Ecological Key Editors E Christopher Mare and Max Lindegger Designing Ecological Habitats Creating a Sense of Place The Ecological Key of the EDE Gaiaeducation Ecological Key Editors E. Christopher Mare and Max Lindegger Designing Ecological Habitats creating a sense of place Permanent Publications Published by Permanent Publications Hyden House Ltd The Sustainability Centre East Meon Hampshire GU32 1HR United Kingdom Tel: 01730 823 311 Fax: 01730 823 322 Overseas: (international code +44 - 1730) Email: [email protected] Web: www.permaculture.co.uk First edition © 2011 Gaia Education Edited by E. Christopher Mare and Max Lindegger Designed by Two Plus George Limited, www.TwoPlusGeorge.co.uk Printed in the UK by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire Printed on paper from mixed sources certified by the Forest Stewardship Council The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a non-profit international organisation established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. Products carrying the FSC label are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are managed to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 85623 061 2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, rebound or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Hyden House Limited. Contents Foreword Mark Richmond vii Welcome! E. Christopher Mare ix Introduction Introduction to Ecovillage Design Max Lindegger 2 The Global Significance of the Ecovillage Ted Trainer 8 Movement Civilization 2.0 Albert Bates 14 Lifestyle Change as Climate Strategy Kaj Hansen 23 A Vision of Ecological Design Declan Kennedy 32 Transformative Resilience Daniel Wahl 39 Contemplative Ecology: An Intercultural Guy Burneko 47 Story 1 Green Building The 12 Principles of Traditional Building Matthew Hardy 54 Traditional Building Form and Techniques Cordelia Osasona 62 in Africa Natural Building in Thailand Thana Uthaipattrakoon 69 Green Building in Temperate Climates Martin Stengel 73 Designing Buildings for Thermal Comfort Roshni Udyavar Yehuda 80 & Low Energy Footprint Building as If People Mattered: A Good House Elke Cole 86 Building With What You Have Jan Martin Bang 90 iii 2 Local Food Healthy Soil Restoration: The Key to Achim Ecker 100 Sustainability Organic Growing for Community Michiyo Furuhashi 105 Self-Sufficiency Rebuilding Cornucopia: How to Create Capra Carruba 112 a Community Garden Bringing the Harvest Home: CSA at Ithaca Liz Walker 118 The Age of the Edible Maddy Harland 124 Village-Scale Water Catchments in Nepal Chris Evans 129 Native Sioux Agricultural Systems Suzanne Foote 136 3 Appropriate Technology – Energy & Infrastructure Stirling Engine: Efficient Heating for the Gunnar Olesen 142 Ecovillage Appropriate Technology: Searching for the John Vermeulen and 147 Right Fit Kevin Velasco Getting the Word Out on Sustainability Jonathan Scherch 152 Innovations – via Amateur Radio Communications Wetlands for the Ecovillage Michael Shaw 158 Renewable Energy and Electric Systems Jeff Clearwater 165 Design for Ecovillages The SolarVillage of Tamera: Technical and Leila Dregger 173 Ecological Knowledge for Peace Villages Worldwide EMERGY and Ecovillage E. Christopher Mare 179 iv 4 Restoring Nature Designing with Deep Respect: Deep Ecology Omsunisa Jamwiset 188 in a Karen Village Environmental Restoration in Auroville Marti Mueller 194 Damniyamgama Ecovillage: Sustainable Sajini Pathiraja 199 Development for Tsunami Restoration Rebuilding Family and Environmental Claudia Menendez 206 Health in Central America and the Caribbean Impact, Recovery and Conservation of Antonia Erian Ozório 213 Coastal Ecosystems in Brasil da Silva Conscious Design and the Designer as Zaida Amaral and 219 Geomancer Loralee Makela Body as Place: A Somatic Guide to Nala Walla 227 Re-Indigenization 5 Integrated Ecological Design The Ethics and Principles of Permaculture Maddy Harland 234 Design Integral Ecology: Design Principles for Sean Esbjörn-Hargens & 240 Sustainable Human Habitats Michael E. Zimmerman Macro to Micro: Introducing EcoSocial Robyn Francis 250 Matrix as a Tool for Integrated Design Agroecology and Ecovillages Diogo Alvim 258 Design with the Flow Gunter Pauli 263 A Design Framework Patrick Whitefield 268 Ecology of Consciousness E. Christopher Mare 273 v The Editors In the midst of a spiritual awakening, E. Christopher Mare discovered a Permaculture Design Course in 1993 and has been a full time student ever since. A self-designed B.A. was the world’s first effort at organizing the emerging discipline of Ecovillage Design into a formal degree. Two