Alt Living

From Infoshop OpenWiki

--This is a workspace for a proposed page concerning topics in Alternative Living. It is a grouping of various alternative-living topics, such as Sustainable Living, Permaculture, Voluntary simplicity, Cohousing, DIY house building, Food (Vegetarian, Vegan), Guerrilla Gardening, Intentional Communities, and other aspects of everyday life.--

1 Permaculture
2 Guerrilla Gardening
3 DIY House Building
4 Cohousing
5 Intentional Communities

[edit] Permaculture

Permaculture Activist magazine $23 / 4 issues / year

The word "permaculture" was coined and popularized in the mid 70's by David Holmgren, a young Australian ecologist, and his associate, Bill Mollison. It is a contraction of "permanent agriculture" or "permanent culture." Permaculture is about designing ecological human habitats and food production systems. It is a land use and community building movement which strives for the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities.

In 2005, we celebrate our 20th year promoting the design of sustainable human communities. In North America's leading (and the world's oldest) permaculture periodical we offer information on permaculture design, edible landscaping, bioregionalism, cooperative action, aquaculture, natural building, earthworks, renewable energy, practical solutions to the challenges of Real Life, and much more.

"The ultimate end to a growth economy is the same as an analagous growth: cancer. But for national economies, the victims are nature, soils, forests, people, water, and quality of life. There is one, and only one, solution, and we have almost no time to try it. We must turn all our resources to repairing the natural world, and train all our young people to help. They want to. We need to give them this last chance to create forests, soils, clean waters, clean energies, secure communities, stable regions, and to know how to do it from hands-on experience" Bill Mollison

"Permaculture provides a new design language for observation and action that empowers people to co-design homes, neighborhoods, and communities full of truly abundant food, energy, habitat, water, income, and yields enough to share." - Keith Johnson, editor/writer Permaculture Activist; teaching staff Culture's Edge, Earthaven Ecovillage (NC); designer/consultant Patterns For Abundance.

[edit] Guerrilla Gardening

"Guerrilla gardening is the art of using a piece of land which you do not own to grow something." -Phil Cooper

[edit] DIY House Building

--Straw-bale construction: a building method that uses straw bales as structural elements, insulation, or both. It is commonly used in natural building.

[edit] Cohousing

"Cohousing is the name of a type of collaborative housing that attempts to overcome the alienation of modern subdivisions in which no-one knows their neighbors, and there is no sense of community. It is characterized by private dwellings with their own kitchen, living-dining room etc, but also extensive common facilities. The common house may include a large dining room, kitchen, lounges, meeting rooms, recreation facilities, library, workshops, and childrens's space." Cohousing.org

Point-Counterpoint:

Beyond Squat or Rot: Anarchist Approaches to Housing - Chuck Munson

Cohousing: Yuppies Kindler, Gentler Class Separation - Kirsten Anderberg