The Source Farm’s Nature School approach to education is to create a community school where the students can learn about their environment in a participatory way, as opposed to the chalk-and-talk style of conventional education. Nature School students spend a large amount of time outside of the classroom, learning from the natural world around them. We use a Montessori style of learning, which allows children to develop their critical thinking skills and to develop a relationship with the … Read more
Remembering the future gardens Gardening along the Coromandel Coast
To practise a different sort of gardening ,inwardly planting fields of sincerity ,outwardly being clever enough to catch the smallest of rains.... to gain knowledge through doing acts that involve touching matter of all shapes and sizes and which can lead one to be able to see clearly.... To Create models that speak for themselves, that sing songs self evident in their simple clarity. … Read more
Happiness Promoting human and ecological wellbeing
It is important that we promote a holistic vision in which human happiness or wellbeing are seen as inseparable from ecological wellbeing. This means integrating the wealth of information about the human need for community and contact with nature, with the information about the need for biodiversity. In this way, we can spell out the multiple benefits of human-scale adaptation to the natural world, and shift the direction of the economy away from monoculture, towards diversity - a fundamental … Read more
The I-We-World Model Building resilience and sustainability on personal, group and global levels
Develop a practice that enables us to to be aware of all three levels as we develop ourselves and our projects. … Read more
The Ethics of Sustainable Thinking A framework for making moral and ethical choices
some choices are “right versus wrong” and most people only take a moment of reflection to come to the proper decision. Some choices are more complex and might be viewed as “right versus right”. From a sustainability perspective, there are six suggested categories, that can help guide our decision making Individual versus community. Global versus local. Law versus truth. Short term versus long term. Toxic versus non toxic. Justice versus mercy . We can also consider the pros and cons … Read more
Systems Leverage Points Places to Intervene in a System.
Donella Meadows proposed a list of suggestions to consider as likely areas for systems change. Her list is not, by her own admission, a definitive one and should be viewed as a guide. By considering the possible leverage points we can more easily consider carefully where we might intervene. Caution must be exercised as complex systems are often counter-intuitive in their reactions. … Read more
System Blindness Overcoming blind spots in planning for sustainability : spatial and temporal systems blindness
The first problem is exacerbated because problems like atmospheric pollution are increasingly cause by millions of small, incremental damaging contributions to the biosphere (eg aerosols, car exhausts) rather than large scale, more obvious ones (like oil spills, factories). It is a death from a million tiny cuts. We see the parts but not the hole: out of sight is out of mind. This is spatial blindness The second issue, temporal systems blindness, is caused because problems are often only … Read more
Statement of Intention Clarifying our focus to build support
Practice distilling the essence of our project into a few short sentences and work with a simple template that helps to crystallize our thinking. Develop an ‘elevator pitch’. Find the right name. Clarify the vision and core goals of your project. Think about a logo. … Read more
Spiral Dynamics A way of mapping the evolution of consciousness
From his research, Dr Graves formulated a model of human development which was then developed by Don Beck, Christopher Cowan and others into Spiral Dynamics. Graves classified a total of eight levels of increasingly complex human value systems consisting of a hierarchically ordered, always-open-to-change set of identifiable worldviews, preferences, and purposes. Individuals, groups and even nation states move up and down the spiral in response to changes in life conditions and their evolutionary … Read more
Integral Theory of Ken Wilber All Quadrants All Levels - A model for everything
Integral theory, as described by Ken Wilber and others in the integral movement, revolves around the concept of two axes and four quadrants. One axis is for the interior/exterior, and the other axis is for the individual/collective. Putting these two axes together creates a simple model of four quadrants: the individual interior (my subjective experience of thoughts, feelings, memories and perceptions); the individual exterior (my physical body and all external perception); the collective … Read more
