Since 2007 Sustainable Communities Network has collaborated with many community partners to nurture the urban agriculture movement in Lexington KY with the emphasis on young people as agents of change that will transform lives and landscapes. Using the art garden concept gleaned from years living in Detroit, jim embry of SCN has guided this
Jim Embry – Sustainable Lexington
by Jenni Perez
Bill Mollison said, “Though the world’s problems are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.” It was only after taking the Permaculture Design Certificate course ( www.OAEC.org) that I began to truly believe this.
We pollute our watersheds and pump our drinking water from the ground, while flushing our waste “away” with potable freshwater. We flush our waste “away”, while our urine and feces can and should be used to put nutrients back into our soil (“You are what you don’t shit,” says instructor Brock Dolman – our bodily waste isn’t even ours to flush!).
We rely on this elusive place called “away” to store our landfill, when in reality, it doesn’t exist – it’s our oceans. We rape our local soil and have our food trucked to us from far-off places. We exhaust our water supply (and put toxic chemicals into our land) to maintain grass lawns – providers of nothing but a homogenous aesthetic – when, centuries ago, the lawn was originated in warring countries to keep an eye out for enemy invasion. We rip species out of their habitats to build our own habitats with toxic, pollution-yielding materials. After water, cement is the second-most poured substance in the world.
The basis of Permaculture is common sense. Why adhere to societal traditions that clearly don’t work anymore? Why not introduce to our society the basic Permaculture principle of working with nature instead of against it? Why not forego the lawn, and replace it with a flourishing food garden that also serves as a biodiverse habitat? Why not use our drinking water for drinking, and implement greywater systems that shuttle our used washing machine and shower water out to our gardens? Why not situate our houses, using passive solar, so that they take advantage of the natural thermostat in the sky? Why not let “form follow function,” and mimic tried-and-true patterns in nature for functional building? The list could go on and on.
The aesthetic possibilities are nearly endless with natural building. Here’s what’s been done with cob:
There are many laws and codes to be challenged. Some have been knocked down by a determined few, but many others need the strength of the masses.
If you haven’t done so already, I urge you to treat yourself to a two-week Permaculture Design Course. Without this hearty dose of reality check, hands-on experience, and support from inspiring and accomplished individuals, I never would have come to understand our urgent responsibility to save the planet and save ourselves.
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