permaculture

[Elfpermacl@aol.com]

Hi Paul:

There is some good work being done on paper right there in Japan.  I have been
advocating use of plantation bananas for paper fiber since the early 1980s and
the Japanese worked it out.  It would take me the same amount of time it would
take you to look up the various references on paper making, however let me
note that it is a very good idea to incorporate some new fiber in recycled
paper.  this can be banana, bagasse from sugar, various woody and non-woody
plants used to sop up sewage. etc.  I can't even remember what country it was
now, but I recall doing a bit of design detail where the sewage seeped out a
hillside into a river.  A little terracing and fiber plants appropriate to the
climate and we had a source of forage (e.g. hybrid willow) in the leaves and
fiber in the stems.  

Hand crafted papers are a speciality item with export value, and take no food
production out of local use.  Any reasonable library will have books on hand
paper manufacture.  It is very simple.

My applause for your concept.  I've been advocating for decades that poor
communities int he USA set up recycling cum paper manufacturing community
development corporations, but no one takes it seriously.

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since 1982),
Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and annual correspondence
courses via email.  Copyright, 1998, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52,
Sparr FL 32192 USA  Internships. YankeePerm@aol.com  

We don't have time to rush.

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