permaculture

["Robert Waldrop" <bwaldrop@cox.net>]

I used a simple format.  We did introductions all 
around, and then I made about a 30 minute 
presentation explaining why this was important, 
and then we spent the rest of the day looking at 
the issues/challenges/resources for each of the 
categories I had identified.  I don't think 
attachments are allowed here, so I will copy my 
outline below.  I am not sure how the formatting 
will come through, its organized as bullets in my 
original.

As items were identified, I wrote them on a large 
pad of paper, and then those were placed on the 
wall around the room, so at breaks and during 
lunch people could wander around and at the end of 
the day we were "surrounded" by the work.  When I 
get those transcribed, they will be available too. 
The notes I wrote below were my thoughts before 
the workshop started.  My opening presentation 
goes up to the section on "Water".

So for "Water" for example, there is a page 
listing all the potential urban sources of water, 
and a page about purification and one about 
rainwater harvesting (improvised structures to 
catch rainwater).

I also invited people to bring "show and tell", 
and at various times during the day we did that. 
e.g., one person brought two solar ovens, some 
brought books, another told us about the "slow 
sand filter at the bottom of a swale, that fed a 
below-ground cistern", which was the water system 
on the farm he grew up on.

We decided to start a listserv for those who came, 
to continue the conversation and make 
writing/editing the drafts easier.  We haven't set 
the next session's date yet, probably it will be 
in late October.

The Community, Mitigation, and Mutual Aid sections 
will be the topics of the next session, as time 
was running out and we literally just breezed over 
those.  I also think we were somewhat 
psychologically numbed by thinking in such detail 
about the task.

For example, to feed everyone in the OKC metro 
area an emergency ration of 2 lbs of flour/day and 
2 lbs of dried soybeans/week, means that every day 
2.9 million lbs of food has to enter the city from 
the surrounding countryside.  This requires 58 
semi trucks hauling 50K lbs/day, or 6 trains per 
month -- or 11,680 bicycle carts hauling 250 lbs 
each.  If the bicycles and carts can have a 3 day 
turn-around, we would need to build 35,000 carts, 
and would need a total of 70,000 bicycles (35K as 
the "tractors", and 35K to give up 2 wheels for 
the cart).  The journeys of these carts would 
range from 20 miles to 80 miles round trip, as 
Oklahoma City is ringed by large grain storage 
silos.  We also talked about the possibilities of 
"rail bike trains", which would be bicycles worked 
together so they could run on railroads, pulling 
larger loads, as all of these grain silos are on 
railroad tracks.  We decided if we were stuck with 
the bicycle cart scenario (e.g. no fuel for trains 
or trucks), that would be our best option.

While this sounds overwhelming, when looked at on 
the "village scale", it is much less so.  The OKC 
metro area has 345 recognized neighborhoods, and 
each neighborhood would only need 102 bicycle cart 
units, on average, to haul food for its average 
population of 3,000 or so.  In our discussions, we 
see an organized devolution from the present 
regional-government to urban villages based on 
these pre-existing associational structures.

Bob Waldrop
www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org


SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

Perfect Storm

Economic irrationality

Peak Energy

Climate instability



How could this happen?

Large weather disasters

Economic meltdown

Terrorist attacks

EMP

Climate disaster (long-term changes as opposed to 
discrete weather disaster events like a particular 
hurricane or tornado)

Resource exhaustion (peak oil, peak energy in 
general)



Our purpose is to decide what it would take for an 
urban area like the OKC Metropolitan Statistical 
Area, with 1.1 million people in it, to survive a 
sudden collapse of our food and energy systems.

Worst case scenario (except for nuke explosion)



No fossil fuels or other internal combustion 
available,

No electricity, not from the grid, not from small 
generators, not from batteries,

total electronic telecommunication failure - no 
radio, no TV, no cable, no internet, no "any 
communications/media that require electricity"

Complete collapse of the just-in-time inventory 
system,

Closure of the banking system, no credit cards, 
checks can't clear, funds can't be withdrawn.

Disappearance of the internet.

Getting there the firstest with the mostest is 
critical to a positive response. Government likely 
to be in disarray, big danger is 
toxic/authoritarian/scapegoating responses will 
emerge..

Some people will relocate (to family or friends in 
rural areas). This should be encouraged.

Likely to be refugees also headed our way.

