Pursuing Rainwater Harvesting Methods

Meg West (Landscape Architect, Permaculturalist, founder of Meg West Design, and consultant to the SEGO Center) recently produced an informational video on water conservation methods and rainwater harvesting methods that we would like to share. Since we are pursuing a mission to open source project-launch blueprint teacher/demonstration communities for the Highest Good of All, we at One Community are continuously searching out the most sustainable strategies to integrate into our own designs.

RELATED PAGES

WATER CATCHMENT PAGE | TEACHER VILLAGE | OUR OPEN SOURCE PURPOSE

Meg’s video is timely because we’ve been recently researching water conservation methods and water catchment to integrate into the design of the  earthbag village model (Pod 1). The water catchment for each different type of building and the seven different village models will be different, but the basics of rainwater harvesting methods and establishing gardens for each area will be similar.  We will base our designs around where the water comes from and how and where to channel it, using the proper tools (such as pulaskis) to move the soil and create the proper channeling.

We plan to apply the principles of both the greywater and water catchment systems specifically to the unique needs of each site, altering as we go to make exceptions for variations in plant species, soil conditions, slope, exposure, and other conditions.  We will also incorporate native plants into our designs where possible in order to utilize all of the catchment water if possible. This will allow us to depend on as little of the spring water as necessary while also ensuring any water that doesn’t get used goes back into the soil and/or eventually to the water table.

WATER CONSERVATION AND RAINWATER HARVESTING

For those who are interested, we are attaching a video on basic water conservation methods focusing on rainwater harvesting methods and how the planetary water cycle interacts with the ocean.  For your convenience, we have included a summary of the key points below the video. Enjoy!

Check out the Video Summary Below

SECTION ONE: THE WATER CYCLE AND RAINWATER HARVESTING METHODS

The water cycle is 100% dependent on our oceans.  Evaporation from our oceans condenses as vapor to form clouds and returns to the Earth as rain, snow, and hail. Since much of it is trapped as ice and snow for what could be years at a time, our immediate reliance is on rainfall.

Typically, much of the rainfall is absorbed by our natural landscapes through plants and dirt.  However, over 70% of our cities are a hardscape (non-absorbent materials like buildings and streets).  This causes the precipitation to run off and pollute streams, lakes and oceans when we could otherwise design our landscapes to take advantage of that water by local utilization. Preserving the water we have is critical because by keeping more water on site, we reduce our irrigation needs and replenish the existing water table.  With greater integration of natural landscape, more water is naturally retained and absorbed into the soil or available to funnel off for other uses.  For example, instead of using drinking water for landscaping purposes, we could use the rain Mother Nature naturally provides that otherwise runs into oceans and streams.

One of the rainwater harvesting methods that takes advantage of the rain Mother Nature provides is establishing a rain garden.   This involves creating swales and berms and utilizing native plants, rain gutters, and rain barrels.  Proper plant selection also attracts bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.  The use of gravel mulches accents the plant selection and encourages proper drainage while organic mulches around trees slowly breaks down and replenishes nutrients for them as well as edible plants.

Filling small swales with bark and gravel retains moisture and allows rainfall to be absorbed into the soil and taken up by plants.  Plants play a significant role in cleansing the environment.  Pervious pavers can also be used on walkways to maintain a clean landscape and to allow water absorption.

Rainwater harvesting methods such as establishing rain gardens are most effective once one has a proper understanding of where the water comes from, so it can be redirected for maximum landscape benefits.  Downspouts with splash blocks keep the water away from foundations and also can direct water to plants that can tolerate larger quantities, as well as prevent runoff pollution.

SECTION TWO: Â OCEAN FRIENDLY GARDENS

Another method of utilizing the water via rainwater harvesting methods is to create ocean friendly gardens.  Ocean friendly gardens are designed to prevent runoff that would eventually pollute our oceans.  The three primary objectives of these gardens are to:

• Capture and distribute water
• Use appropriate plants
• Allow water to filter down to plant roots

The initial step is to remove the turf, if any, and contour the land with trenches, berms, and swales to capture the water. This enables it to seep into the ground, recharges the groundwater in the soil, and makes it available for plant utilization.  Once the contouring is complete, a compost tea is added that serves as a biological activator.  Then old newspaper, cardboard, or butcher block paper is laid down to act as a weed barrier. Finally, an organic sheet mulch, about 3-4″, is applied.  This also serves as an additional weed barrier and both act as sponges to retain water and prevent runoff even further.  Both of these barriers will break down over time which adds nutrients that help to build up the soil. Additional mulch is added when necessary.

Before building an ocean friendly garden and implementing rainwater harvesting methods, it is important to understand where the water naturally flows on the land. The best way to determine where your water is coming from and going to is to observe its flow during a rain shower.  Since both soil and plants filter the water before it reaches the water table, the goal is to direct it into the landscape and avoid allowing it to exit on hard surfaces.  Therefore, water coming off a roof or exiting a downspout should be re-directed where necessary by the land contours or with rain diverters (simple extension tubes for your downspouts) towards your swales and holding areas.

