Permaculture Cluster Final Report (Spring Quarter)

Spring Quarter 06/01/2016

Tacoma Permaculture Project

Community Liaison Ulysses Martin

Group Members: Julian Snow, Rudyard Cashman, David Hubert

Martin Duran, Amanda Ransford, Warren Parsons, Armando Peters

and Gretchen Alexander

Hypothesis:

Permaculture and sustainable building are vital tools for the healing of communities and society at large, and as a group we intended to gain direct experience of this struggle. The educational opportunities presented to us made possible a hands-on experience of permacultural skills. These skills, such as sustainable building, design principles, and permaculture, may seem obscure to the average person, but increasingly are becoming extremely important assets as the world changes in challenging ways. This brought to light a lot of interesting insights because, to put it simply, there are some types of knowledge that cannot be learned solely from books and discussion. We explored the meaning of this principle through work which sat at an intersection of a diverse range of interrelated concerns, both global and local.

Description of project:

We labeled this project as the "Doing Quarter", with spring in full force it was time to put what we had learned for the past two quarters into use. Having gained the knowledge and built models showing permaculture and sustainability concepts all we needed was place in which to do it. Ulysses already had the location in which to build his life size eco-dome, and he had already been in working the food forest showcasing permaculture concepts. The goal for this quarter was to build a eco dome, help with the food forest and spread the word.

Between the Fall and Winter Quarter we were able to meet with Ulysses on various occasions to discuss different ideas to encourage the community to inherit his ideas of a communal permaculture site. Along with sharing our own ideas we also learned a great deal about permaculture. This enabled us to collectively share our experiences with others and encourage participation in a new sustainable lifestyle. Some of the members of our cluster were able to attend permaculture related school presentations, community meetings, site survey locations for future permaculture sites, community facilities where future permaculture educational classes will be held, and thriving community gardens.

We created tangible examples of a permaculture lifestyle by way of a scaled down replica of a Chinampa, Rocket Stove, Eco-Dome, slide show presentations, etc. During the spring quarter we met with Ulysses and coordinated work parties at his permaculture demonstration site which was in his backyard and at the Swan creek Food forest in Tacoma. The Swan Creek food forest has trails that wind through the food forest, they needed to be more developed so we lined the path with tree limbs, laid recycled cardboard on the paths, then covered the paths with repurposed mulch. We attended the Tacoma 2016 Spring Harvest Fest, helped Ulysses organize his permaculture display which included the eco dome model from last quarter. We spoke with numerous community members and shared our permaculture ideas with them. It was a very good experience, many of the lectures were very informative and all groups contributed to the greater  good of the community in this information based event. At the permaculture demonstration site we began the  laborious task of building the eco dome. We spent a total of 50 man hours clearing digging and leveling an area of about 10 ft and laying 3 rings of the dome at this point.  The experience of building a structure from common items, along with learning how to use complicated engineering tools, has made this part of the class really fun.

What is being planned for the future of Permaculture:

    The rest of this year will present certain possibilities for Ulysses and the Permaculture Lifestyle Institute. Hopefully with our help he will successfully bring a positive legacy to the Eastside Tacoma neighborhood. This may lead to some interesting summer volunteering opportunities as well as valuable training and hands-on learning experiences for those who want to develop a deeper understanding of these concepts.

Relevant Patterns:

Sustainable Design is probably the most relevant pattern. Permaculture is a design philosophy centered around sustainability standing in contrast to the short-sighted and unsustainable practices of industrial agriculture.

The Commons and The Good Life are patterns relevant to what we seek to achieve for ourselves through the adoption of permaculture. It may be speculation, but One could even argue that earth-ships in New Mexico, being the most affordable homes in the country, are something like a new ‘american dream.’ One could also argue that ‘the good life’ is a pattern universal across all cultures and that the ‘american dream’ is simply the American version of it.

The Education and Values as well as Service-Learning patterns apply to our cluster’s goals of promoting permaculture and spreading awareness. We are gaining new knowledge even as we try to spread knowledge. The Community Networks pattern fits in well here, as that’s what we’re trying to build for PLI.

The Earth's Vital Signs pattern comes into play when we consider how industrial agriculture contributes to global warming, which will continue to put pressure on our food system.

The Environmental Impact Remediation and Transforming Institutions patterns are relevant, as permaculture practices can lead to the improvement and revitalization of lands stretched thin by industrial agriculture techniques that strip soil of nutrients. Industrial production of produce has produced fruits and vegetables with less vitamins and minerals than in decades past. With each generation this soil depletion worsens. Another factor in this decline in nutritional content is selective breeding, where crops are bred for traits such as size, growth-rate and pest-resistance rather than what they provide for the body. Biodiversity is lost while monocropping is promoted, ignoring the interconnectedness of organic life. The industrial agriculture process contributes greatly to carbon dioxide emissions, fuel consumption, water consumption, electricity use and deforestation.

