Week One Entry

Wednesday the 26th of August was our first Colloquium class. A little bit scared and excited at the same time, we did not know what to expect from this course. What first caught our attention is the relatively small size of our class which contained 12 ladies only and one very interesting professor, Dr. Segal. After completing some long surveys, we discussed is the earth sustainable or not. Unanimously, we all decided that our only blue planet is very unsustainable and that change needed to be done quickly in order to decelerate the rapid destruction of earth’s resources and stop it if possible. The earth in no longer capable of supporting the exponentially increasing demands of the human population. Earth’s resources are limited, however, human population keeps growing. The rapid growth of human population, added to the increase of consumption, have put a strain of earth’s resources demanding for more food, more energy resources, more paper etc. therefore, disturbing the balance in nature. Global warming, melting the Arctic ice, climate change, increase levels of carbon dioxide produced, crops drought and many other examples are strong evidence showing to the imbalance present in nature these days. If this trend continues, disaster will occur!


What is the solution? According to Dr. Segal, permaculture is the solution!

What is permaculture?

Permaculture is an ecosystem capable of regenerating itself, without the interference form the outside world. It should contain all the living and non living organism that will make it self sustainable, ranging from the nitrogen fixating bacteria, to the green algae producing sugar, to the fungi and lichen to help plants grow faster and also aid in the decomposition of dead material and bring it back to its usable organic molecules, followed by the simple plants then more complex plants. Animals feeding on predators should also be included in this small ecosystem. Most fruit trees can be grown in the permaculture garden since they live from year to year. However, vegetables and plants surviving for only one year or less will not aid in the sustainability of the permaculture garden.

The project of this semester is to design a successful permaculture garden capable of sustaining itself. We will keep you posted on our progress, and we hope that our project will encourage you to help restore the planet rather than working against it. Thank you.