OPEN SPACE WORKSHOPS

The « eco creative open space » gave the opportunity to participants to take the floor and lead workshops on topics like eco constructions, biological farming techniques, healing plants, debates on global warming...
We are presenting reports from workshops prepared and led by participants that took place during the Eco creative Open space activity.

Our workshops

• Alternative energies - Biogas digesters
• Use of solar ovens
• Back to the roots
• Biogas plants
• Direct action discussion
• Eco Belly
• Eco Camp
• Keep in Touch
• Ecological alternatives for women's periods
• Re-utilization workshop
• Construction of solar ovens
• Make your own cream
• Natural patterns and water energizing

Alternative energies - Biogas digesters

Biogas digesters represent very simple and eco friendly way of producing renewable energy from waste. In this workshop we will discus their function and construction, their potential in developing countries with examples of interesting projects and learn how to construct a home made digesters. The number of participants for this workshop is not limited.

Use of solar ovens

In this practical workshop we will try to construct and – if the conditions allow it – use home made solar ovens. Solar ovens are very simple but useful devices, with their help food can be prepared while using only the clean and renewable energy of sunrays.

Back to the roots

• We realised realised that people don’t take time to connect with nature.
• Emily and Kerli suggested to do a work-shop „Back to the roots“ in the forest to rediscover our connection with the nature in the natural environment.
• We went to the surounding forest with a group of participants, and asked them to focus on their different senses, and whenever we found an interesting tree or a plant we made a composition around it.
• We photographed the composition.
• To evaluate the workshop we asked participants how they felt during the work in the forest

Biogas plants workshop report

The aim of this workshop was to present the concept and possible applications of biogas plants as an alternative and renewable source of energy. The workshop consisted of a powerpoint presentation outlining the principles and several movies that were dealing with the current development and application of biogas plants in India and China.

THE SUMMARY
The biogas is a gas consistining mainly of methane and 6% of carbon dioxide. It is produced by bacterial anaerobic fermentation of organic material. Because it can be produced from organic waste, such as human faeces and food leftovers, it is a very cheap source of renewable energy. Biogas plants may vary significantly in complexity and size. For example those constructed in Europe are usually of sophisticated construction and organisation. On the other hand, those used in developing countries or regions, although being much simpler, are able of harvesting biogas from organic waste as well. Its construction in developing countries is around $200. As an addition to the biogas, the plants using faeces as a fuel produce slurry, which is one of the best fertilisers.

CASU STUDY 1 In Yan’an, China, the organisation Shan’xi mothers has constructed simple biogas stations fueled by human and animal faeces. Biogas produced from these plants is used for cooking, which rids the local women of tiresome wood collecting and allows for cleaner air inside their households. The slurry gained from the biogas plants is then used on the fields.

CASE STUDY 2 Company Biotech in India constructs and sells biogas plants for households that seek an alternative method of dealing with manure. These plants are capable of producing enough biogas to substitute the LPG as a main fuel used for cooking. Also some bioplants were purchased to help dealing with the organic waste from fruit and fish markets. Local businessmen emerged and started to profit from the waste that would otherwise rot and pollute the neighbourhood. The biogas harvested from the leftovers from one market is for example able to power twenty electric streetlamps for six hours and the Indians are very very happy with it.

Links
India: youtube.com/watch?v=LrtINiLgNKY
China: youtube.com/watch?v=ZMreH1YUs90

Direct action discussion

The idea of this workshop was to open up a discussion on the topics of direct action on ecology. To see what people think it is violent or what is non-violent and to challenge their ideas with others so we could learn from each other and create a better understanding.

So for this a game was prepared. The moderator would make a situation, coming from real life, or not, in this case all were real events, and people would stand in the room according to their opinion. 2 axis would exist, violent non violent was one axis, would do it wouldn't do it another axis. Then the moderator would ask why they were standing on certain position and the person would have to defend it.

The game started with a situation in Portugal of activists that cut a GM corn field has symbolic act against genetically modified crops. So a lot was discussed on this topic, some ideas about GMO were challenged and people discussed this with a lot of passion and understanding of all opinions.

This is was really good because it went to the soul of the questions as people had very different views... Other things were discussed like police authority, but the main discussion went about GMO.

Eco Belly

Belly dance is very good for your body and from that starts everything – feeling, acting and awareness. It also helps to train inner muscles of the body and to have a good posture.

