Beyond Sustainability

TEDxHONOLULU - Matthew Lynch  

Beyond Sustainability: The Story of a Reformed Capitalist

Matthew is a reformed capitalist exploring Regenerative Design Sciences at the forefront of human innovation. He spent two years wandering the planet, in search of people, places, and projects working to make our world a better place. His work in Regenerative Agriculture, Regenerative Business, and Regenerative Economic Development has taken him (so far) to Australia, New Zealand, Mongolia, Germany, and now Hawai'i. Matthew is the author of Regenerative Business 1.0: Beyond Sustainability and founder of The Asia-Pacific Center for Regenerative Design.

Maine Farmer Changing World

Jim Gerritsen, a Maine organic potato farmer with a decades-long record of community involvement and activism, has been named by the editors of Utne Reader to the magazine's 2011 list of "25 People Who Are Changing the World."

Gerritsen was selected for his ongoing work leading efforts by independent family farmers to protect themselves from the threat of Monsanto litigation related to the corporation's patents on genetically modified seeds, an effort he sees as critical to the preservation of organic farming itself and organic foods as a choice for consumers and their families.

Each year, Utne Reader selects 25 people "who possess an inspiring combination of imagination, determination and energy," said Utne Reader's editor-in-chief, David Schimke in a statement about the 25 visionaries. "These are people who don't just think out loud, but who walk their talk on a daily basis."

Gerritsen, who grows organic seed potatoes on his family's Wood Prairie Farm in northern Maine, is president

of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (www.osgata.org), the national membership trade organization of the organic seed community, lead plaintiff in the OSGATA et al v. Monsanto lawsuit, which is currently in pre-trial procedural motions.

OSGATA is joined in the lawsuit by 82 other family farmers, seed businesses and agricultural organizations. The lawsuit asserts that Monsanto's patents on transgenic (gene-spliced) seed fail to meet the "social utility" requirement of patent law and are therefore invalid.

The suit also seeks court protection for innocent family farmers from Monsanto patent infringement lawsuits in the perverse situation where their farms are contaminated by Monsanto genes through unwanted genetic trespass, such as when wind-borne transgenic pollen is blown from one farm to another.
For 35 years, Gerritsen and his family have owned and operated the organic Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater, Maine. Located in Aroostook County, which is the top potato-producing county in the country, Wood Prairie Farm is a small certified organic family farm producing various types of seed and specialty potatoes, including the award-winning Prairie Blush variety discovered by the Gerritsens, plus vegetable and grain seed.

The farm's modest scale allows Gerritsen and his family to focus on growing high-quality seed potatoes for catalog customers in all 50 states.

Gerritsen is a tireless advocate for organic farming and family farms, regularly speaking at conferences and events, including the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) Common Ground Country Fair and Farmer-to-Farmer Conference, The Organic Seed Growers Conference, the Slow Food Terra Madre Conference in Italy, and others across the United States and Canada.

In addition to Gerritsen, others on the Utne Reader Visionary List for 2011 include David Simon, creator of HBO's "The Wire" and "Treme"; Azzam Alwash, Nature Iraq founder and marshland rehabilitator; Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a congressman working to foster dialogue between Muslim and Christian interests; Gary Paul Nabhan, an author called "the father of the local food movement"; Peter Beilenson, founder of the Evergreen Project in Baltimore and that city's former health commissioner; Debbie Sease, national campaign director of the Sierra Club; and Humira Saqeb, founder of a women's magazine in Afghanistan.

The full list and profiles of the 25 can be read at www.utne.com/Politics/25-visionaries-changing-your-world-2011.aspx.

Permaculture 2 : Practical Design for Town and Country in Permanent Agriculture

151 pages. by Bill Mollison  Price: $24.95 This book is about design. It is a practical book dealing with the elements of design which create a sustainable system. Energy benefits are discussed relating to both domestic and broad acre environments. Permaculture Two is about design, not gardening or livestock per se, but as elements in a system intended to serve man, and the ends of good ecology. "Good teachers have nothing to give but enthusiasm to learn; they cannot with the best will in the world, give their students knowledge. Thus it is 'how' to design, rather than designing your site, which I am attempting here". - Bill Mollison

Permaculture 2: Practical Design for Town and Country in Permanent Agriculture, by Bill Mollison

Food Forest

Join Geoff Lawton on a Permaculture adventure as he demonstrates how to grow a food forest from start to finish. Over 90 minutes of quality information to get you on the right track in creating your own garden of Eden.

We start with a 20 minute Permaculture Classroom as Geoff explains the patterns of a Food Forest and the essential principles of "time stacking" your garden with the right mix of support species that feed and protect your fledgling fruit trees into maturity. We then join Geoff in the field as he puts the theory into action, planting the seeds and watching the system grow.

We end up at Tagari Farm - established by Permaculture founding father, Bill Mollision - which was abandoned years ago, but planted according to Permaculture design principles. Would this Food Foest survive on its own? You'll be surprised.

Elements covered in the DVD include:

• Forest fundamentals
• Legumes
• Chop and Drop
• Pests
• Fungi
• Using Chickens
• Weeds
• Nursery
• Kitchen gardens
• Swales
• Hardwood
• Mature systems
• and much more...

Bonus features include:

• 30 Year Old Food Forest
• 300 Year Old Food Forest
• 2000 Year Old Food Forest

Running Time: 85 minutes (not counting bonus features)

http://permaculture.org.au/store/food_forest_dvd.htm

Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic

http://www.ted.com/talks/capt_charles_moore_on_the_seas_of_plastic.html

Keyline Design at the Beach by Darren Doherty (videos)

Darren Doherty, principal of Australia Felix Permaculture, builds a scale model watershed to explain how water cycles through the landscape in a sequence of natural patterns.



Part One introduces the Order of Drainage and identifies the keypoint of a valley.



Part Two - effects of deforestation and hydroelectric dam siting - succession of ridges - keypoint ponds and irrigation of foothills



Part Three - saddle ponds and slope irrigation



Part Four - reforestation and restoring the landscape



Part Five - rainwater vs. groundwater - drought and fire proofing

Produced by Sustainable World Radio and Permaculture Podcast 

Warriors of the Rainbow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_Rainbow_Warriors