WATER



In the absence of grid-distributed power, OKC 
Water estimates they could supply 50% of the 
average daily domestic water consumption with 
small gasoline and diesel pumps. Unanswered 
question: how much fuel would be on hand for these 
devices? What about water purification? Sewer 
system?.

Rainwater harvesting

Shallow wells

Slow-sand filters

Purification issues



FOOD

Without regular supply, the area would be out of 
food very quickly. (Note the experience of 
hurricane areas where people run out of food 
apparently almost immediately.)

Go over food scenarios.

Basic ration of 2 lbs flour/day and 2 lbs dry 
soybeans per week, for 1.1 million people, must be 
hauled from grain elevators within 60 mile or so 
radius.

biodiesel from cotton seed for diesel fuel for 
hauling food? (Cotton Seed Producers Oil Mill is 
close to downtown OKC.)

Alcohol fuel for transportation?

Bicycle carts capable of hauling 250 lbs each?

Urban gardening



Containers/gardens on pavement such as sidewalks 
and streets.

Seed sources include:

Seeds from vegetables in stores, like pumpkins, 
winter squash.

Dried peas and beans.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes

Existing seed stocks



Bring animals from rural areas into the city with 
cattle/hog drives.

Import lots of chickens from the rural areas.

Every yard a garden.

Plant public spaces like parks and street medians.

Container growing on sidewalks and streets

Community kitchens and baking ovens

Raising fish in barrels

Compost humanure

Collect urine for fertilizer.

Aquaponics in solar sun porches

Cold frames and other season extending devices.

Other meat animals

Goats

Fish culture

Guinea pigs

Rabbits


Why would farmers want to supply grain and beans 
to city populations?

Avoid wholesale evacuation of cities into the 
countryside.

Trade/barter

Help in time of need

SHELTER

Combine households? The extended family, by birth 
or adoption or convenience or necessity, will make 
a big come-back.

More hands will be needed for everything, plus 
building materials.

On average, maybe 3 households link together as 
one.

Each house needs:

Water harvesting structures.

Passive solar.

Solar hot water.

Greenhouse/season extending devices.

ENERGY

Big risk of deforestation, because wood is the 
easiest non-fossil-fuel fuel..

Home methane generation from human waste for 
cooking gas.

Alcohol fuel for transportation, maybe some 
biodiesel.

Biodiesel is iffy because oils will be in great 
shortage and in demand for cooking, access depends 
on where Cottonseed oil coop is in its annual 
production cycle when the crash occurs.

Passive solar for winter heat.

Extra insulation.

If three households become one, scavenge materials 
from two houses to retrofit one.

Solar cooking

Expedient but efficient wood stoves (e.g. the 
rocket stove)



HUMAN WASTE AND TRASH DISPOSAL

There is none in this scenario. Everything will 
have a use or be re-used/recycled on site or in 
neighborhoods, or sold through informal markets.

MEDICAL CARE AND PUBLIC HEALTH

Authorities will raise a big stink about 
composting humanure.

Many medically fragile people will die quickly.

Hospitals and nursing homes would have to be 
evacuated if/when their generators fail.

New medical practices located in neighborhoods, 
nurses/midwives empowered..

Epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder?

Epidemic disease (water born diseases in 
particular will be a big problem).

Addiction recovery issues?

COMMUNITY

Governance

Neighborhood councils.

Elected by all residents.

Security

Neighborhood patrols.


Civil Society

MITIGATION STRATEGIES

Community organization

Pre-planned strategies for collapse situations.

Household preparations

Super-insulation

Insulated window shutters

Slow sand filters

Food storage

Edible landscaping

Grain grinder

Wood stoves

Solar hot water

Passive solar

Tools for production (alcohol stills, for example)


MUTUAL AID

Info banks for research

Pre-printed and pre-positioned literature in 
neighborhoods describing 
strategies/tactics/info/tools to meet the new 
situation.

Get there the firstest with the mostest.

No one needs the permission of the government to 
acquire food or supply other necessities..




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rafael Schouten" <talktoraf@hotmail.com>
To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 10:50 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Pre-design for 
collapse


> Hi Robert,
>
> the collapse workshop is a great idea, inspired 
> me to organise one in
> melbourne in the next few weeks. Any ideas for 
> form, content etc? what worked?
> cheers
>
> Rafael Schouten
>
>
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