It’s the shortest day of the year in Chile and the rain is coming down. It is cold and wet. As we celebrate the new year and the return of the sun, thousands of people in the surrounding region are living in government supplied shacks… affectionately termed "Mediagua" or half water. Most of them are leaking with the rain, and the wind is coming in. You can find photos here.

The government has not yet started the reconstruction effort. We imagine they are trying to get through the winter with temporary emergency housing, and to begin construction in the spring, when the dust settles a little. Here in El Manzano we are doing our best to inject common sense into the debate. Many are listening. Small strategic actions can have wide repercussions, and though we cannot take the credit for the actions of others, we can be sure that our voice has resounded widely in Chile and many are following the lead.

What would you choose? A cement and treated pine box, designed and built by someone you have never met, squeezed as tight as possible with the neighbours, with very little outdoor private space? Or would you choose a beautiful home with natural materials, designed and constructed by you and your family, with plenty of space, and your own food to boot? One might assume that common sense would prevail. What’s missing? Choice? 

So then it becomes a matter of pragmatism, as the so called planner, shapes attention, and counters misinformation as best they can.  

Design with Principles

El Manzano has embarked on a mission to provide alternatives for Chileno people; to show people how they can create their own permanent, earthquake-proof housing made with local materials, local labour, at an affordable price. 

The original project was in usual permaculture style, a strategic and multifunctional intention to affect as many people as possible, to be a catalytic learning event. With the support of the Artists Project Earth (relief, recovery and resilience… we speak the same language) and the Permaculture Research Institute (now in Chile) a project was developed to assist people to meet their own immediate housing needs, to design their own resilient housing and settlements, to quickly recover from the devastating Earthquake of February 2010, and to build long-term resilience to future disaster and disruption. Having raised only a small portion of the required funding, we set out to maximise available resources, to catch and store the energy required and deliver the most bang for buck. 

When we design with principles, people and ecology in mind, our solutions are often distinct to those discovered by the logic of the mainstream system. When we design for haste and minimum cost we compromise on things like quality and materials efficiency, well being and long term security. We tend to forget about talking to local people and fitting in with the place. Permaculture design on the other hand, enables us to create low cost solutions that are much more resilient, because we see the problem and we have a long term perception. A permaculture designer sees opportunities and local resources, knowledge and skills. Coming from a systems perspective they link elements together, investing in the health of the system. Combined, work can be more efficient, we can reduce materials costs by seeing available free materials. If we put our heads together we can save time and money. Sometimes a small change will have big effects.   

Design & Construction  

The design was made as participatory as possible, with the community an integral part of the design and decision making team. A participatory approach takes time, and will often lead us in unexpected directions, but in the end a better solution can be found. You can read about the design stages here. And here about the El Manzano in Transition process here. 

Construction started in the first week of May. You can read about the first stage here by Craig Mackintosh. Using local materials, unmilled timber cut directly from surrounding forests with a chainsaw, straw harvested nearby, recycled adobe from the earthquake collapses, and the soil beneath our feet we trained a local team in the use of roundpole and earth construction techniques. The community has awakened to a new possibility for their own homes in the future, and is learning together, that many hands make light work.

The superadobe technique has been modified a little, using sand from the site (a resource we have in abundance) to fill sacks, mixed with 10% cement and laid as a foundation wall. This same technique was used to make the floor, with a thin layer of cement and very little steel on top. We have tried to minimise the use of cement and steel at every step, but have been hindered by the locals who won’t imagine standing on anything made of clay in the next earthquake, and the need to get the house habitable as soon as possible.

The roof went up quickly with a 22 cm layer of light clay straw compacted into the cavity between roof joists. We have heard of this technique being used locally without clay with 60+ years of life. If it stays dry we are hopeful it will provide insulation for a long time to come… another research project. 

