From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Permacultue Relief Corps Forming For Haiti Earthquake Response
Two days ago the island of Hispanola was hit with a devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake near Port-Au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Many multiple story buildings have completely collapsed, including the major hospital in the region. Thousands may be killed or trapped in the rubble and aid is being mobilized from around the world. With little to no backup power, sewerage, water, housing, or food aid systems in place, Haiti, which is currently the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, is in a VERY DIRE SITUATION. Without a doubt, resources and expertise are moving en mass to Haiti, but beyond this temporary relief, what will sustain this nation of ten million people when it’s left in an even poorer position than ever before? This is where permaculture design comes in, with an adaptable and ever-evolving tool kit that can be of vital assistance in disaster relief and the long recovery period to follow.
The remarkable history (and possible future) of permaculture disaster relief, by Evan Schoepke of punk rock permaculture e-zine
Two days ago the island of Hispanola was hit with a devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake near Port-Au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Many multiple story buildings have completely collapsed, including the major hospital in the region. Thousands may be killed or trapped in the rubble and aid is being mobilized from around the world. With little to no backup power, sewerage, water, housing, or food aid systems in place, Haiti, which is currently the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, is in a VERY DIRE SITUATION. Without a doubt, resources and expertise are moving en mass to Haiti, but beyond this temporary relief, what will sustain this nation of ten million people when it’s left in an even poorer position than ever before? This is where permaculture design comes in, with an adaptable and ever-evolving tool kit that can be of vital assistance in disaster relief and the long recovery period to follow.
During the war in Kosovo back in 1999, when displaced refugees flooded into Macedonia, Geoff Lawton and a crack team of eager permaculturalists secured international aid to design and implement the master plan for the Cegrane Camp Permaculture Rehabilitation Project, a large refugee camp that provided relief for over 43,000 people.
Geoff created the design around water capture and storage. The final design called for 7.2 km of swales, with an estimated water holding capacity of 30 million liters, greatly reducing the flood potential. Many passive solar strawbale buildings were constructed by trained locals who quickly grasped the simplicity and efficiency of this natural building technique. Large gardens, composting toliets and chicken tractors all came together in a very short time span. The skills and systems thinking acquired during this process may help secure sustainable employment and economic development for the entire region for years to come.
Another successful implementation of permaculture relief took place in Cuba during the early 90s when Cuba was suffering from a crippling petroleum embargo. Working with a grant from the Cuban government, Austrailian permaculturalists, including Robyn Francis, traveled to Cuba to work with hundreds of Cubans on sustainable food systems design. Robyn, a well traveled expert in permaculture education in the 2/3rds (developing) world, helped local organizers use permaculture design prinicpals and techniques in their urban agriculture efforts. During this time, worker cooperatives were set up and market gardens and public transportation flourished. Little to no pesticides or fertilizers were employed, and catastrophic famine was avoided. This partnership has continued to be highly successful and now some of the most experienced urban permaculture experts in the world come from Cuba because of the courageous spirit of the Cuban citizenry. Currently, the Cuba-Australia Permaculture Exchange (CAPE) is working on sustainable housing developments using natural building to compliment the work they began together with urban agriculture.
There are numerous ways in which a full-time Permaculture Relief Corps could operate in Haiti in short and long-term time frames.
Short Term:
Building sewage systems, composting toilets, compost and recyclying centers, rocket and solar stoves, temporary shelters (perma-yurts), water catchment, and plant nurseries.
Long Term:
Permanent natural buildings, water storage, earth works, renewable energy, permaculture food forests, broad-scale reforestation, farms, aquaculture systems, health centers and schools.
In the fall of 2003 a team of international permaculturalists including broad-scale permaculture designer Darren Doherty arrived in Haiti for a village relocation after torrential floods.
Today their team, in collaboration with the local community and the Organization for the Rehabilitation of the Environment (ORE), is working on:
Low cost relief from floods
Waste management & recycling to protect the environment
Hygienic toilets to improve family health
A community center to bring people together
Privacy to reduce stress within families
Green spaces to enhance quality of life
Fruit trees to generate income
Utilizing daily wind patterns, heat and cooling cycles
Covenants to protect their community
Haiti is in desperate need of our assistance which can not come soon enough. Eight out of ten Haitians live in abject poverty and need the long term commitment of folks working for a sustainable and abundant future. Please check out the links below of organizations doing great work in this field.
If you are interested in the formation of a Permaculture Relief Corps like the one I’m proposing, please comment here.
My heart goes out to all those working and living in Haiti right now,
Sincerely,
Evan Schoepke: thejulianeffect (at) gmail.com
Principal of Gaia Punk Designs
Warning: Graphic images
Permaculture ACROSS borders
CAPE
ORE
Chi’Bagoda (bambitat perma-yurts
Two days ago the island of Hispanola was hit with a devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake near Port-Au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Many multiple story buildings have completely collapsed, including the major hospital in the region. Thousands may be killed or trapped in the rubble and aid is being mobilized from around the world. With little to no backup power, sewerage, water, housing, or food aid systems in place, Haiti, which is currently the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, is in a VERY DIRE SITUATION. Without a doubt, resources and expertise are moving en mass to Haiti, but beyond this temporary relief, what will sustain this nation of ten million people when it’s left in an even poorer position than ever before? This is where permaculture design comes in, with an adaptable and ever-evolving tool kit that can be of vital assistance in disaster relief and the long recovery period to follow.
During the war in Kosovo back in 1999, when displaced refugees flooded into Macedonia, Geoff Lawton and a crack team of eager permaculturalists secured international aid to design and implement the master plan for the Cegrane Camp Permaculture Rehabilitation Project, a large refugee camp that provided relief for over 43,000 people.
