A landscaper looks at Sustainability

Friday, November 17th, 2006

Hello Each of you,
Barb and I just recently spent a week in the Ft. Myers area of Florida.
We attended a 3rd World Sustainable Agriculture Conference through a
research facility, ECHO Farm, located near the city. 

Back ground:
Winterbloom, our landscape company, is creating a new maintenance team for
clients’ yards with sustainability in mind. We are calling it Sustainable
Gardening. (This would be a sub-heading under Sustainable Horticulture
because, in general, in our instance the plants and hardscapes are chosen
with beauty and sanctuary function in mind over food and fuel production).

Sustainable Agriculture: The use of the word sustainable here is a bit
different.   Sustainable Agriculture is creating a whole system of plants
and other agricultural practices that can help to make the human in charge,
largely self-supporting, not requiring much, if any, outside support. It is
an important concept in a culture where Western money is not very available
to purchase most of one’s needs.

Our Western culture has evolved to the point where we work at a job focusing
on the use of a particular talent, passion or gift that we have which has
been specialized by education to the point, that another person will pay us
with Western money to perform that duty. We are basically paid with pieces
of imprinted paper which are used to purchase our daily food and other items
for life. Much Western Money has been poured into these needy countries and
they continue to become poorer.

In about 75% of the world there is neither the social structure nor culture
to allow businesses to thrive to the point where this kind of infrastructure
is available for most people. For example, in Africa most people have to
live on about 1$-5$ a day in a society that is inflated to the point that it
is ridiculous. In Zimbabwe there is about 2000% inflation. Our dollar is
worth several hundreds of thousands of their dollar. They have gone from
being the bread basket of Africa to being the poorest of the poor.

For them, sustainability would mean to be able to live off of their land or
surroundings, (using what is available to them), for:
1. Fuel to heat and cook and in some rare cases to drive a vehicle,
without purchasing propane or gasoline
2. Pharmaceuticals to prevent, or help to heal,  diseases without
having to purchase expensive western medications for a  society rife with
AIDS, Malaria and so on.
3. Food to eat that is balanced and healthy
4. Healthy avenues for elimination of bodily wastes
5. Shelter that is functional and attractive
ECHO farm in Fort Myers, Florida has been quietly working on researching
ways to create solutions for these terrific challenges, for the less
fortunate of the world. Most countries of Sub-Sahara Africa have become
poorer than they were even 25 years ago.  The Western world’s governments
have been pouring money and supplies into these countries which continue to
become more debt ridden and poorer.  Echo wants to find ways to turn this
around for the individual rather than focusing on the governments.

They simply cannot afford:
• Propane/ natural gas/ or electricity for cooking, so they must rely
on inefficient open air cooking with scavenged wood
• Western touted pharmaceuticals for medication and health
• Western touted packaged foods from a store even if it were
available.
• Western touted forms of sewer or septic systems so they must use a
pit or the open air, in urban or rural settings
• Gasoline for vehicles if they could afford a vehicle
• Western touted fertilizers for farming to increase yields

Echo’s research has shown that:

• Existing wood fuel for cooking purposes can be conserved by the
construction of a simple efficient non-mortared brick or rock stove. The
materials are available locally and are inexpensive. The technique simply
needs to be taught.
• New varieties or species of trees that are more drought tolerant,
regenerative, edible, etc. can be grown in smaller spaces and continually
cut to keep up with the need for wood fuel and for wood in general. The
Moringa tree for example may be used for both food and fuel..
• Existing organic debris from the stalks left over from corn harvest
or sugar cane harvest etc., can simply be converted into either: compost to
make a better fertilizer than the Petroleum-based kinds, or made into cheap
ethanol fuel to run vehicles,  such as in Brazil,  in a community based
cooperative.
• (The Western touted system of a clean, tilled, garden can degrade
the soil and land. It  often results in terrible tropical erosion, removal
of nutrients and prevention of rainfall  moisture penetrating and being held
in  the soil. They turn areas that were once covered in forests into
semi-deserts which can no longer support humans. They force humans to
continually cut down forests, slash and burn yearly to make new fresh
farmlands that quickly become moonscapes.) Research has shown that after the
first tilling to create the garden, the foliage from the corn or beans
should be cut down and placed on the ground with other leaves and manure to
create a compost blanket. This prevents erosion. This conserves moisture.
This creates an environment for predator insects and for earth worms. This
adds the nutrients back to the soil without using western fertilizers. This
helps to recreate the soil structure that was there before the tilling was
done.
• Since most pharmaceuticals are plant derived, (now in the west
synthesized), many can be grown on the local farms. There are amazing new
plant-derived cures for Malaria and Auto-immune diseases like HIV, just
ready to be planted. The seeds or plant materials need to be available,
planted and taught how to be used. Anamed, a German based non-profit is
light years ahead on this subject.
• Techniques for dry-composting, healthy, completely recyclable
toilets using simple, available inexpensive materials are available. They
simply need to be taught.
• In urban environments they have devised simple planters for growing
healthy annuals using cheap available materials on a roof top. E.g., pop
cans, socks and compost.

This conference made a profound impact on our lives. We are much more
hopeful for the peoples of sub-Sahara Africa. We are encouraged and want to
share this information with every one!

Here are two web sites if you wish to pursue reading further for yourself!
Enjoy!
www.echonet.org
www.anamed.org
Phil Thornburg
 
Winterbloom, Inc.
14780 SW 98th Ave.
Tigard, OR 97224
LCB #6111, Bonded & Insured
www.winterbloominc.com
503-598-0219
503-805-8319
 

 

Simplicity

One Response to “A landscaper looks at Sustainability”

  1. Bruce BIshop Says:
    November 17th, 2006 at 2:13 pm

    I would have liked to have heard what Phil will be doing with his new “sustainability team.” That would impact what we/I might be able to do.

    Also, our own Debbie Thomas, worker in Rwanda, has been in touch with Echo for years and has developed some incredible applications with the Moringa Tree… our christmas gift tree last year at NV allowed people to purchase a morniga tree for the Rwandan people.

    David and Debbie are also experimenting with Echo’s low-fuel ovens. Debbie said that when people come to their house for spiritual counsel for David, they usually end up taking a tour of the development projects scattered around their yard before they leave. A great expression of the uniting of the whole gospel!

    Bruce

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