Related Projects

Renew Fairfield

This community-created site is a comprehensive resource for sustainable living in the Fairfield area.

Abundance Ecovillage

Just 3 miles east of Surya Nagar and just north of Fairfield is an intentional community that aims to be self-sustaining.

Professor Lonnie Gamble

Lonnie teaches at MUM and other regional colleges, and he has a wiki-powered site for his students.

Pharam Urban Permaculture Project

Big Green Summer faculty Brian Robbins and Kelly Custer have developed their yard into a permaculture site near downtown Fairfield.

Biotour bus

We met these folks at the Energy Futures Conference in Des Moines in June, where Lonnie moderated a panel on Food Security. They are travelling around the country in a veggie oil powered bus, spreading the word about renewable energy. They spent a few days in Fairfield, and did an excellent job describing various projects they visited around town. Check out their blog on their adventures in Fairfield here (look for the June 27 entry from Fairfield, Iowa)

Click here for an excerpt from an interview on KRUU (Fairfield's community radio station) with the Biotour group.

More links, waiting to be organized:

• Renew Fairfield - information on creating a clean, renewable energy based economy in Fairfield with case studies and interviews with those on the cutting edge of making it happen. Developed by Big Green Summer founder Lonnie Gamble's Energy Basis of Man and Nature class in 2006, the site is still under development. It is a wiki so you can add your part. http://www.renewfairfield.com
• Bullock Brothers Farm– one of the top permaculture sites in North America - http://permacultureportal.com
• Wilder Institute – our colleagues in Central America – http://permaculturenow.com
• Slow Food – radically re-think the world in terms of the pleasure and sensuality of eating http://www.slowfood.com
• Good life Center – Carrying on the work of Helen and Scott Nearing http://www.goodlife.org
• Surya Nagar Farm - Our farm projects in Iowa and Hawaii http://www.solarfarm.com
• Abundance Ecovillage – Intern project neighbors in Iowa abundance-http://ecovillage.com
• Bioneers - really interesting mix of ecological design, sustainability, and social justice. One of my favorite events. Lots of free articles, talk transcripts, and podcasts. http://www.bioneers.org
• Gaia's Garden author and Intern Project faculty Toby Hemeny’s web site http://www.patternliteracy.com
• Intern project sponsor Iowa Natural Heritage Foundations’s Agrestal Fund - http://www.inhf.org/agrestalfund/agrestal-2006/agrestal-events-2006.htm
• Intern graduate Shannon and Tom's Uluwehi Farm, North Kohala, Big Island, Hawaii - http://uluwehifarm.com
• Resources for Life - Iowa City based Greg Johnson's tiny house, local economy, comprehensive simple living web sites:

http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/erg/

http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/lifemobility/

http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/mobilehermitage/

http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/smallhousesociety/

http://www.seed-iowa.org (Sustainable Ecological Economic Development (S.E.E.D.))

Greg lives in a tiny, less than 150 sq foot house. Greg also does computer technical support - use him and support his work.

• 2007 Conference SUSTAINABLE LIVING, RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND THE FUTURE OF IOWA

26 - 28 October 2007 New Bohemia Art and Cultural District Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Big Green Summer director Lonnie Gamble will be speaking

For schedule and more info, http://www.seed-iowa.org

• Artwalk - Fairfield's premier monthly art event, winner of the 2007 Iowa tourist event of the year. Food, music, visual arts, dance, busking, spoken word, installations and several thousand people. http://www.fairfieldartwalk.com/
• Iowa Center on Sustainable Communities - Des Moines based organization, founded in 2006, with the objective of increasing the voluntary participation in conscientious building practices - http://www.icosc.com/
• Minnesota Sustainable Communities network - well designed site with lots of great links and info that applies to lots of other places besides Minnesota. - http://www.nextstep.state.mn.us/
• Rocky Mountain Institute - Like their name suggests, this organization rocks. The originators of many of the best ideas for creating a just world that can run on contemporary sunlight. Read or download the book "Natural Capitalism" on line here for free. Lots of other great resources, including a section of the web site that helps put the numbers together for community-wide energy projects - Amory Lovins for Supreme Ruler of the Planet - http://www.rmi.org
• Natural Capitalism Inc - Hunter Lovins for Supreme Ruler of the Planet - http://www.natcapinc.com
• Iowa Energy center solar and wind calculators - Excellent resources for calculating energy produced by solar electric, solar thermal, and wind electric systems anywhere in Iowa. First pass simulation for that wind farm you've been planning for the back 40 - http://www.energy.iastate.edu/renewable/
• The Danish Folkecenter for Renwable Energy - I love this place already, although I've never been there. http://www.folkecenter.dk/en/
• The Center for Alternative Technology, Wales - I've also never been here, but I have had interns who have worked here. Take the virtual tour, check out the water powered tramway. Proof that a bunch of hippies in an abandoned quarry can accomplish almost anything given enough time and the resources of the British Empire. - http://www.cat.org.uk
• Plants for a future - Just twenty plants provide the majority of food eaten, yet there are thousands of other useful plants which have not reached mainstream attention. You can find details of many of them here. Their top twenty permaculture all-star plants:
  1. Allium Species The Perennial Onions (Español )
  2. Allium ursinum Wild Garlic (Español ).
  3. Amelanchier Alnifolia Juneberries
  4. Apios Americana The American Groundnut
  5. Arbutus unedo The Strawberry Tree
  6. Asclepias species The Milkweeds
  7. Caragana Aborescens The Siberian Pea Tree
  8. Cornus Kousa Japanese Dogwood
  9. Crataegus Species The Hawthorns
  10. Dioscorea batatas The Hardy Yam
  11. Elaeagnus x ebbingei A Plant for all Reasons
  12. Ginkgo biloba The Maidenhair Tree
  13. Hemerocallis Species The Daylilies
  14. Hippophae salicifolia Willow-leaved Sea Buckthorn
  15. Malva Moschata Musk Mallow - Great for Salads
  16. Oxalis deppei Iron Cross Plant
  17. Sassafras Albidum
  18. Viola Odorata Sweet Violet

• The Maharishi School solar energy project, Fairfield,IA. A solar (PV) electric project designed and installed by Intern Project founder Lonnie Gamble and friends and interns. The project was financed by a grant from a collective of rock stars including Bonnie Raitt, Pearl Jam, REM, Dave Matthews Band and others. The grant also paid for system monitoring and you can see - via the internet - in real time, how much electricty is generated. Check it out here http://www.b-e-f.org/renewables/maharishi.shtm. Many thanks to Nelson LaFrancis for his brilliant engineering, design, and fabrication of the innovative pole mounting system.
• Stelle Center for Sustainable Community - Stelle, an intentional community in Illinois, has been involved in renewable energy and sustainable living for many years. Recently they began offering Permaculture Design Certification courses with some really great teachers. See more at http://www.centerforsustainablecommunity.org/
• Permaculture Collaborative - Group of folks mostly in the Minneapolis/St Paul area. Established in 2004, they have already spun off two other projects - the Permaculture Research Institute for Cold Climates, and the Permaculture Business Guild. They offer full Permaculture Design Certification Courses and short courses as well. Check it all out at http://permaculturecollaborative.us/.
• Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture - Iowa's premier state-run organization for sustainable agriculture. Gives out over $1,000,000 in grants per year. Headed by Jerry Dewitt and home to Fred Kirschenman. Ironically, they are funded by a small tax on fertilizers and pesticides. http://www.leopold.iastate.edu