The SEGO Center City Hub Moving Forward
The SEGO Center City Hub will arguably be One Community’s most important building and is purposed to demonstrate cutting-edge sustainability, to function as the community recreation center, dining hall, and laundry facility, and to offer a green-luxury option to donors, major eco-investors, VIPs, or anyone else that might not feel like they are initially ready to stay in one of our earthbag or straw bale hand-constructed homes. It will also replace individual kitchens, laundry rooms, and living rooms for One Community residents and the designs for this building are really moving forward.
Andrew Sadera (Architect Drafter and Designer) and Karl Harris (Architect Drafter, Designer, and founder of KH Designs) have added a dining area over the industrial sized kitchen as well as a second floor in the VIP room area after making space for two ADA compliant ground floor rooms. They’ve also added an elevator for ADA compliance.
Here are a couple quick CAD exports that Andrew created for a very important meeting we had on Monday with a group that has agreed to help us make this building achieve LEED Platinum certification. Much more on that later!
CLICK HERE FOR THE SEGO CENTER OVERVIEW PAGE
CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILS PAGE
SEGO Center First Floor CAD Export – Click to Enlarge
SEGO Center Second Floor CAD Export – Click to Enlarge
Free School Online: One Community Features the Khan Academy as an Ethosolution
Free school online could be the future of education and One Community is happy to feature the Khan Academy as our newest Ethosolution Idea and Ethosolution Organization. The Khan academy free online school/curriculum is easy to use, interesting to watch, covers information as simple as 1+1=2 to college level calculus, and is helping people everywhere in the world make learning easier, free, and fun. The Khan academy free-school offers free online home school courses on mathematics, history, healthcare and medicine, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics, cosmology, organic chemistry, American civics, art history, macroeconomics, microeconomics and computer science.
FREE SCHOOL ONLINE
At the writing of this ethosolution post, the Khan Academy had over 3,600 free courses online and had delivered 218,215,969 lessons (see an updated count at the Khan Academy website). Thank you Salman Khan and the Khan Academy for taking online home schooling and making it free online home schooling for the entire world to benefit and grow from.
For an overview of the Khan Academy, how they came to be, information on their founder, and the complete Ethosolution website please visit our Ethosolution Feature of the Khan Academy found here: http://www.ethosolutions.org/free-online-schooling-the-khan-academy-ethosolution/
Home Biogas Plant Design and the Advantages of Biogas for Home Implementation and Sustainability
One Community is partnered with Hestia Home Biogas to help forward home biogas plant design and promote the advantages of biogas over fossil fuels. For those who don’t already know, biogas is virtually identical to fossil natural gas, only instead of taking 65 million years to make, it can be made every day in our own backyard using a simple biodigester that requires no moving parts, special equipment, or chemicals. As amazing as this natural energy source is, it has been greatly under-utilized in the United States with less than 100 homes benefiting from it here. Meanwhile, in China over 50 million households are presently using biogas and towns in countries like Sweden operate complete bus fleets on biogas.
CLICK HERE FOR HESTIA HOME BIOGAS’ CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN
THE ADVANTAGES OF BIOGAS
- 100% renewable
- Production of energy (heat, light, electricity)
- Globally implementable and affordable
- Transformation of organic wastes into high quality fertilizer
- Improvement of hygienic conditions through reduction of pathogens, worm eggs and flies
- Environmentally regenerative and supportive through protection of forests, soil, water, and air
HOME BIOGAS PLANT DESIGN
Warren Weismann operates Hestia Home Biogas (located in Eugene, Oregon) and is one of only a handful of biogas and anaerobic digestion experts in the United States. He has over 20 years experience as a builder, heavy equipment mechanic, and power plant operator and, together with his business partner David Rasmussen, is on a mission to popularize biogas technology by offering simple, low-cost home biogas plant design classes and plans for biodigesters that are easy to build and operate to produce home cooking fuel, fuel electric generators, pumps, and water heaters. One Community has partnered with Warren and Hestia Home Biogas to demonstrate bio digester technology as part of Pod 1, open source share our building process, and to work with Warren and Hestia Home Biogas to play as large a role as possible in promoting small-scale domestic biogas as one path to energy independence.
HOW YOU CAN HELP BIOGAS RIGHT NOW
Warren and Hestia Home Biogas are doing everything they can to support making biogas plant designs and the advantages of biogas accessible and usable to as many people in America as possible. They teach classes, offer biogas supplies and learning kits, and now they are also operating a crowd funding campaign to develop a biogas stovetop that is UL approved for indoor domestic use in North America.
Contributions to this campaign will help pay for the cost of development, materials, and prototyping for a double burner biogas stovetop that is presently being engineered by Oregon State University’s engineering department. This UL approved stovetop is the final barrier to really allow widespread US implementation because it will allow biogas to comply with US building, safety, and fire codes.