The walls are up, two non-load bearing layers of 2×2 pine (we could have used small diameter pseudo acacia and eucalyptus cut from the forest to reduce costs) with a 25 cm sandwich of light clay straw in between. With all the rain our primary concern is the drying time of the straw. Based on the experience of friends with the same technique in Chile, we are concerned about fungus growing in the straw and affecting the timber. Oh for a dry season. Chile is well known for its dry sunny winter periods… we have our fingers crossed and are exploring other options for drying the walls efficiently.

Budget

The final budget for materials and labour is 2 million pesos or $US3700, around US$125 per square metre. This is an affordable house. The main cost has been the roofing, the cement for the floor and labour. We haven’t managed to stretch the budget to pay the professional services of the design team, but intend that the house is a model that can be improved and replicated, a product we can offer in coming months.

The gains have outweighed the cost, and we don’t need a cost:benefit analysis to tell us. A community team has developed itself as a competent unit able to deliver on time and under budget. The house is beautiful. It will last a few good 8 point earthquakes yet. Wanna bet?

Learning

Many small mistakes have been made, reviewed and redesigned for the next house. This has been a continuous learning event for the community and the team. In coming weeks the team moves its focus to begin construction of a second house. We feel more prepared and more experienced for a spring and summer construction process ahead, with tested materials and techniques in the construction of a living university campus. You can be involved in this catalytic learning event. Stay tuned. Happy new year.

Please forward widely. The Apple Tree Eco School in the BíoBío region of Chile is looking for two experienced entrepreneurial permaculture interns starting May 2010. We need: 1) an experienced administrator proficient in English and Spanish to help manage a busy permie office, planning and promotions, and 2) an experienced gardener to assist in production, processing and distribution of organic food. This is an unprecedented opportunity to work in Permaculture centre connected to Gaia University, Transition Towns and the Permaculture Research Institute. Get hands on experience in the management of Permaculture projects, relief work, design consultancy, teacher training, transition training and much, much more. All food and board provided. Successful applicants will also have opportunities to self-generate income. Start your Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design, on the edge, working where it counts. Contact Grifen Hope or Javiera Carrión with a detailed CV and a letter of application through our website www.ecoescuela.cl

People interested in this opportunity should contact me on grifenhope (at) gmail.com

Gracias,
Grifen Hope

Chile Trembles and the World Changes: by seconds and degrees

Hola Friends, We are just over three weeks out from the big shake with the dust now settling in Chile, and have a clearer picture of the damage. 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.

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 here – please reference "chile".
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 kms 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 earthquakes. We have 5 hectares of wheat and rye to mill, with 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 well being. 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 and 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 to refresh our plans for 2010. We currently have some funding to invest in the community with a pre-existing strategy to install appropriate technology in all the houses in the village, and 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.

Donate via PRI USA (USA residents)* Other non-paypal methods of donating here
Donate via PRI Australia (rest of world)* Other non-paypal methods of donating here
*Please be sure to click on the ‘Add special instructions to seller’ link, and then type ‘CHILE’ in the field provided, to ensure these fund are correctly diverted.

El Manzano in Transition – Towards Community Resilience, by Design

by Grifen Hope of Ecoescuela El Manzano

1. PROJECT AIM
2. BACKGROUND
3. PROBLEM & LOCAL CONTEXT
4. OBJECTIVES & ACTIONS
5. NETWORKS
6. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

1. PROJECT AIM

The primary objective of this project is to assist devastated communities of Chile to plan and design their own resilient settlements, to quickly recover from the devastating Earthquake of February 27 2010, and to build long-term resistance to the future effects of natural disaster, economic, climate, and energy disruption.

This project presents a call for regional, national and international investment in living examples of good practice in the planning and design of resilient human settlements. Evidence of the outcomes from this approach will be used to influence regional and national government officials and policy makers to replicate the model throughout the affected regions of BìoBìo and Maule.

2. BACKGROUND

On February 27th 2010 Chile was hit by a ´Mega-earthquake´ that shook the very foundations of Chilean society. In total 4.2 million people have been affected, many of whom are still without basic public services. Approximately 1.5 million homes have been destroyed or heavily damaged, with an estimated 1 million people left homeless. Initial estimates suggest the recovery will cost US$30 billion and take 3-4 years.

