summer newsletter 2015 esalen sustainability news · 2016-05-28 · permaculture, biomimicry and...
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S U M M E R N E W S L E T T E R 2 0 1 5
Save the Date!
Esalen Sustainability News
September 6-11, 2015
September’s Visiting Teacher: Nathan Ayers
Visiting Teacher
Permaculture , Biomimicry and Systems Thinking - Working with Nature Towards Lives of Abundance Join Permaculture educator Nathan Ayers this September on a journey through the principles, ethics, and applications of permaculture, biomimicry and systems thinking. As founding director of Chiwara Permaculture Research & Education, Nathan has been teaching students and leaders across America how to make the transition away from fossil fuels, and towards self-‐sufficiency. This transition is all about becoming producers rather than consumers, and reintegrating humanity with Nature's abundant brilliance. Nathan's curriculum is based on taking responsibility for yourself and your family, in the areas of food, energy, water, building, transportation and waste. Students leave his courses with the tools needed to initiate personal transformation, self-‐sufficiency and community resilience.
Nathan will offer five, two-‐hour evening classes and five mini-‐lectures during the day, out in the field. There will be lots of opportunities to learn, and more details will be provided closer to the offering.
Housekeeping news
Residential Education news
Towels, Towels, and More Towels!! Upon encountering beautiful stacks of fluffy, warm towels, it's easy to assume that they are an endless, abundant resource, perpetually flowing through the baths by the grace of our intrepid cabins crew and helped along by Frank, our little green cart. In reality, maintaining that “abundance” is an energy intensive operation. According to a recent carbon footprint analysis, propane use at Esalen in 2014 was responsible for the emission of 250 metric tons of CO2-‐equivalent. Our washers and dryers consumed about 35% of the total propane used and half of what we wash is, you guessed it, bath towels. We wash and dry approximately 750 towels each day! This means that maintaining our bath towels is directly responsible for emitting 43.75 tons of CO2-‐equivalent per year! Approximately 250 people visit the Esalen baths each day. Since the laundry processes about 750 towels daily, this breaks down to 3 towels per person, per day! With everyone’s help, our community can cut its towel use by more than half by adopting two simple practices:
1) Please use only one towel when visiting the baths.
2) If you make multiple visits to the baths in the same day, please take advantage of the solar dryer located to the left of the stairs as you enter the baths.
Help us reduce Esalen's carbon footprint by over 20 metric tons of CO2-‐equivalent per year! Please do your part in honoring our Earth and this sacred land: unlimited soaks & one towel please!
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SUMMER 2015 ESALEN SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
Maintenance news The Esalen Maintenance department has installed and is now operating five electronic wireless water meters around property. They track fresh water usage at the Farm, Cormorant Cove, the Baths, and the Garden. With another meter measuring, an entirely new metric, the hot springs water overflow. That is, the number of gallons of hot springs water that spills over the cliff WITHOUT being used in any way. These reports are sent every day from the meters to the Operations department where they are being tracked and used in the Eco-‐footprint project. All of this data is going to help Esalen make better, more sustainable decisions around water as we move into the next generation.
Kitchen news
The Esalen Kitchen is proud to source about 30% of our produce from Swank Farms, a family farm located in Hollister. Dick & Bonnie Swank have 125 acres of certified organic fields: they have 5 acres organic asparagus, organic hot houses (where our tasty tomatoes grow), and will be transitioning their 60 acre home ranch to certified organic when they get an invasive weed (watergrass-‐ a tough, tubular weed that spreads underground) under control. They primarily use organic products on the produce that’s not certified.
We get our tasty broccoli, cauliflower, onions, jalapeños, tomatoes, beets, basil, mint, asparagus and more from Swank!
Check out www.swankfarms.com for more information.
Highlighting a Local Farmer & Grower: from the Esalen Kitchen…
Information Services news Since 2014, the IT department has completely replaced Esalen computer servers and network equipment. Deployment of the new servers and network hardware has reduced IT’s
electrical consumption by over 60% compared to our old, power hungry environment. An added benefit of the new equipment is that we’ve also reduced heat dissipation from this equipment by 60+%, which has significantly reduced the amount of electricity required to keep our computer room at optimum temperature (approximately 67degrees F).
Gazebo news Gazebo is happy to share that our new compost bin is in full swing. The children have been joining in the fun by emptying our snack scraps, adding straw and leaves from the Park, and mixing and hunting for worms. A big thank you to our maintenance angels Patrick and Kevin for designing and building this wonderful addition to the park, as well as helping turn the old compost bin into a watermelon garden bed!
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SUMMER 2015 ESALEN SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
Property Development news Sustainable building and design principles are at the heart of Esalen Institute's Campus Renewal. We are currently in the framing stage of the first phase of our lodge addition and renovation. The building is being designed to incorporate energy efficient design principles, solar photovoltaics, and preheating water using our geothermal resources. We are also working to incorporate local, sustainable, and recycled/ reused materials where we are able. Tom "Little Bear" Nason, a direct Esselen descendent, recently donated exceptionally beautiful posts for our new enclosable dining areas. These posts were milled from local, naturally fallen redwood at the base of Pico Blanco (a sacred site of the Esselen Indians).
The Sustainability Committee Mission statement: This group is an interest group open to all staff who want to share ideas and inspiration related to sustainability, with activities that include educational films, guest speakers, group discussions, and volunteer action projects. This group
may be involved in helping to implement some of the plan’s action-‐initiatives.
Current Members: Monique Baron, Elizabeth Evans, Branan Freeman, Thomas Leahy, Lori March, Anthony Moreno,
Patrick Sheridan, and Jessica Tamayo
Summer Newsletter Contributors: Nathan Ayers, Christina Dauenhauer, Elizabeth Evans, Dan Eyde, Branan Freeman, Ian-‐Michael Hebert,
Jason Huber, Thomas Leahy, Lori March, Anthony Moreno, Jessica Tamayo
Community Invitation: We are an evolving and rotating committee, and if you’re interested in joining our discussions, or if you have questions or comments, please contact Esalen’s Sustainability Committee at
Grounds news Within the past year and a half, the Esalen Grounds Department has implemented the use of “Purple Water” (hot spring overflow water) to irrigate a broad area of Esalen’s property. We have been able to irrigate most of the southern portion of the property and a small portion of the northern side. In the future we hope to bring “Purple Water” to all areas of the southern end of property by installing water containers in certain locations and using gravity to help irrigate the areas. In areas where we are unable to utilize the “Purple Water” (most of the north side), we try to plant only drought-‐tolerant, low-‐maintenance plants.
We also try to mitigate our use of gasoline. Within the past six months, we have bought two electric leaf blowers. These have worked well for us and we are considering switching more of our gasoline-‐powered tools over to electric. We have also bought a much more efficient lawnmower. Our new mower is able to cut our lawns in half the time, as well as cutting down the amount of time we need to refill it with gas. (although the one pictured is NOT the one we have!)
These are just a few of the things we are doing as a department to make less of an impact on our environment. We are constantly trying to come up with ways of being a more efficient and sustainable department.
Sustainability Committee news