There is an emergence of educational and research facilities around the world working collaboratively with local people to find locally appropriate strategies for social, economic and environmental sustainability. Through integrative community involvement and participatory decision-making, a civil society is possible. An example of this positive action is on the southern tip of Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas.
The Cape Eleuthera Institute is being established to facilitate change to sustainable patterns of living, working, farming and energy use for the South Eleutheran community and to develop models appropriate for the Bahamas. Around 35 years ago, Eleuthera Island was a popular holiday destination. The promise of easy money from tourism changed the local agricultural community into a service workforce. In the late 1980s, changing USA tax laws contributed to the closure of a large resort that dominated the Cape Eleuthera economy. Many local Bahamians are now waiting for the next boom, a pattern existing in many areas dependent on the tourism industry. On the Island, there is high unemployment, and many Islanders have been forced to move to other islands to find paid work. Food is expensive, since over 99% is imported, and much of it is of low quality.
The Cape Eleuthera Institute is a new initiative from the founders of the Island School. The School conducts semester-long courses in environmental education for students from the USA and the Bahamas. Ever since it opened four years ago, it has been guided by a vision for self-reliance.
The School has its own rainwater catchment and wastewater treatment system, grid interactive photo-voltaic system and wind generator, and a biodiesel plant. There are also plans to produce 60% of its fresh vegetables within two years. The Institute, which will be built adjacent to the School, will conduct experiential research that will integrate local knowledge.
An interesting aspect of this institute was its startup process, with its all-inclusive visioning and needs-assessment during a three-week sustainable development summer program, held in February, 2003. The program included a three-week Permaculture Design Course (PDC), a design build course and a three-day Sustainability Summit.
Participants in the PDC, led by Morag Gamble and Evan Raymond of SEED International, developed skills and strategies to help restore sustainable agricultural practices, community food systems and local economies. Participants also worked with the local school to help build the first edible schoolyard garden -- implementing a design the students had made.
The design build course participants began a timber frame structure handcrafted from casuarina, a rampant introduced tree species on the Island, and infill walls of sand-filled, recycled plastic bags.
The Summit, in the middle of the summer program, brought together a diverse group of people concerned with the future and sustainability of the Bahamian environment, culture and people. It was attended by members of the community, the Bahamian Prime Minister, local and federal government officials, environmental activists, education representatives and leading ecological guest speakers, including David Orr, Amory Lovins and John and Nancy Todd. Participants of the three-week program also joined the discussion and contributed to the ideas that will form the basis of this new Institute.
The Summit participants discussed three main topics: education and research, energy and technology and polycultures. Feedback from the discussion groups indicated there is a need to work closely with the local community on an ongoing basis to find and develop locally appropriate solutions. Some of the strategies identified were:
- Integrating organic gardens into local schools with a focus on health
- Experimenting with organic polycultural systems with farmers and on Institute land
- Researching wild foods and medicines and building on the knowledge of the local community
- Protecting and regenerating the local marine ecosystem
- Experimenting with integrated aquacultural systems
- Retrofitting respected community leaders' houses with appropriate energy-efficient technologies.
The Cape Eleuthera Institute has begun an innovative process that has great potential to benefit not only the Cape Eleuthera community, the Bahamas and other areas in the Caribbean, but it could also provide a model for other human scale research institutes to follow.
