… Everything I’ve described here we’ve done without government assistance. Our hamlet is a self-initiated, self-supported urban homestead that we’d love to see replicated all over the country. The feature that makes this hamlet concept so attractive is that it can be imitated in any urban setting by neighbors building bonds with one another, collaboratively growing food in neighborhood gardens, making optimal use of their local resources, and lightening their footprint on our overstrained ecosystem. And gardening, I can tell...
Guest post by Hazel Nicholls, Project Coordinator in SD&G for Growing Up Organic You may already know that school gardens are wonderful teaching tools, providing an ideal space for teachers to engage students in hands-on learning across disciplines. Gardens are known to increase physical activity, healthy eating habits, and positively impact student achievement and behaviour. Impressive benefits to be sure! But, did you know that a school gardens can also serve as a tool for building resilient communities? Consider these...
A worthwhile read for parents, relatives, friends, neighbors, or educators and mentors of young people. by Amanda Witman, peakprosperity.com How do we prepare our children for a future that is unlike any we ourselves have ever known? How do we create a world worth inheriting when we are so acutely aware that the abundance our generation has taken for granted will no longer be a given in our children’s future? These questions can frustrate and even paralyze us as parents,...
by Rob Avis, Verge Permaculture, October 23, 2013 North America is full of small dying towns that are loaded with perfectly good infrastructure, cheap lots and small homes on large lots. They have commercial centers, water systems, parks, social structures and are surrounded by cheap to rent – and sometimes own – agricultural land. They are walkable, bikeable, quiet and usually human scaled. It would seem that these would be bursting with young families trying to make a go at...
Although we have no water shortage here in Cornwall, the permaculture principle that everything is connected to everything else encourages us to be aware of water issues elsewhere. Here is an example of a successful community solution to a drought-prone environment. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hmkgn0nBgk&w=640&h=360] As the world reels under the threat of unrelenting climate change, erratic monsoons and fast depleting groundwater reserves, The Miracle Water Village narrates the inspirational story of impoverished farming community in India that reversed its fortunes through its visionary...
Michael Shuman, author of the book Local Dollars, Local Sense, is director of research for Cutting Edge Capital, director of research and economic development at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), and a Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. “Traditional public-sector improvement in education, health, and other quality-of-life factors can only be sustained in communities generating their own wealth, and this is only possible in communities rich in entrepreneurs.”