Challenges also includes post harvest processing or storage. This can lengthen the period for which sweet potato can be marketed but may also be relevant for subsistence oriented households to increase the period over which sweetpotato can be consumed, particularly where there is a marked dry season. Improving the sweetpotato value chain should lead to a linked set of impacts on the livelihoods of the poor including: 1) Increased income of those selling sweetpotato with particular advantages … Read more
Earthbag Houses recycling of waste materials in building houses
is an inexpensive method to create structures which are both strong and can be quickly built. It is a natural building technique that evolved from historic military bunker construction techniques and temporary flood-control dike building methods. The technique requires very basic construction materials: sturdy sacks, filled with inorganic material usually available on site. Standard earth bag fill material has internal stability. Either moist subsoil that contains enough clay to become … Read more
Compost Tea Producing liquid bioconcentrates from organic waste
Compost tea is produced by steeping plant growth compounds and beneficial microorganisms in warm, aerated water and organic wastes over a 24-hour brewing cycle to produce a biologically active liquid concentrate that is then applied to field, forest or garden to stimulate soil fertility. Worm casting liquids are often used alone or blended with compost because of their highly diverse microbial composition. Supplemental nutrients such as bat guano, kelp, humic acids, biochar and rock powder are … Read more
Keyline Management Redirecting nutrient flow by subsoiling off-contour
Keyline management restores fertility to crop, forest and pasture lands and to steeper and rougher terrains that have never before been capable of rapid improvement. The first aim of Keyline is to provide inexpensive means of conserving and tempering the rain that falls on the land by storing it in the soil, then slowing its evaporation and apply this conserved moisture to assist nutrient transfer and regenerate favorable soil microbiology over large areas. First conceived by Australian stockman … Read more
Biochar from Bamboo Kilns Sequestering CO2 while rebuilding soil
Convert the fastest growing terrestrial plant, bamboo, currently supplying livelihood to 1.2 billion humans because of its many uses and ability to grow in nearly all climates, from labile carbon to recalcitrant carbon through pyrolytic conversion in a low-cost, multiple-yield process. The application of this recalcitrant carbon to soil, or use as a component of building materials, living roofs and other ecovillage applications, establishes a significant, long-term sink for atmospheric carbon … Read more
The Living Machine An ecological wastewater treatment facility
There are many different ways of processing sewage ecologically, including reed bed systems and compost toilets. One such method is called the Living Machine. Pioneered by US ecological designer Dr John Todd in the 1970s, the Living Machine works by mimicking a natural wetland system. It uses advanced science and engineering processes, combined with beneficial bacteria, to treat wastewater to the point where it can be safely reused. In addition, the sewage plant may start to resemble a … Read more
The Miracle in the Desert Sekem / Egypt
Led by the vision to promote sustainable development of the individual, the society and the Earth, Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish began to cultivate the hot, arid sandy ground of Egypt. Here, he initiated a community as an incentive for new approaches to economy, science, culture and societal life. He named this initiative Sekem – the ancient Egyptian Hieroglyph for “vitality”. Dr. Abouleish received many awards for his achievements, including the 'Right Livelihood Award', and an honorary doctorate from … Read more
Editorial GEN Newsletter June 2015 20 Years of GEN: 20 Years of Regeneration – Coming Home to our Planet
20 years ago, a group around the Danish couple Hildur and Ross Jackson founded the Global Ecovillage Network, launched at an Ecovillage Conference at Findhorn. They understood that the power of communities and ecovillages to love, work with and regenerate the life systems that they are a part of is essential to building a sane and sustainable culture. From that insight, it was a natural step to dream of a community of communities, a network of trust, mutual support and knowledge transfer between … Read more
Responsible Tourism Sandele Eco-Retreat in The Gambia
Sandele Eco-Retreat in Kartong is an example of responsible tourism. The lodges are built with compressed, stabilized earth blocks which use a minimum of cement and are frequently stabilized with lime. Electricity, hot water and water pumping are provided using solar and wind power. The Lodges and the Guest Rooms have compost toilets and a constructed wetlands system that minimizes the use of, and purifies, the water flowing from the toilets, showers, hand basins and rainwater. Every step that … Read more
Terra Preta Production, Part II: Waterless Urinals - Charging Terra Preta at ZEGG
In 2013, ZEGG in Germany found itself in the midst of a struggle to keep the rights to their own sewage treatment and drinking water. In this situation, Achim Ecker was looking for ways to reduce water consumption and reuse waste water. After visiting Dr. Jürgen Reckin of the University Eberswalde and the Terra Preta Project in the Botanical Garden in Berlin, he started to work with the fascinating prospects Terra Preta offers. In the last newsletter he shared about the production of biochar, … Read more