It can then settle into the ground and not run directly into the street and end up carrying pollutants (herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, oil, automobile exhaust that settles everywhere, etc.) into the otherwise eventual destination, the oceans. As a final tip for best results with rainwater harvesting methods, try to divert water 10′ away from buildings to avoid moisture problems, particularly with basements.

Click Image for our Diversity Page

Here is our progress update (#5) for the week of 3/25/2013 and a video blog about equality and diversity good practice. We chose to blog about equality and diversity because of what is happening in the news right now and the fact that we coincidentally finished both our Highest Good Society open source project-launch blueprinting portal (that links to our diversity value and open source intentions for diversity) and our Diversity, Differences, and Similarities curriculum page for the Education for Life program! Check out the video blog and then all the other accomplishment details for this week below that.

The first 11:30 of the video below is our weekly progress update and the rest is about equality and diversity good practice, how diversity is foundational to the One Community model, and how we specifically are supporting diversity as an element of creating world change.

CLICK IMAGES BELOW FOR OUR MAIN OPEN SOURCE HUBS

Click on each icon to be taken to the corresponding Highest Good hub page.

Equality and Diversity Good Practice
One Community Weekly Progress Update #5

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – OPEN SOURCE PORTAL AND HUB COMPLETION

This last week we completed the outlining of the following open source project-launch blueprinting hubs:

• Earthbag Village Project-launch Hub
  
• Straw Bale Village Project-launch Hub
  
• Highest Good Society Project-launch Hub
  
• Highest Good Business Project-launch Hub
  

See also:

OPEN SOURCE OVERVIEW PAGE | TEACHER/DEMONSTRATION VILLAGE PAGE

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – EARTHBAG VILLAGE (POD 1) UPDATED DESIGNS

This last week we spent a significant amount of time with our architect Douglas Simms Stenhouse (Architect and Water Color Artist) working on the designs of the earthbag village (Pod 1) communal bathroom designs (incorporating vermiculture and traditional septic), our communal shower designs, and our overall layout that will provide convenience, efficiency, and ADA, emergency vehicle, and truck access.

Here is our updated shower and bathroom designs. Doug is now updating the dome shapes so they are accurate for earthbag construction.

Earthbag Village Showers and Bathrooms Layouts: Click to Enlarge

Here’s the earthbag village layout evolution #5.

Earthbag Village 5th Generation Layout – Click to Enlarge

For the evolution before this, visit our last week’s infrastructure update blog. We’d discussed a ton of details that ultimately didn’t get included in the above update. Now we’re taking the best of this update and combining it with the best of the last update and we should have what we need later this week!

For more details visit:

HIGHEST GOOD HOUSING OVERVIEW | POD 1 | TROPICAL ATRIUM

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – OPEN SOURCE EDUCATION FOR LIFE DEVELOPMENTS

The team has also been hard at work this last week working on the open source and free-shared Education for Life Program. The two newly completed pages are:

• Diversity, Differences, and Similarities Curriculum Page
  
• Reggio Emilia Teaching Methodology Research and Overview Page
  

In addition to the two new pages above we also have now propagated the results of our research into Montessori, Waldorf, Orff Schulwerk, and the Reggio Emilia Method across the Curriculum for Life, Teaching Strategies for Life, Learning Tools and Toys for Life, and building The Ultimate Classroom pages so that these pages can start taking form also.

OTHER ONE COMMUNITY UPDATES FOR THE LAST WEEK

This last week we also finished all the planting plans, cost analysis, and layout details for the Tropical Atrium and built an open source testing platform and access to our time tracking and accountability application. We said in the blog we’d been “beta testing this application for a couple weeks” but we’ve actually been beta testing and evolving this for a few months. Both of these updates should be up on this site by the end of this week or early next week at the latest!

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY UPDATES BLOG

FOLLOW ONE COMMUNITY’S PROGRESS (click icons for our pages)

 

INVESTOR PAGES

OVERVIEW | LOCATION | FUNDING

GET INVOLVED

CONSULTANTS | WAYS ANYONE CAN HELP | MEMBERSHIP

CLICK HERE FOR ALL PAST UPDATES

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – WHAT ONE COMMUNITY IS CREATING

One Community is creating a place to grow together and change the world together through equality and diversity good practice. We are creating a space that helps each other live in integrity with each other and the planet as we strive to be the greatest versions of ourselves. We do this by harmoniously respecting each other, nature, and the rest of our one shared planet.

Our goal is to demonstrate what we feel is the most sustainable, healthy, and fun environment we can create. A place based on compassion, kindness, and collaboration which will foster equality and diversity good practice. This replicable community will serve as an example for what is possible.