The origin of belly dance has different stories, where one says that it is originally women’s dance of fertility. It also was used in harems by the women who danced to the sultan. The nowadays look of a belly dancer comes from American film industry.

In the workshop we learned to move our body parts separately from our other body. We took through the basic elements like snake hands, hip circles and dropping, chest movement, camel style and shimmers.

Eco Creative Camp

Observations: people don’t pay attention to the value of everyday objects and often they use to throw away materials that could have a second (why not a third?) life.

Aim: to promote awareness of the daily consumer goods’s worth and to reinterpretate it with creativity; to propose a manual labour where people are free to express their imagination.

Content: we invited people to take part in the realization of any simple objects using waste material and natural elements, taken from the sourroundings. Specifically, we collected several packaging cardboard, and we rolled up them to created an essential chair; than we blocked in them some branches that we painted with lime, and we used them as support for different decorative elements. We created also a cardboard table with angular elements that we found on the road.

Conclusion: we think that it’s an easy way to create useful objects with waste otherwise considered rubbish.

Antonella Marlene Milano – Anna Cellamare

Keep in Touch

Observations: people forgot to look at nature and to use its resources responsably
Target group: young people living in cities without contact with nature
Aim: to connect people with nature using human sensitive perceptions

General objectives:
to give a non formal education about bilateral relationship between nature and humans;
to promote awareness of ecology;
to realise the negative impact of human activities over nature

Specifical objectives:
to show people alternative way to behave responsibly
to transfer knowledge and to restore perception using senses
to promote a natural and healthy way of living

Animation:
people sit in circle connecting each others by hands. They get blindfolded. Everybody start meditation. They try to find silence, listen to the wind, the water, getting energy from the sun. We start passino hand by hand some different natural materials (wood with musk, hairy leaves, smooth leaves, seeds, clay). People try to taste several types of teas to educate taste perception; everyone share its emotion with the group creating a circular whole energies. Then they smell different kind of essential oils, specifically action on heart and brain feelings. During the whole action, people keep a tree branch and use it to draw in the sand signs and symbols they figure in the senses experience. At the end, when participants open their eyes, they open mind about the signs they drawn, and everybody start talking about the feedback of this activity.

OFFICINAREALE: CULTURA, COLTURA E LABORATORIO DEI SENSI
Gioacchino dell’Aquila

Ecological alternatives for women's periods

In this workshop we gathered together to discuss environmentally and economically friendly alternatives to hygienic tampons and pads for women’s period. As introduction to the problematic, we started by talking about ways of dealing with menstruation in history. The conclusions we reached are following:

• Women used as absorbents natural materials like for example cotton, pieces of cloth or moss (!)
• Women used to menstruate less often than nowadays due to many diseases, malnutrition and generally lower standards of living, later maturation and lower age of having children.

Moon cup is a small silicone or rubber cup designed to collect menstruation blood instead of tampons. There are several advantages of it. The moon cup can be used repeatedly for about 10 (!) years, which significantly reduces the amount of garbage that would be produced otherwise – an average woman in Europe uses 10 000 to 15 000 tampons in a lifetime – and also the price, since moon cup can be purchased for a price around 15 Eur (when purchased for example from local feminist groups, in shop they can get more expensive). Moon cup is also better for the women’s health, since it does not contain any chemicals, unlike tampons, which contain a lot of dangerous addictives including aluminum, alcohol, various perfumes and other substances that can be carcinogenic.

Lot of people has doubts about the hygiene aspect of moon cups. However, there is has been no known occurrence of toxic shock syndrome in women using moon cup yet. The cleaning is very easy: during use it is enough to wash the moon cup with clean water and after use it should be sterilized in boiling water or with antibacterial soap to prevent any kind of infection.

The ways of application of moon cup and other technicalities were discussed and explained in the workshop by experienced users. We realized that in spite of its benefits, moon cup is very insufficiently advertised and not even many gynecologists are aware of its existence so that they are not able to recommend it to their patients and promote its positive impacts.

There were further suggestions about alternatives to disposable tampons and pads, such as pads made of textile. They can be even home-made, sewn from cotton cloth with towel-like material inside as absorbent, can be washed after use and last for several years. Another possible technique is tampons made of sponge that can also be used several times, or for people who do not find these alternatives acceptable there are disposable bio-pads which are made from bio-degradable material without use of chemicals.

