Hello everyone, this is Geoff,
We now have just 10 days left working on the ‘Greening the Desert – Sequel’ project. The autumn temperatures have started to drop a little so we’ve been pruning all the trees. And soon we’ll start our film reports to keep everyone updated on our progress.
So…welcome to another week’s Friday Five!
No hunger in cities?: The UN wants sustainable cities with food waste recycling and local food production. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva, speaking to mayors and representatives of more than 150 cities from around the world said, “Fortunately cities are taking action and rising up to the challenge…High levels of creativity can be achieved if partnerships are forged with local actors, civil society, private sector and academic and producer organizations.” Urban and perimeter urban agriculture is the obvious next step – they just need a nudge to realise what’s possible. Who’s up for nudging? [Note the subtitles and translation capability on that page.]
Addressing the unaddressed: In permaculture design, maps are one of our most important tools and they just keep improving. And this innovation lifts it up to a whole new level. Chris Sheldrick of what3words succinctly explains how, for billions of people, giving every three meter square area in the world “…a unique three-word identifier…a three-word address…” is proving to greatly enhance people’s health and wellbeing, and their local business efficiency and infrastructure growth.
Sinking not shedding: While policy makers in Ojai Valley, Ventura County, California search for solutions to possible future water shortages, Permaculture Research Institute (PRI) trained intern Connor Jones has installed a groundwater recharge demonstration project on his property. Jones says, “If all the orchards were used for sinking water instead of shedding, then the landowners can…[be]…replenishing the source they draw from.”
U.S. ticks boxes of third-world nation: This is not a model for any country to aspire to. In his new book, The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy, Peter Temin, Professor Emeritus of Economics at MIT, uses West Indian Nobel Prize winner W. Arthur Lewis’s economic model to document how inequality has grown in America, finding many similarities with developing nations.
And check this out! You’ve gotta to love this level of innovative recycling. At the Permaculture Research Institutes we have shipping containers designed for all climates, and most are already installed.
Some of this week’s new posts: See our sister site, the non-profit Permaculture Research Institute:
These articles are just some of thousands, starting from 2002! Several new ones go up every week.
With all the things coming at us to read, glad you’ve checked in to this week’s Friday Five! I’ll be back in Australia by the second week of November, in time for some of the coming events at Zaytuna Farm.
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May your weekend be good! Geoff
