R.U.S.T. Radical Urban Sustainability Training March 23, 2007

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From the website: Creating autonomous communities with the tools of permaculture and social activism

An intensive seminar in urban ecological survival skills

Topics and hands-on demos
Low-tech bioremediation (cleaning contaminated soils using plants, fungi and bacteria)
Rainwater harvesting
Aquaculture: ponds, plants, fish, algae
Constructed wetlands/greywater
Autonomous technologies: bicycle windmills & passive solar
DIY air purification; food forests
City chickens and micro-livestock
Struggles for land and gentrification
Natural building in the city
Humanure and worm composting
Biofuels: methane digesters and veggie oil vehicles
Brownfield restoration
Resource privatization
Floating islands to clean stormwater
Post-petroleum economics
Energy depletion and city futures
Social justice: dual power anarchism

UST is an intensive weekend workshop focused on skills related to building autonomous communities in today's cities. We will share the cumulative knowledge gained from the past seven years of building the Rhizome Collective, an urban sustainability and community organizing project based in Austin, Texas. The training will have both hands-on and lecture/discussion components. The interrelatedness of sustainability and struggles for social justice will be emphasized. The many innovative sustainability features on display at the Rhizome Collective will be used as teaching tools.