Back to the Roots is the pattern that applies to how permaculture attempts to counter the mistakes of industrial agriculture. Ironically, by embracing natural systems and letting nature do her work, permaculture turns out to be more energy efficient and resourceful.

The Social Responsibility and Working Class Consciousness patterns also come into play as industrial agriculture is exploitative of workers around the world. This exploitation puts them in unhealthy, hostile work environments where they must accept poverty wages, and it is like this in countless cases around the world. Additionally, food products are shipped far away from their countries of origin to wealthy nations, so the workers that grow or harvest the food are left with little access to the products they help produce.

Relevant Capabilities:

While all five capabilities are valuable for this project, Knowledge and relational \ social capital is the most important aspects.  Most of our efforts have been invested in spreading the facts and information about permaculture to the public and proving that the theory’s worked has been the main focus to the work so far.  The main point is to get into the public eye and turn these experimental or obscure information into commonly used practices.

This is not to say that the others had no important part to play.  Without attitude and aspirations, such an ambitious project wouldn’t have gotten as far as it already has.  Without a sense of responsibility for our planet or the enthusiasm to persist with this project through the challenges it has and will continue to run into, this would simply become another forgotten idea.

Good organizational capital and resources, while having less impact than the others recently, will be far more valuable in the future.  As permaculture builds, the ability to maximize the talents of those involved and allow them access to the resources and contacts they need in order for this idea to continue to grow.

Relevant Methods:

We used the following methods to communicate with each other: Text, phones, Google Docs, and Slides for the final report and slide presentation. Work was completed by coordinating carpools to travel to the demonstration sites.

Issues and Recommendations:  

At the beginning we had communication issues with Ulysses and lacked direction to the kind of help actually needed. Left to our own devices we decided we could best help with a better understanding of permaculture concepts by doing research which eventually led to scale models of chinampa eco-domes and rocket stoves. We don’t believe that the liaisons will ever turn down any idea that would help promote their programs.

Communication amongst group members posed challenging problems as well.  Members failed to bring models to show important concepts to like minded individuals at a community which diminished our 3rd quarter plan to show different types of sustainable and permaculture lifestyles. Gretchen admits she fell behind in this regard, but attempted to compensate by spending several hours making some eco-dome art for Ulysses, which led to an interesting conversation about possible future collaborations.

Summary Conclusion:

In the beginning, the idea of permaculture was very foreign to the majority of our group. As the Fall quarter progressed we gained knowledge of its sustainable principles and lifestyle. We also noticed that the majority of these ideas really do make sense as the world populations grow and the food sources dwindle, permaculture principles can make a difference especially in areas that may have low resources.  In our community, we have seen the physical spaces in which Ulysses  and his Permaculture Lifestyle Institute have planned to showcase the many important ideas that could  address some of the problems that are facing his Eastside Tacoma neighborhood.  These ideas of food forests, year round vegetable gardens, eco domes and rocket stoves may indeed have an impact on hunger, homelessness and sustainable cooking sources within Pierce County. Our approach to developing three dimensional models of some of these concepts makes the idea of permaculture a bit more tangible.  The fact that in the Spring, although not complete yet, we have built an eco- dome from an initial concept, to a model, and then to a life size usable shelter, is quite a success. Ulysses will be in a better position to demonstrate permaculture ideas to community leaders by actually seeing and touching sustainable systems. Providing knowledge and resources to these communities will have a profound effect on a uncertain but very sustainable future.

References:

Introduction to Permaculture, Bill Mollison 1981; Owen Geiger dreamgreenhomes.com;

Klein, Naomi “This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs The Climate” 2014 Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, New York, NY

the class material itself and various assigned readings, which helped create context.

Contributors:

Julian: liaison to Ulysses and group members, group event planner, transportation coordinator/driver, laborer and master chef at work party, attended Harvest Pierce County event collaborated on final presentation and final report

Rudyard: worker and networker for Ulysses, attended Harvest Pierce County event collaborated on final presentation and final report

David: Labor at worksites, collaborated on Final Presentation

Martin D.  Performed labor at worksites two times, attended Harvest Pierce county event and collaborated on Final Presentation

Amanda: Performed labor at worksites 3 times, collaborated on Final Presentation

Warren: Performed labor at worksites, collaborated on Final Presentation

Gretchen: Performed labor at worksites, Attended Harvest Pierce County, contributed hand drawings of eco dome for Final Presentation

Armando: In Spirit