So you have read my proposal for the Wabash Valley, and how I was somewhat disappointed in how no one would touch it with a ten foot pole. As it turns out, there just weren’t mouths large enough, or numerous enough, to take a bite out.
And so it seems, rather than tackle the problems of the Mississippi from the upstream, I needed to build a raft and float down to the mouth of the Great Blue Dragon to unchain this Great Spirit. In the mouth of the beast, I found broken dreams, empty promises, and not only opportunity, but people ready to live in another, to tell another story.
I have been hired as a Civic Engagement Coordinator for a large non-profit organization that specializes in bringing volunteers to the neediest areas of the city.
The organization has recently added to their strategic plan several environmental goals, and it will be up to me to carry out these new initiatives.
From the ground up, literally, I will be charged to identify and organize community members who are ready to become leaders. Those people, along with our organization, will help re-develop empty quarters of the city and build community gardens, using permaculture techniques.
We’re not talking about small plots here, we’re talking about transforming the way New Orleans, and hopefully the world’s cities, eats.
Water permaculture is a natural fit for New Orleans. Orcharding, local and wild foods, and many other initiatives will be funded and I will me making choices and setting goals for these projects.
This is where you can help. By proxy, I am inviting you, the internet user, to participate in a ‘sandbox’ exercise where we discover where a project this powerful can really go. I’m also inviting any New Orleans residents who frequent this site to get involved with the first Post-Crash, Rewilding city-wide initiative of the 21st century. If you know me, you know I’m thinking of a Neo-Marshall Plan. Anyone who wants to get involved in a more personal way, and is willing to work for free and relocate to be a part of this initiative, I encourage you to contact me ASAP.
What I’m asking this community (and other communities) is for an intense one-month discussion while I create a plan to food scape New Orleans, and change the face of civilization, forever.
I assure you, this is not a joke. I assure you, someone is actually going to pay me to do this, and give me resources and the legitimacy of a popular organization within which to organize these ‘radical’ ideas.
Help me as I develop a detailed strategic plan, and perhaps you might feel that all of this ‘talk’ is finally worth it. I promise a detailed blog as this process unfolds.
Here, let me throw out a few ideas that have come to mind –
recycling sand bags to create ‘river sod’
building water permaculture in channels, ditches, and anywhere else water collects in the city.
replanting open spaces with food trees, focusing on wild and regional species.
replanting damaged ecosystem to increase food productivity
working with those who benefit economically from the River to participate in it’s health.
local food initiatives, working with grocery stores to buy urban produce
soil cleanup and rebuilding microbiotic diversity.
What else can be done? How do we overtly change the face of civilization.
(Warning, this is not a thought experiment!)