Throughout our design process we are open sourcing and free-sharing everything needed for construction and replication. This includes what we call “Highest Good” approaches to food, energy, housing, education, for-profit and non-profit economics design, social architecture, fulfilled living, stewardship practices and more. We are creating these resources for implementation as individual components or complete developments called teacher/demonstration hubs. These hubs will help launch additional hubs as awareness to equality and diversity good practice and knowledge growth.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – BUILDING THE FIRST OF MANY

One Community will be the first teacher/demonstration hub. It will function as an experiential-learning model that facilitates mass participation to address humanity’s most pressing challenges through: A replicable model for expansion, building seven self-sufficient village/city prototypes, becoming the world leader in open-source sustainability solutions, and evolving and expanding ALL aspects of sustainable living.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – WHY ONE COMMUNITY IS CREATING THIS

The One Community self-replicating model is capable of creating a sustainable planet within 30 years. We will achieve this by establishing successful teacher/demonstration hubs on every continent. Villages include designs appropriate for each of the five main types of climates. They also include options for even the most challenged economies. These hubs will collaborate with one another, share ideas, resources, and work together as a network to heal the planet. They will also transform the global lifestyle to a more enjoyable, fulfilling, healthy, and sustainable one.

The specifics of how One Community is accomplishing this can be found on the One Community Solution Model to Create Solution-creating Models Page. Research supporting and showing the benefits of a model like this can be found on our Research and Resources Articles Archive.

Even if we don’t achieve our ultimate goal of global transformation, a self-replicating teacher/demonstration model like this will take a relatively short period of time to positively affect millions while inspiring millions more to equality and diversity good practice.  For One Community residents (the Pioneer Team), the idea of creating and sharing the social and recreational experience with visitors is also fun, exciting, fulfilling, and an additional reason why we are creating this.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – INSPIRING SUSTAINABILITY WITH OPEN SOURCE

One Community’s four-phase strategy for the creation of solution models that create solution creating models uses open source blueprints for duplication that simultaneously address all aspects of the human experience (food, energy, housing, education, social inequality and injustice, fulfilled living, etc.). We see these areas as interdependent and requiring a comprehensive solution if humanity is to move ecologically, socially, economically, and permanently towards a truly sustainable future for everyone.

Our open source model and blueprints engage and inspire people while simultaneously making sustainable living more affordable and easy to replicate. By free-sharing the step-by-step plans people need for duplication, inviting people to participate, and demonstrating sustainable teacher/demonstration hubs as a more desirable way of living, the model will predictably expand on its own.

It is this approach we see uniting the world and leading to a new Golden Age for humanity while encouraging equality and diversity good practice. While we understand that not everyone believes this is even possible, we are nonetheless bringing together all those that do see this as possible as the non-profit think tank of forward-thinking individuals willing to design, build, and open source project-launch blueprint and free-share it for The Highest Good of All.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION TO HUMANITY’S NEEDS

One Community is open source sharing an evolution of sustainable living that addresses the complete human experience. We are doing this because we see the solutions for global food, housing, energy, education, social inequality, ethical business practices, earth regenerative practices, and a desire for a more fulfilling living experience as inseparably interconnected. As a comprehensive solution, we are addressing all these areas simultaneously and open source free-sharing everything needed for individual duplication and/or duplication as complete self-replicating teacher/demonstration communities, villages, and cities to be built around the world.

As we address and open source share these areas we will establish a living example of the first teacher/demonstration village purposed to teach others equality and diversity good practice. To maximally facilitate duplication, One Community will provide seven duplicable examples and function indefinitely as a place people can visit and a non-profit and open source think tank continuing to further evolve and share solutions in all of the above areas and more. We will also provide hands-on experience and training. Most importantly, growing upon our sustainable foundation, we will endlessly make this comprehensive solution even more widely known and globally accessible, understandable and diversely duplicable, and inspiring and desirable as a model worth duplicating.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – GLOBALLY IMPLEMENTABLE REPLICATION MODEL

The more people that are inspired and desiring for themselves what it is that One Community creates, the more demand there will be for spreading the One Community model. This leads to the directing of financial resources and resourceful people where we believe they are needed most: the establishment of additional sustainable communities around the world. We also feel this duplication will specifically happen quickly internationally due to the affordability of overseas land, less restrictive building environments, and the spirit of adventure in many people who really desire to make a difference for those who need it most. This will in turn lead to equality and diversity good practice.

To meet the increasing demand for sustainability that we are contributing to, we are coordinating with manufacturers, education institutions, individuals, and vendors, this coordination promotes equality and diversity good practice amongst all of us. This is also part of this model to help the world. Its purpose is to facilitate more engagement of the sustainability industry, produce the absolute best possible consumer value, and the most convenient delivery of goods and methodologies for building sustainable living communities and sustainable living components.