Master’s degrees later, he is currently preparing for his doctoral dissertation through Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara. Mare was selected to be the Curriculum Coordinator during the production of the EDE curriculum and later went on to edit the GEDS curriculum offered through UOC Barcelona. During four appearances at the EDE Wongsanit, Mare introduced the Design Studio format as the climax of the course; and during the EDE Albuquerque, the Design Studio was applied to urban retrofit. A big highlight of this career was being funded by Gaia Trust to participate in residency at the 2008 Oxford Round Table. In 2002, Mare set up an educational non-profit – Village Design Institute – which will one day secure a land base for the establishment of 1) a research, training, and demonstration site; 2) an Academy of Village Design; and 3) a community of contemplative scholars. This project most likely will be called an ‘ecovillage.’ Max O. Lindegger is a respected and sought-after teacher in the disciplines of sustainable systems. His dynamic teaching style is born of 30 years of hands-on experience and leadership in the design and implementation of practical, workable solutions to the challenges of sustainability. The value of this knowledge-from-experience is recognised in frequent invitations to present lectures at international symposia and conferences on themes such as Environment, Ecology, Sustainability, Permaculture and Ecovillage Design. Max has taught Ecovillage Design and Permaculture courses in over 24 countries. He was the creator, and for many years a Director, of the Oceania/Asia secretariat of the Global Ecovillage Network, and continues to participate in and contribute to the international flow of current thinking and best practice in the fields of sustainable systems design and education. As a designer, Max was a primary partner in the design and development of the Habitat Award winning Crystal Waters Permaculture village, Queensland. He has designed and consulted on numerous community developments including the Spiers Project (S. Africa), Gqnubie Green (S. Africa), Living & Learning Centre (Sri Lanka), Vatukarasa Village (Fiji), and Garopaba Project (Brazil) Malt Farm (Australia). vi Foreword Under the Patronage of The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005- 2014), for which UNESCO is the lead agency, has moved into its second half and continues to seek to integrate the principles, values and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. The DESD, as a global educational movement and effort, has been encouraging changes in behaviour worldwide to create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, cultural diversity and a more just society for present and future generations. Designing Ecological Habitats – Creating a Sense of Place is an important and eloquent exploration of humanity’s limits to growth and addresses the problems arising from climate change, habitat destruction, population growth and resource depletion. This is not a book of theoretical ideas but an anthology of solutions, of experience, tried and tested, from experts all over the world. The designs and practices included in this book present a vision for the future, already tested out in ecovillages, sustainable communities and projects in many countries. These are practical low carbon solutions which provide significant improvements in the quality of life. By understanding the process of creating integrated ecological designs, we also make explicit the process of creating integrated social and economic systems. We reconnect with the true meaning of ecology that comes from the Greek word oikos, meaning ‘home’ or ‘a place to live’. Humanity’s greatest challenge is to ensure that planet Earth can support human life far into future centuries by not only by adapting to climate change but also by mitigating it. We must start to do this at home and in our personal lives, our communities, our bio-regions, our nations and ultimately on our planet. Designing Ecological Habitats offers us human-scale solutions to do just this. The DESD Secretariat at UNESCO is thus pleased to be partnering with Gaia Education in launching the 4 Keys for Sustainability Book series and in vii viii Designing Ecological Habitats particular the Ecological Key: Designing Ecological Habitats – Creating a Sense of Place. The 4 Keys are reference books for anyone seeking solutions to the complexly interwoven, transdisciplinary issues pertaining to the transition to low carbon societies. The DESD concerns all stakeholders, who can contribute to the