This is not a dooms day post about the world ending at all but rather a post about our many evolutions, the great power of synergy, and esspecially of compassion. 2012 is not only about a great astrological alignment as perdicted by the mayan calender not seen for over 25,000 years in which our solar system will be in line with the exact meridian and center of the Milky Way Galaxy, but also a alignment of human beings with a new positive intention for the planet. In my mind is a vision of huge numbers of people working harmoniously together and cooperating as a united but diverse global force for good. This is just so much doom out there about 2012 it is hard find anything reliable unless you know what your looking at. I like this animated video below because it’s easy to understand and very nicely gives you the idea. It is up to each of us to create as much interconnective sharing as possible as creative enegry sparks a new conciousness emerging all over the world. Digital media and mobile technology are making this even easier to facilitate, but most importantly, we have to connect with our hearts to our work and those we work with and love. Please comment if this video ressonates with you or anyone you know in anyway or if you just think it’s hippy dippy b.s. I would still want to know …..Gaia punks unite!
Tesla Motors and Toyota have announced a partnership where they will re-open a Freemont Toyota auto-plant to make electric vehicles.
May 21 (Bloomberg) — Toyota Motor Corp., the worlds largest automaker, is buying a $50 million stake in the Californian electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc. as automakers compete to offer low-polluting models in the U.S. Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
Tesla Motors Announces Factory in Northern California
Silicon Valley factory will become the home of the Model S sedan
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Tesla Motors has purchased the former NUMMI factory in Fremont, California, where it will build the Model S sedan and future Tesla vehicles. As recently as April of 2010, the NUMMI factory was used by Toyota to produce the Corolla and Tacoma vehicles using the industry-leading Toyota production system. It is one of the largest, most advanced and cleanest automotive production plants in the world.
It is capable of producing half a million vehicles per year or approximately 1 percent of total worldwide car production. The award-winning plant was the first in North America to demonstrate Toyota Production System, a widely copied system that lead to dramatic quality improvements and unprecedented manufacturing flexibility and worker satisfaction.
The Model S is expected to be the first pure electric premium sedan and is designed from the ground up to take full advantage of the electric vehicle architecture. The sedan, which Tesla unveiled in March 2009, has an anticipated base price of $49,900, including a federal tax credit, and is intended to deliver the foremost design and technology in the automotive world. With an optional extended-range battery pack, the Model S will travel over 300 miles per charge.
The factory is located in the city of Fremont near Northern California’s Silicon Valley, very near Tesla’s Palo Alto headquarters. The location means Tesla can hire best-in-class engineers in Silicon Valley. The short distance also ensures a tight feedback loop between engineering, manufacturing and other divisions within the company.
“The Tesla Factory effectively leverages an ideal combination of hardcore Silicon Valley engineering talent, traditional automotive engineering talent and the proven Toyota production system,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “The new Tesla Factory will give us plenty of room to grow.”
Toyota produced its last car there just last month. Tesla began discussions to acquire the site this spring, when it was also evaluating opportunities in Downey and Long Beach. The turnkey nature of the facility with its recent production of top quality vehicles and its considerable room for expansion made it stand out from other sites.
UPDATE: We have created a project group on our Permaculture GROUPS free cooperative Mycological Response Teams group, along with start-up projects and tasks and documents and members. Please consider joining by Nicholas Roberts, Permaculture Cooperative
The Pertroleum Problem - Paul Stamets
I (Paul Stamets) proposed in 1994 that we have Mycological Response Teams (MRTs) in place to react to catastrophic events, from hurricanes to oil spills. by The Petroleum Problem: Paul Stamets
The BP oil spill has inflicted enormous harm in the Gulf of Mexico and will continue to do so for months, if not decades, to come. I have many thoughts on this disaster. My first reaction is that when the skin of the Earth is punctured, bad things can happen.
Clearly, this disaster could and should have been prevented. Despite all their assurances of safety, BP and/or BP’s subcontractors, failed to ensure the functionality of the emergency equipment on the Deep Horizon rig. The oil industry claims that further regulation will handcuff them, but it is now obvious that more steps need to be taken to prevent a catastrophe like this from ever happening again.
How can we help? Knowing that the extent of this disaster eclipses our mycological resources should not be a reason to not act.
I proposed in 1994 that we have Mycological Response Teams (MRTs) in place to react to catastrophic events, from hurricanes to oil spills. We need to preposition composting and mycoremediation centers adjacent to population centers. We should set MRTs into motion, centralized in communities, which are actively involved in recycling, composting and permaculture—utilizing debris from natural or man-made calamities to generate enzymes and rebuild healthy local soils.
