World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF)

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.

Sulabh International Social Service Organisation

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.

The Urban Aquaculture Center

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Years: 2008-2009

http://urbanaquaculturecenter.com

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/the-urban-aquaculture-center.php

Still in a very initial stage, the Urban Aquaculture Center hopes to expand the practice of aquaculture by installing a 50,000 square feet urban aquaculture production facility, the first of its size and kind in the city of Milwaukee. Holding more than 200,000 gallons of municipal water in 20 large tanks, the indoor space will demonstrate to the public sustainable and highly productive practices such as aquaponics, where the water used in the fish tanks is filtered through edible leafy vegetable plants and then reused by the fish. It will combine this with educational facilities, sustainable farming exhibits, and a restaurant and market both selling locally raised fish, hoping to involve the community in practicing aquaculture at a smaller scale in their homes.

According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the practice of aquaculture “has the greatest potential to meet the growing demand for aquatic food.” One of the strengths of the Urban Aquaculture Center seems to lie in its large-scale vision of serving as a launching point to increase the popularity of aquaculture nation-wide (the United States currently only contributes to 2 percent of worldwide production) as a way of bringing fish production closer to its centers of consumption, contributing to a reduction of carbon emissions and an increased food security. The center envisions having the city of Milwaukee lead the way, capitalizing both on the presence of the successful urban teaching farm Growing Power as well as on its proximity to Lake Michigan. In spite of this exciting vision, it is yet too early to assess the impact this venture will have as it has yet to even install the center.