Good News for a Change

[Grifen]

Good News for a Change
Submitted by Grifen on Tue, 09/03/2010 - 16:03.

Chile Trembles and the World Changes: by seconds and degrees
Hola Friends, We are just over a week out from the big shake, battened
down the hatches and secured our situation. We realise that we are
blessed and uniquely prepared to make a big difference in the
restoration of Bio Bio Chile. In coming months we will be living up to
our destiny as a regional centre and living university of Transition
fully engaged in regenerative design for eco-social regeneration.
You can find images here http://elmanzano.ning.com/photo.
Can you help us to invest in the resilience of our small rural
community in Chile post quake as a living model of local resilience
that can be replicated throughout this devastated region of Chile?
Vision is seeing things as they will be
We intend to quickly establish a model of disaster response that can
be widely replicated in the Biobio region, and invest in the
foundations of long term resilience in other communities like ours. We
have established a strong foundation over the last few years here, and
now we need your support to make the most of disaster as an
opportunity for catalysing change.
We intend to install basic systems for water and food security for 80
people and to reconstruct two damaged houses for 9 people in two
families. This will be implemented in coming weeks and months in
collaboration with local, regional and national government, the
permaculture institute of Chile, and international friends the
Permaculture Research Institute, Holmgren Design Services etc. We have
a multidisciplinary team of permaculture professionals and volunteers
on standby willing to go, supported by a large network of people
throughout Chile and around the planet. We want your help, the
collective intelligence of our international learning community.
Invest in our transition.
There are many ways you can help
1. Donations can be made through the Permaculture Research
Institute http://permaculture.org.au – please reference ´´donationchile
´´. Information will soon be posted on their website with full details
of the project, and regular reports.
2. We need information. Do you have design(s) for permanent /
emergencia small quick houses 35m2 with local bio materials. We are
thinking round pole timber post and beam with earth bag footings (with
recycled adobe), light straw clay (harvest time now) insulation walls
floor and ceiling.
3. Construction details for Ferro cement tanks in Español, or any
kind of water tanks.
4. Information on pumping solutions for shallow groundwater, and
for drip irrigation – on flat sandy soils with no stream flow and
1300mm rain.
5. Anything about grain mills.
6. Ideas for large water storage in sandy soils.
7. Woodstove / rocket stove stuff in Español.
8. Recommendations for machinery that may be available in Chile.
9. Advice on small scale solar generation.
10. Advice on round pole construction techniques, and milling and
drying of small diameter eucalyptus glutens y nitens, large old
macrocarpas and of 25 year untreated pine.
11. Volunteer; we need more hands, especially people who are skilled
in construction and technology, in working with people, managing
groups, facilitating etc, food growing and preservation,
communications and reporting etc, etc etc.
Some News
We are well in El Manzano Biobio Chile 130 km´s from the epicentre.
Despite the full-on quake the damage has been minor for most.
Concepcion and coastal towns worst affected. Many in those areas are
homeless and without basics. Aid has kicked in and things are
normalising. The main problem is the minds of the people...their fears
and addictions...as we are learning, their personal resilience. We are
in a state of curfew for most of the region from 6pm till 12 midday.
Food is scarce in most communities, supermarkets closed and
empty....most were ransacked within 8 hours of the first shake. The
military are on the streets...the situation is a little tense...but
improving rapidly. Many regional roads and bridges on the main highway
Ruta 5 are severely damaged and transport is limited. You probably
know as much as we do. There is a lot of stuff on youtube.
In El Manzano we are somewhat more prepared than most. We are 80
strong; 21 children, 27 women (two pregnant) and 32 men (during the
event we were 140 with an additional 24 men 28 women and 8 kids). And
lucky. No one received even as much as a scratch. The trees didn’t
fall. The ground didn’t swallow us up. And we were far enough away
from any big urban centre. We have some minor damage to buildings,
with two substandard shacks / homes in our village made inhabitable.
Many are still sleeping in tents for fear of more quakes and building
collapse. We have given our bioconstructions the best possible test
and they passed with flying colours. We have manual pumps for water
supply and abundant shallow ground water. The dam and a few bridges
were destroyed, and we are doing a quick repair to get irrigation
going again...materials are hard to come by in the area, we are
improvising.
We have grown a lot of food this summer, and were in preservation mode
