already rely on. Who grows food, repairs equipment, teaches, cares for others or organises community activity? Which spaces, equipment or services have spare capacity? What materials leave the region, and what products are brought back? These questions can reveal connections worth investigating. A visitor experience might connect local food, guides and accommodation. A repair enterprise might connect trained technicians, available workshop space and customers currently sending equipment away.

Use COASTAL to widen the search

COASTAL is The Soil Collective’s inventory framework. Its seven domains are Community and Culture; Organisations and Governance; Agriculture and Food; Skills and Health; Tourism and Experience; Assets and Resources; and Land and Sea. You will use all seven in Lesson 1.4. For now, notice which domains you naturally see and which need another person’s knowledge.

Access, authority and condition matter

An asset being nearby does not give your project the right to use it. Land may have existing uses and obligations. A material stream may be contracted to another operator. Knowledge may belong to a person, family or Nation and require permission to share. Record who holds authority and what conditions would apply. Protecting a living system can create greater long-term value than increasing its use.

Follow one connection

Consider a hypothetical town paying to transport separated food scraps away while local growers buy compost from elsewhere. That suggests questions about collection, processing and local markets. It still needs reliable volumes, suitable inputs, an appropriate site, trained people, approvals, product quality and paying customers. The resource is the starting point for investigation. Evidence will determine whether an enterprise can work.

Choose your working boundary

Select a community, Nation, municipality, region or organisation you know well enough to investigate. Name the people and places included, why you chose that boundary and who else should help define it. Keep the scope manageable. Throughout the course, you will build an inventory, dependence map, selected opportunity, business case and 90-day plan for this same context.