Channeling that North American Alchemy

In A Safe and Sustainable World: The Promise of Ecological Design, Nancy Jack Todd whips up an amazing how-to/history on practical solutions to ecological and social imbalances, focusing on key biological details to the same degree that Affluenza focuses on the theory. The forces behind New Alchemy's gaian Ark-home cum greenhouse and industrial strength wind-powered pond-scrubber are convincingly identified as none less than healing powers of nature. How did they get there? The New Alchemy Institute members started by asking the question, "Was it possible to support Earth's population over time while protecting the natural world? And if so, how?" and conclude with an outlook of great hope that bodes extremely well for the you and I, assuming that such great ideas could amass the necessary will to broad scale action.

The greatest accomplishments of the holistic approach detailed in the book are often achieved in the context of a naysayers (who ranged from amused to desperate) through the tireless and continued efforts of an ever-growing community of scientists, artists, students, and children. The community approach was probably as integral to New Alchemy's success as was the vision of their leader (and the author's husband), John Todd. Also present as supporters of the Alchemy Farm in its beginnings were such idealogues as E.F. Schumacher and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, who were both important for their work in the domain of philosophy of environment; at the Farm, these and all others who participated left their mark as a part of a beautiful synergy, much like the integrative work itself. Other books, like the Sierra Club's "Compost This Book!" impressed me with its practical and earth-friendly projects that solved challenging problems of equal ecological importance. However, New Alchemy leaves behind not just a nice mechanistic solution but an entire breathing biome, all its cycles restored and in harmony with living needs, including those of modern people.

Frightening fact: The World Health Organization estimates that 70 percent of cancers are caused by environmental factors. Cancer rates continue to rise despite Billions of dollars spent on research and treatment. Through ignorant or otherwise unintentional exposure to byproducts inherent in a corporate-controlled and economics-driven world, people are finally becoming a victim to what society has wrought. But Ocean Arks International, the contracting offshoot of New Alchemy's residual faith in natural efficiency, is working directly with these destructive entities and reclaiming unsightly waste pits as lush, abundant sanctuaries. They took stock of a sewage canal in crowded Fuzhou province and made it into a pond/walkway uniting bordering apartment communities, and they dared to transform the runoff from a Tyson, Inc. chicken farm into an energy-producing greenhouse replete with solar energy-storing fish tanks. No single person could have dreamed up the elegance of nature's own nutrient recycling program that drives these awesome solutions, but the Todd's have been imaginative enough to harness it for urgently necessary purposes. Their story comes to a close having learned and accomplished so much, and the timing is just right for renewed efforts by the next generation - yours and mine.

More Info:
John Todd's CNN Biography
John Todd and the New Alchemists on Design Outlaws

I'm happy to say my list of influential and important folks grows longer, along with great resources for further inquiry and exploration!