local solutions for a global disaster

F

fille des bois

Jedi
hello everyone

In may in France, i had the opportunity to see the documentary " Local solutions for a global disaster" from Coline Serreau . It was really good and it opened my mind .When I returned home in Belgium,

I searched more informations about Claude Bourguignon because i found him captivating .

Claude Bourguignon is born in 1951 . He is a french agronomist known for his work and experiments on soil microbiology. He worked first at INRA but his work has attracted little interest so he left INRA

and found with his wife LAMS (Microbiological laboratory Analysis of Soils)where He helps the farmers to understand better the fonctionering of the soils. He travels a lot from France to Europe, America and Africa.


He was among the first in the 1970s to see the degradation of biomass and richness of the soil microorganisms ( bacteria, fungi ).

In his lecture he says there are two ways to destroy the soil : The farmer ploughs too deep , the organish matter can't be transformed in Humus with the fungi, because fungi must have oxygen to do its work.

And the fertiliser has favored the multiplication of bacteria which consume the humus.Without this humus the plant can't grow properly, it becomes sick and you have to use pesticides.

The concequence is the degradation of quality of products

An example 40% of wheat produced in Europe is so bad that they cannot make bread with it , the wheat is given to pigs.

the second way : the farmer doesn't use compost anymore ,formerly in the compost the calcium bond the clay with the humus not anymore so when it rains the clay suspended in rainwater flows to the rivier

It explains the disasters that are made around the world also the erosion and the lost of the fertile soils


Claude Bourguignon estimates 10 tons of soil per hect per year is lost in France.

The agriculture has to change in Europe to survive (92% of the farmers have disappear in 50 years)

this agriculture survives only with the subsidies of Europa and the products are of bad quality for our health .No coincidence that in France the spending of social security increased by 6% a year .

I have resumed some of his ideas

cheers

fille des bois
 
Those looking to see what they can do locally should maybe look into forest gardening. I think there is a Robert Hart video on youtube and Bill Mollison does a Permaculture films which show what is possible in different climates. search youtube.

I am in the 2nd year of a no dig garden. First year my neighbours were ribbing me about my cardboard and carpet covered lawn :) This year it producing a little more than last year, not impressive yet but I have big hopes for the next 2 years as more of my own compost comes ready . some info here http://desertification.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/no-till-gardening-sustainable-alternative-to-the-rototiller-daves-garden/

There is a plants for the future database which I have found usefull http://www.pfaf.org/user/

Apart from the food stuff what can be done in your community, community composting etc.

learn about foraging and wild food in you area, lots of tree leaves are edible in Summer there is free food everywhere.

Dwindling oil and gas? Get a wood burner?

Community wise, learn how to make a wood burner - lots of plans online. Its all very well thinking how do I look after no 1 and my dearest, but I live in a small village with lots of old folk dependant on oil heating , electric cooking and shops, so my philosphy is 'skill up to be usefull to your community' .
 
thank you Stevie Argyll i will search your informations on the net

I try to find a community who sells organic food in my area :)

fille des bois
 
Robert Hart series is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7f8NCh3s8c

Bill Mollison http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ppsE0o1kkY


Square foot gardening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Lu-7FIj_g&feature=related

You can grow food in old discarded tyres, there is a movement just now to use municipal areas that the council don't maintain to grow community food. If your community is interested get a petition to your council to transform a waste area. If you live in a community get down to your local hall, put up a poster 'Interested in growing your own food ?' and interest locals.

The idea is Fruit trees form your canopy - the high stuff, below this you can plant soft fruit like raspberrries, blackcurrants etc and on the floor you grow salad, cabbage, roots - carrots etc.
This way you maximise yield and the leaf fall from trees fertilises the ground. Make your own compost too.

I made a wormery from old plastic tubs, the total cost £6 for worms. Mines used old round containers, I drilled holes in the bottom ,the basic idea is here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ordM5TWyFLw.

Nothing is discarded, food scraps are composted, cardboard is used in compost, in wormery, or as part of weed suppressant.

Harvest your own rain water.

build your own composting toilet - must admit that I have not done this myself, so just a suggestion.
 
The slow food movement really seems to be taking off.

This spring I heard about a company that asks urban residents with large properties to donate garden space - minimum 100 feet by 100 feet (30.5m x 30.5m) so they can grow vegetables. The land owner gets a box of vegetables every week during the growing season.

The idea is to get enough donated land and workers to create a sustainable box vegetable delivery service.

Perhaps I might be more inclined to have a cooperative instead of a commercial enterprise, as it might take quite a while to get to critical mass and break even in the commercial model. But with a co-op, participants are investing space and their energy, pooling the results and bringing home a broader selection than what they would have, had they just grown on their own.

I have friend who have a small farm where they grow a wide array of vegetables and deliver boxes of food each week to a growing customer base. Customers do not get to choose what they get though. Whatever is being harvested is what you get. One big income generator for them is triple washed bagged salad. They get quite creative in what they put in various salads and many people seem to be in too much of a hurry to wash and assemble their own salads these days and are willing to pay for the ready-to-eat product.

It certainly is encouraging to see so much activity vis a vis local growing. We have lost so many small family farms over the last few decades that it got quite difficult to find local produce without going all the way across town to the farmers' market, although the selection is wonderful to see. The prices, however, have increased significantly. I can only assume they need to charge these prices just to survive. I think the historic business model no longer works and few can make the shift to a more apropos paradigm.

Gonzo
 
another link and youtube thang. Sepp Holzer is amazing, I have an hour long film of this guys 'farm' and methods. He does have a lot of land so in terms of scale it is enormous but still, there are ideas all over it.

I will post a couple of links and youtube should through all the related stuff up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3iGa539a4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzRzJRiUylg&feature=related
http://www.celsias.com/article/permaculture-miracles-in-the-austrian-mountains/
 
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