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Overview
• Introduction
• My start in sustainability
• Growth, sustainability, and the collision course
• Permaculture
– Definitions
– Examples
– Permaculture resources
Introduction
• Brett Andrzejewski, Bachelors and Ph.D. Chemical Engineering – UNM
• Post-Doc USDA in biofuels program
• Algae-biodiesel venture capital competition
• Provisional patent on concentrated solar thermal
• Current searching for a way to make sustainability/environmental restoration economically viable
My Start in Sustainability
• As an undergraduate chemical engineer, my future job will be transforming oil into valuable products, how much oil is left?
Resource Peaking
Applies to oil, coal, phosphorous, industrial ores and metals, water, soil, land conversion, etc.
More information: Dr. Robert Hirsch, Dr. Colin Campbell, Matthew Simmons, Dr. Richard Heinberg, Dr. Chris Martenson, Dr. Tad Patzek, and many more
Time
Extr
acti
on
/Pro
du
ctio
n r
ate
Growth and Sustainability
• We have a growth based:
– Economic system
– Political system
– Industrial system
– Cultural training
• We live on a finite planet
Renewables Quantity and Quality
Photograph of sweet sorghum test plot after Hurricane Lee Theoretical EROEI ~ 6:1 Actual ? Liquid fuel
Spanish solar industry Theoretical EROEI ~ 30:1 Actual ~ 5:1 Electrical power
Palo Verde nuclear plant Theoretical EROEI ~ 30:1 Actual ? Electrical power Ref: Personal calculations, scientific literature, ASPO, Post-Carbon Institute
Algae photobioreactor Theoretical EROEI ~ 30:1 Actual ? Liquid fuel
Life-Cycle Analysis
• All inputs and outputs are considered
• Current economic system many inputs and outputs are neglected as “externalities”
Externalities of a solar panel: Clean room infrastructure, cadmium contaminated water, copper mining for wires, diesel fuel for transportation
Additional Information
• Dr. Robert Hirsch – Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation and Risk Management
• Dr. Chris Martenson- The Crash Course
• Dr. Richard Heinberg - The Party’s Over
• Dr. Guy McPherson – climate change lectures
• Dr. Albert Bartlett – The Exponential Function lecture
An Adult Conversation
• As engineers/scientists we are educated and trained to be the problem solvers of society
Permaculture
In Australia back in the 1970’s:
• Bill Mollison – left society and came back
• David Holmgren – graduate student
Design science based on observation and feedback for sustainable living
Portmanteau: “permanent agriculture”
“permanent culture”
Other sustainable movements
• Transition towns • Cradle-to-Cradle design • Steady state economics • Sustainable cities • Conservation biology • Post-carbon movement • Zeitgeist movement • Homesteading • Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) • Earthship homes • Slow foods/Slow movement • Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) • Many more …
Permaculture Topics
• Culture, living and interacting • Growing food & fuel • Animal interactions • Natural building • Natural medicines • Rainwater harvesting • Renewable energy • Managed intensive rotational grazing • Biomimicry (modeling systems after nature) • And much, much more
Design Science
• Observation • Methods of Design
– Zones, layers, cycles, sectors, guilds
• Pattern understanding – Matrices, modeling, boundary conditions, dimension
and potential
• Energy • Plants, animals, climate, soil, • Reference nature (biomimetic) • Polyculture
Zones
• Zone 0: Home/living space
• Zone 1: daily visits
• Zone 2: weekly visits
• Zone 3: monthly visits
• Zone 4: Semi-wild occasionally visit
• Zone 5: Wilderness (no disturbance)
Question
What is the number 1 export of the United States?
Topsoil
At current rates of topsoil loss all the top soil will be gone in 60 years, Ref: Time magazine “What if the World’s Soil Runs Out?”
Sicily • During the Roman Republic and Empire, Sicily the Roman
breadbasket, lost most of its topsoil.
• It took ~1000 years after the collapse of the Roman Empire for Sicily to rebuild its topsoil.
Ref: Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed, Diamond 2005
Libya Egypt
Algeria
Fertile Crescent
Palynologists (pollen scientists) say area used to be a forest/grassland/wetlands before agriculture Over grazing Over irrigation (leads to saline soils) River diversion, dams and hydropower Erosion
Ref: Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed, Diamond 2005 Nature episode, Braving Iraq, PBS WGBH Boston
1989 2008
Aral Sea Before and after cotton farming
2 rivers were diverted for industrial agriculture starting in 1960
Loess Plateau - China
At the start of agriculture one China’s most fertile areas: heavily forested, rich soils Intense agriculture, overgrazing, and deforestation have resulted the desert above
Loess Plateau - China Highly recommend watching: Green Gold by John D. Liu
Feng et al., Nature Scientific Reports 3, 2013
96.1 Terragrams of carbon sequestered! 96.1 billion kilograms of carbon
1995
2009
Big names in Permaculture
• Bill Mollison • David Holmgren • Geoff Lawton • Masanobu Fukuoka • Sepp Holzer • Toby Hemenway • Allan Savory • Brad Lancaster • Dr. Elaine Ingham • Paul Wheaton • Michael Pollan • Joel Salatin
Local Resources for Permaculture
• Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center – Madrid
• Soilutions – Albuquerque
• Permaculture Research Institute – Santa Fe
• Santa Fe Permaculture – Santa Fe
• Dry Land Solutions – Albuquerque/Santa Fe
• San Isidro Permaculture – Santa Fe
• La Orilla Farms – Albuquerque
Additional Resources for Permaculture
• Permaculture: A Designers Manual
• Gaia’s Garden: A guide to Home-scale Permaculture
• www.permies.com
• Permaculture Design Course (PDC)
Conclusion
• Presented the need for an alternative way of thinking
• Introduction to Permaculture
– One solution of many
• Examples and resources for Permaculture