This means we not only provide education and increase needed sustainability resources, we also address the underlying roadblocks to a sustainable planet by decreasing the cost and simultaneously increasing the demand and generating financial support for global sustainability, philanthropy, and humanitarian movements and organizations.

As demand increases, so too will the ways to participate. Right now people are participating as consultants or partners donating time to our 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and others are more involved as Pioneers of the core team that will be moving to the property. We also have options for people to just follow our progress or participate through internet contribution.

Once the supportive physical infrastructure is about 30% developed, One Community will be ready to additionally expand what we offer to include scholarships, free weekend learning groups, core team members choosing to travel abroad to help others get established too, handling the marketing for all similar models operating for The Highest Good of All, and hosting classes and other sponsored events to promote equality and diversity good practice and demonstrate additional methodologies.

We also imagine the high likelihood that our organization will become a foundation that can be trusted as the donation point for distribution of monies to help others to establish this model also.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – ONE COMMUNITY’S 4-PHASE STRATEGY

One Community is building solution-creating models designed to create additional solution-creating models to specifically facilitate exponential and sustainable global teacher/demonstration village growth. The following four phases of the strategy we are applying are designed to support each other and accelerate the process globally while boosting equality and diversity good practice:

Phase I: Demonstrating a Better Way

We are designing One Community to demonstrate an experience of living that we believe most people will consider to be better because it will be more enjoyable and fulfilling. We also think most people will consider it better because it is made possible specifically through a foundation of sustainable sustainability and a philosophy that is for The Highest Good of All.

Phase II: Open Source Project-Launch Blueprinting

Everything we do we are open source project-launch blueprinting and free-sharing to make it as easy and affordable as possible to duplicate, adapt, and evolve in the manner that suits each individual and/or group’s needs. Free-sharing information like this is our aggressive-exposure engine and an aspect of One Community that will accelerate indefinitely as we continue to build our team, move onto the property, and continuously build and evolve everything that is One Community.

Phase III: Inviting the World to Participate

Everything we are open source project-launch blueprinting is designed to invite the world to participate by duplicating it as either individual components or complete teacher/demonstration communities, villages, and cities that will be able to be built almost anywhere in the world which will contribute to equality and diversity good practice. Additionally, people can join One Community as members, consultants and/or partners, or use the suggestions links on our open source project-launch blueprinting hubs to help with the design, implementation, and evolution process. Scholarships, weekend learning and work crews, and tourism will be foundations of One Community once we have sufficient infrastructure in place to support these options.

Phase IV: Universal Appeal and Global Expansion

As One Community continues evolving and establishing ourselves, everything we create and promote will serve as the engine to inspire people to align with the concept of open source and sustainable living for The Highest Good of All. We are doing this to create mainstream appeal and our path to achieving this appeal is demonstrating a happier, more affordable, and ecologically friendly model of living that advocates for equality and diversity good practice and can be built anywhere in the world.

Open source project-launch blueprinting it all is how we believe the model will spread and, possibly most importantly, that it will predictably spread even faster in the areas where it is needed most because building restrictions, the cost of land, and materials costs are in most cases lower in these areas.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – WHY OPEN SOURCE

We are creating everything One Community does as open source and free-shared blueprints because we see this as the path to a new Golden Age of creativity, innovation, cooperation, and collaboration for all of humanity while contributing to equality and diversity good practice. Our model is a solution model that creates additional solution creating models enabling people to live and collaborate globally for The Highest Good of All. The easier we make everything we do, the faster we see the world transitioning.

Every aspect of this model supports itself and contributes to its success, from the sustainable food, energy, and homes, to the social architecture, One Community Education Program, and open source sharing model itself. Each piece can be accessed, evolved, and even re-birthed as something completely new. It can be duplicated by itself or with other modules, with applications as diverse as the people who want and need them. The constantly expanding total model will additionally be able to be used in its entirety as the open source project-launch blueprint for a variety of duplicate teacher/demonstration communities, villages, and cities capable of being built virtually anywhere.

The most profound part is: the more we open source share, the more we help move everyone forward, the more people know about what we are doing and can participate, and the more successful and capable we are of project-launch blueprinting and sharing even more still. This equality and diversity good practice is all supported and made possible because:

• We have the team to produce an extensive quality and diversity of tools and resources
• It gives us the opportunity to broaden the concept of sustainability and make it more desirable
• Areas we open source expand our ability to evolve even faster through global collaboration
• Each new area open sourced expands our target audience, advancing our world changing goals
• The more we show our ability to share what we are creating, the more others will benefit and want to join this movement and mimic the part we are playing in it

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – OPEN SOURCE SHARING STRATEGY SPECIFICS

One Community’s open source strategy will evolve 5 primary types of open source content purposed to reach and service as broad an audience as possible to ensure equality and diversity good practice. This includes the following mediums of sharing that are being developed to function as standalone resources or in combination with each other:

