Earthship Huts – Low Hanging Fruit in the Fight Against Poverty
Aid Projects, Biological Cleaning, Building, Conservation, Energy Systems, Irrigation, Potable Water, Waste Systems & Recycling, Water Harvesting — by Mark Feineigle February 8, 2012
Beavers and wasps can build their own homes… — Michael Reynolds
History
Modern Earthships are shelters built to sustain their occupants by providing energy, water, and waste management through the use of passive systems. They have been designed to meet the rigorous criteria that are found in the building codes of so many western governments. While these modern Earthships are quite pleasing structures, they owe their heritage to a series of evolutions Michael Reynolds developed over a 40+ year period in remote lands surrounding Taos, New Mexico in the United States of America. While experimenting with recycled materials for construction, a design known as “the hut” was born of earth-rammed tires, aluminum cans, cement, and some metal framing. It is an ultra light house in every sense, except physically.
Comments (0)Update on Permaculture Pygmies – Introducing Solar Ovens, Water Filter and SODIS
Aid Projects, Biological Cleaning, Community Projects, Energy Systems, Potable Water — by Xavier Fux February 1, 2012
We built a solar oven made out of cardboard, and showed the pygmies how to purify water through a solar disinfection unit (the SODIS System). We also showed them how to make a filter with a bucket full of sand, gravel and active carbon.
by Xavier Fux
Who said last days weren’t productive? Before leaving, we wanted to provide the pygmies with some very useful tools that can greatly simplify things for them:
- Simple, easy-to-build solar ovens (to reduce the need for firewood and all the negative implications that come with it)
- Sand-gravel-charcoal water filter (to clean the water from the 20,000L pond in order to use it for washing and other uses)
- Solar disinfection system for water (to purify water from the 1000L tank)
Brad Lancaster: “Urban Water Harvesting Systems” (IPC Presentation – Video)
Biological Cleaning, Conferences, Conservation, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Irrigation, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Storm Water, Urban Projects, Waste Water, Water Contaminaton & Loss, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor September 28, 2011
Brad Lancaster presents at the IPC10, Amman, Jordan, Sept. 2011
Photographs © Craig Mackintosh
Brad of harvestingrainwater.com has well-honed presentation skills — urban water harvesting has never been more interesting and compelling than after Brad has laid it all before you, and injected no small measure of fun and humour into it as well. I applaud Brad’s valuable contribution to the permaculture toolkit, as I’m sure will you after watching the video below!
Comments (4)Roman- and Byzantine-era Cisterns of the Past Reviving Life in the Present
Conservation, Irrigation, Potable Water, Storm Water, Waste Water, Water Contaminaton & Loss, Water Harvesting — by Brad Lancaster August 16, 2011
Editor’s Note: Brad Lancaster has established himself as one of the world’s leading permaculture dryland authorities. Brad will be participating in the soon-to-begin International Permaculture Conference (IPC10) in Jordan, across September 2011, both with co-teaching the pre-IPC PDC and as one of the speakers at the Conference itself. If you wish to book your place on IPC10, you should move fast….
Photos and text by Brad Lancaster
In northern Jordan during the summer of 2009, I was on a mission to document a modern-day Roman-era cistern resurgence. I met with Engineer and Permaculture Project Manager Sameeh Al-Nuimat at the Care International office outside Amman. He was great. He has rural hardworking roots, loves native plants and traditional ways, is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about whole-system design, and decided we’d begin the day by having an Arabic breakfast with everyone in the office. We all grouped around a very small, low table piled high with hummus, pita, olives, falafel etc, and ate with our hands. What a wonderful way to bring everyone together as the day begins!