On reflection it could have been much worse. While the quake was 500 times stronger than that in Haiti and devastation is enormous, Chile has fared relatively well. Compared to Haiti the death toll and damage to buildings and infrastructure has been moderate. With a long history of devastating earthquakes the Chilean government and people are well prepared to withstand, respond and recover from a large earthquake.

At this point in time the priority is still on the relief response and providing basic needs to hundreds of thousands of affected people. However, attention is now turning to planning for the reconstruction phase. I think some concise reference to the vulnarabilities of modern industrial systems to multiple likely future impacts of peak oil, climate change, etc. is warranted to explain why this local resilience approach is so important to advance, rather than using existing local national and international capacity to rebuild communities on the old pattern.

3. PROBLEM & LOCAL CONTEXT

The village of El Manzano, home to 28 families, is the first official Transition Town in Latin America and in a pre-earthquake process of redesigning itself for resilience to disaster. The village remains highly vulnerable to the systemic crises of natural disaster, economic, climate, and energy disruption. Many of the basic necessities such as water, food and medical care are dependent on external resources, and existing housing is not fit for human habitation. These poverty related issues have been compounded by the recent earthquake. As El Manzano is out of the main disaster area it is very low on the priority list for recovery. In response the community has identified its own vulnerabilities;

1. Dependence on electricity for water for drinking, irrigation of crops and animals.
2. Lack of access to land for subsistence crops, low fertility and low moisture holding capacity of existing soils, with dependence on unhealthy external food sources.
3. Earthquake damage to two houses making them uninhabitable, and a general state of substandard housing for the majority of village residents.
4. Reliance on septic tanks for household and human waste disposal, subsequent excessive use of water and contamination of shallow groundwater used for drinking.
5. Low participation in community activities and the design of a community plan for the development of local resilience.

4. OBJECTIVES & ACTIONS

The community of El Manzano has identified the following priorities for disaster response and recovery in coming months. These activities will provide practical training opportunities for local residents and permaculture trainees in construction of simple systems, and in regenerative design that can be replicated in other communities.

1. To ensure water supply for 28 families independent of the electricity grid for drinking and irrigation.
   (a). Implement appropriate solutions for the supply of gravity fed household drinking water and irrigation systems to generate resilience in drought times or black out.
   (b). Manufacture of PVC hand pumps for extraction of clean shallow groundwater.
   (c). Recovery of existing deep wells which can extract water without electricity.
2. To ensure local food security for 71 people by increasing natural fertility and water holding capacity of soil using locally available materials and recycling of organic wastes.
   (a). Establish 1.2 hectares of community garden to meet the vitamin and calorie needs of 71 residents.
   (b). Cultivate 1.9 hectares of community compost and grain crops for the food self-reliance of 71 people.
   (c). Implement a local food cooperative so residents can purchase bulk food in the village.
   (d). Development of soil improvement techniques and organic soil amendments.
3. To rebuild two houses made uninhabitable in the earthquake (affecting 2 families: 3 children, 3 women, 4 men) as a model for other residents to improve substandard housing conditions.
   (a). Rebuild the 40 m2 house of Don Oscar and family using locally available natural materials to be earthquake resistant.
4. To ensure appropriate sanitation for 28 families, reduce need for water and reduce groundwater contamination.
   (a). Reduce water consumption and contamination of ground water with construction of dry composting toilets.
   (b). Implementation of simple bio-filters for the safe re-use of grey water in gardens.
5. To support the community design process in EL Manzano and develop a Community Resilience Action Plan.
   (a). Provide a model of community-led planning and design for community that can be replicated widely in the affected regions of BíoBío and Maule, and around the world.
   (b). Disseminate the results widely to local and regional authorities to attract attention and replication in other affected communities of BíoBío and Maule.