I see the urgent need to set up webinar-like, Internet-based modules of education to disseminate methods for mycoremediation training so people throughout the world can benefit from the knowledge we have gained through the past decade of research. Such hubs of learning could cross-educate others and build a body of knowledge that would be further perfected over time, benefiting from the successes and failures of those in different bioregions. The cumulative knowledge gained from a centralized data hub could emerge as a robust yet flexible platform that could help generations to come. Scientists, policy makers, and citizens would be empowered with practical mycoremediation tools for addressing environmental disasters.
We just spent a wonderful week with Paul Stamets at his place in the Gulf Islands, and while we were there, the BP Crisis Management Team called to get his advice. In a way, that’s pretty encouraging. People here were wondering what Paul’s got to say about the mess, and after the call he put together a position paper on the spill and mycoremediation. It’s at
hey Toby,
thanks for this…
great resource, couple of questions, observations, dont really expect you to have all the answers, though I think its worth putting it out there
1. I wonder how we could actually use this information to develop a gaia permaculture response ?
2. how do we organise networks and teams of permaculture activists to use this knowledge on the ground/in-the-water now?
3. can we develop a faster and tighter network of expertise, i.e. the spill was weeks ago, could we make responses faster from experts such as Stamets and youself ? could we develop a network of experts to respond and anticipate such disasters, events etc and feed this organic geo-engineering into the policy mix, the activist strategies and techniques ?
4. could we develop a media team that makes video, education, howtos, implementation kits for such events as the spill ? could we set-up a fund-raising team to buy the spore, the medium, distribute and train activists in the field, measure results ?
5. did you discuss genetically engineered fungi, microbes etc ? are any on that list ?
cheers
-N
Source: Email exchange on the Permaculture Ibiblio email list
Permaculture with a Mycological Twist, The Stametsian Model for a Synergistic Mycosphere
Permaculture is a concept pioneered by Australian Bill Mollison and literally means “permanent agriculture”. His model of biological diversity and complementary agricultural practices promotes a sustainable environment via the interplay of natural ecosystems. Permaculture has gained a huge international following with the publication of his book Permaculture: A Practical Guide for a Sustainable Future. Permaculture has become the mainstay philosophy of the organic movement. Mollison’s vision, which borrows from Masanobu Fukuoka’s “One Straw Revolution”, intelligently combines the factors of site location, recycling of by-products from farming and forest activities, species diversity and biological succession.
As a young and idealistic student, Ross found his way to Nicaragua in 1995. A love of bicycles and welding fueled his quest to design simple ways for poor people to carry stuff by bike. Ross’s early maker roots have since blossomed into Worldbike.org and Xtracycle.com. Come get inspired to make a holishift in your life and do what you love to make a positive difference.
Ross Evans: At the age of 19, Ross travelled to Managua carrying with him bike tools, a welder and a question for his undergraduate thesis project. Alongside a group of war-disabled men, he set out in pursuit of a simple, cargo-carrying bicycle solution. What began in 1995 became two pioneering organizations – Worldbike, and it’s altruistic “for-profit” sibling, Xtracycle. In the process, Ross discovered how to enable a beautiful machine (the bicycle) to meet more needs and desires than ever before. ID Magazine declared him one of the 40 most notable socially responsible designers in the world in 2000. Curious and catalytic, he’s led a team of world-class eye surgeons to develop cataract surgical tools for Nepal, developed an award-winning construction toy and presented at the TED Conference. He is a Stanford-trained engineer, adventurer, inventor, humanitarian, yogi and design catalyst. Ross inspires others to do what we love to make a positive difference. He calls it “holishift”.
Certified 72h Permaculture Design Course, Konso, Ethiopia: Permaculture for the Rural African Environment – Oriented towards food security development for rural communities lead by Tichafa Makovere; Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge: June 07 – 17, 2010.
Tichafa Makovere, lead trainer for the re-SCOPE (Regional Permaculture in Schools and Colleges) initiative and the Fimbadzanai Permaculture Centre in Zimbabwe, is to lead a 10 day residential PDC (English language medium) in Konso, South Ethiopia in June 2010. This PDC focuses on application of Permaculture to semi arid environments in rural Africa, of particular relevance to those wanting to apply PC in the rural developing world. Attention is given to appropriate technology, soil and water harvesting, indigenous knowledge systems and Permaculture in schools as a key focus point for the community, and a chance to influence the coming generation.
We use SFEL’s model PC site as the primary example for demonstration, as well visiting implementation sites on our Permaculture in Konso Schools Project (PKSP) for design examples.
