Hope for Detroit
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Urban Projects — by Nichole Ross January 26, 2010
 Mark Covington (left) & Killian Obrien |
Whenever I mention I’m taking a trip back to Detroit, I always seem to get at least one “why would you go there?” To those unfamiliar with the City, the word “Detroit” often conjures up the negative image of a city gone wrong. Crime, poverty, blight, unemployment – all terms synonymous with Detroit’s reputation for so long. Fortunately, I’m here to inform you that Detroit’s image is undergoing a major makeover, thanks to people like Killian Obrien and Mark Covington. These are two amazing men who are working to bring positive change to one eastside neighborhood. Hope for Detroit also means hope for many other forgotten cities.
I was born into a Polish-Hungarian community on the South Side of Detroit, known as Delray. My great-grandparents made the area their home in the early 1900s. Most of my family continued to live and work in the close-knit community for many years. They were very self-sufficient. They planted food gardens, raised chickens and made their own beer to earn money. They had to be. They were poor.
Comments (0)Welcome to Permaculture Island?
Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Developments, News — by Nichole Ross August 28, 2009
No, it’s not the newest reality series or a throwback to the 70s. I’m talking about real life here. And, it’s even part of the United States, kind of. What I’m referring to is the Island of Molokai. It’s a small island (38 x 10 miles with 7500 residents) located between Oahu and Maui in Hawaii. Not only do they have a sustainability plan, but they just held their first sustainability conference this past July. And the best part of the whole thing is that they actually used the word Permaculture in advertising for the conference. Maybe this bold move will help set the stage for the rest of the U.S.
In May 2008, residents realized they didn’t like the unsustainable path towards destruction the island seemed to be on. So, like true Permaculturists, instead of dwelling on their problems, they decided to focus on solutions. (Remember, as Geoff Lawton says, “the problem is the solution”) What they came up with was a sustainable plan for the island’s future. They outlined it in a document called Molokai: Future of a Hawaiian Island (2mb PDF). In it, the people of Molokai call their vision, “Sust- ‘AINA -bility”, a model of abundant island living rooted in traditional knowledge and supported by modern technologies. Hmm, sounds a bit like Permaculture….
Comments (0)Help Save Molokai’s Only Homeless Shelter
Aid Projects, Community Projects — by Nichole Ross August 2, 2009
Longtime Hawaii resident on the Island of Molokai, Steven Jenkins, is the founder of the Kolapa House of Charity, Molokai’s only homeless shelter. Although the shelter is small, made up of just a few modest buildings on a residential lot in Kaunakakai, the Jenkins family’s aloha is immense.
Through the Kolapa House, the Jenkins family provides food, shelter, clothing and showers to anyone in need. Since February 2007, the Kolapa House has housed over 100 of the homeless and served over 1,000 healthy meals to the hungry. It also has plans to grow all its own fresh produce through a Permaculture project in partnership with the Permaculture Research Institute USA. It is the goal that this project will become a model to be replicated at other homeless shelters in Hawaii.
Comments (1)Take a Permaculture Design Certificate Course (PDC) in Paradise
Courses/Workshops, News — by Nichole Ross January 31, 2009
PRI USA’s Ho’olehua Permaculture Center, Island of Molokai, Hawaii
Instructor – Andrew Jones
March 30 – April 11, 2009
Be a part of agricultural history in the making as the Permaculture Research Institute USA launches its first PDC at the Ho’olehua Permaculture Center, on the Island of Moloka’i. Hawaii is best known for its endless white sand beaches, lush tropical rainforests and prime surfing opportunities – a place where people go to “get away from it all” and leave the stresses of a modern hectic lifestyle behind. The Island of Moloka’i is the perfect answer.
Arriving on Molokai, also known as ‘the Friendly Isle’, you’ll be greeted with much Aloha. In return, locals expect visitors to respect the island’s much slower lifestyle – “island time”. There are no traffic lights, the highest posted speed anywhere on the island is 45mph (most places less), there are no shopping malls, no building is taller than a palm tree and ‘Aloha’ is a way of life.
Comments (0)Please Help the Palestinian People in a Time of Tragedy
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Village Development — by Nichole Ross January 12, 2009
The Jordan Valley Project site is the triangular section in foreground
As Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip escalate, more and more Palestinian civilians are being displaced by damage or destruction to their homes. The need for refugee shelter has become critical. Geoff and Nadia Lawton are currently working on a PRI project in a Palestinian refugee village in Jordan. The project, known as the Jordan Valley Permaculture Project, is an effort to set up a Permaculture demonstration and education center. Due to the increased influx of refugees that will need food and shelter, this project is essential for survival for these people fleeing to the very arid Dead Sea Valley. Geoff, Nadia and others are working at full speed to get this center established as soon as possible so they can train refugees and impoverished locals to set up similar sustainable systems (food, water, shelter).
Comments (6)Hawaiian Homeland Security
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, News — by Nichole Ross November 23, 2008
Homeland Security. To the native people of the Hawaiian Islands, it’s more than just a buzzword thrown around by the Bush Administration to justify the creation of another branch of government. For Native Hawaiians, like many indigenous people around the world, the story is the same – foreign occupation resulting in loss of homelands and culture.
Traditional Hawaiian Gardening at Kapahu Farm on Maui (www.kipahulu.org)
In 1921, in an effort, led by Prince Kuhio Kalanianaole, to right these wrongs and help native Hawaiians reclaim their ties to the ‘aina (land), the United States Congress passed the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. The Act set aside 203,500 acres of public lands for those with at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood.
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