The PermaDesign Weblog, with Nate Downey and Melissa McDonald!
Archives from September 2014
Everything Gardens
My essay, "Extrapolations: Voltaire in the Garden," can be found at St John's College's new digital-only magazine, 'Rational Animal,'
http://rationalanimalmagazine.com/#/issues/summer-2014/extrapolations-voltaire-in-the-garden?p=48
09/26/2014 | (1) Comments
Colorado’s Restrictive Water Laws
In honor of the historic rains that the Boulder area received this time last year, here's an article from "Boulder Weekly," which features yours truly. I wonder how much water could have been harvested by that storm if Colorado's laws were more water-harvesting friendly.
http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-4888-harvest-the-rain-know-whats-legal.html
09/25/2014 | (0) Comments
Our Most Valuable Resource…
It's great to see that rainwater get some attention at World Water Week in Stockholm earlier this month.
http://www.trust.org/item/20140831204123-hl6xy/?source=fiOtherNews2
09/22/2014 | (0) Comments
Get Active. Think Passive.
My latest "Permaculture in Practice" is a *glossarita* of passive water-harvesting terminology.
09/19/2014 | (0) Comments
Urban Home for Chickens
Our friend Bill Roth has some great easy to assemble homes for your backyard chickens. Looks like all the amenities a hen would ever want!
http://www.acmehappychickencompany.com/
09/10/2014 | (0) Comments
Access to the Outdoors and Our Health
A very interesting article that shows the routes people take when jogging and running in a select group of cities. The access to the outdoors and exercise is so important and it is nice to know that Mayor Gonzales and his predecessor Mayor Coss put forth the effort to see that biking and jogging paths were given a high priority, especially on the South Side.
09/07/2014 | (0) Comments
Top 10 Cities in the U.S. Running Out of Water All in California
Many of these cities are located in areas that provide a considerable portion of the nation’s food supply. The drought elsewhere in the county often can have a direct impact on local supply and economies.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/887810-top-10-us-cities-running-out-of-water/
09/03/2014 | (0) Comments
Permaculture
In 1952, Mortimer Adler and his team of super scholars decided that there were 102 "Great Ideas" in the canon of western literature. Given permaculture's relevance (as we, humans, continue to create a seriously precarious situation for ourselves and for future generations) and given the complex nature of the term 'permaculture,' I lean toward thinking that it's time for another idea, and permaculture (or perhaps ecology--but probably not sustainability) is it. Although still undecided, I'm leaning toward asking this question tonight up at St. John's College at an alumni salon, "What is permaculture, and could it be the next Great Idea?"
No matter what happens tonight--to some, this new-idea bit of mine might seem like hubris--we will be looking at the attached Toby Hemenway essay, featuring the leading pioneer of modern chemistry, Antoine Lavoissier.
(Tonight's salon starts at 7pm, and there are still a couple of seats, so if you are a Johnny alum, spouse, or otherwise-related nut-job in the Santa Fe area with nothing to do, please RSVP to Martha Acosta.)
As for me, I'm hopefully signing off from my screen until tomorrow in order to prepare...with those wonderful, powerful relics that we still call "books." In the meantime, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NEXT GREAT IDEA SHOULD BE? Other candidates include 'localism,' 'biomimicry,' 'transition town,' 'synergy,' 'ecological design,' 'bioneer,' 'restoration,' 'regeneration,' 'eearth,' 'Gaia,' 'holistic management,' 'peak everything,' and 'commonsense.' How would you brand the necessary revolution in a word or two? And, much more importantly, *why* do you think it would work best--as mainstream America finally seems to understand the depth of our predicament(s)?
http://www.patternliteracy.com/668-what-permaculture-isnt-and-is
09/02/2014 | (0) Comments
