How to Make a Change in the World: One Community Weekly Progress Update #17

One Community is purposed to provide people with a clear and positive path for how to make a change in the world while helping themselves. The path to individual life transformation and enrichment that we see as most compelling is a demonstration of more fulfilled living, a culture of personal growth, and contribution to global sustainability. Our method for spreading and sharing these ideas is the creation of open source and free-shared plans for sustainable and self-sufficient teacher/demonstration villages that we will be building and then helping other to build all around the world.

This is our weekly progress update (#17) covering our accomplishments for the week of June 17th, 2013.

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How to Make a Change in the World
One Community Weekly Progress Update #17

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Here are the details of our progress for the last week and everything discussed in the above video…

OPEN SOURCE EARTHBAG VILLAGE

The earthbag architecture village (Pod 1) is the first of seven different sustainable village models we will be building as a path for those interested in how to make a change in the world through sustainable living. The earthbag village was chosen as the first village to be built because we believe it will be the most affordable and easy to duplicate. This week we redesigned and updated the open source portal for this first village model adding the following clarifying sections:

• What is the Earthbag Village
• Why an Earthbag Village
• Ways to contribute
• Consultants
• The Earthbag Open Source Portal (Collaborative resource and information hub)
• Additional Design Elements
• Summary
• FAQ

COMPLETION OF THE EARTHBAG VILLAGE TOOLS & EQUIPMENT PAGE

This week we completed two sections of the open source and free-shared earthbag home and village construction tools and equipment needs page. The goal of this page is to provide precise tool and equipment needs for every component of the earthbag village:

• Tools and equipment needs just for building one dome home or a 3-dome cluster
• Tool and equipment needs just for building the vermiculture toilets and the communal showers
• Tool and equipment needs just for building the Tropical Atrium and all its individual components
  
• Tool and equipment needs just for building the complete earthbag village including all components
  
• Summary
• FAQ

EARTHBAG VILLAGE 3D PROGRESS

With the help of our friend of the project Devin Porter, we have also continued to move forward on the 3D renderings for the complete earthbag architecture village. Here are the most recent screenshots and updates from this 3D progress:

The Open Source Earthbag Village Evolving in 3D – Click to Visit the Open Source Portal

OPEN SOURCE AQUAPINI AND SUSTAINABLE FOOD PRODUCTION PROGRESS

One Community’s food infrastructure is another For The Highest Good of All area we consider as an opportunity for those interested in how to make a change in the world. Just as we will be showcasing a diversity of sustainable housing modes and alternative energy infrastructure, so too will we showcase a diversity of food production methodologies ranging from earth-regenerative permaculture farming to greenhouses to aquaponics farms. Here’s this weeks progress in this area.

AQUAPINI PROGRESS 3D PROGRESS

Ziggy Tolnay (Database Systems Designer and Founder of The RBE10K Project) continues to progress on the aquapini 3D designs now with the additional help of our partner Avery Ellis (Aquaponics Specialist and owner/operator of Integrated Aquaponics) double checking the plumbing and filtration. Here are the most recent 3D export photos:

The Large-scale Aquapini Evolving in 3D – Click to Enlarge

AQUAPINI PLANTING AND HARVESTING PROGRESS

We’ve also completed the research, formatting and refinement of the next 10 trees and plants for the  large-scale production aquapini structure and added them to the Large-scale Food Production Aquapini Planting and Harvesting Details. The goal is to demonstrate a combination of quality, volume, and food diversity that significantly exceeds what most people have available to them at the grocery store. Here’s one of the new examples to this house that demonstrate this:

#8A :: Synsepalum dulcificum (Miracle Fruit, Munga)

Miracle fruit is an evergreen shrub in the Sapotaceae native to West Africa, where it grows in the understory. Forming an oval to pyramidal shaped bush or small tree, this tropical plant  grows very slowly to a height of 4-6 feet in a container, and 10-15 feet in its natural habitat. Synsepalum dulcificum has deep green, elongated leaves, small brown flowers, and tiny red fruits.

The fruit is a ½ inch long red berry, that is mostly seed. The “miracle” is that the scant flesh contains a unique glycoprotein called miraculin. This protein binds to the taste receptors so that sour is perceived as sweet. A lemon eaten after a miracle berry tastes like the sweetest lemonade. This effect lasts for about thirty minutes or until the protein is washed away by saliva or drinking liquids.

PLACEMENTS

A group of Synsepalums will be planted at the bottom of the slope planting where they will benefit from the moisture draining from upslope. We will receive these as small seedling plants.

CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Trees prefer partial shade, and require acidic soil
• The yield is improved by pinching out terminal buds
• Synsepalum will react badly to chlorinated tap water
• Trees require steady moisture, and will drop leaves and fruit if dry
• They show chlorosis in alkaline soils and must be treated with chelated iron
• These trees are very tropical in their requirements and must be kept above 32F
• If the berries are continually picked, the plant can flower and fruit continuously
• Apparently no one knows if the miraculin gene can be bred into other Sapotaceae
• Of the species of Synsepalum in central Africa, only S. dulcificum contains miraculin

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Wikipedia – Miracle Fruit 

 SEGO CENTER DUPLICABLE CITY HUB PROGRESS

We consider the SEGO Center City Hub as foundational for our open source blueprint for creating world change because:

• Anyone that duplicates this component of our project will be able to operate it as an eco-tourism destination and build any one of our open source Pod models around it to start their own off-grid low-impact city as per our global change strategy and duplication goals
• Our established partnerships will make all components of the One Community SEGO Center affordable and capable of being shipped anywhere in the world for easy replication
• We will be open source sharing our blueprints, permitting process, and all aspects of the construction process from groundbreaking to completion. This means anyone following our model will know what to expect and where to turn for help if they need it
• The One Community SEGO Center will offer and represent a unique experience which we feel will entice people to visit One Community for the first time that normally wouldn’t. What they experience with the rest of One Community, is what we believe will then lead them to return and/or desire to duplicate the SEGO Center and/or other components of the sustainable teacher/demonstration village model for themselves
• Construction of this building and all related infrastructure does not require the use of any heavy machinery

This week, with the help of Karl Harris (Architect Drafter, Designer, and founder of Harris Design & Technology Services) we redesigned the laundry area to make space for the number of laundry units we will need there. Here is the most recent CAD export showing this redesign:

SEGO Center City Hub 6/25/2013 CAD Export – Click Image to Visit the Open Source Hub with Images You Can Enlarge

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