JACK MARTIN

REGENERATIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR LOCAL RESILIENCE

Jack Martin Martin examines the language that defines human habits, and has focused on the vocabulary of waste management in order to envision positive change in the waste management industry. As an example, he provides an analysis between the definitions of discard and disposal. While discard means to pass on an item of value, dispose involves an element of destruction. Disposed materials often should be discarded, and a discussion of this vocabulary can lead to change in the way society deals with waste.

Technological determinance - what people view as the options available through the technology available - narrows the scope of definitions, whether one considers levees or incandescent lightbulbs. To create beyond the boundaries of technological determinance requires creativity. Mike Reynolds, an architect who has created Earthships, works in economically unstable communities by paying citizens for their garbage and converting it into infrastructure, such as stormwater catchment systems, for which they once relied on the military.

While the definition of restoration entails spending money or means, whether for a piece of furniture or an ecosystem, regeneration entails the use of an entities own genetic materials and processes to reproduce. Resilient communities can benefit from organizing along bioregions and benefitting from the regenerative qualities of ecosystems, rather than relying uniquely on costly restoration processes.

Martin works at T.S. Designs, a company that "prints T-shirts for good." Martin sees the four acres on which this company is located as grounds for experimentation. So far, the company has integrated: a 15-member biodiesel co-op that passes any remaining biodiesel to local farmers, a biodiesel-powered tractor, 10 kilowatt photovoltaics for aquaculture and powering the company with off-the-grid renewable energy, composting that makes 500 gallons of methane daily, a wind turbine, a greenhouse, bicycle storage for employees, flushless toilets and urinals, and a community garden. This company has transformed its property into a community center, and through this sort of development Martin concludes that resilience comes from within the community.