Any proceeds over and above the target amount will go towards an aggressive marketing campaign to make more homeowners aware of biogas as a 100% natural clean burning option for home cooking and electric energy. Please help us make biogas a part of America’s energy future and be sure to share this link!
VIDEO OF HESTIA’S HOME BIOGAS PLANT DESIGN
ONE COMMUNITY’S OPEN SOURCE BIOGAS PROGRESS
As One Community builds our own home biogas plant we will be posting videos and links to our open source information here so please contribute now to Warren’s crowd funding campaign and bookmark this page for future reference.
Grow Your Own Vegetable Garden Organically: Tips and Tricks from the Garden Wise TV Show
Meg West is the host of the quarterly sustainable landscaping program “Garden Wise” where in this second episode, “Dynamic Organics,” they focus on tips from the professionals to grow your own vegetable garden organically and in your own back yard. For more Garden Wise episodes subscribe to the SaveWaterSB YouTube channel.
Garden Wise Episode 2: Dynamic Organics
Video Summary and Grow Your Own Vegetable Garden Tips
For those that don’t have the time to watch the whole video, here is our video summary and accumulated tips to grow your own vegetable garden from Meg and the experts she spoke with.
First Stop: Healing Grounds Nursery with Oscar Carmona
Meg’s first stop is was to speak with Oscar Carmona of Healing Grounds Nursery:
The primary reasons for people to garden organically according to Oscar:
- Taste and Flavor
- Nutrition (closer to eating it after being picked, the more nutritional content)
Soil fertility is the key, Oscar says, lots of organic matter in the form of compost and mulch make plants healthier and taste better. Commercial fertilizers are primarily salt based, while they offer Nitrogen, Phosphorus or potassium in significant amounts, they do so at the expense of the lifeforms in the soil which makes it impossible for the earthworms and microorganisms to survive there. Organic soil, on the other hand, is the way nature has kept the earth stable for 1000’s of years and we’re just helping nature strengthen that cycle. A lot of people don’t realize that plants that are conventionally grown are grown not for flavor or nutrition, but for convenient shipping and storage ability.
Oscar explains that recycling your green waste is the key for would-be vegetable gardeners. Our compost is the “gold” of rich soil so people can really do wonders for their home gardening endeavors by simply beginning to recycle (static pile or worm bin) green waste, coffee grounds, juice pulp, leftover breakfast fixings, newspapers, cardboard (mix in straw), etc. and get it into your garden! Worms do all the work because they like moist, decomposed food, and then they will decompose it further. Grab some soil and when the castings look like dirt and you can no longer recognize what it is, it is ready for compost as a wonderful addition for container gardens, backyard gardens, and anywhere else you might want to grow happy, healthy plants.
One other vegetable garden tip:
A 5 gal bucket is the capacity for keeping roots for tomato plants/cucumbers.
Grow Your Own Vegetable Garden Tips from Healing Grounds Nursery Overview:
- Improve soil fertility
- Avoid using synthetic fertilizers
- Recycle green waste
- Create a worm bin!
- When the bin looks like dirt it is ready to use
- Apply compost
- Enjoy your home grown food
Second Stop: Island Seed and Feed
Island Seed and Feed specializes in organic gardening where Meg asks how do we know if a garden product is organic? The answer: OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) stamp lets a consumer know it is safe to use in an organic garden.
Some of Meg’s Favorite Organic Gardening Products
- Malibu Compost Tea: Great for spraying on your plants and it helps to control diseases and makes plants strong
- Kelp Green: Comes in a liquid form and can be applied straight to the plants or in the soil and also helps control disease and supports healthy plants
- Eco Cast: Worm castings to take your soil to the next level
- Tanglefoot: A safe way to fight ants
- Copper Tape Barrier: Slugs won’t cross barrier
- Dr Bronner’s Soap, cayenne pepper and Tabasco are a great make-at-home spray that eliminates aphids
Another great tip for home gardeners is knowing your soil’s nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium levels. To accomplish this you can send your soil to a lab for testing and then you will know exactly what your soil needs. Here are four local labs recommended by Meg:
- Associated Labs – Orange, CA
- Soil and Plant Laboratory – Orange, CA
- PACE Turfgrass Research – Oceanside, CA
- Wallace Laboratories – El Segundo, CA
Third Stop: Kitson Landscaping with Sarah Kitson
Kitson Landscaping with Sarah Kitson is a Pioneer with organic landscaping on a commercial scale. One of the biggest challenges on a commercial level is making sure your garden looks good all the time. The #1 most important garden care product according to Sarah: MULCH.
Mulch is CRITICAL to Landscape
- Keeps weed growth down – less week pulling!
- Keeps moisture in the soil (use 2-3 inches)
- Breaks down and turns into new soil
- Can easily be created from recycled green waste material
- Only needs to be applied once or twice a year for huge benefit
Fourth Stop: Nico Lebredo of Rincon Landscapes
The folks at Garden Wise don’t promote lawns because they take a ton of water, are expensive to maintain, and are usually maintained with chemical fertilizers that are bad for the soil and bad for the environment. However, if you do have a lawn the following tips will help you maintain it.