We also look at Konso’s renowned indigenous agricultural system and incorporating IKS (Indigenous Knowledge Systems) into Permaculture Design.
We can also include day long field-trips to wet-highland Afro-montaine, wet-tropical lowland and dry agro-pastoral lowland agro-climactic zones, upon request, and can incorporate design examples from these environments into the PDC.
Konso itself is a food in-secure area in southern Ethiopia sitting in the bowl of the Great Rift Valley. It has a semi-arid (k’olla) ecology, with sorghum, maize and sunflower as major crops. The people are well known for their hard work, complex social organisation and sophisticated agriculture, which makes extensive use of stone wall terracing for soil and water conservation.
Course Cost is $650 for those registering by 01 May (with a $100 deposit) and $700 there-after (there is a 50% discount for self-financing Ethiopians). The fee includes 2 weeks accommodation with food in the lodge but excludes transport to Konso.
Aug 4-6, Victoria; August 9-11, Tasmania; August 16-18 Queensland; August 23-25, NSW South Wales.
Join Kirk Gadzia as he tours Australia & New Zealand exclusively with RegenAG. This workshop module focuses on improving soil health and the biodiversity of rangelands and pastures, increasing grazing and wildlife capacity, increasing annual profits and enhancing livelihoods. Optimal rainfall usage, methods of reversing desertification, increasing food and water security and enhancing family relationships.n Kirk Gadzia as he tours Australia & New Zealand exclusively with RegenAG. This workshop module focuses on improving soil health and the biodiversity of rangelands and pastures, increasing grazing and wildlife capacity, increasing annual profits and enhancing livelihoods. Optimal rainfall usage, methods of reversing desertification, increasing food and water security and enhancing family relationships.
Resource Management Services, LLC (RMS) is a New Mexico based consulting, training and monitoring organization committed to assisting private and professional resource managers achieve sustainable results. RMS was founded by Kirk Gadzia of Bernalillo, New Mexico.
At Resource Management Services, LLC, we focus on Holistic Management®, which is most easily defined by simply adding W to the word holistic. This describes what the process does – helps us manage Whole situations rather than perceived parts. Managing the whole gives better results and fewer unexpected problems. Many publications today are filled with gloomy forecasts about agriculture and the environment. Yet, there are few who offer realistic solutions that strengthen both our economy and communities. To reverse this trend we must do it with the people already on the land. Holistic Management® gives human values a priority.
This series of workshops is the start of a longer and broader project whose objective is to ‘Regenerate Agriculture’s Soils, Profits & Community through a Workshop Series with World-Leading Innovators’ which over 2010 will be further developed into an ongoing and expanded workshop series in 2011 and beyond.
We look forward to your participation in this historic and timely initiative.
Our meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of every month (except January) at the:
Ku-ring-gai Centre for Seniors 259 Pacific Highway Lindfield [map]
Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start.Phone 1300 887 145, or email info@permaculturenorth.org.au for more information.
Nicholas was born in Sydney and grew up on a small chicken farm on the rural fringe of the western suburbs of Newcastle in the Hunter Valley. Nicholas has founded a number of Permaculture cooperatives including Permaculture Groups, Permaculture NEWS Cooperative and Permaculture TV and he makes the case that cooperative are a key structure that Permaculturalists can use to organise and work effectively together.
In the early 90s he completed a PDC at Crystal Waters with Max Lindegger as teacher and followed this by WWOOFing at Bill Mollison’s Tyalgum farm and a few other properties in Australia and Italy. The last 5 years Nicholas has been making a wiggly transition from an IT media career in the big end of town (with stops, starts and backtracks) into sustainability and media, with most of his efforts going into research and publishing and the formation of a global Permaculture Cooperative. Taking sanctuary in Robyn Francis’ Djangbung Gardens (now Permaculture College Australia) he did more experiments with a Permaculture cooperative project that became PermacultureTV.
During 2009, Nicholas toured Australia, California, New York, France, Basque Country, Spain, England, Scotland and Denmark researching Permaculture cooperation in the context of climate change and peak debt. In 2010 Nicholas and his partner plan to be the USA and Europe researching and working with Permaculture cooperatives. They will continue to use media to spread the concepts and developments of Permaculture cooperatives.
Alan’s website offers a basic course in permaculture which includes the philosophies, ethics, theory and practical steps you can take to start producing your own healthy food at home.
For Greeniesvisits Alan Willoughby of Permaculture Designz’s property in Tauranga, New Zealand. Since 1993 Alan has been teaching and practicing permaculture in the hope that people will learn how to grow their own fresh organic food for the health of the body, mind, soul and community.