• Video tutorials
• Audio tutorials
• Live streaming video
• Direct/live interaction
• Written content and downloadable PDFs

Maximum exposure and promotion of equality and diversity good practice is accomplished through simultaneous implementation of the following strategies:

• Free-shared audio, visual, and PDF downloads
• Scholarship and intern programs for direct learning
• Videoing or live-streaming almost all classes and activities
• Tourism option for involvement in almost all aspects of One Community
• Dedicated and search engine optimized sections of our website for each key area
• Our established infrastructure that simultaneously posts to over 20 social networks

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY GOOD PRACTICE – SUMMARY

One Community sees the issues of the world as interdependent and interconnected. To address them simultaneously, we are open-source blueprinting a more advanced standard of living by designing holistic, environmentally-regenerative, self-sustaining, adaptable solutions for all areas of sustainability. We will model these within a comprehensive “village/city” which will be built in the southwestern U.S. This teacher/demonstration hub will be a place people can experience a new way of living and then replicate it with our open source blueprints: creating a model solution that creates additional solution-creating models.

Our sustainable house designs and village model focusing on open source project-launch blueprinting earthbag home construction for under $1,500 continue to evolve. We’ve had to rethink the layout due to the development and 20′ diameter growth of the Tropical Atrium as well as conversations with the county that have led to a much more eco-friendly vermiculture bathroom design and communal shower setup. In accordance with our four-phase global change strategy, our goal with this village model is to open source project-launch blueprint this the Earthbag Village (Pod 1) as a demonstration of over 60 different artistic iterations of maximally affordable earthbag sustainable house designs. We will showcase this as a beautiful, durable, easy to build, and completely ecologically friendly and sustainable home model that can be constructed for around $1000 per structure from materials that can be locally sourced or easily and affordably shipped anywhere in the world for a total cost of less than $1,500 per structure.

RELATED PAGES

7 VILLAGE MODELS OVERVIEW | TROPICAL ATRIUM | EARTHBAG VILLAGE DETAILS

SUSTAINABLE HOUSE DESIGN OPEN SOURCE GOALS

As we continue open source project-launch blueprinting the earthbag village, build it, and problem solve and evolve it for One Community (and with others around the world) we will use this page as the portal to complete details for duplication including the additional portals for the vermiculture bathroom designs, eco showers, and Tropical Atrium, as well as the open source and free-shared specifics related to this village model including:

┏ Architectural plans for all components
┏ Detailed materials list for all components
┏ Detailed equipment and tools needs list for all components
┏ Cost analysis and best sources for materials and equipment
┏ How to build, what to watch out for, how to adapt structure
┏ How to work with local government if permitting is needed
┏ On-going maintenance and upkeep details per our on-going experience
┏ Specifics of everything you can grow in the Tropical Atrium and what kinds of yields you can expect
┏ Complete details on how to build your own Earth Bag Village and how many hours it should take
┏ How to make your build easier than ours and how to solve any problems we encountered in our build
┏ Archive and database of others building similar structures including their experiences, adaptations, etc.
┏ List of everyone who helped us design and build this so they can be contacted to help others change it

The list above will evolve into links for each bullet point to individual pages including all the open source project-launch blueprinting details people need to duplicate every aspect of this component of One Community in part or in whole.

EARTHBAG VILLAGE LAYOUT UPDATE

Here is the first new design layout by architect Douglas Simms Stenhouse (Architect and Water Color Artist) taking into account the new communal bathroom and showers – showers he is designing right now. This is not how it’s going to look as we realized a significant number of additional changes are needed, but it is a start on the new layout.

Earthbag Village Layout Evolution #4: Click to Enlarge

EVOLUTION OF THE EARTHBAG VILLAGE

Doug delivered the above drawing today and we discussed it for an hour and came up with the following evolutions:

• Improve flow for people
• Reduce materials and digging
• Account for the planned water usage and flow
• Account for the resident versus visitor population and flow
• Have adequate access to the 3 entryways of the vermiculture bathroom design
• Create and optimize 3-unit housing groups and clarify location of the 2 unit groups that remain

Here’s what the notes look like for the next iteration Doug is working on now:

Next Generation Traffic Flow and Layout – Click to Visit the Pod 1 Details Page

Here are the traffic flow and emergency vehicle notes and planning:

Visitor and Emergency Vehicle Flow and Layout – Click to Visit the Pod 1 Details Page

Here is the greywater flow and planning from the bathrooms and communal showers:

Water Flow and Layout – Click to Visit the Pod 1 Details Page

FOLLOW ONE COMMUNITY’S PROGRESS

Facebook Updates Page | LinkedIn | Twitter

Here’s our update (#4) for the week of 3/17/2013 where we explore what is For the Highest Good of All and being a Highest Good of All organization. We also discuss creation of self-sufficient and self-replicating teacher/demonstration communities, villages, and cities to be built around the world.

