Energy efficiency, alternative energy, alternative building,
sustainable agriculture, natural / appropriate technology, water
conservation, usable waste recycling methods, and land
preservation.
Sustainable living is the only way to maintain a wonderful
life
for ourselves and generations to come.
Unique solutions to the global warming crisis.
Ideas becoming reality.
Many
scientists are now saying "It's too late" to save the Earth and life as
we know it due to global warming and other things. We believe we can't
give up and must try. Sustainability is an emergency preventative
measure to those ends.
As many people are highly charged about the "pro-choice" vs. "pro-life"
issue, most have an opinion. If we don't all act immediately
though, there will be no more need for that, animal rights, or
environmental arguments. Because there will be no more "life" as we know
it.
SusPro.ORG is just one tool of many you can use, and must, if we are to
survive. It's no longer "wackos" making absurd claims, simply totally
agreed upon scientific fact. Supporting us and our supporters,
generously, is a vote for life support. We ARE doing something about it,
as much as possible.
40 acres with cabin, all propane, off grid, no running water Land within one mile of
Suspro. Beautiful acreage. Good spot for sustainable, future-minded person. click here get details.
Non-Profit
Status for the Project
We
are a recognized non-profit organization by the IRS. Contributions
and support of other kinds, including services, equipment, etc., are tax
deductible. For those who have
already helped us, and thus are indirectly helping others, we thank you.
NEW GROUNDBREAKING
NATURAL HYDROPONIC SOLUTION SYSTEM!!! Called
a "biodigester", this new invention transforms manure into a pure,
safe, organic nutrient solution for growing with hydroponics methods, right on
site! If possible, we will be implementing this
system into our project. More info and links to come. There used to be an
article about it in Growing Edge Magazine, so you could go to there site and see
if you can find it. The authors were kind enough to allow us to reprint the article,
but it wouldn't copy and paste, and the link to it on Growing Edge we recently
found out no longer worked.
Updates:
At
this time we have 2 experts/builders/designers who have agreed to help with the
initial building and training, if we just pay their expenses.
Dale
is a specialist in very strong low/no energy earth-sheltered housing with 20
years of experience. His designs are brilliant. We
are just finishing our first little earth-sheltered building (about 24x24),
using plans and supervision contributed by Dale's company (thanks Dale!). See
the links page for a few examples of some of the houses he's built.
We
wanted to be able to grow plants or seedlings, so we designed the front with the
typical "passive solar" double insulated windows, framed in with a
Ferro cement wall. But after Dale examined it, he told us his designs are so
energy efficient, we're going to cook ourselves out (even during freezing CO
Rockies winters) unless we shade them! Wow!
Our
other "angel" is Javier, an architect from Mexico, who I and many others consider a
brilliant artist, whose art is his flowing building designs. He has done custom
designs for us, and offered to send us "forms" to build with.
You
can find more about both men, and see their portfolio of completed buildings, on our links page.
Suspro
- Sustainable Living Project
History & Updated Status:
80
acres of land was acquired several years ago and placed in a land trust
(although we need to refinance with the newer low interest rates).
We
have several trailers for the volunteer workers on the property, and
several tool/construction sheds.
The
entire project is underway, but going a little slow since we've mostly
been using an all volunteer work force, mostly unskilled, and haven't
received grants yet to hire professionals.
Parts
to build the greenhouses have been purchased. Greenhouse
"pits" (partial earth sheltering) have been excavated. But
none have been assembled yet, since we're concentrating on construction
for shelter examples and administrative offices first.
We
had planned on starting with getting a version of the an aquaponics system up and running right away, but that will need to come later.
It is a high power consumption system, and we'll need to experiment with
a variety of ideas we have for making it more passive, and/or
eliminating the use of fish, or using Rocky Mountain oriented fish like
trout. So we switched plans to the construction of agricultural and
experimental shelter buildings first (which would also give the workers
something to stay in other than trailers).
We
weren’t able to get the walls or foundation of the greenhouse pits
finished yet, so we cannot assemble the greenhouses yet.
THE
WELLS
We’ve
overcome a multitude of well problems, starting with the drilling. The
water level is very deep there. We struck water at 600 feet, but the
flow is questionable until we put the high draws of the greenhouses
online. We had a solar pump failure (wrongly installed), and dealt
with e-coli contamination using an oxidizer. We are using one
solar panel to pump water for worker use at this time. The depth
and distance uphill from the well to the greenhouses will require
running the high power pumps, and more panels. Unfortunately, the level
is too deep for windmill pumps. But it looks promising.
We
just drilled a second well on the other adjacent 40 acre parcel, which
will be eventually used for housing for seminars, teaching, workers,
etc..
THE POWER
We have a complete solar power system (minimal but
expandable), with inverters and a huge industrial battery. The
installation should be done as soon as we receive our permit. As we mentioned, we're
already using one panel for the well. We have been using smaller
versions with car batteries for lights at night.
If
we can get local government permission, and the extra funds, we also
hope to have a very small rustic retreat and educational area nearby the
food center for visitors.
Every
contribution helps, no matter how small. We really don't need much
more unskilled labor, but if anyone knows of a construction company,
builders, gunnite or "shotcreters", cement workers, designers,
architects, grant writers, non-profit management experts, non-profit
expert accountants, people needing tax deductions, etc., who would be
willing to contribute their services or funds, we'd really appreciate
you contacting them for us.