Comments (7)Let the Water Do the Work: Induced Meandering, an Evolving Method for Restoring Incised Channels
Conservation, DVDs/Books, Dams, Earth Banks, Gabions, Irrigation, Land, Limonia, Material, Natural Swimming, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Roads, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Storm Water, Surveying, Swales, Terraces, Water Contaminaton & Loss, Water Harvesting — by Owen Hablutzel July 14, 2011
The volume reviewed below comes highly recommended for all Permaculturists working in or around any water channels, and particularly on the broad-acre. While the methods happen to apply most immediately in drylands, they will apply directly anywhere that erosion, down-cutting, rapid gully formation, and other forms of channel incision occur. Keep in mind that these techniques will also apply in ephemeral channels that only carry water during rare rain storms, and are otherwise ‘dry.’
Importantly, even if you are working more within mesic environments and do not see a lot of actively incising channels, just the knowledge you will gain about stream dynamics and working with various stream powers and flood-regimes will be applicable and invaluable to your work. These factors, such as the ‘bankfull’ flood, and the specific inter-relations and ratios of multiple stream variables remain the same as basic physics of water flow no matter what the environment. These physics will dictate exactly where and where not to place any kind of built structure within an active water channel, and enable you to predict results of your efforts with much greater precision. How many of us doing this kind of work have lost stream structures to a “gully-washer”? The knowledge and approach in this book could have saved many a headache, cash outlay, and enabled construction of more durable, persistent, and ultimately useful work.
Strong Support for National Water Audit
Economics, Irrigation, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Ian Douglas July 1, 2011
by Ian Douglas
In welcoming the call by Federal Greens Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, for a national audit of water licence holdings, national coordinator of Fair Water Use, Ian Douglas, commented today, “We have longstanding concerns about the sale of water licences to overseas interests, as there can be little doubt that off-shore investors care less about the health of the Australian environment than the majority of our traditional farmers.”
Fair Water Use has been voicing concerns about this process for several years, and has been attempting to gain access to the database of water licences, but has been advised by the National Water Commission that such information is not publicly available.
Comments (2)Permaculture Reforestation With and For the Indigenous Tribes of Mindanao, Philippines
Aid Projects, Biodiversity, Community Projects, Conservation, Deforestation, Food Forests, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Plant Systems, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Trees, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Christian Shearer June 2, 2011
Project Background
The Malungon area of the Sarangani province, located in the southern region of The Philippines, was once one of the richest forests in the world. Today the remaining old growth exists in small, fragmented stands which remain vulnerable to illegal deforestation and degradation. Frequently ignored, these last remaining areas are a vital core habitat for a wide range of fauna and flora. This forest has also been, for at least 2000 years, the centerpiece of the culture and lifestyle of the Blaan and Tagakaulo indigenous peoples.
Comments (4)Water Shortages Threaten Food Future in the Arab Middle East
Food Shortages, Irrigation, Potable Water, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Earth Policy Institute May 4, 2011
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
Captured from a bus window, while crossing the no-man’s land between
Jordan and Israel/Palestine, the once-mighty Jordan river is today just a murky
trickle (see bottom centre of image) that wouldn’t flow at all today if it wasn’t for the
pollution poured into it…. It is estimated that the Jordan River will dry up
completely by the end of 2011.
Photo © Craig Mackintosh
Long after the political uprisings in the Middle East have subsided, many underlying challenges that are not now in the news will remain. Prominent among these are rapid population growth, spreading water shortages, and ever growing food insecurity.
Comments (0)The Facts About Bottled Water
Conservation, Potable Water, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Natasha Murray April 26, 2011
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Reducing Urban Water Use
Biological Cleaning, Compost, Conservation, Potable Water, Rehabilitation, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Storm Water, Waste Systems & Recycling, Waste Water, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Earth Policy Institute November 4, 2010
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt once noted that "civilized people ought to know how to dispose of the sewage in some other way than putting it into the drinking water."
The one-time use of water to disperse human and industrial wastes is an outmoded practice, made obsolete by new technologies and water shortages. Yet it is still common around much of the world. Water enters a city, becomes contaminated with human and industrial wastes, and leaves the city dangerously polluted. Toxic industrial wastes discharged into rivers and lakes or into wells also permeate aquifers, making water—both surface and underground—unsafe for drinking.