5. NETWORKS

Ecoescuela El Manzano (EEM) is uniquely positioned to make a big difference in the reconstruction process. EEM has developed strong relationships with the El Manzano Neighbourhood Association and Youth Group, and assisted a core team to begin the Transition planning processes here. Relationships have been formed with the mayor and local council of Cabrero and their PRODESAL programme supporting rural women in small enterprise. A partnership has been formed with the regional demonstration centre Centre of Education and Technology (CET) Yumbel to share resources and expertise. EEM is working with the foundation Work for a Brother to duplicate the El Manzano project in some of the worst disaster affected communities on the coast of BíoBío. An existing contract with the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) through the Environmental Protection Fund exists to install appropriate technology during 2009 in a community demonstration centre, and in 2010 in all houses in the village. In 2009 El Manzano was recognised as an example of best practice in community development by national organisation Territorio Chile. At a national level Ecoescuela has been instrumental in forming the Instituto Chileno de Permacultura and training a network of 140 permaculture designers and teachers. At an international level Ecoescuela is a regional training centre for sustainability in partnership with the Permaculture Research Institute, Holmgren Design Services, Gaia University and the Transition Towns Network.

6. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Ecoescuela El Manzano has committed to raise US$50,000 to augment an existing US$17,500 for this ambitious and important project in 2010.

A donation from you will help turn disaster into opportunity. Through redesign of damaged settlements we can alleviate emergency need, and invest in long term resilience.

Gracias from Chile!

advance to the worldwide permaculture community for getting behind this work. You never know – in the future you may be the recipient of such assistance.

Donate via PRI USA (USA residents)* Other non-paypal methods of donating here
Donate via PRI Australia (rest of world)* Other non-paypal methods of donating here
*Please be sure to click on the ‘Add special instructions to seller’ link, and then type ‘CHILE’ in the field provided, to ensure these fund are correctly diverted.

Recently we had a whirlwind tour of Atacama in the north of Chile, the driest place on earth. This was a learning experience rather than teaching – in this hostile and vulnerable landscape that has been occupied for thousands of years we find strategies for building resilience.

In November 2009 we were invited by Daniela Martinez and Claudio Pereira of the new organisation Permaculture in the Desert to run a weekend Introduction to Permaculture workshop. At first we were a little apprehensive about our ability to provide useful ideas and strategies to desert people, but we took this as an opportunity to learn as much as we could about desert ecosystems and the people that live there. At first a seemingly hostile landscape has revealed its beautiful and friendly face to us. This is an inspirational place. We are just as unconvinced as the locals that this dry salty place can be greened. But there are remarkable signs here of resilience. And while many of them remain completely dependent and vulnerable the desert people of Chile have much to teach the rest of us about living lightly.

Atacama is apparently one of the driest places on earth, and according to NASA may have been dry for some 40 million years. In some places the desert is sterile, and comparable to the moon in terms of life. NASA has taken soil samples south of Antofogasta that contained no life. Despite these adversities parts of the Atacama have been occupied by humans for thousands of years.

Antofogasta by the Sea

We arrived by plane to Antofogasta – hot, windy and dry – and quickly caught a bus to Calama. The dry barren landscape all around was perplexing, a vulnerable industrial city on the edge of the sea. This mining centre, founded on extraction has been here for two hundred years or so, fueling an industry. The extraction has moved from guano to potassium nitrate to copper and the provision of services to the mining industry. We shouldn’t beat around the bush; this home to some 300,000 people is a completely unsustainable city inherently vulnerable to change.

The road to Calama is busy 24 hours with trucks of sulphuric acid and consumer products moving back and forth, and busses full of workers. A train rumbles past every few hours loaded with some metal or nitrate. Some 50% of the Copper from Chile leaves these shores for yours from Antofogasta. I am reminded about the lorax, just before the last tree had been cut. This is an industrial landscape, connected intimately to millions of households all over the planet. Someone is getting rich, but the fragile desert environment and thousands of people are being exploited and poisoned. Atacama brings home to roost the reality of a globally connected extraction culture at climax.

