Garden Project Grant Awarded to MSRS Grad Student

In December 2008, The Garden Project, a public medicinal plant garden founded by Jennifer Strouse as part of her thesis research, received a grant from The Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation. The Lyle Center is partnering with the Natural Healing Institute of Naturopathy, Inc. (NHI) to develop The Garden Project.

Through this project, Jennifer is integrating three fields of study, including garden design, herbal science and regenerative studies into a design style called medicinal plant landscape design (MPLD), which will be applied to the design of a 1.5 acre medicinal plant garden in Encinitas, CA.

MPLD emphasizes the restoration of human health and the maintenance of environmental harmony through practices in sustainable landscape design. The medicinal plant landscape will contain botanical plants that support the improvement of several health conditions and regenerative technologies that emphasize the conservation of water and energy. Demonstaration of landscape energy and water conservation practices in the garden will include solar powered lighting, rainwater collection, drip and low water-use irrigation, and a green roof.

Through consultation with Dr. Schecther, the director of NHI, medicinal plants will be incorporated into the landscape that aid in the restoration of body systems. The entire garden will be designed in sections defined by human physiological systems. Categories include the cardiovascular, digestive, liver, nervous, respiratory, reproductive, skin, and the musculoskeletal systems. Plants will be incorporated in each section that benefit common health conditions occurring in the body systems. A virtual garden website will be generated that provides instructions on how to harvest and process the plants, make medicine from them and how to organically maintain the garden.

The funding from The Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation will aid in the development of the "nervous system" section of the garden. Students from Cal Poly Pomona will help to design and build a counseling structure made of bamboo with a green roof. Herbs that help restore the nervous system, including passion flower and hops will grow up the sides of the structure. Other plants used to balance various nervous system conditions such as anxiety, loss of memory, depression, insomnia, headaches and stress will also be planted.

Once the nervous system garden is installed, free tours and classes will be held once a month for six months in order to promote the growth and utilization of botanical medicines and regenerative technologies. The Garden Project will be available to the public as a model for designing personalized residential health gardens in San Diego County.

Juan Araya, LCRS staff member and lecturer, writes about the 2008 student trip to Nicaragua

Once again the RS 499 Sustainable Community Development class, along with Jason Selwitz (MSRS alumnus 2007 now working with Green Empowerment) and I took a group of students to Nicaragua for a ten day immersion class to gain first-hand experience with the implementation of sustainable community projects related to renewable energies in a developing country. In keeping with Cal Poly Pomona's "learn by doing" approach, students were fully involved in the implementation of the community projects.

The immersion class is part of the commitment of the Lyle Center to promote and demonstrate sustainable living. Students not only learned the ins and outs of project implementation but also shared time with individuals who are in need of technology because the infrastructure of the country isn't available to them.

Starting out in Bramadero

We spent four days in Bramadero, a small rural community of about 30 homes, located about 90 kilometers Northwest of Managua, Nicaragua's capital city. Until last year, Bramadero was a community without running potable water or electricity. With the help of Asofenix, a local NGO (non-governmental organziation), Bramadero was able to get a well installed that runs on solar energy which now provides water to one faucet per household.

This year, Jason and I, along with all the students and community members, worked side-by-side to accomplish a variety of projects for the community of Bromadero. We built four more efficient wood burning stoves, a bio-digester as a demonstration for the community, started a nursery of 400 forest trees and provided workshops for children on oral hygiene and basic hand-washing techniques.

The more efficient stoves still use wood as the energy source but use it more efficiently. Heat is retained inside the sotve for a longer period of time, thus reducing the amount of  wood that is burned. The improved stoves have chimneys that provide an outlet for the smoke to the outside of the house, which is not common in the current stoves being used in Bramadero. The stoves were built with a mixture of sand, horse manure and clay. The materials were mixed and moistened, then compressed into a rectangular mold; the desired holes were dug out and once they dried, a chimney stack was installed.