Comments (3)Permaculture Indigenous Tree Project in Ghana
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Deforestation, Developments, Nurseries & Propogation, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Trees, Village Development — by Paul Yeboah May 14, 2010
The Ghanian branch of the Australian Edge 5 Permaculture company, in partnership with the permaculture network in Ghana, has, since the year 2006, been supporting indigenous tree seed collection, communities tree nursery and forestation, tree plantings in schools and planting trees along rivers in Ghana.
Comments (2)Letters from Chile – Increasing Water Security
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Food Shortages, Potable Water, Social Gatherings, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 13, 2010
Editor’s Note: This is Part VI of a series. If you haven’t already, be sure to catch Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, and Part V.
The El Manzano community hold their finished hand pumps
Over the course of my short visit here the power has gone out, for one reason or another, multiple times, and when it happens the taps totally refuse to surrender their precious charge. I thus find myself almost compulsively filling my stainless steel water bottle at every opportunity.
Our dependency on electricity is great enough without exacerbating the problem manyfold by having that vulnerability daisy-chain on to such a basic human need as water.
Comments (2)Letters from Chile – the Adobe House and Potty Training
Aid Projects, Biological Cleaning, Building, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Eco-Villages, Education Centres, Potable Water, Rehabilitation, Retrofitting, Soil Conservation, Urban Projects, Village Development, Waste Systems & Recycling, Waste Water, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 9, 2010
Editor’s Note: This is Part IV of a series. Be sure to catch Part I, Part II, and Part III.
The ‘Adobe House’, El Manzano’s ecological demonstration house.
All photos © copyright Craig Mackintosh
In the middle of the little El Manzano village, on display to all in the community, is the ‘Adobe House’. This demonstration house is a project by Eco Escuela El Manzano to demonstrate to the community several low-tech but effective techniques for improving quality of life whilst reducing a home’s impact on the environment.
Comments (12)Letters from Chile – Doris Speaks
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Potable Water, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 7, 2010
To follow is a short video clip I’ve just added into Part I of the Chile series, after the fact. I’ll embed it here as well, for those who’ve already read that post and may miss this otherwise. Be sure to read Part I if you haven’t already, else you won’t understand the context for this video.
Meet Doris. Prior to the quake, before the little El Manzano community decided it was pertinent to seriously consider things they could do to build resiliency into their village, Doris was already paying attention. She took the advice of the Eco Escuela El Manzano team and got herself a hand pump, so if the lights went out, it didn’t have to mean she and her family would be without water as well. Hence her describing the fact that the community had TWO hand pumps to supply water after the quake hit.
Now the whole village wants to get a hand pump. Imagine that.
I’m uploading this after 15 hours without power. Some mischievous people nearby cut cables during the ‘wee hours of the night’ – taking a good length of them so they could sell the copper wire they contain. Quakes, cable theft, energy crisis – whatever. Low tech hand pumps are saviours here where all water must otherwise come via powered pumps.
Comments (0)Podcast: Buy Water Rights, Sell Riverina’s Future
Conservation, Dams, Gabions, Irrigation, Land, Limonia, News, Plant Systems, Podcasts, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Swales, Trees, Water Contaminaton & Loss, Water Harvesting — by Patrick Blampied April 29, 2010
Last week Permaculture consultant Nick Huggins spoke to Anne Delaney from the ABC Riverina Breakfast radio program in Wagga Wagga, NSW. Listen here:
Nick Huggins Talks to ABC Radio About Riverina’s Water Blues
A backgrounder: Two Permaculture consultants, currently drought proofing a property in Livingstone, are calling for an end to the Australian Government’s water buy-back scheme, saying turning off the taps rather than helping farmers repair degraded landscape is selling the Riverina’s future short.
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