We bring nonindustrial subsistence technology to (over)developed societies. We exist at the nexus of ancient, ethnographic, and modern subsistence. We aim to 1) identify ancient and contemporary nonindustrial technologies appropriate for use in modern, small-scale, self-sustaining infrastructure; 2) create do-it-yourself, resource-light solutions to sustainability problems; 3) provide our findings to the public for free use; and 4) create platforms to share information related to sustainability, especially solutions derived from ancient or ethnographic sources. We prize simple solutions over complex ones and eschew needless complication.
A note at the top, especially for my academic friends: this is a simplified discussion of domestication of plants for the purposes of an upcoming presentation on the history of gardening. The dates and theories have been rounded off for the amount of time and target audience. Until about 10,000 years ago, all humans on … More Gardening: The First Domesticated Plants?
As you may have read, we’re carrying out a simulation of the loss of fossil fuels in our food system (read the project description, timeline, parameters, where to hear more, and how to help). To dramatize this, we’re going to be putting out a web series that lays a fictional narrative over our nonfiction data. … More Foodmageddon Web Series Trailer
The institute will be tabling at the Wisconsin Garden Expo from Friday, February 7th to Sunday, February 9th in Madison. We’re looking for a few volunteers to help staff the booth for various shifts over the weekend. In exchange for a few hours talking to people about the institute (no prior experience or knowledge is … More Volunteer with Us at the Garden Expo in February
It has been a while since I’ve written about the walipini, but it has been getting steady work over the last year. A walipini is an in-ground greenhouse. It uses the thermal mass of the earth to help keep its internal temperature from fluctuating too quickly in the winter. It is essentially a pit with … More Walipini Update
Since October we’ve been installing solar panels, an inverter, and battery here at the institute. Last week we got permission from our energy utility to operate our system. It took longer than expected, but we’re up and running. You can read about our site evaluation, system design, components, system layout, and part of the installation … More The Institute Has Solar Power
Last year I built prototype solar panels and summarized the preliminary data gathered in some test runs (see this project’s archive here). I’ve been collecting performance data over the last year and am now ready to present the results. Data Collection The data for this analysis comes from three temperature loggers (Elitech RC-4, P.S., we … More Solar Hot Water Panels Year 1 Data, sort of — Lab Note 1.08
The last five years have been the hottest ever recorded. Sea levels are at the highest in human history . . . the point of no return is no longer over the horizon. It is in sight and is hurtling towards us. The United Nations’ Secretary General, António Guterres, stated this at a press conference … More #GivingTuesday: Help a Different Type of Sustainability Nonprofit
As a research project, this one is a little unusual. Its material costs are low and it provides a return on investment (i.e., produces food), but it is extremely labor intensive. This makes sense, though, because if fossil fuels are taken out of the food system, we’re down to what we have available and must … More Grow Your Own — Part V: Support the Project
As you’ve read all week, we are going to be simulating the crash of fossil-fuel infrastructure in our food system. You can read about the overall idea, the chronological outline, and the study parameters in previous posts. Today we’ll be discussing how we’ll be sharing our results as we go. Regular Social- and Multimedia Reports … More Grow Your Own — Part IV: Follow Along
We should define the parameters under which we’ll be carrying out this simulation. You can read about the inspiration and overall idea for this experiment in Part I and the chronological outline in Part II. Here we’ll drill down on exactly what we’ll be doing. 1. We will concentrate our growing efforts on about half … More Grow Your Own — Part III: Rules for the Experiment