Further information about the topic can be found on the Internet, for example:
mum.org || keeper.com || mooncup.co.u || sisterzeus.com

Re-utilization workshop

So we have a lot of garbage in our homes and workplaces. A lot of things can be recycled, but recycling, even if it would work 100 percent, and it is much better than just using a landfill or incenerating, it is also a waste of energy and creates a lot of pollution. So the best is to not create materials that we would have to throw away. But if you really need to create them then best way is to make them usable again. So for this we made 2 simple things that even a child can do with the waste. So we used the trash from the exchange.

With juice boxes, we could make durable wallets very easily. Also with paper and some fishing rod we found near this lake we made a necklace, by making beads with the paper.

Construction of solar ovens

Material

• 2 boxes (one bigger and one smaller)
• Aluminum foil
• Black paper (big enough to cover the bottom of the smaller box)
• Old newspaper
• Foil/glass
• Cardboard
• Adhesive tape, knife

Steps of construction
1. Make the lid from the piece of cardboard as shown in the following scheme (cut the cardboard along the full lines, fold along the dotted lines). The whole lid should fit the bigger box, the size of the opening in the middle should match the size of the smaller box
2. cover the bottom of the bigger box with crumpled paper or other material for isolation
3. cover the bottom of the smaller box with black paper to absorb heat
4. cover the inner sides of the smaller box with aluminum and make it smooth (note: instead of aluminum you can use other reflective materials e.g. mirror)
5. put the smaller box into the bigger box
6. fill the middle space with isolation material (paper)
7. attach the lid to the boxes using adhesive tape
8. cover the bottom side of the lid with aluminum to create a reflecting surface
9. cover the opening in the lid with transparent material (glass, foil) to prevent the heat from escaping

Under ideal conditions the temperature inside the solar cooker can reach up to 150°C. It is suitable for preparing any kind of meal (meat, bread, cookies) etc. and also very handy for sterilizing water. The cooking time is on average two times longer than in classical oven. Pots used in solar cookers should be light with thin walls.

Solar ovens are widespread mainly in developing countries, they are very easy and cheap to construct (around 5$) and can work for several years.

There are many ways of constructing solar ovens and many possible designs. More plans and information are to be found e.g. on following links:
solarcooking.org/plans/
builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooking/cooking.htm

Make your own cream

Mask of coffee fat&carrots for your skin. Mask of milk-powder and oats: every morning you take a spoonfull of mixture and put some water in it and put it in your face for around 30 seconds and then wahs it off.

How to make creams:

INFECTIONS AND ICHES:

Oil of sunflower (0,5 l) , you put in a transparent glass;
Then you put calendula on the oil and close the glass and the mixture has to stay for one month;
After one month you filter the oil and you take 25 ml of the oil and 5 mg of beewax; You heat water to melt the beewax and the oil together;
You put the liquid in a pot and you put few drops lavenda essential oil;
Before making creams search for what essential oil has what kind of effect !!! (could be dangerous)


Washing nuts - Here’s what you do.:

Put a handful of soap nuts in a cotton sack, tie a knot, and drop it in your laundry.
Reuse soap nuts for several wash-loads until they are soft and disintegrating in the sack – about 5 washes.
Throw disintegrated soap nuts in your compost pile.
Buy from bioshops
Source: greenarbytheday.wordpress.com

Cristals:

Ecologic;
12 euros;
In orthopedic shops for allergical people
How to use: put it the water and apply under the armpit.

B-carbonat:

Washing the teath
With vingar you can wash different surfaces;
Some people wash their dishes only with vinegar and water;

Natural patterns and Water Energizing

This workshop consisted in recognizing all the simple natural patterns we can find in nature, such as spiral, vortex, branching, etc. By this we came to the understanding that water does this patterns natturaly in streams and rivers, but in todays society water only does straight movements through pipes, or simply sits still in a bottle waiting for someone to buy it.

The exercice then consisted in energizing a bowl full of tap water, not only by making this patterns with it, but also doing it with intention, so that the water particules would respond to our thoughts and feelings.

Everybody did this, one at the time, and then all together with vibration from our voice.

Finally we did a test, with this bowl of energized water and a similar one from the same tap water. Everybody tried both waters and tried to gess wich one is wich. The result was: Twelve experiences, nine people got it right.