Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future.
-Edwin H. Friedman

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
-Eric Hoffer

Comunity & Consciousness

Our vision of the future is dependent upon our understanding of the past. We have to this point largely ignored the fact that we will never be able to separate ourselves from our environment and that any destruction we cause to our environment is a senseless act of self destruction. As we come together to turn our vison of a sustainable tomorrow into a reality we must remember that this means more than exchanging coal power plants with wind turbines.

Physical resources are only one part of what we as humans beings need. The greatest challenge of our time will be to protect and adapt the wisdom of the ethnosphere to our modern way of life. To live in harmony and in balance with our environment we must first come to Know our place within it. We must Know where we have come from to Know where we are and where we are going. If we are to reclaim our place as stewards of the planet and gain the knowledge necessary to start the regeneration of the crumbling ecosphere, we must never stop asking ourselves, what does it mean to be human and what is our responsibility to those with whom we share this planet?

So, how have we been doing this on the island recently…

Water

“It is wise to bring some water, when one goes out to look for water” -Arab proverb

“Seek the highest first”-Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Safty has come up a few times durring our exploration of the land above the waterfall. Safety for the plants; are we destroying a unique habitat? Safty for the land; could our activities contribute to erosion and destroy the waterfall? Safety to people and animals; could the resevior prove dangerous and how high can we build this thing without risking it our the stone breaking uunder the pressure?

As we have gone about answering these questions it has reminded me that we are guests here. Not just in the sense that we are leasing this land, but rather in the sense that our time here is short. This project if done properly could be here for hundreds of years. It can always be taken down, but if left alone, the new habitat that we are creating will last far beyond all of our lives. The Fijians know this. They live this realiztion everyday and it is a great comfort to be working on this project with them and with their blessings. How can you plan for a future that you can’t see? Can we ever really know what the consequences of our actions will be.

The best we can do is act upon the knowledge and information that we have at the time and never stop asking why or what if. Thanks to everyone for raising your concerns and questions. It has made this project more complete, better defined and surely has a better chance of success because of you.

If this new resevior can store enough water to keep the gardens growing year round, and If nobody gets hurt in the process, I will consider it a success.

Last week we started by clearing a trail up to the basin. We learned an interesting story from the Fijians. There is a lava tube on the ridge above the basin and according to local legend, the spirit gaurd of Vanua Levu lives there. The story goes that disguised as a shark, he swam out of the sea, turned into a man, walked down the beach, turned into a dog, ran up the hill and now lives on Vorovoro. I am still trying to learn his name as I think it would be appropriate to name the resevior after him.

We have over the past few days continued with clearing the area and I have just finished purchasing the materials at the local hardware store. I will try to upload a picture of the plans soon but here is a short description.

-The wall will be 1.7 meters high with a base of about 1.3 meters and a top of .5 meters. It will be dug at least 1 foot into the rock on either side and down 1 foot at the base.

-The back side of the dam will be vertical and will have four supporting braces .5 meters wide and sloping back at a 30 degree angle.

-On one side a spillway will alow water to gently flow over the top

-The outlet pipe will be made of 4 inch pvc and will extend to the top of the cliff where we will downsize to one inch polythene pipe

-There will also be three emergency drains to cope with the heavy rains and to give easy access to the dam for repairs and maintenance.

-The far side of the resevior meets a gentle slope for entering and exsiting the water.

-In the event that the dam or the surrounding rock walls break, the natural curvage of the land will prevent any debris from being swept over the cliff.

Food

The seasons here are changing and we are clearing more land and expanding the gardens. Yesterday, Leavi, Sophie and I planted corn. The native americans planted what they called the three sisters. Beans grow up the corn stalks and squash covers the ground keeping down the weeds. Always excited and open to trying new things Leavi was singing the whole time and Sophie filled our minds with wonderful stories.

It has also become apparent that our food statistics are way off the mark. 25% food sustainability as we have reported in the past is well under the actual number. Much of the food that is gathered on the island goes straight into our bellies without being recorded. We are taking steps to change this including initiating weekly meetings with the kitchens and supplying all the kitchens with the neccessary tools to weigh and record their food but it will take time to change habits.

Energy

The partnership we are forming with True Offstes could prove to be a monumental leap forward for our energy production capabilities and allow us to really think big. Nothing has been finalized yet so I can’t reveal to many details but if you can picture scuba diving facilities and a radio brodcasting station then you aren’t to far off the mark.

We are also looking at installing new energy monitoring hardware from theenergydetective.com that will help us to show how much power we are generating, how much we are using and how much excess we have that we can utilize.

Waste

“We must eliminate the concept of waste”

Vanua Levu and Fiji in general for that matter are terrible as far as recycling goes. We are continuously looking for new ways to divert our waste from the landfill by finding creative uses for it. We are also in the process of restructuring our waste collection system that will make it easier for tribemembers and for ht ekitchen to properly dispose of their waste. Unfortunately this has had to take a back seat as we press to get the spillway finished before the rainy season makes work above the waterfall too difficult.