Regenerative Design Institute at Commonweal Garden

Design Studies - A framework for sustainable whole systems design A whole systems approach, considering the interrelatedness of both problems and solutions, can help create more sustainable designs. Still, designers often apply exclusively reductionist approaches to generate designs. One way to address this issue is to reduce ambiguity in the whole systems approach. This paper describes research to define and unify elements of whole systems design. Elements were identified through a methodical review of sources describing theories, perspectives, and practices from multiple design disciplines. A View from Sierra County: Sustainable Sunday: High Altitude Gardening I love the high country! I spent 13 years of my life living full-time above the snow line in the Sierras, and never tire of the mountains. I do have to admit that this year's record-breaking snows in our region are daunting, and make daily life a lot more complicated. Such weather also reduces life down to essentials. Many believe that it is impossible to deal with the short growing season, intense sun, and other challenges of living at higher elevations. Here in the Sierras, those elevations range from 4,000 to 10,000 feet above sea levell, and the frost-free season can be less than 90 days.

These mini, man-made ‘glaciers’ are helping Himalayan farmers High up in the Trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, India, a local scientist named Sonam Wangchuk is creating artificial glaciers to help farmers facing the growing problem of acute water shortages. Over the past few decades, glaciers in the region (and in areas around the world) have not frozen sufficiently during the winter months, meaning there is less ice and therefore less meltwater. Many mountain communities rely on glacial melt-water during the dry spring and summer months – including farmers in villages in Ladakh, at around 3,500m above sea level. About Permaculture » Holmgren Design The Origin of Permaculture Permaculture is a word originally coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the mid 1970′s to describe an “integrated, evolving system of perennial or self-perpetuating plant and animal species useful to man” Mollison, B. and Holmgren, D. Permaculture One published by Corgi 1978 and since published in 7 languages (now out of print)

Living self-healing concrete can repair itself in three weeks Concrete is the most used material in the building industry, because it is such a versatile material. But no matter how you tweak it, one thing is certain: at some point it will crack. Stress and weather conditions are the main factors that slowly break the concrete. Of course, it is possible to repair cracks, but this takes time and money, especially when the construction has to be closed down while the reparations take place. Researchers at Technical University Delft (NL) and the company Basilisk Concrete have developed ‘living’, self-healing concrete that can repair itself within three weeks and makes manual repairs superfluous. Once damaged, cracks in concrete will rapidly become worse if it is not repaired.

Permaculture Permaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, and environmental design that develops sustainable architecture and self-maintained agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.[1][2] The term permaculture (as a systematic method) was first coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978. The word permaculture originally referred to "permanent agriculture" [3] but was expanded to stand also for "permanent culture," as it was seen that social aspects were integral to a truly sustainable system as inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka's natural farming philosophy. "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system." - Bill Mollison [4]

Our Story - Proud Mary Our Story Proud Mary is a GLOBAL EXPLORATION OF TEXTILES. It all started in 2008 when owner, Harper Poe returned from volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in South America. After falling deeply in love with the indigenous peoples and brightly colored textiles she decided to combine her passions into a sustainable design business. Proud Mary works with global artisans in the developing world to create their line of 'ethnic-modern' home and personal accessories. Flanders increases funding for imec's research with € 29 million - Leuven Mindgate Flanders increases funding for imec's research with € 29 million Health High-Tech R&D Business imec iMinds The Flemish government had granted additional funds for imec (and iMinds). According to the new five-year agreement, funding will increase from 79 to 108 million euro. With this increase, Flanders aims to consolidate imec's position as world leader in nano-electronics and digital technology. The funds are also meant to support local innovative and high-tech entrepreneurs, by which the Flemish government deservedly praises iMinds, which merged with imec last year.

Zippered Clutch Tutorial Over this winter break I decided I wanted to show whoever is reading this how to do a little project that I think is a simple way to start sewing. This tutorial has definitely been done before, but I hope my version will help make this project seem easier to someone! This is the first tutorial I have written so please let me know if there is anything that is unclear and I will try my best to help clarify! First what you need: 4 pieces of fabric 5'' X 6.25''(12.5cm X 16cm) - 2 of the outside fabric, and 2 of the lining fabric1 piece of fabric (for the strap) 13'' X 2.5'' (35cm X 6cm) 1 Zipper (the one shown is a 7inch zipper, but I cut 1.5'' off the end, don't worry, ill show you below!)Thread (this will show on the outside of the clutch, so pick a colour you like)

This Dutch Company Turns Demolished Buildings Into Beautiful Materials One of the newest buildings on Gouvernestraat, a road in Rotterdam, is actually one of the oldest—but you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at it. By all accounts, the petite house looks thoroughly modern, thanks to its Spartan facade and lack of architectural flourishes. But it's actually composed of architectural waste salvaged from demolished structures, 15 tons of it to be exact. Patagonia's Next Jacket Will Be Made of Spider Silk Spider silk technology is tougher, stronger, and more sustainable to make than traditional threads. Photo: Tim Davis Good news for gear junkies, bad news for arachnophobes: we’re now one step closer to swaddling ourselves in spiderwebs.

making food from organic waste When I last did research on The Blue Economy, I ran into this article with the title “Renewable energy ‘simply won’t work’: Top Google engineers”(1). It caught my attention, and I must say I was really surprised by the outcome. In 2007 Google started a program that had tough goal: to produce a Gigawatt of power based on renewable energy more cheaply than a coal-fires plant could, and achieve this in years instead of decades (2). This was called the RE<C program . It invested in all kinds of renewable energy sources, like solar PV, solar-thermal, geo-thermal, wind, “self assembling” wind towers and so on. However, after four years the program was stopped because of insufficient progress.