Jenny asks…
How can we make these things sustainable?
How can we reduce growing Crops for food, feed, and fibre such as cotton.
And how can we reduce making room for infrastructure such as roads and housing.
The Expert answers:
If we focused on transit concepts like PRT which can compete with the convenience of the automobile then the road infrastructure could be a lot less than they are today. Rain collection can reduce the need for water. If we encourage urban agriculture, we can make labor intensive small scale plots possible and reduce transportation costs. Fibrous material like cotton can be readily produced by modified bacteria or yeast in large vats. We have had the technological solutions to be sustainable, just not the economic or political will to do so.
Mary asks…
Are some agricultural practices or seafood harvesting methods more sustainable than others?
This is with regard to sustaining food, fresh air and water
The Expert answers:
Certainly. Agriculturally, it is important to preserve topsoil. Excessive tillage reduces topsoil to dust, which resulted in the “dust bowl” in 1930’s U.S. And can also result in useful topsoil ending up in runoff to rivers. Overgrazing – especially with goats, will also cause topsoil breakdown.
Bottom trawling is very destructive of bottom habitat, turning areas with bottom structure that provides cover for young fish and crustaceans into sandy underwater deserts.
These are just two examples of destructive practices. For info about helpful practices, search on “permaculture” and “Seawater Foundation”
Daniel asks…
where can I find inexpensive land to build a self sustainable community?
I am looking to build energy efficient and eco friendly housing, with the goal of developing a community that can sustain itself in every way possible. from food to energy, water treatment. using underground/earth sheltered construction and combining any or all methods to achieve these goals.
The Expert answers:
There are a lot of these self sustainable communities in the UK, many are in Wales but they are everywhere. The best way to find inexpensive land is to search these existing communities. They will help you, they always know about nearby suitable sites and local planning laws, pitfalls etc.
Http://www.evnuk.org.uk/wessex.html
http://www.chickenshack.co.uk/
http://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk/
http://thatroundhouse.info/permacultureland.htm
http://www.thehouseplanner.co.uk/courses.html
http://www.radicalroutes.org.uk/housing.html
William asks…
I want to make a large sustainable rabbit litter box for three house rabbits with soil, any insights?
I’m thinking of building a lined wood box about 3’X3’X3′ and filling it halfway with soil and a layer of hay on top with a ramp and food bowls inside. I figure I can just keep turning over the soil indefinately if it works right but I am just guessing at this point. Any pointers?
The Expert answers:
Get a big covered cat litter box they come as big as 1’x2’x1’x2 that should work well?
Michael asks…
I’m writing a paper on how to redesign the food supply system for San Francisco. Any ideas?
I have a paper I’m writing about how to provide large volumes of affordable, sustainable and local food to San Franciscans. The idea is to come up with policies that can be implemented both inside and outside the city to encourage production, consumption and recycling of local, sustainable foods. These are some ideas I have already: a carbon tax on high carbon foods, a water tax on water consuming foods, shifting agribusiness funds to organic growers, purchasing land in the valley in name of San Francisco and hiring growers to use the land under long term lease, offering prisoners training and experience in return for labor and reduced prison sentences, redeveloping electric rails to San Francisco to bring volumes of food stuffs in at a reduced price and carbon cost, creating tax or economic incentives for local residents to grow and compost their own food, offering food sold under a city brand in most neighborhoods for easy access at a sliding scale so more can afford it, setting up a school in city to train local growers and develop local cultivars, focus on growing perennial plants, redeveloping abandoned warehouses into greenhouses, establish an urban development zone to contain future development both in the city and around the farm land. I’m sure there’s more I could so with this. Does anyone have more ideas and especially know of any concrete examples of similar projects being done on a large scale?
The Expert answers:
Just north of you in Marin County is the company called Marin Organic. Maybe you can contact someone their for some help possibly with your project. Here’s an article about them from Point Reyes Light.
Http://www.ptreyeslight.com/Point_Reyes_Light/News_2011/Entries/2011/2/17_Marin_Organic_director_resigns.html
This next article is about my Uncle John and his continuous efforts to grow sustainable, nutritious, cheap organic foods. He’s quite an intelligent guy and is from Bolinas. He is currently working in the Mt Shasta area.
Http://www.ptreyeslight.com/Point_Reyes_Light/Home/Entries/2010/8/26_West_Marins_homegrown_security.html
Good luck with what sounds like a great project !!
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