Synergistic Solutions Global Network (Network) by Team Synergy
Pia Jensen Nov 18, 2017 01:25
Member
| Proposal contributor This year's International Permaculture Convergence (IPC) and Conference is 27 November to 2 December in Hyderabad and Medak. "There’s a certain enthusiasm with which Hyderabadis with a keen interest in farming speak about the forthcoming International Permaculture Convergence (IPC) and Conference. Chemical-free farming is just the beginning of a learning curve. A lot goes into making our food nutritious and ensuring the soil in a farm remains healthy. A meeting point of science and traditional farming techniques make it possible. Well known environmentalist Vandana Shiva, permaculture designer and educator Robyn Francis from Australia, author-activist Starhawk from the US and Austrian teacher Margarethe Holzer are among the several speakers who will participate at the 13th edition of IPC, which will take place in Hyderabad and Medak. From sustainable farming methods to water conservation systems, role of women in the environment to ways of handling radiation in the soil and body in the aftermath of a situation such as the Fukushima disaster, several issues will be discussed. The Conference and the Convergence will do more than just talking about issues. There will be several workshops to get hands-on experience in permaculture methods. The IPC 2017’s focus is ‘Towards Healthy Societies’ and will be addressed through six sub categories — women as agents of change, sustainable water resource management, revitalising and preserving traditional farming practices, permaculture as social responsibility, grassroots permaculture in action, permaculture and climate change adaptation. The Convergence venues, the 10-acre Aranya Agricultural Alternatives (AAA) and 100-acre Polam farm, have been a beehive of activity for the last few months. Nearly 50 volunteers from 20 countries have been working towards setting up facilities for the delegates for the five-day Convergence. “We will be hosting 400 international delegates, 250 from AP and Telangana, and 125 from the rest of India. After the two-day Conference in Hyderabad, those registered for the Convergence will move to Polam where arrangements have been made for their stay and food,” informs Padmavati Koppula, CEO of Aranya." Wish I could go. Perhaps some folks from Climate CoLab can go. It should be an incredible experience.
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Pia Jensen Dec 12, 2017 05:55
Member
| Proposal contributor Food for thought: "To return to the example of the end of the Cold War: without the other factors, citizen diplomacy might have accomplished little. Of course in specifying what we want, the modality within our reach may require something else or much else. But unless we say what we want, we are unlikely to get it. One barrier to saying what we want is) the risk of being thought foolish or impractical or, as in the case of citizen diplomacy, too, sympathetic to the other side. Another barrier is the fear of failure or penalty. A third is the charge of obsessiveness, as in “the danger of nuclear war seems to have obsessed Helen Caldicott (born in Australia), Yvgeny Chazov (Soviet Union), Daniel Ellsberg, Beatrice Fihn (Sweden), Randall Forsberg, John Hersey, Robert Jay Lifton, Bernard Lown, Eugene Rabinowitch (Soviet Union), Bertrand Russell (the U.K.), Jonathan Schell, and many, many others, including some of the same scientists who created the bomb, such as Leo Szilard (Hungary). Recently Lifton has compiled evidence that a growing number of people are engaging with the two big issues of our time, the danger of nuclear war and of climate change. They are, he says, “swerving” toward something other than denial or rejuction, as shown, for example, by the Paris conference on climate change. Okay, one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases isn’t a reliable partner (that would be the U.S.). Okay, the commitments lack any enforcement mechanism. And okay, the commitments even if met would be inadequate. But, says Lifton, the Paris conference was a start, a taking seriously of the danger, of promising some remedial action." Source: Seemingly Impossible https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/seemingly-impossible_us_5a2e28f5e4b0d7c3f2622452 |
Hung Vo Jan 4, 2018 05:11
Fellow
| Pia, I could tell by your proposal that you invested a lot of time in thinking about this envisaged "network." A few follow-up questions: how feasible is this proposal? is having it under a UN agency the most appropriate choice (strengths and limitations)? Further, there are many "networks" and organizations doing similar projects (planting trees), so why do you think another one is better? Name aside, this appears to be a tree-planting proposal. How is this different from other initiatives that currently exist? |
Pia Jensen Jan 6, 2018 10:42
Member
| Proposal contributor Thank for asking for clarification, Hung Vo. Following are my responses to your questions. Vo: how feasible is this proposal? About impacts of trees on CO2/GHG (the following borrowed from Empower rural families to achieve a healthier future through hands-on education!)
