IBS
pferraro@cycor.ca
Tue, 2 Jul 1996 13:52:29 -0300
BIOREGIONAL CONFERENCES OFFER STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
By Phil Ferraro and Nancy Willis
A soft breeze whispers through the long grass of a remote cape on Prince
Edward Island. With it come the smells of summer, sand and salt sea air.
In the distance, voices rise and fall as members of an intensive
Permaculture Design Course plot pathways towards a sustainable future.
This will be the scene this August at the Ark at Spry Point in eastern
Prince Edward Island, Canada where folks from across North America and
around the world will gather for a series of summer programs on the design
and management of sustainable communities hosted by the Institute of
Bioregional Studies (IBS).
In the picturesque beauty of this rural maritime setting a two week
Permaculture Design Course made up of lecture, discussion, observation and
hands-on learning will allow participants to develop the practical skills
and knowledge to design and implement sustainable systems in harmony with
nature.
This will be a followed by a four day Eco-Cities Design Colloquia in the
provincial capital Charlottetown where an outstanding group of
internationally known facilitators will work with participants to develop a
model eco-city along the Charlottetown waterfront - on lands for which the
city is currently soliciting proposals.
The plans created will offer organizational approaches that budget
recources, conserve energy, and utilize renewable energy technologies. They
will build long lasting structures, develop efficient public transportation,
reduce and recycle wastes and supply staple foods locally.
The summer programs conclude with a Building Affordable Houses workshop
where participants will apply permaculture concepts and actually construct
the walls of an energy efficient, mortgage-free home using native materials.
There seems little doubt the relationship between environmental quality
and community development is among the most pressing concerns of our times.
Fortunately, this emerging movement called bioregionalism is not content
with simply preserving what is left of the natural environment, but is also
committed to restoring what has been damaged.
"Bioregionalism" comes from the Greek terms "life" and "territory", a
place defined by its life forms and the carrying capacity of the land.
The history of bioregionalism can be traced to the very roots of native
communities. As a solution to global environmental concerns, bioregional
theories have evolved through discussion and analysis by historians,
philosophers, geographers, planners and activists like Patrick Geddes, Lewis
Mumford, Emma Goldman, E.F. Schumacher, Noam Chomsky, Murray Bookchin,
Kirkpatrick Sale and Peter Berg.
In his book Dwellers of the Land: The Bioregional Vision, Kirkpatrick
Sale explains that the nature of bioregionalism implies an understanding of
the land, its geographical features, resource inventory and carring capacity
as a self-reliant human and wild habitat.
The goal of bioregionalism is to develop a territory's fullest potential.
To attain this goal, bioregionalists enfision what could be done in any
region if all its funds, facilities, stocks and talents are to be used to
their fullest, limited only by the carrying capacity of that land and its
ecological constraints.
Bioregionalism is also liberating in the way it opens up to communitarian
values of cooperation, participation and recipocity. These are processes
most central to bioregional thought.
Within the bioregional paradigm or example, the toll for ecological
planning and restoration is a system known as "permaculture". This system
was founded by Bill Mollison in the early 1970s to design permanent
habitations. With roots in agricultural, economic, social and environmental
planning, permaculture has evolved into an effective program for designing
ecological communities and restoring urban centres.
The IBS summer programs empody all facets of Bioregionalism. The
Permaculture Design Course takes place from August 4-17; the Eco-Cities
Colloquia from August 18-21; and the Building Affordable Housing, August
23-25. Although all are interrelated, each course is autonomous and can be
fully enjoyed seperately.
For more information contact IBS on the Internet at:
http://www.cycor.ca/IBS/ or e-mail: pferraro@cycor.ca. or phone 902 8929578.
For a catalogue send $2 to I.B.S, 449 University Ave. Suite 126,
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada C1A-8K3.
Phil Ferraro, Director Institute for Bioregional Studies 449 University
Avenue Suite 126 "Developing Local Solutions to Charlottetown, Prince
Edward Island Global Problems" Canada C1A 8K3 (902) 892-9578
Phil Ferraro
Institute for Bioregional Studies
449 University Avenue, Suite 126 "Developing Local Solutions
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island to Global Problems."
Canada C1A 8K3
(902) 892-9578
Check our home page, http://www.cycor.ca/IBS/ for information on:
Permaculture Design Course, Aug. 4-17; Eco-Cities Conference, Aug. 18-21;
Affordable Housing/Straw Bale Construction Workshop, Aug. 23-25.