Geoff created the design around water capture and storage. The final design called for 7.2 km of swales, with an estimated water holding capacity of 30 million liters, greatly reducing the flood potential. Many passive solar strawbale buildings were constructed by trained locals who quickly grasped the simplicity and efficiency of this natural building technique. Large gardens, composting toliets and chicken tractors all came together in a very short time span. The skills and systems thinking acquired during this process may help secure sustainable employment and economic development for the entire region for years to come.
Another successful implementation of permaculture relief took place in Cuba during the early 90s when Cuba was suffering from a crippling petroleum embargo. Working with a grant from the Cuban government, Austrailian permaculturalists, including Robyn Francis, traveled to Cuba to work with hundreds of Cubans on sustainable food systems design. Robyn, a well traveled expert in permaculture education in the 2/3rds (developing) world, helped local organizers use permaculture design prinicpals and techniques in their urban agriculture efforts. During this time, worker cooperatives were set up and market gardens and public transportation flourished. Little to no pesticides or fertilizers were employed, and catastrophic famine was avoided. This partnership has continued to be highly successful and now some of the most experienced urban permaculture experts in the world come from Cuba because of the courageous spirit of the Cuban citizenry. Currently, the Cuba-Australia Permaculture Exchange (CAPE) is working on sustainable housing developments using natural building to compliment the work they began together with urban agriculture.
There are numerous ways in which a full-time Permaculture Relief Corps could operate in Haiti in short and long-term time frames.
Short Term:
Building sewage systems, composting toilets, compost and recyclying centers, rocket and solar stoves, temporary shelters (perma-yurts), water catchment, and plant nurseries.
Long Term:
Permanent natural buildings, water storage, earth works, renewable energy, permaculture food forests, broad-scale reforestation, farms, aquaculture systems, health centers and schools.
In the fall of 2003 a team of international permaculturalists including broad-scale permaculture designer Darren Doherty arrived in Haiti for a village relocation after torrential floods.
Today their team, in collaboration with the local community and the Organization for the Rehabilitation of the Environment (ORE), is working on:
Low cost relief from floods
Waste management & recycling to protect the environment
Hygienic toilets to improve family health
A community center to bring people together
Privacy to reduce stress within families
Green spaces to enhance quality of life
Fruit trees to generate income
Utilizing daily wind patterns, heat and cooling cycles
Covenants to protect their community
Haiti is in desperate need of our assistance which can not come soon enough. Eight out of ten Haitians live in abject poverty and need the long term commitment of folks working for a sustainable and abundant future. Please check out the links below of organizations doing great work in this field.
If you are interested in the formation of a Permaculture Relief Corps like the one I’m proposing, please comment here.
My heart goes out to all those working and living in Haiti right now,
Sincerely,
Evan Schoepke: thejulianeffect (at) gmail.com
Principal of Gaia Punk Designs
Warning: Graphic images
Permaculture ACROSS borders
CAPE
ORE
Chi’Bagoda (bambitat perma-yurts
For more information:
http://permaculture.org.au/2010/01/14/perm...
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
looking for experiences, know-how and resources for facilitating long term sustainable rebuilding of Haiti by Haitians. I am a bale builder and will be in-country end of February. Any ideas out there?
I am currently overseeing a project for my organization in India installing aquaponics systems among villages to offset farmer dependence on sporadic rains and climate change. I was certified as a Permaculture Designer in 1998 and I am fully on board with your suggestion. I believe a long term, sustainable vision would see the development of a Permaculture Relief Corps Training Facility - either as part of an existing educational institute or as a new, stand-alone body - to train specialists in several areas such as general Permaculture principles and techniques, cross-cultural sensitivity and communications, rapid community participatory visioning/planning exercises and several specialty areas like water storage, food production, composting, etc. In addition, however, you would need courses that speak to the increasing global possibilities of new, online media and fund-raising. This would include rapid community training on basic video with cell-phones [this transcends language and literacy barriers] and a whole process for rapidly collecting community video-footage and creating online appeals and media awareness. Beyond this the institute would obviously have to establish long-term, sustainable funding streams of its own and my experience tells me it must come from both public as well as private sources. I would suggest a working urban-rural garden/farm collective of permaculture-relief host field training locations that could also act as for-profit public training centers, food production facilities, horticultural therapy units, etc.
Finally, there must be concurrent policy work to push for stream-lined emergency aid for relief corps personnel regardless of the region in which they are deployed.
These are just some of my initial thoughts. I know there is much, much more and I apologize if I've been a bit incoherent. I will be leaving my project to my trusted colleagues here in the next month. Then I will be back in the San Francisco Bay Area where I will be working on developing an aquaponics production and training facility. If anyone would like to pursue this discussion, however, [or anything else related] please contact me as I would be very interested in seeing it become a reality. There is a real need.
Sincerely,
Tom Knoll
Founder/Director
Pathways To Empowerment
tom [at] pathwaystoempowerment.org
Finally, there must be concurrent policy work to push for stream-lined emergency aid for relief corps personnel regardless of the region in which they are deployed.
These are just some of my initial thoughts. I know there is much, much more and I apologize if I've been a bit incoherent. I will be leaving my project to my trusted colleagues here in the next month. Then I will be back in the San Francisco Bay Area where I will be working on developing an aquaponics production and training facility. If anyone would like to pursue this discussion, however, [or anything else related] please contact me as I would be very interested in seeing it become a reality. There is a real need.
Sincerely,
Tom Knoll
Founder/Director
Pathways To Empowerment
tom [at] pathwaystoempowerment.org
For more information:
http://www.pathwaystoempowerment.org
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network