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DAY 10: Group Design Process and Designing for the Tropics (PDC 2010 with Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton)

Design Research

our piece of land to design
our piece of land to design

This is a photo of the paddock we are working with. As you can see, it’s mostly an open field sheltered by the surrounding buildings and a tiny amount of slope.

land maps, research, surrounding structures
land maps, research, surrounding structures

We did some homework and found an aerial view of the property on Google Maps and a campus map, which accurately outlines the surrounding structures.

Equipped with these tools, we set to work.

Group Dynamics

We set outside at the highest point of the paddock with a blackboard and a box of chalk, trying to fit in all the elements, but it was obvious that our design process was not very efficient…too many drivers and not enough focus…

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DAY 7: Water Conservation and Storage (PDC 2010 with Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton)

The world of water
The world of water by Snap®

Water Arithmetics

  • 97% of all water on Earth is salt water
  • of remaining 3%:
    • 14% is deep ground water (below 800ft) – this is fossil water that took thousands of years to travel from the surface. It cannot be renewed in our lifetime, and it can only be accessed using heavy-duty pumps. This is the water that modern monoculture farming is sucking up…
    • 11% is shallow ground water (less than 800ft deep)
    • 74% trapped in snow and ice caps
    • ONE PERCENT is lakes/ponds, forests, living systems, soils, rivers and atmosphere
  • There is a constant amount of water in the Earth system. Like energy, it doesn’t come from anywhere and it doesn’t go anywhere; it only changes its position and state. Hence, the water in my body right now could’ve in a dinosaur at some stage :).