Lawn Care Tips
- Leave clippings on the lawn to act as a natural and organic fertilizer
- Adding organic matter also improves the water holding capacity to your soil – so you save water
- Having your sprinkler on drip and only using sprinklers for lawns is another way to save water
- Adjust water percentage seasonally and turn off when it rains
- Water at night to reduce loss by evaporation
- Turn off your hose! A typical running hose wastes 9 gallons or water a minute
- Get water saving tips here: www.sbwater.org
- Check to see if you can also get rebates when installing sustainable landscaping such as drip irrigation, mulch, and drought tolerant plants
“Gardening organically is easy and it’s the right thing to do to protect the environment.” ~ Meg West
25 Mins In: Brazillian Cedar Wood Tree
At the end of each episode they are now also picking a unique tree to tell you about. This episode they discussed the he Brazilian Cedarwood Tree. Start at the 25 minute point for a complete history, series of interesting facts, and even additional books to read if you’d like to know more about the Cedarwood Tree.
29 Mins In: Firescaping
Landscape Designers Owen Dell and Billy Goodneck designed the original firescape demonstration site. This section of the show discusses how wildfires can be reduced by appropriate planning of water wise plants, irrigation and management using a zone system, several types of plants that are in the garden.
37 Mins In: Plant Rant – The Yucca
Each episode they also pick a flower and help you know it better. In this episode they focus on the Yucca a “dramatic, dangerous, and drought tolerant plant.” There are a long list of different Yuccas and Meg says, “If ever there was an architectural plant, Yucca is it.” Parts of the Yucca can be used to make soap, clothing, and even cooked and eaten.
For tons of more information and research online to help you live green and save water www.waterwisesb.org
One Community Update
We just emailed an update to a couple of our closest collaborators for global transformation and realized we should share that update here too!
Here’s what we are up to over the holidays:
Our non-profit application will be open-source and free-shared and available on the this site by the end of the year, we should have a new open-source community time and organization tracking application available within a month or so (beta testing it now), 3D renderings and next stage building plans for the SEGO Center City Hub will be done and posted within a few weeks, we’ve done a lot of work on our aquaponics designs and the first of these images should be posted here within the next week – with much more detailed plans coming over the next six weeks (or sooner), and updated energy infrastructure (280 KW solar array) details will be posted here as soon as I have time to add them to the website.
Thank you everyone for your support!
With Gratitude,
Jae
Supporters of Global Change
One Community is happy to announce three new consultants to our global change team:
Doug Pratt – Solar Expert and Solar Systems Design Engineer: Progressively focused from a young age, when the Arab Oil Embargo occurred it ignited in Doug a lifelong interest specifically in renewable energy and conservation. He has lived in passive solar homes both on and off-grid since 1980, worked in the renewable energy industry as an installer, engineer, teacher, and author since 1985, and now works for the largest solar provider in the United States. He has engineered, designed, and consulted for the solar electric industry at all levels from single huts in developing countries to large corporate mega-watt solar arrays and is now volunteering his vast experience and knowledge to the design for the One Community sustainable energy infrastructure for our Phase I build including: Pod 1, the SEGO Center City Hub, and aquaponics and greenhouses.
L’iv (eL’eve) – Architect, Engineer, and Building Expert – Beginning at an age of 18 years, in the mid 1960’s, L’iv formally joined construction trades to finance his degree work in Architecture and Construction Engineering Management. With 40 years experience L’iv has sat in every seat around the real estate-design-development-construction-finance tables, in the office and in the field. He has worked as a Laborer, Carpenter, Superintendent, Construction/Development Manager, Planner, Architect, Engineer, Builder, Developer, Real Estate Broker, Financial Planner and Mortgage Officer and more. L’iv brings a life of experience and exploring cutting edge science, philosophy, and the more esoteric sciences of manifestation, sacred geometry, and more to assisting One Community and further sharing his passion through writing Guides (see his Land Resource Guide) and consulting on various aspects of Unconditioned Love (see his website www.LiveLoveAndProsper.org) for Mother Earth and all living creatures.
Samuel Kiwasz – Teacher and Sacred Geometry Specialist: Samuel spent 22 years as a school teacher with the L.A. Unified School District where he incorporated his passion for sacred geometry into math through a class called “Geometric Drawing. The Math/Art Connection.” Leaving that career, he is now a social entrepreneur and community synergist sharing his passion for assisting people to arrive at their next level of spiritual development. Samuel operates a website called www.SacredPendants.org, teaches seminars, maintains an extensive and daily email list dedicated to forward thinking and empowering information sharing, and has contributed his sacred geometry knowledge and lesson plans to the developing education model of One Community.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR COMPLETE TEAM OF PARTNERS AND CONSULTANTS
