Superadobe - What is Superadobe? Superadobe (sandbag and barbed wire) technology is a large, long adobe. It is a simple adobe, an instant and flexible line generator. It uses the materials of war for peaceful ends, integrating traditional earth architecture with contemporary global safety requirements. Long or short sandbags are filled with on-site earth and arranged in layers or long coils (compression) with strands of barbed wire placed between them to act as both mortar and reinforcement (tension). Stabilizers such as cement, lime, or asphalt emulsion may be added. This patented and trademarked (U.S. patent #5,934,027, #3,195,445) technology is offered free to the needy of the world, and licensed for commercial use. This concept was originally presented by architect Nader Khalili to NASA for building habitats on the moon and Mars, as “Velcro-adobe”. Cal-Earth believes that the whole family should be able to build together, men and women, from grandma to the youngest child. Safety Standards and Comfort.
Huerta de Vida Cities take lead in climate change CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--City governments' response to climate change ranges from cutting-edge distributed energy to adding more bike lanes and trees. Climate change experts from four cities--London, Toronto, Chicago, and New York--spoke about the connections between sustainable urban design, energy, the economy, and human health on Monday at the Mass Impact Symposium, organized by the Boston Society of Architects and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The cities' climate action plans, some of which have yet to be fully rolled out, call for aggressive goals to measure, reduce, and monitor greenhouse gas levels--on the range of 50 percent to 80 percent in the next three decades. Under that over-arching goal are dozens of programs, including promotion of green technologies to lower energy consumption in transportation and buildings. "We can't just do one thing," said Ariella Maron, deputy director of New York's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. It's not just New York.
Transition Culture Gardening for Kids – Kids Gardening – Gardening for Children Hello all you little buttercups out there! Gardening for kids is for you. But it's the grown-ups who will be reading this... looking for ideas. Guess what was hidden under a patch of toadstools down the bottom of the garden? No, not some sleepy elves and dreaming fairies; it was a great big gi-normous treasure chest of golden games and activities of children's gardening ideas! Lucky you, ring-a-ring a posy, let's have a nosy at what's in it. ... These gardening projects for kids will allow even the youngest children to get involved. We have plenty of quick and easy projects here. So ginger up the troops and let's go: Gardening Activities for Kids Kids don't mind taking all the time in the world when you're in a hurry... sigh, but with gardening, let them go with flow. We would love the children of the world to grow up self-reliant and with good business values. If helping with a full-on garden seems too ambitious at the start when gardening with kids, try something simpler.
The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard tv8point1.org Aims: We are an internet based "Television" production co-operative located in Lake County California. We at TV8point1.org recognize that we are on the cusp of a revolution in many areas, global economics, food supply, energy supply, human relationships, health care, sustainable living and the list goes on and on. We also realize that if we are to thrive in what is sure to be a maelstrom over the next few years, we must prepare ourselves now. It is to this end that the all volunteer staff of TV8point1.org has launched it's campaign to "Make Connections and Build Community". We believe that if we act as a "pivot point" and use our expertise and personal resources to bring together a network of other organizations within and without Lake County, that we can help to bring together a community of Lake County residents with the express purpose of taking care of our own needs with little or no "outside" intervention from government entities. Inspiration: Outcomes so far: Unexpected outcomes:
Gardening for Kids It is a very interesting site containing a lot information about gardening in general and providing many tips. I wish to highlight the Kids part of the website. Amazing! What is the Leopold Center? Frequently Asked Questions Funding and Support Celebrating Our 25-year Anniversary View timeline of Leopold Center's 25-year history Proceedings from Our 10-year Anniversary What difference are we making? The Leopold Center is a research and education center on the campus of Iowa State University created to identify and reduce negative environmental and social impacts of farming and develop new ways to farm profitably while conserving natural resources. The Center's work is focused in four initiatives - ecology, marketing and food systems, policy and cross-cutting (water, energy, soil and alternative farming systems). Who we are The Center is led by Director Mark Rasmussen and Fred Kirschenmann serves as the Center's Distinguished Fellow. A 17-member advisory board, established in the 1987 legislation, advises the director on funding of research proposals, policies and procedures, budget development and program review. What we do The Leopold Center also has been a catalyst. How to stay in touch
Superadobe & Permaculture Design Certification - Cal-Earth Join us for the 4rd Annual Combined Superadobe and Permaculture Course! Check out the pictures from the previous training Cal-Earth Institute and Midwest Permaculture are combining their recognized and established certificate trainings for a rare and powerful learning opportunity. Having delivered over 45 PDC courses, Midwest Permaculture is an internationally recognized provider of quality permaculture trainings. A Combined Training: Nader Khalili and the team at Cal-Earth have focused for many years on studying the simplest of forms and elements and crafting a way to take the earth beneath our feet and turn it into beautiful, lasting and inexpensive homes. Through permaculture design we will discover how we can extract food, fiber, fuel, beauty and community from the very same elements that created the Cal-Earth buildingsEarth, Air, Fire and Water. Prerequisite Studies for this Training Both trainings include pre-training studies.
Deep Green Permaculture How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes from and Why We Need to Get It Back | Environment May 13, 2008 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. The following is excerpted from Has it ever occurred to you just how odd it is that we know so little about what we eat? The absurdity of this situation struck me about ten years ago. I began to wonder, were these the berries and eggs that I bought? Each product, I realized, was the culmination of some hidden story that I -- and most of my fellow shoppers -- had never bothered to consider. I was just starting to grasp that choices I made about what to buy in the supermarket had punch and bite -- in real places and in real people's lives.Yet when I shopped, these matters had rarely before come to mind. Now I started to wonder: Why did I consider some things but not others? That's what this book is about. The answers to my questions, I looked to history. In seeking to understand this drift toward indifference, I found an important clue in the work of anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss.