a catalogue of resistance

Diggable City

2009-11-08T23:48:00.004-05:00

A quick post of something we seem to have not covered:

An example from the always enviable Portland, Oregon, where the city's land was surveyed and inventoried to determine the portion of the city that could be utilized for urban agriculture.

http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cfm?c=42793

Ted Talks of Resistance

2009-11-07T21:46:00.002-05:00

Talks of Resistance Relating to Several of our Posts.

Adam Grosser [Refrigeration without Electricity]
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/adam_grosser_and_his_sustainable_fridge.html

William McDonough [Cradle to Cradle Design]
http://www.ted.com/talks/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design.html

Mark Bittman [Food as Malnutrition]
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat.html

Carolyn Steele [Hungry City]
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/carolyn_steel_how_food_shapes_our_cities.html

Ann Cooper [School Lunches]
http://www.ted.com/talks/ann_cooper_talks_school_lunches.html

Ray Anderson [Sustainable Business Model]
http://www.ted.com/talks/ray_anderson_on_the_business_logic_of_sustainability.html

Michael Pollan [Oil-Based Food]
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/michael_pollan_gives_a_plant_s_eye_view.html

Dennis vanEngelsdorp [Bees]
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dennis_vanengelsdorp_a_plea_for_bees.html

Thailand Environment Institute

2009-11-07T19:59:00.005-05:00

Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Year: 1993-Present
Founder:Bangkok Metropolitan Administration

TEI was founded in 1993 as an NGO to "green" Thailand, focusing on sustainable development in Bangkok. Because of the rapid growth of the city in the prior two decades over 35% of the land in the city was vacant and thus identified for urban agriculture, green space, and forestry. The projects undertaken by TEI are highlighted chronologically here. This is a completely different urban setting for large scale urban agriculture projects in comparison to developed cities because one-third of the city does not have access to water or sewage treatment. The three phases of the project were to map the potential green space in the city, involve the local community through participatory planning, and implementation through local governments. The program also used indicator metrics of 1. Establishing an Urban Green Plan, 2. Community Capacity Building, 3. Poverty Reduction, 4. Links with Government, and 5. Status of Women, 6. Developing a Model for Other Communities. Though most of these are not activities of resistance, the focus on Poverty Reduction and the Status of Women are significant gestures in the developing world, especially in a city and culture known for its exploitation. This is additionally important with as much as 60% of income in the developing city going towards food expenses.

Projects include using an abandoned soccer field for ten families to grow food for themselves and sell the excess at a street market. Others included planting along a canal and clearing overgrown spaces. The sites proved sustainable and received additional investment from the local community in terms of diversifying crops and maximizing use of the available space. These were featured in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Victory Gardens

2009-11-01T10:34:00.006-05:00

Location:San Fransisco Date: 2008
Designed:Local government

Victory gardens 2008 is a pilot project that the city of San Fransisco funded to support and encourage the transition of backyards, front yards, window boxes, rooftops and unused or left over land into organic food production areas.

The project builds on the successful Victory Garden, also called war gardens and/ or food gardens for defense during WWI and WWII. these gardens were planted with vegetables, fruits, herbs and others in private residences across the united states, United Kingdom Canada and Germany. their purpose was to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort plus to aid the war effort by keeping the morale of empowerment and labor contribution high.

The City of San Francisco redefine "Victory" in a new context as "growing food at home for increased local food security and reducing the food miles associated with the average American meal". 15 households were picked from a diverse background and participated in the program to be run again in 2009. In addition to that the Victory Gardens program created a quarter-acre, edible, ornamental landscape in front of San Francisco’s City Hall.

Urban Space Station

2009-11-01T09:32:00.009-05:00

Installation
Designed by:Natalie Jeremijenko and Ángel Borrego.

This prototype of a parasite for urban buildings was designed to "sequester the carbon dioxide emissions from buildings and return oxygen-enriched air in exchange" and is presented as the final frontier.

It addresses New York City's existing buildings, approximately 750000, which account for nearly 80 percent of New York City’s total carbon dioxide output.

Redesigning urban socio-ecological systems means dealing with the dense array of competing interests

The prototype recognizes and addresses such problems as constrained zoning requirements, and "prohibitive construction and maintenance costs that are dominated by tremendous human capital costs" and states in opposition that the energy cost in demolition, site clearance and rebuilding any (or many) of these structures costs almost 3 times as rehabilitating these.

The installation and study bases its research on the knowledge that "the world largest cities while occupying only 2% of the surface area account for 75% of the worlds carbon emission; by 2008, for the first time, more than half of the globe’s population will reside in urban contexts" . yet density, vertical population stacking coupled with mass transit is the most carbon-efficient lifestyles. "New Yorkers, produce 71 percent less carbon dioxide per capita than the average American placing the need to continue improving this type of dwelling within a complex socio-ecological realm, is worth exploring".

Therefor the USS Interprise purpose is described as a product "to reimagine and reengineer our relationship to the urban ecological systems, now; to demonstrate, promote and advance closed and coupled system design for major improvements in resources cycling (a principle that can be widely applied if it can be concretely communicated to nonengineers); to produce a glamorous highly functional new space / facility that will seize, excite and engage the public ; to exploit the environmental services and functionality of vegetation and engineering microlandscapes; to provide and maximize habitat and nutritional resources for nonhuman organism with whom we increasingly share urban space (including small mammals, birds; insects; soil microbes; and aerobiology); to facilitate urban agriculture and beyond: to facilitate our productive interdependence with diverse organisms (beyond instrumental calorie production); and, perhaps, most critically, to invite and maximize the participation and potential of a new generations of human capital for hands-on engagement with redesigning our urban environmental systems."

USS is designed as a closed approach of a space station for an urban agriculture facility for urban roof systems with an open green roof. it is designed to address the structural constraints of a roof space with specific focus on loads coupled with the use of HVAC CO2 enriched output air and capturing more radiative heat energy. Its form is designed to to maximize radiative heat and internal thermal distribution etc. in addition the space station can generate its own energy plus provide a surplus of energy to the building.

Agro-Housing

2009-11-01T08:50:00.012-05:00

Location:Wuhan, China
Date:
Designed by: Knafo Klimmer architects
Winning entry: Living Steel Website

Agro-housing combines urban and rural living together by designing vertical greenhouse spaces within high-rise apartment building.

The concept was developed because of concern for prediction by the United nations that state that 50% of China's one billion people will live in its cities, a common trend in many developing countries in the world.

The design challenges the 'new' strains on energy resources, infrastructure, and community displacemnet by presenting a new urban and social vision. The representation of a new building typology that will create a new order in the city creates as a space close to homes where families can produce their own food supply according to "their own abilities, tastes and choices to promote independent living, freedom and potentially provide additional income".

Moreover these greenhouse spaces provide a gathering space for the community. Agro-housing is one project but is meant to become a model for a new urbanity in China, contributing to the preservation of traditions and community values and diminishing the trials of rural migration.

The architects list a few advantages for this innovative building typology,some are:

Produces food for tenants and the surrounding community.

Produces organic and healthy food that is disease and fertilizer free

Creates an abundance of crops for self-consumption and sale for the neighbors.

Requires no special skill set for greenhouse operation

Redesign Your Farmers’ Market

2009-10-29T22:34:00.005-04:00

Since 2006 GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits that have been making a magazine, videos, and events for people who care about health cities and the environment..

This website is an ongoing exploration of what GOOD is and what it can be. they recently ran a competition that asked for design solutions that would help food grown by local farmers to be more effectively delivered and distributed to urban residents.

the winner 'Farm on Wheels' by Mia Lehrer + Associates is a simple proposal that targets the problem effectively and creatively. It is mobile vending concept consisting of a fleet of electric trucks dispatched from three permanent markets to disperse fresh produce more effectively in Los Angeles.

The program selects fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers and distributes the produce through a network of farm trucks. To engage more people in the consumption of fresh foods and support local and urban agriculture, Farm on Wheels creates a simplified and convenient food distribution network between farmers and consumers.

ELECTRIC RUBBISH

2009-10-29T21:39:00.004-04:00

The small town of Ludlow in western England has a pioneering anaerobic digestion plant.
Run by BiogenGreenfinch the plant is intended to deal with the food-waste crisis at the same time as generating clean, renewable energy. The process works by the use of microbes that thrive in the absence of oxygen break down the organic matter, releasing methane as they do so Inside metal tanks.
these microbes are an opportunity in the struggle to deal with unwanted food.
The process starts with the waste being pulverised and then pumped through four processing tanks. These are linked to each other by pipes channeling gas, fluid and solids to their particular destinations.
Once the microbes have completed their job, in about a month or so , the organic waste comes out and farmers collect it and spread it on the land. “The methane is burned to create electricity and hot water, or it can be pumped directly into gas mains, or bottled and used as vehicle fuel.For every ton of food waste, the Ludlow plant generates 255kWh of renewable electricity, which it sells to Marks & Spencer, saving 110kg of carbon-dioxide emissions.”
In addition A government-commissioned study in 2007 identified “that if this system were extended to all households, it could provide between 0.5 and 1 per cent of Britain’s domestic electricity. Plus, this would avoid sending the waste to rot in landfill sites, where the methane can escape into the atmosphere, acting as a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.”
The difficulty is that anaerobic digestion plants are costly to build and complex to run.

Omega Garden's

2009-10-29T21:03:00.004-04:00

website: http://www.omegagarden.com/index.php?content_id=1500
video links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot9IVh5ysK0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCTOR6m3k9w

Omega Hydroponic Garden is a mega Garden system that can make high tech urban gardening economically feasible and actually more energy efficient than growing outdoors.

Omega Garden's Carousel system rotates the plants around the bulb and they claim "Using green power sources coupled with local consumption of the goods produced, would generate close to zero fossil fuel inputs compared to the present system of production with farm tractors, pesticides, a 1500 mile farm to market transportation statistic per food shelf item, along with packaging, refrigeration, etc., all of which are heavily dependent on fossil fuel inputs."

In addition to claiming that the process and strategy reduces water consumption by 99% and eliminates runoff.

Moreover the rotation of the plants actually increases the yield significantly. They explain this by declaring that "Geotropism relates to the effect of gravity on plant growth hormones called Auxins... if plants are continually rotated horizontally top to bottom these Auxins are evenly distributed throughout the plant aiding in plant growth and strength. The distribution of Auxins due to plant rotation increases plant growth rates by several times that of a stationary plant assuming that all other factors are equal. This phenomenon has been termed "Orbitropism" by Omega Garden Int.".

LOCAL HARVEST

2009-10-29T20:43:00.005-04:00

Location: USA

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

due to the difficulty of identifying the pesticides used and the route taken to grow and transport food to our local supermarket, foods grown locally make are safer for those who want more control over what they put into their bodies.

In addition locally grown food helps in the fight against global warming.Rich Pirog of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture states that "the average fresh food item on our dinner table travels 1,500 miles to get there".

Moreover eating locally benefits the local economy and farmers in particular.
according to treehuggers website (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/10/earthtalk_why_e.php) "farmers on average receive only 20 cents of each food dollar spent...the rest going for transportation, processing, packaging, refrigeration and marketing".

website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodiesare more common now and help you make easier decisions about eating healthy.

one such website is local harvest which helps you find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies by just typing in your zip code, city, or state.

SOURCE MAP

2009-10-29T20:11:00.012-04:00

Location: INTERNATIONAL

Institution:MIT

Year:2009

URL: http://www.sourcemap.org or http://vimeo.com/5133927

Sourcemap is an open project

You might have been advised that buying local is "greener". You might have also heard the counter-arguments that state that efficiently made and transported products might be more sustainable than a local product. But if you don't know where your stuff comes from then you have no way of comparing.

SOURCE MAP is an attempt and project to create a platform for researching, optimizing and sharing the supply chains behind products. It believes that people need to be aware and have the right to know where things come from and not only where they are put together. Source map assumes that because we don’t know those details, we are more likely to make unintentionally unsustainable choices. It recognizes that it’s nearly impossible to find out how products and services impact the earth and society and believes that source map will help. Even though source map does not seem to be limited to food maps it suggests a possible new way of eating sustainably.

Public Farm 1 (PF1)

2009-10-29T19:12:00.011-04:00

Location: NYC-USA

Years: 2008

Funded by: MoMA/PS1 Young Architect Program

Designed by: WORK Architecture Company

In the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center's courtyards , the temporary installation introduced a functioning urban farm in the form of a folded plane built entirely of biodegradable and recyclable materials .

In addition the farm was powered by solar energy and irrigated by a rooftop rainwater collection system that kept the project off the city's grid.

PF1 combines infrastructure with public space, engaging and challenging the users to re-imagine and question rural engagement in urban environments. The installation was grown picked and used within a commercial farmer’s market. plantings included basil, lavender, mint, rhubarb, strawberries, broccoli, watermelon and herbs. at the same time the project provided shade over pools of water with the well designed and interesting 'daisy' pattern.

The Vertical Farm Project

2009-10-27T17:48:00.004-04:00

Location: International
Director: Dr. Dickson Despommier, Ph.D.

http://verticalfarm.com
Vertical Farm Video

The Vertical Farm Project is active in proposing solutions to the increased food demand and decreased agricultural land supply that will result from the growing population. It is a project based out of Columbia University’s Environmental Health Science department that serves as a sort of drop box for architects’ proposals on how to feed urban populations throughout the world. Their argument is that indoor farming is advantageous because it protects crops from natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts which destroy millions of tons of harvestable crops each year.

Advantages of Vertical Farming:
* Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres)
No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests
* All food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers
*virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water
*returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services
*greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural inter face
*converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water of
evapotranspiration
*adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible
parts of plants and animals
*dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)
*converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers
*creates sustainable environments for urban centers
*creates new employment opportunities

Organic Consumers Association

2009-10-27T17:34:00.005-04:00

Location: USA
Years: 1998-present
National Director: Ronnie Cummins

http://www.organicconsumers.org/

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots non-profit public interest organization campaigning for health, justice and sustainability. They were formed in 1998 after the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed controversial national regulations for organic food. The OCA is currently working on 12 campaigns which promote the organic lifestyle by pushing for stronger food regulations, among other things.

The OCA’s overall political prgram is the Organic Agenda 2015 which is a six point platform calling for:

*The conversion of American agriculture to at least 30% organic by the year 2015, including major reforms in agricultural subsidies and appropriations to help family farmers make the transition to organic, develop local and regional markets, and adopt renewable energy practices.
*Fair Trade and economic justice, not so-called corporate-driven “Free Trade” as the global norm.
*A global moratorium on genetically engineered foods and crops.
*A phase-out of the most dangerous industrial agriculture and factory farming practices.
*Universal health care with an emphasis on prevention, nutrition, and wellness promotion.
* Energy independence and the conversion of US and global agriculture, transportation, and utilities to conservation practices and renewable energy.

The Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op

2009-10-27T17:28:00.003-04:00

Location: Chicago, Illinois
Founders: Dan Rosenthal and Ina Pinkney

http://buygreenchicago.org
http://sustainablog.org/
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/

The Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op provides a means for Chicago area restaurants and businesses to procur sustainable products and services and works to increase the type and amount of such products.

The goals of The Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op are to:

* Identify and provide information about local sources of sustainable products and services.
* Provide members with opportunities to easily purchase environmentally preferable products at a cost-com petitive price, as compared to traditional products.

The Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op consistently applies the following criteria:

* Reduce or eliminate toxicity; in particular long term persistent toxicity Conserve natural resources, materials, and energy;
* Maximize recyclability and recycled content of the purchased products;
* Help educate businesses and residents on the merits of environmentally preferable products;
* Improve conditions for achieving a healthy community through conserving natural resources, improving water quality and reducing waste generation; Encourage regional partnerships;
* Reduce costs.

One of their initiatives to create more sustainable dining is the introduction of the “Guaranteed Green” seal. Restaurants that would like the “Guaranteed Green” status have one year to prove their sustainability in eight different areas of their businesses: water efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable furnishings and building materials, sustainable food, energy management, management of disposables, chemical and pollution.

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100 Mile Diet

2009-10-27T17:16:00.003-04:00

Location: 100 miles around you
Years: 2006-present
Founders: James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith

http://100milediet.org/

The 100 Mile Diet was a way for James and Alisa to start thinking locally. They went into the diet cold turkey and continued it for an enitre year. The guidelines were simply to eat only food produced within 100 miles of their location. It started as a personal journey, but has gained much attention in both Canada and the United States. They promote the 100-Mile Diet as a means to learning about food by doing: “Getting to know the seasons. Understanding where our food comes from, and at what risk to our health and to the environment. Sorting out how we all ended up eating apples that taste like cardboard and cakes made with petrochemicals. It was a challenge, but a good one - a genuine adventure.” In both books and their website, James and Alisa share with others their experience eating locally and give advice to others who would like to follow suit.

They are now pushing an initiative called the 100 Mile Thanksgiving which encourages Americans to really think about where their getting their food from on Thanksgiving. Since the initiative started in 2006, tens of thousands of Americans have annually made the choice to have a 100 Mile Thanksgiving in which their entire meal consisted of food produced within 100 miles. The campaign has been so successful that readers from all over the country have written in to share their stories as well as recipes for local foods in areas throughout the country.

The Crowd Farm

2009-10-27T17:06:00.006-04:00

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Years: 2007-present
Founders: James Graham and Thaddeus Jusczyk

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/crowdfarm-0725.html

The Crowd Farm, as envisioned by James Graham and Thaddeus Jusczyk, is a plan to harness energy from human movement in crowded areas; such as subway platforms or sports stadiums. Primarily, it looks to turn the mechanical energy of people moving about into electrical energy. This innovative idea has gained a lot of attention and this year their proposal took first place in the Japan-based Holcim Foundation’s Sustainable Construction competition.

The system itself would work as follows: In a heavily trafficked space, a responsive sub-flooring system made up of blocks that depress slightly under the force of human steps would be installed. “The slippage of the blocks against one another as people walked would generate power through the principle of the dynamo, a device that converts the energy of motion into that of an electric current.”

According to Graham and Jusczyk, a single step provides enough energy to light a lightbulb for one second and 28527 steps (as could be easily found at a professional sporting event) can power a moving train for one second. The Crowd Farm is still being experimented with, but Graham and Jusczyk hope to get this new building system off the ground soon.

Organic Food Federation

2009-10-27T16:58:00.003-04:00

Location: United Kingdom
Years: 1986-present

http://www.orgfoodfed.com/
http://www.orgfoodfed.com/Our%20Standards.htm

The Organic Food Federation, located in the United Kingdom for over 20 years, is responsible for promoting organic lifestyles and maintaining high standards for organic practices. It provides both professional and personal assistance. Once certified by the Organic Food Federation, a producer is able to demonstrate that their product is produced in accordance with the Organic Food Federation’s organic standards which comply with the European organic regulation. These standards are based on the official definitive legal standard within the European Union. In locations without definitive standards, they have developed their own which reflect organic principles. The standards are well outlined in 5 different books customized to the Processor, the Producer, the Importer, Aquaculture, and NOP (for products being shipped to America). Within the standards is a strict definition of the hierarchy of infringements and the necessary remedies to get one certified again. The code further contains ethical guidelines for the treatment of animals and insists that one complies with all relevent legislation above and beyond their own.

The National Resources Defense Council

2009-10-27T16:47:00.002-04:00

Location: United States
Years: 1970-present
President: Frances Beinecke

http://www.nrd c.org/
http://www.nrdc.org/health/foodmiles/

The National Resources Defense Council is an environmental action organization that uses law and science to protect the planet and ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things. There are 1.3 million members helping to curb global warming, eliminate toxic chemicals in the environment, and move America beyond oil. One of their campaigns is the eat local campaign which allows the user to input their location and find fresh produce nearby. The NRDC further provides consumers with state-by-state information for what produce is fresh and locally grown. This includes local lists for every growing season from Early January to Late December; 24 lists in total. Produce available in bordering states is also provided as well as recipes to use with the local food.

They advocate local eating habits, explaining that most produce grown in the United States travels an average of 1,500 miles before it gets sold. For example, every year, nearly 270 million pounds of grapes arrive inCalifornia, most of them shipped from Chile to the Port of Los Angeles. Their 5,900 mile journey in cargo ships and trucks releases 7,000 tons of global warming pollution each year, and enough air pollution to cause dozens of asthma attacks and hundreds of missed school days in California. The NRDC believe that by eating locally, consumers can have a huge impact on the health of our planet and they are working to make this campaign easier for people all over the country.

Biogen Greenfinch

2009-10-27T16:29:00.003-04:00

Location: Milton Ernest, Bedfordshire
Years: 2005-present
Leader: John Ibbett

http://www.biogengreenfinch.co.uk/

Biogen promotes, develops and utilizes new technologies to respond to today’s environmental challenges. They deliver eco-technology solutions that meet those challenges while supporting the sustainability of the environment, farming and rural communities. Biogen was established to develop a new farm based on Anaerobic Digestion (AD). AD is a natural biological process using naturally occurring micro-organisms to break down organic matter into fertilizer while producing biogas. The anaerobic bacteria utilized in the process are commonly found in soils and deep waters. AD is split into three main stages: hydrolysis, acidogenesis, and methanogenesis. After methanogenesis, a combined heat and power engine is used to conver the biogas into heat and electricity.

Biogen uses its own pig slurry to feed the AD process and also provide a local recycling solution for other food chain waste in the UK.

Recycle Bank

2009-10-27T13:12:00.001-04:00

Location: 20 states, United Kingdom
Years: 2003-Present
Founder: Patrick Fitzgerald and Ron Gonen
Partners: 1,500 points redeeming partners

Recycle Bank is an incentive based recycling program started to combat cities eliminating their recycling programs because of the lack of profitability. Presently it serves one million people in twenty states and launched in the UK in 2009 and is an incentive-based approach to recycling that gives rewards for recycling that can be redeemed at both local and national businesses. Residents are given recycle bins that have ID's that track how much is recycled. The program elected to use a single-stream system where materials recycled together instead of in separate bins for ease of use. This amount is then converted to "points" (similar to credit card or airline miles programs) that can be redeemed at Recycle Bank partners.

In addition to individuals, the corporate program partners with (ie replaces) 25 partner municipalities (9 of those in New Jersey). As an example of the positive response from renewing the a city’s recycling program, Wilmington, Delaware saw an increase from 3% recycling to 32% recycling among its residents.

The English Farm

2009-10-27T12:54:00.006-04:00

Name: The English Farm

Location: Liberty Corner, NJ

Years: 1750- Present

Founded by: The English Family

This farm has been family owned for 8 generations. The farm includes a working farm, a farm market, and barnyard animals: cows, pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits, along with bantam chickens and sheep from Harrison Brook Farm. They are open to the public from July through October selling their own eggs, seasonal vegetables including tomatoes, corn, squash, peppers to name a few, and flowers. They also sell herbs and herb plants from Harrison Brook Farm, an herb/sheep farm on Valley Road and peaches and apples from Ripple Hill Farm, an orchard on Mountain Road. Seasonal events include fall hayrides, pumpkin picking and an annual History Day.

Bernards Township recently approved the purchase of the farmland development rights under the New Jersey Farmland Preservation Program. The program helps landowners who want to continue to own and farm their land to sell the development easements to ensure the land remains in agriculture. These deed restrictions will remain in force for any future owners. Preservation of the ancestral farm has been a goal of the English family for many years and they are pleased to be the first farm approved by the Township for this program.

They have placed 81 acres of the farm into the preservation program including the barns, the farm land west of the barns and the meadow on the east side of Valley Road where their cows graze in the summer. They continue to promote their mission around agriculture, history and education and to encourage the community to enjoy the farm while the produce stand is open from July through October. Come visit the animals, enjoy the open landscape and learn more about growing vegetables, caring for animals and local farming operations.

englishfarm.org

Edible Communities Magazine

2009-10-27T12:41:00.008-04:00

Name: Edible Communities Magazine

Location: 33 Cities in the USA, and Canada

Years: 2002- present

Founded by: Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian

The mission of Edible Communities, Inc. (ECI) is to transform the way consumers shop for, cook, eat and relate to local food. Through its printed publications, websites and events, ECI strives to connect consumers with local growers, retailers, chefs and food artisans, enabling those relationships to grow and thrive in a mutually beneficial, healthful and economically viable way. A network of 33 regional magazines that offers culinary news tailored to where they are published, placing strong emphasis on local and sustainable food practices.

http://www.ediblecommunities.com/content/images/stories/map/map.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/dining/29maga.html

http://www.ediblecommunities.com/content/

Permablitz

2009-10-27T12:35:00.006-04:00

Name: Permablitz: Eating the Suburbs - One Backyard at a Time
Location: Melbourne, Australia
2006-present

permablitz.com

Permablitzes are informal events where people get together to create edible gardens in residential areas, share permaculture and sustainability skills and build community networks. The organization was founded by Permaculture designer Dan Palmer in 2006 in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Permablitzes have since occurred in over 70 locations in Australia, France, Uganda and the Netherlands.

Permaculture design is an integral part of the process, and each Permablitz must be in collaboration with someone with a Permaculture Design Certificate. Permaculture systems operate like natural eco-systems and don’t require fertilizer or produce any waste. They do this by integrating the owner’s wants, needs, habits and skills with site limitations to create “ecologically harmonious systems” which produce most of the food needs of the residents, including fruit, vegetables, eggs and sometimes usable water.

Using Permaculture in residential areas reduces the food miles of residents who benefit from the new eco-systems, increases their self-sufficiency and independence from fluctuating food prices, lowers their carbon emissions and serves to “rewild” part of the human species.

The Food Trust’s Farmers Market Program

2009-10-27T12:34:00.004-04:00

Name: The Food Trust’s Farmers Market Program

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Years: 1992- Present

Funded by: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Food Trust strives to make healthy food available to all. Working with neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers and policymakers, they’eve developed a comprehensive approach that combines nutrition education and greater availability of affordable, healthy food.

The Food Trust organization began working with communities to develop lasting and stable sources of affordable foods, through farmers markets and nutritional education classes. Lack of access to healthy, affordable foods has a direct, measurable impact on our health. Research has shown that the presence of grocery stores selling fresh fruits and vegetables in a community helps people maintain a healthy weight. Through the identification of economic development resources, active public/private partnerships, rigorous research and policy advocacy, The Food Trust has successfully addressed the lack of supermarket access in Pennsylvania, New York, Louisiana, Illinois. At present, they are also laying the groundwork for similar initiatives in New Jersey and Colorado. With a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we will be expanding this campaign into 8 more states across the country over the next several years.

Philadelphia has the second lowest number of supermarkets per capita of major cities in the nation. The Food Trust began its efforts to address supermarket-access issues here. Their network of farmers’ markets helps sustain regional farms and serves more than 125,000 customers in the Philadelphia region. Many of their farmers’ markets are located in neighborhoods underserved by supermarkets, grocery stores and other fresh food outlets. All of their markets accept food stamps (EBT/Access cards) and Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program vouchers and provide helpful nutrition information to ensure that fresh, local foods are available to everyone. The Food Trust continues to reach new heights of success in promoting healthy eating and food availability in urban communities and advocating for policy to promote long-term change.

http://www.thefoodtrust.org

RSA Arts + Ecology Centre

2009-10-27T12:26:00.013-04:00

Location: London, England
Years: 2005 to present
Funding: Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA)
Researchers: individual artists, architects, and partnering agencies in the UK

The RSA Centre was set up by the RSA in 2005 to bring together artists and the public in a dialogue about the causes and human impact on climate change. Through its leadership and commitment to action, the RSA Centre is commissioning debate, interdisciplinary discourse, research and events to catalyze and publicize the need to engage in the battle against global warming.

The Centre’s Head is Michaela Crimmin who states. “Artists have always had a powerful relationship with the natural environment. Equally, artists continually question and re-examine society’s notion of progress. We need their perspective on the enormous challenge ahead — on the relationship between environmental issues, and not least climate change, and people”.

The RSA’s use of robust communications technologies has helped to raise the awareness of the Centre’s work and is a showcase for an equally powerful collection of current and planned events and exhibitions that span the range of artistic disciplines and multi-media representation.

Of particular interest is The Ghost Forest Project by artist Angela Palmer, who earlier this month traveled to Ghana, and with the help from local laborers and the cooperation of the Ghana Forestry Commission was able to remove the giant tree stumps from their in-situ habitat to be shipped to London for the exhibition next month. Imagine the overwhelming visual power of ten gigantic tree roots occupying Trafalgar Square. Her pungent message of the cost of deforestation, both spiritually and ecologically, could not be more palpable.

The RSA Arts and Ecology Centre recognizes that perhaps the best way to communicate their mission of saving the environment is through the harnessed and leveraged intellectual and creative core of artists around the world.

www.rsaartsandecology.org.uk/

Farm to School

2009-10-27T12:26:00.012-04:00

Name: Farm to School

Location: 40 states in the USA

Years: 2004- Present

Founded by: The Center for Food & Justice

The National Farm to School Network supports community-based food systems, strengthen family farms, and improve student health by reducing childhood obesity. More than 30 million children eat a school lunch five days a week, 180 days a year. The Farm to School approach helps children understand where their food comes through providing local food at each of these meals. They also greatly focus on the introduction of local foods into the school curriculum. This is done through school gardens, farm tours, farmer in the classroom sessions, chefs in the classroom, culinary education, educational sessions for parents and community members, visits to farmers’ markets. from and how their food choices impact their bodies, the environment and their communities at large.

In 2000, the Center for Food & Justice started the four year National Farm to School Project funded by the USDA Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (The National Farm to School Program started farm to school movement across the country. It assited organizations in starting up and sustaining farm to school efforts, fundraising, and providing informational resources, education and training for stakeholders. In 2007, with support by a $2.4 million grant the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the National Farm to School Network was born. Consisting of eight regional agencies and national staff, this network provides free training and technical assistance, information services, networking, and support for policy, media and marketing activities. Farm to School programs have spread to approximately 400 in 2004, 1,000 in 2007 and over 2,000 in 2009 spanning 40 states.

Farm to School brings healthy food from local farms to school children nationwide. The program teaches students about the path from farm to fork, and instills healthy eating habits that can last a lifetime. At the same time, use of local produce in school meals and educational activities provides a new direct market for farmers in the area and mitigates environmental impacts of transporting food long distances.

"The Benefits of Farm to School:

- Strengthen children’s and communities’ knowledge about, and attitudes toward, agriculture, food, nutrition and the environment.

- Increase children’s participation in the school meals program and consumption of fruits and vegetables, thereby improving childhood nutrition, reducing hunger, and preventing obesity and obesity-related diseases.

- Benefit school food budgets, after start-up, if planning and menu choices are made consistent with seasonal availability of fresh and minimally processed whole foods.

- Support economic development across numerous sectors and promote job creation.

- Increase market opportunities for farmers, fishers, ranchers, food processors and food manufacturers.

- Decrease the distance between producers and consumers, thus promoting food security while reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and reliance on oil."

http://www.farmtoschool.org

SourceMap

2009-10-27T12:22:00.005-04:00

Name: Source Map

Location: The Internet

Contributors: The Public

See Where Stuff Comes From with SourceMap: "Imagine a future in which pointing a PDA at a product bar code returns an instant readout of product source and environmental footprint to inform the buyer's decision. This future could be reality with SourceMap. Designed as a "collective tool for transparency and sustainability," SourceMap aims to be the Wiki of visualizing supply chains."

Sourcemap’s goals are to provide visible supply chains, social and environmental sustainability, and sustain business. We have a right to know more about the products and services we buy, including where they come from and what they are made of. Sourcemap is an open source project dedicated to tracking, documenting, and mapping where all of the components for our everyday goods come from. In short, it’s a supply chain publishing platform dedicated to transparency. Believing their program will allow for industrial productionto become environmentally and socially beneficia. Unfortunately, with the resources currently available to the public, it’s nearly impossible to find out how products and services impact the earth and society. Therefore, they are developing Sourcemap so that those who are interested can make informed, sustainable decisions at home and in the workplace. Yet, their main intention is for Sourcemap to help sustain business. Built as a diagnostic and marketing tool that helps to plan for and advertise a long-term outlook. Their website states that “After all, saving energy and materials saves money, and healthy communities become prosperous markets. Sourcemap provides an edge so you can respond to shifting supplies, communicate with customers, and plan for the future.”

Sourcemap is already a running website, yet it has not achieved their initial goals. This is how it works. It catalogues various materials from food to clothing, and their CO2 emissions. You can then use these statistics to map the total CO2 emissions or carbon footprint of the product. Functioning like a social network, anyone can contribute to the storyline of a products lifetime. For example, you can calculate the impact of manufacturing, transporting, using, and throwing away products using their Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) calculator. The website uses geographic resources and data while relying on user contributions and a panel of advisers to keep information up-to-date. They hope that as the site grows, suppliers will be able to contribute their products to the Sourcemap database, providing a geographic catalogue of materials and products for sale around the world.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/see-where-stuff-is-from-sourcemap.php

http://vimeo.com/5133927

http://www.sourcemap.org/beta/stage/

Seawater Vertical Farm Project

2009-10-27T12:17:00.001-04:00

Location: Dubai, UAE
Architect: Studiomobile - Italy

http://www.studiomobile.org/
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/5631/studiomobile-seawater-vertical-farm.html

In Dubai, a desert climate with little fresh water, selective conversion to fresh water, combined with farming vertically may be the solution, or so proposes Italy’s Studiomobile design firm. The project would use seawater to humidify air, and then recondense some of that water to irrigate the crops. The concept works in three phases:

Phase 01
The air going into the greenhouse is first cooled and humidified by seawater,
which is trickled over the first evaporator. This provides a fresh and humid climate
for the crops that in these conditions need very little water as they are not stressed
by excessive transpiration.

Phase 02
As the air leaves the growing area it passes through the second evaporator which
has seawater flowing over it. During this phase the humid air mix with the warm
dry air of the ceiling interspace. Thus the air is made much hotter and more humid.

Phase 03
The warm air is forced to flow upward by the stack effect that is temperature induced.
In the central chimney the warm and humid air will condense when in contact with
plastic tubes where cool sea water is pumped. In the surface of the condenser many
drops of fresh water will appear, ready to be recollected in a tank to water the crops
and for other uses.

Growing for Life

2009-10-27T12:10:00.004-04:00

Name: Growing for Life

Location: Dartmoor Prison, Princetown, UK

Years: 2004- Present

Funded by: Bromley Trust and Tudor, Lankelly Chase

Founded by: Eden Project

The Growing for Life program is a regeneration project, which began in 2004 at the resettlement wing of Dartmoor Prison. The Eden Project, supported by Bromley Trust, has been working closely with prison staff and prisoners to create fruit, vegetable and healing gardens in the centre of an exceptionally bleak environment. It has had a marked benefit on health, behavior and outlook within the prisons walls. They worked with Cisco to provide learning in prisons (in horticulture, enterprise, life skills, and computing) and a network of social businesses outside the walls to offer extended learning opportunities and jobs. During the summer of 2007, the team harvested their first crops and delivered them to the elderly and schools in Princetown; a marginalized community with a variety of tough challenges, amongst which is poor nutrition and health of young families and older residents. The program has been a great success both inside and outside the prison walls.

Now extended to a number of other prisons, the program has become less about a simple prison activity and more of a community enterprise, concerned with resilience and prosperity. The next phase of the Growing for Life project began at Occombe Farm in Paignton in January 2009 supported by Tudor, Lankelly Chase. It set up an organic market garden; a social business created and active in the region, based on growing and food production, but involving marketing, distribution, sales, teaching, catering, construction and maintenance – creating an integrated, supportive scheme. It receives people (who choose to participate) on release from Dartmoor, Exeter and Channings Wood prisons in addition to providing training, volunteering and employment opportunities for those at risk of offending, homeless people and those on probation – including providing an alternative sentence to custody. The network of social businesses within Growing for Life is set to expand and there is potential to evolve the scheme elsewhere in the UK.

http://www.growingforlife.org/
http://www.edenproject.com/our-work/plants/growing-for-life/index.php

RODALE INSTITUTE : Agriculture and Climate Change

2009-10-27T12:07:00.005-04:00

Name: Rodale Institute
Location: Kutztown, Pennsylvania
Years: 1947 to present
Funding: Natural Resources Conservation Services, various grants from PEDA, OFRF
Researchers: Paul Hepperly, Research Director

Rodale Institute was founded in Kutztown, Pennsylvania in 1947 by organic pioneer J.I. Rodale, The Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit vertical research-based organization whose focus is climate change and world hunger. Their research is based on a well-honed belief that agriculture is the key that unlocks the global warming and climate change problems. Soil scientists and a cooperating network of researchers have documented that organic farming techniques offer the best opportunities for increasing the nutrient density of foods as well as reduce climate change due to carbon emissions.

A leader in regenerative agriculture, the Institute does ground-breaking (no pun intended) research on their Experimental Farm where field trials test and compare the health of the soil with its ability to produce healthy food. Their 333-acre organic certified farm is devoted to research, education and food production. Farming Systems Trial®, the longest-running U.S. study comparing organic and conventional farming techniques, is the basis for their practical training to thousands of farmers in Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Tim LaSalle, Rodale’s CEO is a respected voice for organic farming and has been urging members of Congress to consider the 28 years of research findings of the human health, energy and economic benefits of organic farming over conventional farming methods. He suggests that instead of using chemistry as the basis for measuring soil production capacity, that farmers use the soil biology that can naturally regenerate the organic properties without chemical fertilizers, and without putting CO2 back into the atmosphere.

Through regenerative agricultural practices, organic farms have the potential to increase food production; increase the quality and therefore the capacity of soil production, improve the nutrient density of foods, reduce chemical contamination of our waterways, and reduce greenhouse gases and energy consumption.

The Institute has instantiated its international footprint through partnerships with Africare, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the governments of Japan, Norway, Switzerland and member countries of the European Union.

http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/

Isles Community Gardens and Nutrition Education

2009-10-27T12:06:00.007-04:00

Name: Isles Community Gardens and Nutrition Education

Location: Trenton, NJ

Years: 1981- Present

Founded by: Student and Faculty of Princeton University

With 35 community gardens and 10 school gardens established on brownsites, unused lots, Isles brings the community together and provide them with fresh produce they might otherwise have difficulty getting or lack of inclination to purchase. Isles’ Community Gardening and Nutrition Education initiative fosters self-reliance and goes beyond emergency food assistance by providing residents with the skills to grow their own food and improve their nutrition. In 2008, more than 30 community gardens that Isles supports in Trenton raised thousands pounds of fresh produce that improved diets and strengthened finances for more than 3,000 residents. Many gardeners either can or freeze their produce; they also donate to members of their families and neighbors.

Isles has created their urban gardens with the intention that they Improve nutrition and health by providing exercise and fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables. Yet they have also proved that urban gardens save families hundreds of dollars per year. Low-income Trenton residents face significant barriers to healthy nutrition and food security. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 21% of Trenton’s population live below the poverty level. As a result of such poverty, more than 60% of Trenton school district students (Pre-K to 12) are eligible for free and reduced lunch. In addition, according to a recent Community Food Assessment completed by Rutgers University, there are challenges related to education and eating behaviors that contribute to poor nutrition; few people surveyed were concerned about eating healthy and many either did not know how to cook or preferred to eat pre-prepared meals.

During Trenton’s long growing season, an 800-square-foot plot can provide enough vegetables to feed a family for an entire year. By participating in Isles’ Community Gardening and Nutrition Education initiative, low-income families are able to gain greater food security, stretch food budgets and obtain fresh and nutritious produce. Studies report that every $1 invested in a community garden plot yields approximately $6 worth of vegetables. In a 2006 survey, Isles’ community gardeners reported an average savings of about $200 dollars per year, per gardener. This program strengthens the community by enhancing connections between people, making the streets more secure, and giving people a chance to share food with others. Over 70% of Isles’ gardeners report that gardening greatly improves their neighborhoods. Lastly, Isles’ urban gardens clean the environment by improving soil and growing plants that filter the air.

http://isles.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WX6dcsn-fc

Dillo Dirt

2009-10-27T11:58:00.004-04:00

Location: Austin, Texas
Years: 1989-Present
Founder: City of Austin

Since 1989 the City of Austin has curb collection recycling program for yard trimmings, which is combined with excess sewage sludge to create Dillo Dirt, a biosolids fertilizer than has been proven to retain water better than regular soil reducing the need for watering. The City built Hornsby Bend, a Biosolids Management Plant, that has proven more cost effective through recycling than land filling and utilized the wastewater treatment ponds as bird observatories. The facility provides the facilities necessary for sludge-thickening, anaerobic digestion, and composting.

The program was an early component of Austin’s strategy to have zero solid waste by 2030. The city creates a closed loop for Dillo Dirt by requiring the use of Dillo Dirty for government projects. It also partners with local nurseries to sell Dillo Dirt to residents and it can be purchased http://www.organicsbygosh.com/old_site/dillodirt.htm
online. Dillo Dirt is the oldest program of its kind in the nation and has spread throughout the country, originally Dallas and Houston, because of its effectiveness and profitability.

Aquaponics in Antarctica

2009-10-27T11:50:00.005-04:00

Name: Aquaponics in Antarctica

Location: Ross Island and the South Pole, Antarctica

Years: 1987- Present

Institutions: McMurdo Station in Ross Island and Amundesn-Scott South Pole Research Centers

Contributors: University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center

The largest research station in Antarctica goes without sunlight for 4 months of the year, meaning that it relies on food deliveries for fresh vegetables. To eliminate this dependency, they created an 820-square foot insulated hydroponics tank that grows vegetables to provide the 240 workers with fresh weekly salads. The Antarctic Conservation Act prohibits the import of soil into Antarctica as a precaution to prevent the introduction of microorganisms. So, one might wonder, how can fresh vegetables be grown in a place with out sunlight and soil? The answer is Hydroponics! An 820 square foot insulated growth chamber containing 41 high intensity discharge lamps and 10 NFT hydroponics systems was built at McMurdo in the 1980’s. Plants grown in the chamber include lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs and even flowers. McMurdo’s “greenhouse” is operated manually. That is to say, the hydroponics nutrient solutions are monitored using a hand held meter and nutrient adjustments are made by adding stock solution with a graduated cylinder.

The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station, located at the South Pole at 90 degrees, is in darkness 6 months out of the year. The distance between the South Pole and McMurdo is more than 800 miles. Although the South Pole has had a year-round presence since 1957, a new station is currently being built to replace the original aging station. Within the new station, a computer controlled vegetable growth chamber has been in operation for almost 2 winters. Like McMurdo, the South Pole cannot be re-supplied over the winter and so, if fresh vegetables are to be had, they must be grown on site.

The South Pole Food Growth Chamber’s (SPFGC) production room, covering a 392 square foot area, was designed and built by The University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) under the supervision of Dr. Gene Giacomelli (Director, CEAC) and built in cooperation with the Sadler Machine Company.

The South Pole “greenhouse” is climate controlled. It has automated atmospheric CO₂enrichment, hydroponic nutrient delivery and acid injection systems. It records, controls and displays key environmental conditions via its ARGUS agricultural environment control equipment. And it is illuminated by twelve 1000-watt water-jacketed HPS lamps capable of capturing waste heat given off by the lights to supplement the heat used in warming the station’s fresh air supply. Obviously, heat is hard to come by at the South Pole and with the SPFGC, it is not wasted.

With support from University of Arizona’s CEAC, Nan Rogers and Kelly Kozdras currently operate the South Pole chamber. The SPFGC now grows tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, strawberries and many different herbs for the 70 crewmembers currently wintering at the South Pole.

http://www.aquaponicsjournal.com/articleAntarcticHydroponics.htm

Lupangwe Organic Demonstration Farm

2009-10-27T11:49:00.003-04:00

Location: Malawi
Founder: Jailos Kanyanga

Read about it here

Jailos Kanyanga is at the forefront of the organic farming movement in Malawi, a country with nearly 20,000 organic farmers despite its small population of 12 million. Kanyanga, victim of a fertilizer credit scheme, reverted to traditional methods of composting and pest control, and has had significant regional impact and success in doing so. Starting with just 17 families, Kanyanga’s projected expanded into the organic demonstration farm, training and educating over 700 peasant farmers, increasing their yields for subsistence and sale.

By making traditional fertilizers from ash and dung, as well as soil from ant hills, Kanyanga was able to increase the yields of his plots. Kanyanga has since expanded this traditional methodology to pesticides, grinding up the leaves of local tree species to kill weevils and other maize pests. Kanyanga’s methods have allowed impoverished farmers to sidestep corrupt fertilizer schemes and high fertilizer prices, while increasing food security.

BACKYARDS4WILDLIFE: Conserving Adelaide’s Biodiversity

2009-10-27T11:41:00.008-04:00

Location: Adelaide, AU
Years: 1997
Funding: SA Urban Forest Biodiversity Program (UFBP)
Research: Biodiversity Unit: dept for Environment and Heritage

The UFBP is supporting the vision that Adelaide is recognized as a leader in sustainable environments. Recent studies have shown that less than 12% of Adelaide’s original vegetation remains since the European settlement of 1836. Habitat destruction and fragmentation has caused significant biodiversity loss.