• Here’s our project overview
• Here’s our world-change methodology
• We are open source and free-sharing do-it-yourself designs for these areas first: (click icons for details)

CLICK IMAGES BELOW FOR OUR MAIN OPEN SOURCE HUBS

Click on each icon to be taken to the corresponding Highest Good hub page.

What is For The Highest Good of All
One Community Weekly Progress Update #4

NEW CONSULTANT TO THE TEAM

Welcome Charles McLean to the team! –> THE BLOG ABOUT THAT (also contains the most recent SEGO Center 3/21/2013 CAD design export)

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – FIRST GENERATION 3D TROPICAL ATRIUM IMAGES

Thanks to the amazing donation of time (and skill) by John Bassist, we now have the beginnings of a 3D rendering of the Tropical Atrium! These images are only the first generation, with a bunch of fine-tuning tweaks still needed, but they are a step in the right direction and a great example of the Tropical Atrium component in progress.

Click Image to Visit the Tropical Atrium Open Source Project-launch Blueprint Hub

THESE NEW PAGES WERE CREATED FOR PEOPLE TO SHARE THEIR INPUT

We created two pages this week to help people share their ideas with One Community:

• Highest Good Infrastructure Suggestions
• Conscious Music Project Suggestions Page (and “Give Love” our newest addition to the project)

Here are the open source portals that we completed as of this week:

• SEGO Center City Hub Portal
• Sustainable Food Systems Portal
• Tropical Atrium Portal
• Education Portal

We also created an easier to interact with version of our One Community Agreement for Pioneer applicants and added an FAQ to the bottom of the new page:

• The One Community Agreement and FAQ for those interested in becoming a community member

WE MADE SIGNIFICANT SEGO CENTER CITY HUB UPDATES THIS LAST WEEK

Here’s the blog that shows the image for the following updates:

• Addition of 4th floor bathrooms
• New Living Dome central bathrooms
• Removal of walls in the 2nd floor Living Dome area
• Addition of a mezzanine access walkway in the Dining Dome
• Additional expansion of the central natural pool and hot tub area

WE DID A PONDERTALK RADIO INTERVIEW THIS LAST WEEK

Here the link to that interview.

WE ALSO CREATED TWO NEW EDUCATION FOR LIFE PAGES

The amount of time and energy that is going into research and development of this open source and free-shared education program is immense. Here are the two newest pages:

ORFF SCHULWERK METHOD EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OVERVIEW PAGE (click the image)

Click to Visit the Orff Schulwerk Method Research Overview Page

THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS EDUCATION CURRICULUM PAGE (click the image to visit the page)

Click to Visit the Interconnectedness Education for Life Curriculum Page

AND WE PRODUCED THIS WEEKLY UPDATES BLOG – CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE

FOLLOW ONE COMMUNITY’S PROGRESS (click icons for our pages)

 

INVESTOR PAGES

OVERVIEW | LOCATION | FUNDING

GET INVOLVED

CONSULTANTS | WAYS ANYONE CAN HELP | MEMBERSHIP

CLICK HERE FOR ALL PAST UPDATES

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – WHAT ONE COMMUNITY IS CREATING

One Community is creating a place to grow together and change the world together. We are creating a space that helps each other live in integrity with each other and the planet as we strive to be the greatest versions of ourselves. We do this by harmoniously respecting each other, nature, and the rest of our one shared planet.

Our goal is to demonstrate what we feel is the most sustainable, healthy, and fun environment we can create while maintaining what is for the highest good of all. A place based on compassion, kindness, and collaboration. This replicable community will serve as an example for what is possible.

Throughout our design process we are open sourcing and free-sharing everything needed for construction and replication. This includes what we call “Highest Good” approaches to food, energy, housing, education, for-profit and non-profit economics design, social architecture, fulfilled living, stewardship practices and more. We are creating these resources for implementation as individual components or complete developments called teacher/demonstration hubs. These hubs will help launch additional hubs as awareness and knowledge growth in what is for the highest good of all.

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – BUILDING THE FIRST OF MANY

One Community will be the first teacher/demonstration hub. It will function as an experiential-learning model that facilitates mass participation to address humanity’s most pressing challenges through: A replicable model for expansion, building seven self-sufficient village/city prototypes, becoming the world leader in open-source sustainability solutions, and evolving and expanding ALL aspects of sustainable living while encouraging what is for the highest good of all.

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – WHY ONE COMMUNITY IS CREATING THIS

The One Community self-replicating model is capable of creating a sustainable planet within 30 years. We will achieve this by establishing successful teacher/demonstration hubs on every continent. Villages include designs appropriate for each of the five main types of climates. They also include options for even the most challenged economies. These hubs will collaborate with one another, share ideas, resources, and work together as a network to heal the planet while advocating for what is for the highest good of all. They will also transform the global lifestyle to a more enjoyable, fulfilling, healthy, and sustainable one.