Climate Change A plan to create a cultural and behavioral shift from conventional agricultural practices to permaculture to mitigate, reverse and face the impacts of climate change for rural families and farmers in Nicaragua. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main driver of climate change. Our current state of overloading the atmosphere with CO2 is caused by burning fossil fuels, cutting down and burning forests, with the main driving industry, agriculture with livestock emissions, carbon releasing from soil tillage and chemical use (source 1). According to Union of Concerned Scientists, the major impacts of climate change are:
So how can permaculture and regenerative agriculture be the answer to climate change? Regenerative organic agriculture is integral to the climate solution. Regenerative organic agriculture refers to working with nature to utilize photosynthesis and healthy soil microbiology to draw down greenhouse gases (source 2). By changing farming practices to regenerative systems, we can:
El Tambo CO2 Sequestering Calculation 82 families with one acre each, equals 36 tonnes of CO2 x 82 = 2952 tonnes of CO2 pulled from the atmosphere in El Tambo. About impacts of technology on agriculture, water, energy, and health:
Each of the above resources demonstrates multiple positive outcomes that technology and youth can create through entrepreneurial activities addressing ten identified SDGs in the proposal. Strengths:
Limitations:
Vo: Further, there are many "networks" and organizations doing similar projects (planting trees), so why do you think another one is better? This proposal isn't just a tree planting project - the networking of educational and empowerment forces working with youth makes this a project driven by already existing platforms through which climate and sustainability goals can be addressed with little additional funding to support activities, including technology initiatives that address areas of interest beyond tree planting, such as energy, water, agriculture, and health. It's much bigger than a tree planting project. It's a new and large wave of energetic resources being harnessed. Vo: Name aside, this appears to be a tree-planting proposal. How is this different from other initiatives that currently exist? The response above addresses this duplicative question, but, I will add that there is no organization currently operating that revolves around youth to push forward the development and management of regenerative agricultural projects (permaculture, food forests, livestock management) coupled with the development and promotion of assistive technologies on a global scale utilizing tens of thousands of already existing organizations and potentially millions of youth and their mentors. As they say: "Go big or go home." |
Pia Jensen Jan 9, 2018 06:13
Member
| Proposal contributor In the following video, John Kohler tours an Arizona urban farm and explains the regenerative properties of the site and it's plants and trees. Urban Farm grows Fruit Trees & Vegetables with Flood Water Irrigation in the Desert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJabjMk_D4Q In case you are unfamiliar with any of these practices, this is a very informative tour. |
Pia Jensen Jan 26, 2018 04:02
Member
| Proposal contributor Published today, a review of technology tools to aid farmers/food production folks - Gardening Gadgets that Give You a Green Thumb at CES 2018: Smart Garden Tech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Re-o_6ZMoI by John Kohler of Learn Organic Gardening at GrowingYourGreens (youtube). I plan to note the tech he presents in the proposal.
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Pia Jensen Feb 6, 2018 12:08
Member
| Proposal contributor Example of agency funding for community forestry - via grants.gov: USDA-FS-UCF-01-2019 - 2019 National Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program. Estimated Total Program Funding:$900,000 "The Secretary of Agriculture has a congressionally designated advisory council that assists the U.S. Forest Service in establishing the grant categories and recommendations of final proposals for the Forest Service to consider. This is the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (Council).The Council serves to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on the status of the nation’s urban and community forests and related natural resources. The Council seeks to establish sustainable urban and community forests, by encouraging communities of all sizes to manage and protect their natural resources, which, if well managed, improves the public’s health, well-being, economic vitality, and creates resilient ecosystems for present and future generations.Urban and Community Forestry Program RequirementsThe Council recommends urban and community forestry projects that have national or multi-state application and impact through the U.S. Forest Service’s competitive Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program. A proposal’s content must meet the Urban and Community Forestry program authorities as designated by Congress in the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act, (Section 9 PDF, pp. 19-24) State & Private Cooperative Forestry Handbook of Programs and the annual criteria set forth by the Council. A listing of the previously funded projects can be viewed at Urban Forestry South list of past NUCFAC grants." |
Pia Jensen Feb 8, 2018 04:17
Member
| Proposal contributor Monoculture? Jan 2018 - Iceland Is Growing New Forests for the First Time in 1,000 Years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnRNdbqXu1I |
Pia Jensen Feb 17, 2018 10:53
Member
| Proposal contributor Great news! Peru Moves to Protect ‘One of the Last Great Intact Forests’"The remote rain forests in Peru’s northeast corner are vast — so vast that the clouds that form above them can influence rainfall in the western United States. The region contains species, especially unusual fish, that are unlike any found elsewhere on Earth. Scientists studying the area’s fauna and flora may gain insights into evolutionary processes and into the ecological health and geological history of the Amazon.Now the area has become home to one of the Western Hemisphere’s newest national parks. Yaguas National Park will protect millions of acres of roadless wilderness — and the indigenous people who rely on it — from development and deforestation.“This is a place where the forest stretches to the horizon,” said Corine Vriesendorp, a conservation ecologist at The Field Museum in Chicago, one of many organizations that worked to win the national park designation, Peru’s highest level of protection. “This is one of the last great intact forests on the globe.”" source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/science/peru-yaguas-national-park.html |
Pia Jensen Feb 18, 2018 08:10
Member
| Proposal contributor Trees as a political hot potato - Planting trees below Turkish bombs in Syria https://www.newstatesman.com/world/middle-east/2018/02/planting-trees-below-turkish-bombs-syria |