Backyards4Wildlife is the online moniker for a Biodiversity program that was begun by the South Australian Government in 2003 under the aegis of SA Department for Environment and Heritage, with support from the Adelaide + Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board. Since then, the program has grown through the efforts of an expanded network of community groups/ citizenry across Adelaide.

If we believe that education and capital investment are vital to transforming human patterns of living, then the Backyards4Wildlife could be a model for others to emulate. While the UFBP is undertaking major conservation and restoration projects along the Adelaide shores and Forests, Backyards4Wildlife is the outreach to spread the initiative and responsibility for biodiversity downstream to individual communitites and land owners. Following on the premise that it takes many threads to weave a blanket, the citizens of Adelaide are taking their concern for water conservation and for protecting local wildlife and plant species into their own hands. Through the mentoring and assistance provided by B4W, gardens old and new are being transformed based upon biodiversity practices including:

Local provenance of genetic matieral found in native plant species
Drought tolerant species,
Attracting wildlife
Restoring the Bushland grasses and Golden wattles
Planting from seeds (seedlings) rather than containers
Locally sourced seeds

To promote its vision and objectives for achieving sustained biodiversity, B4W has developed and sources programs for the public schools including projects that teach kids about storm-water run-off, wetland habitats, butterfly gardens, woodland environments, bush trail species and ponds and bog gardens. Backyards4Wildlife has a rich collection of printed and downloadable materials on plant and grass species, gardening practices, water conservation and forest habitats.

http://www.backyards4wildlife.com.au/

Growing Power

2009-10-27T11:39:00.007-04:00

Name: Growing Power

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Years: 1993- Present

Founded by: Will Allen

In 1993, Will Allen transformed his farm into a program that offered teens a place to work and provide food for their community. Allen, a former professional basketball player, grew up on a farm in Maryland. In 2008, he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" for his work on urban farming, sustainable food production, and with Growing Power. Growing Power is an urban agriculture organization headquartered that runs the last functional farm within the Milwaukee city limits. It is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities.

Its facilities include seven large greenhouses, a kitchen, indoor and outdoor training gardens, aquaculture system and a food distribution facility. Fish, worms, bees, goats, chickens, turkeys, and ducks are also raised there. Growing power conducts workshops and demonstrations in aquaculture, aquaponics, vermiculture, horticulture, small or large-scale composting, soil reclamation, food distribution, beekeeping, and marketing. It also focuses on food distribution by providing on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner. It runs numerous collaborative projects and training projects, including a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee to train city youth in gardening.

The farm grows a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, and also farms tilapia and perch through the use of aquaponics. Thousands of people tour the facilities every year. hosts 5,000 visitors and uses 400 tons of the city’s food waste in a single year.

In September 2005, Growing Power, whose relationship with Heifer began in 1997, established a 19,000-square-foot community garden in the center of downtown Chicago, from which all produce will go to shelters and soup kitchens in Chicago. It is a sort of flagship garden for urban agriculture, and for the organization’s goals of using sustainable agriculture to make communities everywhere successful, independent and self-sufficient.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05allen-t.html

http://growingpower.org/

Advanced Composting Technologies

2009-10-27T10:58:00.002-04:00

Location: Candler, NC
Year: 1998-Present

http://www.advancedcomposting.com

Advanced Composting Technologies is a company based in North Carolina specializing in forced aeration composting technology. Spinning off a previous company known as Mountain Organic Materials, ACT now specializes in the unique composting issue of animal mortality, where responsible disposal of animal carcasses has previously been a problem. A testimonial from a hog farmer with one of Advanced Composting Technology’s proprietary systems claims a 60,000 dollar savings, by changing from burning carcasses with diesel fuel to composting them responsibly.

ACT claims the forced air system cuts down both on time required for full composting, as well as pathogens normally generated by decomposing flesh. The system is applicable in swine and poultry farms, as well as for general manure composting set-ups. Beyond these, the company claims this technology could be expanded for aquaculture farms, municipalities, large institutions, veterinarians or any situation in which organic matter would otherwise go to a landfill.

Dane County Farmer's Market

2009-10-27T10:51:00.005-04:00

Dane County Farmer’s Market
Madison, WI
1972-present

dcfm.org

The Dane County Farmer’s Market Inc. is committed to providing Wisconsin growers and producers with farming products and opportunities for marketing, to help sell Wisconsin grown produce, to improve the overall quality of food grown in the Madison area through the education of farmers, to provide opportunities for farmers to deal directly with urban consumers, to educate consumers on the benefits of locally grown food and to preserve Wisconsin’s food heritage, including the farmers that continue it.

Inspired by the European model of open marketplaces and the urban and rural richness of Dane County, Bill Dyke (Dane County’s mayor in 1972) instructed the Dane County Extension Office and the Central Madison Committee of the Chamber of Commerce to create a community space which would capture his ideas; they developed the Dane County Farmers’ Market. The Market was to be set up on the grounds of the State Capitol and farmers came in on Saturday mornings to sell their produce, which must be grown in Wisconsin. The Market has evolved from 5 stalls in 1972 to a co-op of about 300 vendors with a Board of Directors. The hours of operation have also increased from just the Saturday morning produce selling slot to include Wednesday morning, an Early Winter Market, a Late Winter Market, Arts and Crafts vendors, educational initiatives, food tasting events, street musicians. Though the market has undergone immense evolution, it still stays true to its founding ethos of uniting the rural and urban communities.

Transition Town Totnes

2009-10-27T10:38:00.010-04:00

Name: Transition Town Totnes
Location: Devon, UK
Years 2006-present
totnes.transitionnetwork.org
Transition Initiatives were founded to increase public awareness of sustainable living as well as to build communities that are more resilient to the impending decline of oil and gas supplies. Transition Town Totnes (TTT) was founded by Rob Hopkins and Naresh Giangrande in 2006 and is the first community in the United Kingdom to embrace the Transition Initiative and actively try to increase its local resilience to an energy crisis.
The position of Transition Towns is that global warming and peak oil present an unavoidable challenge which should be dealt with sooner rather than later through various energy saving initiatives to increase the survival rate of our towns. Over the next two years, TTT aims to create an Energy Descent Action Plan (EDAP) to lay out where the town wants to be in terms of energy dependence in twenty years’ time. The main goals of the EDAP are to reduce carbon emissions as well as dependence on fossil fuels and to increase the town’s resilience to an increasingly volatile global market and community through self reliance. TTT believes that for the EDAP to work, it must be a collaborative effort between all members of the community, private and public, old and young.
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete". Buckminster Fuller
TTT has started various initiatives to increase its self reliance. It has begun the Totnes Pound Project which is an internal currency to promote economic localization which benefits the local community in many ways, including supporting local trade and food producers, reducing food miles, keeping money in the community and encouraging tourism, all of which contribute to the town’s self-reliance. Other projects include: Garden Share which involves connecting people without their own gardens with growing space; Local Food Guide, which promotes local and independent producers; The Great Re-skilling, a practical program to teach people basic food production skills and other sustainable food production groups.

Rainwater Harvesting Implementation Network (RAIN)

2009-10-27T10:16:00.004-04:00

Location: Burkina Faso, Mali, Ethiopia, Senegal
Years: 2003-Present
Founder: Plan Netherlands and AIDEnvironment

Rainwater Harvesting Implementation Network (RAIN) has supported projects in Nepal, 375 projects were for drinking while 200 projects werefor agriculture, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Ethiopia, and is hoping to expand in Senegal where contaminated or inaccessible groundwater make rain-water harvesting an attractive option for the community. RAIN itself is not a resistance oriented organization but rather a larger, umbrella foundation for fundraising and awareness about the potential of rainwater harvesting. However, in addition to standard efforts to provide clean water to developing communities, it supports radical implementations of rainwater harvesting as well. One of its most recent projects: Be Buffered has an attitude of resistance to installing its Recharge, Retention, and Reuse strategy.

The 3RBook explores best practices and radical practices in rainwater capture implemented around the globe. The group has used riverbank infiltration, artificial groundwater recharge, and sand storage dams. Be Buffered wants to tackle those water situations that have been deemed too difficult or challenging for ordinary means and provide an excess water buffer in times of drought.

The LunchBox

2009-10-27T09:45:00.004-04:00

Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Years: 2000-Present
Founder: Chef Ann Cooper
Partner: Whole Foods Market

The LunchBox: Healthy Tools to Preserve All Schools is the most prominent school lunch initiative started by Chef Ann Cooper to transform the school lunch program is part of F3; Food Family Farming Foundation. The goal is to see systemic change for all school-age children, k-12, and provide access to healthy food “to grow their minds, bodies and their future.” The LunchBox is a web-based portal for preparing a more healthy and locally driven school lunch program with information for items as simple as portion control to new storing techniques.

The site provides a well-documented list of “nutritionally analyzed and scalable” recipes as well as a list of partner schools with descriptions of what they are doing. The program plans to provide ways for schools to track costs, resources, waste, and labor to create measureable metrics of comparison for schools. Recently the program has partnered with Whole Foods Market to develop recipes for the program. The LunchBox also features a video blog with Chef Ann Cooper promoting the methodology of the program.