Alan’s website offers a basic course in permaculture which includes the philosophies, ethics, theory and practical steps you can take to start producing your own healthy food at home. http://www.lovelighthealing.co.nz/permaculture.html
This has been another For Greenies sustainable living production. For further inspiration or to share ideas please visit http://www.forgreenies.com and join the sustainable living forum.
Steve Cran gives NGO stakeholders a field briefing on the village zone permaculture design strategy.
“My system of the “5 rings of sustainability” is adapted from permaculture for community development. From tribal people to aid officials this system makes sense. In each ring we know many “best practices” that will improve that community or household. The rings are interconnected.”
In the new village garden, set-up by Steve on his arrival, he draws in the dirt, with a stick, the basic 5 zone permaculture strategy. He explains how the basic unit of food security is the home food and medicinal garden, and how this expands out through the village to the hunting lands, with the outermost zone being the “eco-zone” for regeneration and wildlife.
It’s my third week in Uganda’s Karamoja province. It feels like I’ve been here for years.
We load the pick-up truck with tools. There’s a village 5 km north of town. The name of the village is too hard to pronounce for a Mazungu like me so I call it “the 5 kilometer village”. We load steel shovels, hoe rakes, steel digging bars, large sacks for hauling dry manure, and the African hoes.
The women’s group at this village have promised to build a fence for their vege garden. I don’t expect much because I know they don’t have any tools. If they make an effort I’m going to help them.
We arrive and they are waiting under a shady tree beside the road. Its hot and a fierce winds blinds us with dust as we get out of the ute. The mountain behind is on fire. The wind is fanning the flames to amazing heights. The fire eats he vegetation off the mountain like a hungry monster.
The women clap and cheer when I shake hands with the chief. He’s the only man in the group of 30. He has a list of everybody’s name. He’s done this before. The charities have trained him well. I tell him I don’t want names just a garden. He smiles and translates this to the group. I drop the tailgate and pass the tools to Santos and Ram my trainees.
The women go nuts. They whoop and make a lee lee lee lee noise between their teeth. The enthusiasm is genuine. I’m a bit embarrassed.
They take me over to where they have cleared an area for the fence. The shrubs have been chopped down and piled up at one end. We mark out an area for the first garden with a shady tree at one end. I visualize the tree as the meeting point for the garden crew. Lots of kids sneak up all around. Some are brave and touch the blonde hair on my arm and run away. I spin around and growl as they shriek and evaporate. Everybody laughs when they realize I’m not going to eat the children.
This is one of my pilot projects to test my designs for the manual. The women ask about seed. There are 40 kg of non hybrid seed at HQ. You get the seed when the garden is dug, I tell them. They begin to sing this time. I wonder why after 40 years of aid somebody hasn’t taken the time to cover the basics. water and food. Grow your own is better than American GM flour off the back of a truck! I tell the women no more cheering until the garden is dug and the fences are up.
We head to the prison in Moroto with the first sample of seeds. This time we get invited in to the inner prison. As the guard closes the heavy doors as we enter I feel a little apprehensive. Inside the prisoners are playing volleyball. Whew!
The governor ushers us in to his office. We make a deal. The garden project will grow all the new crops, and some for seed. Our crew will consist of several Karamajong rival tribes all mixed up. Traditional enemies will be working together.
The Guv, as I call him, shows us around. He takes us to a patch of open ground where he wants the project to start. The soil is heavy dark clay. It needs a fence. The water pump is nearby. Yep it’ll work. The Guv’s happy and the head warden looks on with a big grin. We have to go. Lots to do.
We visit a farm run by ex-warriors. Its way out in the middle of the bush. The leader speaks english. He sees the permaculture designers manual in the back of the landcruiser. I show him the mandala design. He gets excited. We need training, not handouts he says.A deal is made. We’ll train his mob if he trains warriors in the future. He offers us land for a field school. I tell him we’ll be back in 10 days with tools. He’ll have the leaders ready for a training session. I give him some seeds. Very happy guy.
On the return trip I decide to take the dangerous short cut. The security dudes warn us against it. My gut says go. We go. We drive like rally drivers. Nice road most of the way. The four of us are tense. No warriors. We make it no worries. Next day we find out warriors ambushed the safe road where we were supposed to go. One motorcyclist killed, a truck shot up and occupants kidnapped. My guys say lucky we listened to our gut! The gut is smarter than the security guys.
My garden is taking shape back at HQ. Many villagers watch its progress through the bamboo fence. Every demonstration is a teacher. The kids watering the garden each day are proud now the seeds have sprouted. They talk to the other kids through the fence as they water. They are junior trainers whether they know it or not. Everything is growing…Thank God!
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