The specifics of how One Community is accomplishing this can be found on the One Community Solution Model to Create Solution-creating Models Page. Research supporting and showing the benefits of a model like this can be found on our Research and Resources Articles Archive.

Even if we don’t achieve our ultimate goal of global transformation, a self-replicating teacher/demonstration model like this will take a relatively short period of time to positively affect millions while inspiring millions more who will put efforts towards what is for the highest good of all.  For One Community residents (the Pioneer Team), the idea of creating and sharing the social and recreational experience with visitors is also fun, exciting, fulfilling, and an additional reason why we are creating this.

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – INSPIRING SUSTAINABILITY WITH OPEN SOURCE

One Community’s four-phase strategy for the creation of solution models that create solution creating models uses open source blueprints for duplication that simultaneously address all aspects of the human experience (food, energy, housing, education, social inequality and injustice, fulfilled living, etc.). We see these areas as interdependent and requiring a comprehensive solution if humanity is to move ecologically, socially, economically, and permanently towards a truly sustainable future for everyone.

Our open source model and blueprints engage and inspire people while simultaneously making sustainable living more affordable and easy to replicate. By free-sharing the step-by-step plans people need for duplication, inviting people to participate, and demonstrating sustainable teacher/demonstration hubs as a more desirable way of living and boosting what is for the highest good of all, the model will predictably expand on its own.

It is this approach we see uniting the world and leading to a new Golden Age for humanity towards what is for the highest good of all. While we understand that not everyone believes this is even possible, we are nonetheless bringing together all those that do see this as possible as the non-profit think tank of forward-thinking individuals willing to design, build, and open source project-launch blueprint and free-share it for The Highest Good of All.

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION TO HUMANITY’S NEEDS

One Community is open source sharing an evolution of sustainable living that addresses what is for the highest good of all and the complete human experience. We are doing this because we see the solutions for global food, housing, energy, education, social inequality, ethical business practices, earth regenerative practices, and a desire for a more fulfilling living experience as inseparably interconnected. As a comprehensive solution, we are addressing all these areas simultaneously and open source free-sharing everything needed for individual duplication and/or duplication as complete self-replicating teacher/demonstration communities, villages, and cities to be built around the world.

As we address and open source share these areas we will establish a living example of the first teacher/demonstration village purposed to teach others about what is for the highest good of all. To maximally facilitate duplication, One Community will provide seven duplicable examples and function indefinitely as a place people can visit and a non-profit and open source think tank continuing to further evolve and share solutions in all of the above areas and more. We will also provide hands-on experience and training. Most importantly, growing upon our sustainable foundation, we will endlessly make this comprehensive solution even more widely known and globally accessible, understandable and diversely duplicable, and inspiring and desirable as a model worth duplicating.

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – GLOBALLY IMPLEMENTABLE REPLICATION MODEL

The more people that are inspired and desiring for themselves what it is that One Community creates, the more demand there will be for spreading the One Community model and endorsing what is for the highest good of all. This leads to the directing of financial resources and resourceful people where we believe they are needed most: the establishment of additional sustainable communities around the world. We also feel this duplication will specifically happen quickly internationally due to the affordability of overseas land, less restrictive building environments, and the spirit of adventure in many people who really desire to make a difference for those who need it most.

To meet the increasing demand for sustainability that we are contributing to, we are coordinating with manufacturers, education institutions, individuals, and vendors. This is also part of this model to help the world in pushing for what is for the highest good of all. Its purpose is to facilitate more engagement of the sustainability industry, produce the absolute best possible consumer value, and the most convenient delivery of goods and methodologies for building sustainable living communities and sustainable living components.

This means we not only provide education and increase needed sustainability resources, we also address the underlying roadblocks to a sustainable planet by decreasing the cost and simultaneously increasing the demand and generating financial support for global sustainability, philanthropy, and humanitarian movements and organizations.

As demand increases, so too will the ways to participate. Right now people are participating as consultants or partners donating time to our 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and others are more involved as Pioneers of the core team that will be moving to the property. We also have options for people to just follow our progress or participate through internet contribution.

Once the supportive physical infrastructure is about 30% developed, One Community will be ready to additionally expand what we offer to include scholarships, free weekend learning groups, core team members choosing to travel abroad to help others get established too, handling the marketing for all similar models operating for The Highest Good of All, and hosting classes and other sponsored events to promote and demonstrate additional methodologies while promoting what is for the highest good of all.

We also imagine the high likelihood that our organization will become a foundation that is known for championing what is for the highest good of all and that can be trusted as the donation point for distribution of monies to help others to establish this model also.