SourceMap

2009-10-27T08:54:00.006-04:00

Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Years: 2008-Present
Founder: Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Media Lab of MIT
Users: 1003

SourceMap serves as an open source platform where users can create a known supply chain, adding information as to where a product’s natural resources originate, where products travel for assembly and distribution, and calculate a reliable estimate of the C02 released for each step. The project currently has a small user base that currently limits the amount of data input, but it is similar to a Wikipedia model of information collection but does not allow anonymous posts. It is based on the MIT Open Source Initiative computer codes and poses the most potential for the collection and presentation of large amounts of data, which should make estimates for carbon footprints of products more accurate. For example using commonly accepted standards for C02 emissions in its Parts and Transport Catalogues, the project calculates the total emissions from the distance and type of transportation. Supply chains are essentially closed minus the ubiquitous “Made in _____” Smaller companies are using SouceMap to show how they are locally-sourced or carbon-friendly in comparison to others. In addition to Product Maps users can input Travel Maps and Food Maps which work on the same principles but are differentiated by color and use more industry specific values for calculating carbon emissions. The project has various forms of export that include embedding into other websites, printed product labels, and even QR codes readable by camera phone meaning additionally information about the product could be researched quickly while shopping. The project also hopes to create a more reliable predictor of Life Cycle Assessments to quantify impacts that are often not considered because they are externalities.

Blue Sky Biofuels

2009-10-26T23:55:00.004-04:00

Location: Oakland, CA
Year: 2006-Present
Owner and President: Patrick McIntyre

http://www.blueskybio-fuels.com

Blue Sky Biofuels is a recently formed corporation, developing a biodiesel production facility located conveniently close to an urban center, turning used grease from commercial food production, restaurants, and public utility sewers into combustible fuel. In addition to serving a number of restaurants in the Bay Area, Blue Sky Biofuels also partners with the University of California at Berkeley and the McAfee Coliseum to collect grease. This grease, once converted to fuel, is used to power the trucking fleets of other Blue Sky customers.

In addition to selling this biodiesel to trucking fleets, Blue Sky is working on a campaign to introduce biodiesel to school bus fleets. Biodiesel can be integrated into normal diesel fuel at any ratio from 1 percent to 99 percent, and in addition to being more environmentally friendly, improves the air quality for students riding those buses. The US Dept of Agriculture and the US Dept of Energy have estimated that biodiesel also has a positive energy balance of 220 percent, dispelling the myth of biodiesel as net energy loser.

RUAF Foundation

2009-10-26T23:28:00.004-04:00

Location: Global reach with projects in partner cities in Africa, Asia, and South America. A network of regional resource centers, with the overarching global center housed in the Netherlands.
Year: 1996-Present

http://www.ruaf.org

The mission of the RUAF Foundation is “to contribute to urban poverty reduction, employment generation and food security and to stimulate participatory city governance and improved urban environmental management, by creating enabling conditions for empowerment of male and female urban and peri-urban farmers, capacity development of local authorities and other stakeholders and by facilitating the integration of urban agriculture in gender-sensitive policies and action programmes of local governments, civic society organisations and private enterprises with active involvement of the urban farmers, livestock keepers and other relevant stakeholders”

The format of the Foundation is a global resource center, and seven regional centers, monitoring and providing resources to urban farming initiatives in 18 partner cities, in East and West Africa, South America, China, and the Indian Subcontinent. The Foundation is funded primarily by the EU, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Canadian International Development Research Centre. The Foundation’s main programs “Cities Farming for the Future” and “From Seed to Table” seek to develop urban agriculture socially, economically, and sustainably through education, information sharing, and publications like Urban Agriculture Magazine.

Cow Power (Anaerobic Digesters)

2009-10-26T23:21:00.007-04:00

Location: Vermont

Years: 2008-present

Organization: Central Vermont Public Service

http://www.cvps.com/cowpower/

WorldChanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, p.64

One cow can produce over 30 gallons of manure a day. Instead of letting cow manure run into waterways and seep into the ground, the Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) has created a Cow Power Program, which turns cow manure into energy. An anaerobic digester is installed on a farm and, over a period of about twenty days, breaks down some of the collected poop’s solids into acids, which feed bacteria, which in turn digest the manure and produce biogas. The gas is then pushed through a pipe into a modified natural gas engine, and electricity generated by burning the gas is fed into the CVPS system. One cow’s waste can produce enough electricity to power two 100-watt light bulbs 24 hours a day. The digester also produces a low-odor slurry that makes a fertilizer that is safer than raw manure. Participating dairy farmers get an additional source of income.

Cow Power farms are located all across Vermont. There are currently six farms online and producing electricity in Bakersfield, Bridport, Richford, Sheldon, St. Albans and Newport. All the farms have well over 500 cows, and produce or are expected to produce between 0.78 and 3.5 million killowatt-hours of electricity a year.

Preserve Products

2009-10-26T23:19:00.006-04:00

Location: Cortland, New York
Years: 1996-Present
Founder: Eric Hudson
Partner: Stonyfield Farm
Preserve Products sells items only made from recycled materials and further recyclable. Most of the products are not all that radical as stainless steel utensils or ceramic and glass plates are not thrown away often. Perhaps the most viable use of the inexpensive items is the possibility of replacing unrecyclable disposable items (paper plates and cups) instead of replacing a set of dishes. However, recyclable toothbrushes, razers, toothpicks, Brita filters, storage containers seem to be a new niche market that presents the possibility of recycling in common items that are not normally thought of as recyclable.

The most important structure of the company is the emphasis on using more environmentally friendly produced plastics that are able to be recycled. At present the materials need to be shipped to New York for recycling creating additional transportation energy. However, the new gimme 5 program allows consumers to drop off items for recycling wherever Preserve Products are sold (typically Whole Foods locations) for Preserve to pick-up and ship while delivering new products to the store.

Zero Waste Zone (ZWZ)

2009-10-26T23:18:00.003-04:00

Pilot City: Atlanta, GA

Year: 2009

Organization: Green Foodservice Alliance

http://www.greenfoodservicealliance.org

http://www.epa.gov/region4/recycle/zerowaste.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/earth/20trash.html?_r=1

Atlanta has recently pledged to become a Zero Waste Zone. Gradually, participants in Atlanta are joining the pledge to eliminate practically all of the waste currently going to landfills. More than 10 participants, including the Georgia World Congress Center, the Hyatt Regency and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse have already pledged to recycle their common recyclables (cardboard, plastic, etc.), reuse spent grease for the local production of biofuel and donate or compost food residuals to drastically decrease the amount of waste going to landfills.

Algae Farming

2009-10-26T22:57:00.009-04:00

Years: 1978-present

WorldChanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, p.111

http://www.bionomicfuel.com/algaculture-and-benefits-of-algae-farming/

http://www.globalwarmingisreal.com/blog/2009/01/21/algae-farming-in-the-face-of-the-oil-price-situation/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/business/energy-environment/29biofuel.html

http://infranetlab.org/blog/2009/02/farming-fuels/

Algae have the ability to consume CO2 and turn it into biodiesel. A single acre of algae ponds can produce 15,000 gallons of biodiesel. GreenFuel has a full-scale algae fuel plant underway. Algae farming can offer many benefits, and one of these is that microalgae grow significantly faster than land crops used to make biodiesel. One acre of algae will produce between 5,000 and 20,000 gallons of oil that can be turned into biodiesel. The US Energy Department is reviving a massive project it abandoned in 1996 to produce algae gasoline on a large scale. The DoE abandoned the project because of the low oil price at the time, but it has recently teamed up with National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Chevron. Some insiders say that it will take ten years before commercially viable products will hit the market. Others say this is going to materialize in as little as two years from now. The reason for this massive difference in prediction time is due to the political climate. In one year’s time that landscape will be a lot clearer.

Algae, just like any other plant life, use carbon dioxide and release oxygen. This means that large-scale algae farming would not only create a biofuel that is environmentally friendly, but also, while the algae is growing, it would be cleaning the air by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing fresh oxygen.

Algae also contain nutrients that can provide a fertilizer that is environmentally friendly and rich in phosphorous and nitrogen. These nutrients can be extracted from the algae and make farming land crops much cleaner and less harmful to the earth.

Dow Chemmicals and Algenol Biofuels are building a demonstration plant that will use algae to turn carbon dioxide into ethanol. Or, the oxygen produced by the algae would be used to burn coal cleanly. The carbon dioxide exhaust released by the coal burning would be reused to feed algae.

Algenol grows algae in bioreactors, which are troughs covered with flexible plastic and filled with saltwater. The water is saturated with carbon dioxide, to encourage growth of the algae. The company has 40 bioreactors in Florida, and as part of the demonstration project plans 3,100 of them on a 24-acre site at Dow’s Freeport, Tex., site. Algenol and its partners are planning a demonstration plant that could produce 100,000 gallons a year.