Calama the Town in the Middle of Water

We arrive in Calama late in the afternoon, from the bus we see a patch of green in the distance against a backdrop of red and brown desert as the sun sets. We stayed at 2400 metres above sea level for a night, in Calama, meaning "town in the middle of the water". The river Loa, Chile’s longest, flows from the slopes of the volcano San Pedro, runs through the city, then curves north through the desert. Once upon a time this place would have been an abundant watering hole in the middle of dryness. In Google Earth you can see some revealing images of the landscape and the river system that tell us a lot about the patterns of this landscape. Calama with a population of 143,000 is certainly one of the driest cities in the world with average annual precipitation of just 5mm.

Lolo, a student who traveled 1500 kms from the desert to El Manzano once a month for 8 months to attend our design course in 2008, gave us a bed for the night. We were entertained by Felipe and Carolina, talking late into the night, they share stories of life here and their families, tell us about the mining town up on the hill that has been closed because people were being poisoned by arsenic. The air water and soil in this city is contaminated by it. We are later told by a mining executive that this was not the case, the city was moved because the mining operation has grown so much that the town had to go. Who to believe? We ask the locals many questions, gathering as much information as we can about climate and water, soils and wind, cultivation and communities. We are given conflicting stories; "rain… never", "once a year in January.. the main street gets flooded and full of mud", "it hasn’t rained for a long time", "it rains every year in january, a lot of rain", "its just a few spits of rain". We are not sure who to believe. 

We rise early in the morning, and resisting the temptation to stay, feed the dog and pack Lolo´s little red truck. We stock up in the mega mall with water and fruit and head out through the desert for San Pedro de Atacama. 

San Pedro de Atacama

As we drive a plume of dust rises high into the air in the distance, some kind of mining industry in the middle of nowhere. It seems every part of this place has been scraped and dug. There are signs of water everywhere, but none to be seen; rivers and bridges, erosion and dry cracked clay flats… and dust devils appearing on the side of the road, vanishing just as quickly. I am expecting San Pedro to be an uncomfortable dry and dusty place. As we drop over a ridge and down into the valley a broad landscape emerges in front of our eyes, Los Andes fading into the distance in the south. There are big volcanoes in the distance, one of which is Licancabur we later learn, over 5000 metres above sea level. There are big brooding clouds high in the mountains in Argentina, but the entire mountain range is snowless. The valley looks dry from this distance, no life to be seen. I have NASA’s data in my mind as I survey the surrounding desert – no life detected… not even a drop. The geology is exposed, a patchwork of colour, layers upon layers, stratas of rock, crumbled and folded, twisted and worn, layers of lava, and pyroclastic flows.    

San Pedro is a small community, an oasis, with a population of about 4000. The climate is obviously very dry, and with an altitude of some 2400 metres, daytime temperatures are mild year round with 25-30 degrees celcius in summer and 18-25 in winter. At home in New Zealand in spring at this altitude we find a lot of snow, perhaps some lichen… but here we can find lemons. We are closer to the equinox, above the tropic of capricorn, in what, with a little water, might be more sub-tropical. The nights are cold and temperature drops quickly, routinely below zero and as low as minus 10 in winter. They say this place receives almost no rainfall, and the locals tell us that rainfall is reducing, but that it does rain normally in January, sporadically, a mosaic pattern.

The water has a naturally high level of arsenic, much higher than the recommended levels safe for human consumption. We are retold a story by a local woman that the irrigation water arrives from the mountain in two streams. High in the catchment the water is sweet and life giving, but it curves around a large salt deposit and accumulates a higher concentration of salts. There has been talk for many years about diverting the river around the hill to reduce the salt problem, a big engineering solution.The reality is that the locals have been irrigating with salty water for thousands of years. With a rising population, pressure on irrigation water has risen, and today locals have 1.5 hours of irrigation by channel every fifteen or twenty days. They inundate small paddocks of alfalfa to feed their crops.