until the earth moved...most of our produce survived with last minute
redesign of shelving for earthquake. We have 5 hectares of wheat and
rye to mill, with a 1.5 hectares of potatoes, maize, quinoa, amaranth,
onions close to harvest, plenty of fruit (apples, blueberries,
mushrooms etc) we are drying, and plenty of veges, the two cows are
still milking, eggs and meat. The electricity has now returned and we
can irrigate the gardens a little better, have light, turned the
freezer back on, and can communicate with the world.
As a community we have gathered together and reinforced our
interdependence. We have realised that community is the key for our
wellbeing. That we are resilient and adaptable. The divisions between
us are only illusion. Our little insignificant village has emerged
stronger, with all its inherent unsustainability and barriers, its
long chaotic history. There is life here, abundance, simple clean
ethical living, humble loving peasants. We have ensured the safety of
everyone and security of water and food. We have reassessed our
vulnerabilities and our priorities for increasing our resilience drawn
into sharp focus. The work we have done in the past two years
investing in our community has been rewarded. El Manzano is a light of
calm, a sane awake quality of not striving, of letting go into the
unknown.
Participatory Design
A meeting of emergency was held a few days ago. In our plan for 2010
we have some funding to invest in the community with a pre-existing
strategy to install appropriate technology in all the houses in the
village, to mobilise the community to participate in design for
climate change. Our priorities have been redirected a little, and with
blessings in disguise we now have full support and commitment from our
community and the draft of a shared plan for action. We identified the
following priorities;
• Regular community meetings with full participation.
• Celebration together.
• Manual and or solar / wind pumps.
• Large water storages.
• Food preservation.
• Community gardens – winter is coming (seeds, tools, land).
• Community plant nursery.
• A multi use community safety centre with public services.
• Community storage of bulk foods.
• Grain mill.
• Small animals.
• Diesel generators.
• New more efficient wood stoves.
• Composting toilets.
• Communications.
• Security response plan.
• Machinery – rip saw, chainsaw mill, chainsaws etc.
• Energy production for simple needs.
• Shared transport.
• A plan for the development of community and individual
resilience.
• Tools for construct and food preserve.
This is a work in progress. Detail plans will emerge soon. Please be
patient with us.
Resilience and Vulnerability
We have learned that resilience is a natural inbuilt characteristic of
the natural world. And she is much bigger than us. We need not worry
about the future too much, we will survive. Resilience is something
that we have to remember from our past, and to cultivate in our
communities. It means the capacity to cope with life's adversities,
overcome and even be transformed by them (Grotberg). Resilience means
functional connections, networks and community, taking care of the
whole system. By experiencing adversity we can adapt, and if we heed
the message well, we can build resistance to future crises, and
provide living examples for others to practice.
We can move beyond sustainability and mere mitigation, towards a more
resilient way of living, one that rolls with nature and rebounds
quickly... not a blind bounce back from crisis, but a practical
transformation. We can let go of the old, let go into not knowing, and
we can create the new. With every breath we choose, we speak into the
world and so design, and so co create the world around us. By
leveraging the capacities of our networks, by starting small, and
thinking big, we can catalyse fundamental change.
This great transition has never been more urgent, we need not wait for
disaster to act...it is never to late to adopt common sense. It´s
never too late to invest in resilience.
Any help you can give us will be very wisely applied.
´There was a large fire, the moon was in its glory and animals in the
distance warned us that the earth was still trembling, in the circle
around the fire passed the tobacco of the word. And word for word the
people did nothing but confirm that he understood the message and that
resilience also involves the "relationships" human, spiritual and
multiple connectivity we have between us and nature.´ (Ruben)
Love from Chile
Grifen, Javiera and the families of El Manzano.
Ecoescuela El Manzano
Education & Design for Sustainable Living
Web: www.ecoescuela.cl
Network: www.ecoescuela.ning.com
Phone: +56-09-74322221
Skype: wholehabitat
Address: Casilla 15 Cabrero Chile
Instituto Chileno de Permacultura
Networking Chile in Transition
Web: www.permaculturachile.org
Permaculture Research Institute
Chaning the World one Site at a time
Web: www.permaculture.org.au
Holmgren Design Services
The source of Permaculture Vision & Innovation
Web: http://www.holmgren.com.au/
Transition Towns Network
Self Organising for Resilience
Web: www.transitionculture.org
Gaia University
Degrees of Freedom
Web: www.gaiauniversity.org