PetroSun Biofuel’s 1,100 acre algae farms in Harlingen, Texas

Portable Farms

2009-10-26T21:54:00.005-04:00

Location: Escondido, CA
Year:1972-Present
Inventor/Founder: Colle Davis

http://www.portablefarms.com

Portable Farms is a business that has a designed aquaponic system for sale to the public. Colle Davis invented the aquaponic system after studying at UC Davis, and has spent the last 37 years perfecting the design, with the goal of fully automating the process to allow for universal usage. Portable Farms claims that a unit of theirs (patent pending) measuring only 6’x 8’ can produce 400 vegetables and 100 pounds of fish, all while using an estimated 90 percent less water than a traditional arrangement. Colle Davis’s own farm uses three of his company’s units, one 6’ x 8’, one 10’ x 20’ and one 20’ x 30’, meaning on two acres, he is able to produce 4800 vegetables and 1900 pounds of fish in a year.

In addition to the three previously mentioned sizes, Portable Farms also sells a 90’ x 120’ unit, for larger institutional applications. Portable Farms is marketing these units to large institutions like prisons and schools, where footprint might be an issue, as well as to individuals and families, where time and ease of maintenance might be an issue. The modularity and exportability of Portable Farms suggests that the company may have more success as locavorism catches on.

Ecological Dry Toilet

2009-10-26T21:46:00.003-04:00

Location: Mexico

Years: 1980-present

Organization: Centro de Innovacion en Tecnolgia Alternativa

Designer: Cesar Anorve

Manufacturer: Tecnologias y Sistemas Ecologicos (TESEC)

Cost: $27-54 (stand alone toilet), $150-550 (complete system)

Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, p.296

The Ecological Dry Toilet was created by Centro de Innovacion en Tecnolgia Alternativa, in Mexico, where nearly half the water used in a Mexican home goes down the toilet. The toilet both conserves water and creates fertilizer.

The Ecological Dry Toilet mounts a conventional toilet seat cover over two chambers—one active, where waste is collected, the other passive, where waste composts while the other chamber is in use. The toilet diverts urine to a tank where it settles before being used as fertilizer. Solid waste passes to the active chamber, which is “flushed” with ash or lime rather than water to speed composting and neutralize odors. When the active chamber is full, it is sealed off and the waste is left to compost for 18 months or more. Meanwhile, composted waste is emptied from the second chamber, which them becomes active again.

TerraCycle

2009-10-26T21:43:00.012-04:00

Location: Trenton, New Jersey
Years: 2001-Present
Founder: Tom Szaky, Princeton University Student

TerraCycle wants to be a part of an eco-revolution through its closed-loop, upcycled products. Having started in 2001 making fertilizers from worms, it has grown to have 7 million people recycling and producing 102 items.

TerraCycle sells its products in major retailers nation-wide. Some products are more eye-catching and gimmicky than revolutionary recycling ideas (ie. Vinyl Wall Clock) but the founding idea of using worms to digest organic waste to create a natural fertilizer is noted for its potential to reduce the need for both nitrogen and phosphorus based fertilizers. A media-success story founder Szaky was featured on the cover of Inc. in 2006. Proof of the effectiveness and growth of the new fertilizer was Scott’s Miracle Gro sued TerraCycle for claims of effectiveness. The company’s community based focus extends to its location in abandoned buildings in Trenton, purchasing program for recycled wrappers in schools, and use of local artists in designing and hand-decorating. A marketing campaign with Newsweek where the magazine cover folded into an envelope and 47,000 readers responded by mailing in plastic shopping bags, which were made into reTote messenger bags. The rate of growth of the company proves promising as its scale increases.

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF)

2009-10-26T21:36:00.008-04:00

Location: global
Years: 1971-2009
Founder: Sue Coppard

http://www.wwoof.org

http://www.wwoofinternational.org/

What started off in 1971 as an experiment by Londoner Sue Coppard in weekend farming volunteering, has morphed into a loose network of national organizations that link volunteers with organic farmers, changing names from Working Weekends on Organic Farms to Willing Workers on Organic Farms, and subsequently to World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms in 2000. Its stated goals are to provide volunteers first-hand experience with organic growing methods and rural life, as well as to further the organic movement. In exchange for volunteering typically 4 to 6 hours a day, the host farmers provide food, accommodation and farming education to their guests.

The farms may range from private gardens and co-operatively operated ventures to commercial farms. The program is popular amongst students looking for an inexpensive way to visit different countries, as well as with those interested in starting their own organic farming or gardening practices. Stays may be arranged for as little as a week to as long as an entire growing season or more. Each of the 40 participating countries has its own network with a list of farms that may be accessed only after paying a (somewhat nominal) membership fee. The lack of free access to the number of farms participating in each country combined with the lack of data recollection on the number of volunteers participating in the movement renders it difficult to assess WOOFF’s overall impact. However, one of my friends who WOOFFed this summer in France said there were over 200 participating farms in that country alone.

Solar Watercones

2009-10-26T21:30:00.006-04:00

Years: 1999-present

Developer: Stephan Augustin

Manufacturer: Wisser Verpackungen and Mage-Watermanagement, Germany

Funding: Hans Sauer Stiftung

Cost: $60-100

Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, p.285

WorldChanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, p.193

http://www.watercone.com

The Solar Watercone uses the sun’s heat to evaporate seawater, which then condenses on the inside of the cone. When the cone is flipped, the water can be poured out into a container. The Watercone can purify about 1.6 quarts of water per day (enough to meet a child’s daily needs), killing waterborne pathogens, removing particulates, chemicals, and heavy metals.

The Watercone is a conical, self-supporting and stackable Unit made from transparent, thermo-formable polycarbonate (same as water dispensers) outfitted with a screw cap spout at the tip and an inward circular collecting trough at the base. The polycarbonate Watercone is UV-resistant and can be used up to 5 years daily. The material is non-toxic, non-flammable and 100% recyclable. The black pan for the saltwater is already made out of 100% recycled PC.

The manufacturers of the Watercone argue that “many peripheral, de-centralized small units will ensure a better supply of freshwater than one central big generator. If the big one fails, there is no water generation for anyone. If a small one fails, the other ones still keep on working.”

5 reasons for the global distribution of the Watercone:

1. Much cheaper than bottled water. Average Price of 1 liter of bottled water in developing countries: $US 0.50. One liter of water from the Watercone costs just between two and five cents calculated over a lifetime.

2. Easy to use. As opposed to other types of solar stills which feature electronics, photo-voltaic cells, tubes, filters, many parts, etc. the Watercone concept is understood with absolutely no need for academic background.

3. Perfect for coastal dwellers. Hundreds of millions of people live in nearest proximity to water but cannot drink it or use it for agriculture, because it is saltwater.

4. Perfect for medical purposes. There are thousands of hospitals in developing countries, field and mobile hospitals, first aid and emergency medical units around the world that are located in sunny climates and lack condensed water. Outfitted with just a dozen Watercones, a little field hospital could harvest 15 liters of condensed water per day.

5. Creates jobs. Based in the vicinity of salt or brackish water and outfitted with a minor credit line, vendors could invest in a dozen Watercones and sell 15 liters of water a day and have their investment returned in no more than half a year.

Pour salty / brackish Water into pan. Then float the Watercone on top. The black pan absorbs the sunlight and heats up the water to support evaporation.

The evaporated Water condensates in the form of droplets on the inner wall of the cone. These droplets trickle down the inner wall into a circular trough at the inner base of the cone.

By unscrewing the cap at the tip of the cone and turning the cone upside down, one can empty the potable Water gathered in the trough directly into a drinking device.

Sulabh International Social Service Organisation

2009-10-26T21:28:00.008-04:00

Location: India
Year: 1970s- present
Founder: Bindeshwar Pathak

http://www.sulabhinternational.org/st/sulabh_flush_compost_toilet.php

http://www.adb.org/Water/Champions/pathak.asp

In an effort to elevate the social status of the ‘untouchables’ -those scavengers who clean pit latrines- sociologist Bindeshwar Pathak founded the non-governmental organization Sulabh International and created a latrine that is practically maintenance-free. The “eco-friendly, technically appropriate, socio-culturally acceptable and economically affordable” Sulabh Flush Compost Toilet requires only very little water (2 liters) to flush and creates sludge that after 2 years of sitting in an underground pit is turned into manure which can be used as an agricultural fertilizer. Up to date, more than 1,2 million Sulabh toilets have been installed in India.

Sulabh International also prides itself on being the “pioneering organization in the field of biogas generation from public toilet complexes,” treating effluents on site and converting human excreta into biogas that can be used for cooking and lighting. It has constructed 190 biogas plants, whose accompanying community toilets service 250,000 people per day, creating practically 9 million daily square feet of biogas.

The most notable strengths of Sulabh International’s sanitary actions (the organization has since diversified its realms of social involvement) are the large scale at which they have been and continue to be undertaken -primordially in India but recently also in countries such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal- as well as the multiple advantages they confer. Not only have they helped liberate 120,000 scavengers from cleaning 13 million latrines throughout India, as well as improved the sanitary conditions of those who use the new toilets, but they provide an important example of sustainable human waste management in developing countries. Dr. Pathak’s technologies and actions have received international recognition, earning him a number of awards including the 2007 Energy Globe Award, the Indira Gandhi Award for Environment, and the Global 500 Roll of Honour Award by UNEP.