Desert Food Forest

There are three or more hardy desert legume trees that are growing everywhere; Prosopis tamarugo / Tamarugo, Prosopis chilensis /Algarrobo, and Geoffroea decorticans /
Chañar which all produce sweet edible seeds. These trees provide the main canopy species in the oases and are used for construction fuel and fodder. We are told that the best way to make them germinate is to feed them to pigs, and to take their excrement and bury it in a hole to wait for moisture. We find many fruiting species underneath this canopy in places. There are three or four species of adapted pear species which produce small sweet pears. Quince and Pomegranate are everywhere, peaches and grapes, some citrus, no avocado or olive to be seen. We meet Macarena who takes us on a tour, first to her site where she plans to build a house, and then to a friend on the edge of the city.

Here we encounter what appears to be a 200 year old food forest, with seven layers of food producing species from the canopy of legumes to a rich dense groundcover in the shade and root crops. There are many of the elements of a permaculture system here, but in need of some rearrangement and reconnection for functional diversity. In the valley of Jerez we find an amazing oasis in a canyon with a fast flowing stream, full of life and green. The emergent tree here is poplar, spaced widely, with big old fig trees and legumes making up the main canopy. The valley is divided into small parcels, under lock and key, where people from the village co-manage to produce their own fruit. This place is inspirational. If complex polycultural systems are possible here in such an extreme environment, then we can do it almost anywhere. For more information watch the Permaculture Research Institute’s Greening the Desert, where they had it easy compared to Atacama.

Corporacion Gen

After a few days in San Pedro we return to the coast and deliver a public presentation "Hope & Despair" in the university. We hope that we inspired a few more people to participate in the permaculture network. The next day we traveled back out into the desert to the site of Corporación GEN to start an Introduction to Permaculture Course. Corporación GEN started in the 80’s with a group interested in environmental sustainability and social networking. One of the remaining associates gave us a brief history of the organisation and its efforts to create an education centre just out of Antofogasta.

The site is around 30 hectares – a speck of green in a shimmering desert. They rely on a water supply from a pipe that brings fresh water from Bolivia. A recent leak in the pipe that flowed for a few weeks carved a one metre deep river channel that now divides the site in two. With a monthly consumption of 300 cubic metres they pay a hefty price for this lifeline. The team has established a small area of legume and Shinus molle to create a shaded and sheltered garden with various small homes, animal systems and gardens. As they all begin to age and get tired they are looking for a succession plan, to engage more young people in the project to continue the process. This place is an example of what is possible with limited resources in an extreme environment. They have applied basic strategies that are really common sense. Once again we find that with a little redesign, new elements, and the integration of existing elements like animals and compost/mulch systems productivity could be increased and maintenance decreased. 

In the shade and shelter we join with new friends committed to a simple way of living. We share food and join in important conversation about the future of our communities and strategies for building resilience back into our communities. Together we explore the reality of the current global crises as a crises of culture, one that we choose everyday. We overview the design science of permaculture as a tool we can apply now of we choose. We learn the basic principles of permaculture, and the process of design. With a new understanding of desert systems we explore various dry land characteristics and strategies. Together we discuss the realities of an extraction culture in a vulnerable desert landscape. We realise that it is not so much the ecology that is our challenge, for it is possible to live here. We already know how to design, build and live in resilient communities and need only look back a few hundred years to draw lessons from a vibrant desert people. Sure they didn’t have a perfect life, probably a hard existence, but they certainly knew that over consumption and contamination of water would wreck havoc on their future. 

Thank you Atacama! We look forward to seeing you all again in April 2010 for a Dryland Permaculture Design Course in San Pedro de Atacama. We hope that this event is a catalyst for integration and the beginnings of a transition initiative in the north. See you soon.

For more information about the design course in April please contact Grifen Hope; contacto (at) ecoescuela.cl or visit the website www.ecoescuela.cl.
The Permaculture Design Certificate course is a prerequisite to participate in the Applied Permaculture Design Diploma and in action learning degrees with Gaia University.