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – ONE COMMUNITY’S 4-PHASE STRATEGY

One Community is building solution-creating models designed to create additional solution-creating models to specifically facilitate exponential and sustainable global teacher/demonstration village growth. The following four phases of the strategy we are applying are designed to support each other and accelerate the process of what is for the highest good of all globally by:

Phase I: Demonstrating a Better Way

We are designing One Community to demonstrate an experience of living that we believe most people will consider to be better because it will be more enjoyable and fulfilling. We also think most people will consider it better because it is made possible specifically through a foundation of sustainable sustainability and a philosophy that is for The Highest Good of All.

Phase II: Open Source Project-Launch Blueprinting

Everything we do we are open source project-launch blueprinting and free-sharing to make it as easy and affordable as possible to duplicate, adapt, and evolve in the manner that suits each individual and/or group’s needs. Free-sharing information like this is our aggressive-exposure engine and an aspect of One Community that will accelerate indefinitely as we continue to build our team, move onto the property, and continuously build and evolve everything that is One Community.

Phase III: Inviting the World to Participate

Everything we are open source project-launch blueprinting is designed to invite the world to participate by duplicating it as either individual components or complete teacher/demonstration communities, villages, and cities that will be able to be built almost anywhere in the world. Additionally, to help us achieve what is for the highest good of all, people can join One Community as members, consultants and/or partners, or use the suggestions links on our open source project-launch blueprinting hubs to help with the design, implementation, and evolution process. Scholarships, weekend learning and work crews, and tourism will be foundations of One Community once we have sufficient infrastructure in place to support these options.

Phase IV: Universal Appeal and Global Expansion

As One Community continues evolving and establishing ourselves, everything we create and promote will serve as the engine to inspire people to align with the concept of open source and sustainable living for The Highest Good of All. While we are doing this to create mainstream appeal and our path to achieving what is for the highest good of all, this appeal is demonstrating a happier, more affordable, and ecologically friendly model of living that can be built anywhere in the world.

Open source project-launch blueprinting it all is how we believe the model will spread and, possibly most importantly, that it will predictably spread even faster in the areas where it is needed most because building restrictions, the cost of land, and materials costs are in most cases lower in these areas.

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – WHY OPEN SOURCE

We are creating everything One Community does as open source and free-shared blueprints because we see this as the path to a new Golden Age of creativity, innovation, cooperation, and collaboration for all of humanity which will lead to what is for the highest good of all. Our model is a solution model that creates additional solution creating models enabling people to live and collaborate globally for The Highest Good of All. The easier we make everything we do, the faster we see the world transitioning.

Every aspect of this model supports itself and contributes to its success, from the sustainable food, energy, and homes, to the social architecture, One Community Education Program, and open source sharing model itself. As a way of advocating for what is for the highest good of all, each piece can be accessed, evolved, and even re-birthed as something completely new. It can be duplicated by itself or with other modules, with applications as diverse as the people who want and need them. The constantly expanding total model will additionally be able to be used in its entirety as the open source project-launch blueprint for a variety of duplicate teacher/demonstration communities, villages, and cities capable of being built virtually anywhere.

The most profound part of what is for the highest good of all is: the more we open source share, the more we help move everyone forward, the more people know about what we are doing and can participate, and the more successful and capable we are of project-launch blueprinting and sharing even more still. This is all supported and made possible because:

• We have the team to produce an extensive quality and diversity of tools and resources
• It gives us the opportunity to broaden the concept of sustainability and make it more desirable
• Areas we open source expand our ability to evolve even faster through global collaboration
• Each new area open sourced expands our target audience, advancing our world changing goals
• The more we show our ability to share what we are creating, the more others will benefit and want to join this movement and mimic the part we are playing in it

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – OPEN SOURCE SHARING STRATEGY SPECIFICS

One Community’s open source strategy will evolve 5 primary types of open source content purposed to reach and service as broad an audience as possible. This includes the following mediums of sharing that are being developed to function as standalone resources or in combination with each other:

• Video tutorials
• Audio tutorials
• Live streaming video
• Direct/live interaction
• Written content and downloadable PDFs

Maximum exposure is accomplished through simultaneous implementation of the following strategies:

• Free-shared audio, visual, and PDF downloads
• Scholarship and intern programs for direct learning
• Videoing or live-streaming almost all classes and activities
• Tourism option for involvement in almost all aspects of One Community
• Dedicated and search engine optimized sections of our website for each key area
• Our established infrastructure that simultaneously posts to over 20 social networks

WHAT IS FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL – SUMMARY

One Community sees the issues of the world as interdependent and interconnected. To address them simultaneously, we are open-source blueprinting a more advanced standard of living by designing holistic, environmentally-regenerative, self-sustaining, adaptable solutions for all areas of sustainability. We will model these within a comprehensive “village/city” which will be built in the southwestern U.S. This teacher/demonstration hub will be a place people can experience a new way of living and then replicate it with our open source blueprints: creating a model solution that creates additional solution-creating models.

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