Austin permaculture

[chelidon]

For my Austin friends:

-------
This is your chance to share in 5 years worth of knowledge gained at
the
Rhizome Collective!

March 25 and 26 , 2006 Austin, Texas

The Rhizome Collective presents:
R.U.S.T. Radical Urban Sustainability Training

An intensive seminar in urban ecological survival skills:
Exploring the cross-section of permaculture and social activism
in building autonomous communities.

Topics and hands-on demos:
Low-tech bioremediation (cleaning contaminated soils using plants,
fungi and bacteria)
Rainwater harvesting
Aquaculture: ponds/plants/fish/algae
Constructed wetlands
Passive solar and bicycle windmills
Humanure and worm composting
Biogas and veggie oil biofuels
Soil repair and asphalt removal
DIY air purification and food forests
City chickens and micro-livestock
Natural building in the city
Brownfield restoration
Struggles for land and gentrification
Resource privatization
Energy depletion and city futures
Creating autonomous communities
Bikes Across Borders
Independent Media
Books for Prisoners

For info or reservations ? 512 294 9580 ?
events@rhizomecollective.org <mailto:events@rhizomecollective.org>

for course details, visit:
www.rhizomecollective.org/rust.html
<http://www.rhizomecollective.org/rust.html>

--
The Rhizome Collective
300 Allen Street
Austin Tx 78702
512.385.3695
http://rhizomecollective.org

Comments

[miriams-well.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, yes!

After being at Arcosanti, I'm no longer willing to make a dichotomy between 'urban' and 'sustainable'. I dig the Rhizome folks mightily and would love to do this work with them. It hits so much of what I want to be doing right now.

Dreams of mini-camp at the Rhizome dance through my head sometimes, and this sounds an awful lot like a dream B. and I were having the other day.

[commodorevic.livejournal.com]

Tell Skotty that Adam sez hi.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

mmm, yum. Me, I'm not sure urban is sustainable, or rather I'm sure urban in its present form is unsustainable, but it may be possible to restructure it quickly enough...or it may not. And of course planned urban like Arcosanti is a whole 'nother ball of wax. We'll see, but I'm encouraged by the work Rhizome and others are doing. Part of the key would/will be reclaiming growing space, in a way which can support semi-dense populations. Water, waste disposal, hygene, all issues which are foremost and critical. Distribution systems will have to be totally revamped as well. And the suburbs (as they exist now, anyway) are, I suspect, doomed, plain and simple, though even they could settle down to a village model in some cases. Many suburbs are sitting on some of the most fertile farmland in their regions, rings of good growing space which used to exist around most every major city. That land is going to be an important resource for the cities.

I'll admit, all the various sources of information I have tell me there's time, but not a lot of it, to build little islands of sustainability -- which, aside from being cool places to live, can perhaps act as lifeboats, templates/models and seeds.