Moving On : Better Homes and Habitats Earle Barnhart 2015

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1 Moving On : Better Homes and Habitats Earle Barnhart 2015 In This Changes Everything, Naomi Klein suggests that a survivable endgame for our society depends on... a realizable, if distant, vision" of a better and more sustainable future. "This means laying out a vision of the world that competes directly with today's vision, one that resonates with the majority of people on the planet because it is true: that we are not apart from nature but of it." "This is a vision of the future that goes beyond just surviving or enduring climate change, beyond 'mitigating' and 'adapting' to it... It is a vision in which we collectively use the crisis to leap somewhere that seems, frankly, better than where we are right now."[2] To stabilize the climate by sharing low greenhouse gas emissions equally among all people on earth, Americans will have to reduce their emissions by about 90%. Most life-support systems and services in our society are now powered by fossil fuel and will have to be abandoned, and new ones developed that operate on renewable energy. The renewable energies of choice renewable solar and wind energy - are decentralized. New sustainable systems will also have to be decentralized. Growing food locally and powering homes with local energy will result in the greatest energy efficiency in transporting food, nutrients, and people. Old China, New Alchemy The most promising path to sustainability of basic human needs of food, water and shelter is to combine traditional chinese permaculture, bioshelter architecture, and advanced nutrient recycling. 1) traditional chinese agriculture Agriculture in China evolved over 6000 years from the collective experience of several hundred generations of farmers. The methods they developed produce the highest possible food yields, higher per land area than modern industrial agriculture, while using no fossil fuels or chemical fertilizers. Their key techniques included growing mixed crops in polyculture, using all rainfall and water most efficiently, recycling all organic waste nutrients back into agriculture and employing human-powered transport requiring minimum technology.

2 2) agricultural bioshelters Bioshelters are food-producing greenhouses heated primarily with passive solar energy and containing diverse plants, ponds, insects and soil life an agricultural ecosystem in a greenhouse. In temperate climates with sunny winters, agricultural bioshelters can produce food yearround without fossil fuels for heating. Fish ponds inside produce edible fish while also storing solar heat for greenhouse heating. When bioshelters are combined with outdoor agriculture (by growing winter food and spring seedlings), fresh food can be provided yearround. 3) residential bioshelters Residential bioshelters are bioshelters that also provide housing for people, powered primarily by solar energy. A residential bioshelter can produce sustainable services of housing, food, and water supply, while greatly reducing the use of energy for agriculture and transport. Residential bioshelters can be modular and mass-produced for rapid implementation, and can be engineered to connect into networks to create ecological neighborhoods. 4) nutrient recycling Ecological solutions have been developed for food, water, and shelter. The last frontier of sustainability is the recovery and recycling of human waste nutrients. Continuous recycling of nutrients is a basic ecological process found in all of nature, but it is missing in our society and in modern agriculture. Technology to safely recycle human waste nutrients is simple, low-tech and energy-efficient. Recycling of waste nutrients back to agriculture is crucial for the continued survival of a future population of 10 billion people on the earth.

3 Food First Intensive production of food, close to where it is consumed, with little or no transport from field to table, results in the ultimate energy efficiency and food quality. Chinese raised bed techniques, growing dense mixtures of food crops year round with recycled nutrients, produce the highest possible continuous yields.

4 Fresh Food in Winter from Agricultural Bioshelters In climates with mild winters and sunny weather, an agricultural bioshelter can grow food crops and edible fish year-round. Hydroponic crops, vine crops, and tree crops can be grown together to maximize food production in an indoor contained ecosystem. Aquaculture and Hydroponics

5 Aquaculture and hydroponics Residential Bioshelters Half House, Half Greenhouse An integrated house and greenhouse can provide light, heat, food and a healthy, pleasant environment for its residents. By combining solar electricity, solar hot water, rain collection and outdoor food gardens, many basic human needs can be produced using local resources.

6 Teach Your Children Well "In a better world, architects would not only launch their buildings into the future, they'd train the crews to sail them." Malcolm Wells

7 Networks of Advanced Bioshelters "... topographically and regionally etched,... the creations of a thousand minds." John Todd Linear, modular bioshelters connected into networks can provide housing, food, water supply and efficient transport of goods and services.

8 Advanced Bioshelters for Eco-Services Specialized bioshelters designed for agriculture, aquaculture, housing, water supply and purification, and nutrient recovery and recycling.

9 "A bioshelter is a mythic construct as well as a practical, ecological one. It is a portal into the mind of Gaia, a rite of identification with the processes of Earth, a symbol of how we may learn to think, not just about a planet, but as a planet. David Spangler Biologically, a bioshelter is: -- a contained environment inside a permeable membrane, like a cell -- an enclosure with thermal stability, like a warm-blooded organism -- an association of interacting species, like an ecosystem -- a new form of habitat for humans ("habitat" - an area that surrounds a population and provides its needs) Architecturally, a bioshelter is : -- a passive solar building and a greenhouse -- a home and a food garden -- food production and nutrient cycling

10 References [1] The New Alchemy Institute The New Alchemy Institute conducted research and education on behalf of the planet : "Among our major tasks is the creation of ecologically derived human support systems - renewable energy, agriculture, aquaculture, housing and landscapes. The strategies we research emphasize a minimal reliance on fossil fuels and operate on a scale accessible to individuals, families, and small groups. It is our belief that ecological and social transformations must take place at the lowest functional levels of society if humankind is to direct its course towards a greener, saner world "Our programs are geared to produce not riches, but rich and stable lives, independent of world fashion and the vagaries of international economics. The New Alchemists work at the lowest functional level of society on the premise that society, like the planet itself, can be no healthier than the components of which it is constructed. The urgency of our efforts is based on our belief that the industrial societies which now dominate the world are in the process of destroying it." Fall 1970 Bulletin of the New Alchemists see website see website - [2] Naomi Klein "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate " [3] Traditional Chinese Permaculture can be found in: F.H.King. "Farmers of Forty Centuries" Rudolf P. Hommel. "China at Work" Francesca Bray. " Science and Civilization in China Volume 6, Part II Agriculture' Frank Dikotter. "Mao s Great Famine" Wittwer, Yu, Sun, Wan. "Feeding a Billion :Frontiers of Chinese Agriculture" Peter Chan. "Better Vegetable Gardens the Chinese Way" These sources describe the tools and methods of traditional Chinese permaculture and detailed lessons learned from 6000 years of experience. Together they provide a baseline strategy for sustainable local food production. [4] Earle Barnhart and Hilde Maingay. Environmental educators, ecological landscape designers, and food gardeners. They live at Alchemy Farm, Falmouth, Massachussetts, a co-housing community. They live in an energy-efficient residential bioshelter with solar electricity, solar domestic hot water and heating, eco-toilets, and winter food production. Nutrients from the greenhouse, gardens, kitchen, eco-toilets, chickens and fish are recycled in their permaculture landscape. Their professional work is ecological education, design and construction of landscapes, and bioshelter research.