Ecoescuela El Manzano in the heartland of Biobio, Chile will host Gaia University (GU) International for a series of world shaping events in 2009;

• April 16th – GU Orientation: for new students seeking Bachelors, Masters degrees or Post-Masters Graduate Diplomas in Eco-Social Regeneration
• May 1st – Participatory Processes for Communities in Transition
• May 5th – GU Advanced Workshops for Year Two Students

Both will be facilitated by Liora Adler and Andy Langford, supported by our local team of emerging young leaders, designers, and teachers from Ecoescuela and Instituto de Permacultura Chile.

We want you to be part of this experience; designing and creating a global learning community, a network of living campuses, projects and people applying solutions that work, mobilising communities, leading the way towards a sustainable future.

An Invitation to join us in Chile

We are seeking to gather pioneer groups of talented and capable people with relevant experience to form regional core organising groups for a new education and teaching paradigm, applying the Gaia University model as a foundation for indigenous systems in Chile, Latin America, and in New Zealand and Australia.

We are looking for; people committed to world change through practice that exemplifies the transformation they wish to see in the world, social entrepreneurs passionate about the role of learning in the coming global transition.

We know it will be a big effort for you to travel to Chile. We will make it as easy as possible for you to join us. Contact Ecoescuela today.

Creating a Global Learning Community

At this point in time the GU orientation can only be taken in the northern hemisphere, in Germany or the USA, and is exclusively available in English. Our driving objective is to make these qualifications available to the Spanish speaking world, and to support the development of GU regional centres throughout Latin America and Oceania.

Here in Chile we are working in collaboration with Gaia University, The Permaculture Research Institute, and the Transition Towns network to build a living university; a 120 hectare farm, school and community organising for resilience, equipping people to work in their own communities developing world changing projects.

Our primary role as a Regional Organising Group (ROG) is to design and implement whole regional strategies of transition, to energise learning communities, identify, gather and develop a network of capable advisors, specialists and mentors who can support new learners in their journey to become leaders in eco-social regeneration.

Join us on the ground as part of this innovative project.

Implementing Sustainability on the Ground

We see vast unrealised potential in Chile, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand to rapidly advance the vision of resilient and sustainable communities all around the world, taking responsibility and determining our own destiny — by design.

There are many centres and organisations, groups and individuals working towards this vision that can be energised by an organised community of action learners, mentors and advisors to bring sustainability to the mainstream.

In particular there is a generation of young people emerging from the mainstream education system who are looking for alternative education that supports their ambitions to work in world changing enterprise. We are nurturing the structures and processes to support them. This is the Permaculture Master Plan in Action.

GU Degrees of Freedom

Gaia University offers a unique approach to higher learning by offering students (Associates) access to accredited Bachelors and Masters degrees and Graduate Diplomas whilst the Associate is actively engaged in self and planetary transformation.

Linking your ideals with self-directed practical experience, you act as a world changer, working for local and global sustainability and regeneration, justice and peace.

Our self-directed Action Learning methodology enables you to study locally, at work or on projects, in your own language, supported by Gaia University’s Regional Organizers, and a worldwide network of learning providers, tutors and mentors. No longer do you have to choose between earning a living and studying. With action learning your work and your projects become your places of study; a living university. In this way Gaia University is re-localising higher education.

Take a Deep Dive

Now is the time to take a deep dive into unknown possibilities, headlong into new emerging paradigms. We invite you to join this compelling initiative.

Visit the Gaia University website for further information or to fill an application form on the Admissions and Applications page. Download a Brochure A Year in Gaia U, or Contact GU Today.

For specific information about El Manzano; how to get here, accommodation and food please contact Ecoescuela directly.

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
Web: www.permaculturachile.org

Permaculture Research Institute
Chaning the World one Site at a time
Web: www.permaculture.org.au

Transition Towns
Self Organising for Resilience
Web: www.transitionculture.org

Gaia University
Degrees of Freedom
Web: www.gaiauniversity.org