The hike to Orozco

We then visited the community of Orozco, where we installed three photovoltaic systems which now provide electricity to homes. To get to Orozco, the group had to hike for 1.5 hours in rugged terrain with a steep slope. Once on top of the mountain, the group was given a solar 101 lecture by Jaime Munoz, Asofenix's director, and then broke up into groups to do the installations. The projects included installation of the solar panels on the roof and all necessary wiring to charge the controller, battery and light bulbs. The installations were completed in record time; the groups were given five hours to do the work and finished in four - very impressive for students without previous solar installation knowledge. For the homeowners, this was the first time they had electricity in their houses. After we finished, each group was treated to a delicious lunch provided by the homeowner. The group in which I participated got a delicious piece of homegrown chicken and a glass of passion fruit drink.

Other activities included visits to a micro-hydro plant which provides basic electricity to 20 homes (including a coffee de-pulper installed by last year's Cal Poly group) in the community of Malacatoya. 

Not all was work. Relaxing activities included a community party in Bramadero, swimming in a tropical forest waterfall, visiting the Masaya volcano, shopping for souvenirs in the Masaya craft market, and attending a concert by Carlos Mejio Godoy, credited with writing the Nicaraguan folklore songbook.

This tour class has been a very fulfilling experience in my life. Being able to start and finish a project that changes people's lives is a great feeling. I cannot help but to wonder why in the US, where all is possible, there are not more homes using renewable energy. These forms of energy have been around for quite a while, and mostly what we have done is to talk about it, whereas in places where things do not come easy, individuals with so little are using renewable energy. I hope that our work will serve as an example to other communities in Nicaragua and other developing nations to start looking at renewable energy as a way to stop environmental pollution while at the same time improve individuals' well being. 

Biodigester 

Students install solar panels

Building a more efficient wood burning stove

Teaching about basic hygiene

More MSRS Grads!

We promised more grads and here they are, two more grad students from the 2008-2009 cohort.

Shannon Feeney

Shannon received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine in March 2007. Prior to graduation, she interned at the Channel Islands National marine Snctuary in Santa Barbara. She has been working at Tetra Tech, Inc. in Long Beach as an environmental scientist since February 2007. Her 40-hour Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hazardous Waste and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) certification allows her to monitor the safety of work sites during groundwater sampling and drilling operations. Other specialties include identifying avifauna and assisting with eelgrass (Zostera marina) monitoring projects in marinas throughout Southern California.

Alana Rivadeneyra

Alana is from Pomona, CA and obtained a B.S. in Earth Systems Science and Policy from California State Monterey Bay (CSUMB) in 2007. For her senior capstone project, she conducted a solid waste audit for the University's Science Academic Center to observe the waste stream and make recommendations to increase diversion from the landfill. Her interests include solid waste reduction, recycling, zero waste communities, and learning about waste reduction methods from around the globe.

MSRS Program Welcomes New Cohort

Fall, 2008 marked the beginning of the fifth year of our Master of Science program in Regenerative Studies. This year's cohort of graduate students, thirteen in all, is an accomplished and enthusiastic group. The students have a wide range of backgrounds that uphold the interdisciplinary approach of the program. We look forward to seeing great things from them and promise to keep you posted as they complete their first year and decide on their thesis subjects. Here is the first round of bios, with more to come!

Carolyn LaPrade

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Carolyn comes to the MSRS program with a Bachelors of Science in urban and Regional Planning from Cal Poly Pomona. She currently works as an environmental planner at RBF Consulting, a planning and engineering firm in Ontario. Carolyn's interests include passive solar design, organic gardening, and new regenerative or sustainable technologies and practices. She is always looking for problems to solve!

Myles McGray

Myles is a native Michigander and has a B.A. from Oakland University. His interests include design and implementation of sustainable built forms.

Rosemary Squires

Rosemary graduated in 2005 from Colorado State University with degrees in English and Asian Studies. She combined her interest in Asian culture with her passion for languages and teaching when she traveled abroad to teach English in Asia. The MSRS program brought Rosemary back to the states after teaching for nearly three years. While she is still exploring options for her thesis, some areas of interest include community gardens, food production management at the Lyle Center, and integration of regenerative topics into high school curricula.