SANTA BARBARA ORGANIC GARDEN CLUB PRESENTS FREE TALK ON FOSSIL-FREE LANDSCAPING WITH OWEN DELL AND KEN FOSTER WED JAN. 18 AT SANTA BARBARA LIBRARY


FOSSIL-FREE LANDSCAPING will be the topic at the Santa Barbara Organic Garden Club s free presentation Wednesday, January 18^th in the Faulkner Gallery at the Santa Barbara Public Library in downtown Santa Barbara. The event is co-sponsored by HopeDance magazine, the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network and local think tank For the Future.

 

The speakers will be well-known local landscape architect and environmentalist Owen Dell and bicycle-powered landscaper Ken Foster of Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping in Santa Cruz.

 

Dell is a perennial pioneer in the popularization of sustainable landscaping, and the first person in his profession to seriously consider the question of fossil-free landscaping. He s an entertaining and provocative speaker, and co-star of the Garden Wise-Guys TV show on City TV 18.

 

Since 1988 Ken Foster has operated a successful organic landscape contracting and maintenance business using bicycles pulling specially modified trailers, and one biodiesel pickup truck. His innovative and fossil-free methods have earned him wide acclaim. Ken, a landscape designer and contractor and a certified Permaculture designer, will tell the inspirational story of his company and the evolution of his philosophy. Terra Nova has won many awards, notably the Sustainable Quality Business Award in 1994 and Sunset Magazine's Western Living Award in 2004. Ken served on the board of directors of the Ecological Farming Association for ten years and now serves on the Ecological Farming Conference planning committee.

 

Owen Dell was inspired to explore the idea of gardening and landscaping without using fossil-fuel-guzzling machines by the words of world-renowned author and oil expert Richard Heinberg ("Powerdown" and "The Party's Over") -- ... if you can't do it without fossil fuels, by definition, it ain't sustainable."  Dell says It makes shocking sense, doesn't it? How many of the activities that we call sustainable can be accomplished with zero fossil fuel?

More to the point, what are you going to do when the oil runs out? Will landscapers and professional gardeners have a way to earn a living? Is it possible for homeowners and renters to have a lovely garden that doesn't depend on fossil fuels? Are you ready for this?

Dell believes that it's no longer alarmist to begin to consider a future with limited or no access to fossil fuel. Growing numbers of experts are predicting that the effects of peak oil will hit harder and sooner than anyone has been expecting. While in the long run this may be the best thing to happen to the planet, in the short run the many disruptions could prove catastrophic. The smart thing to do is plan now for a very different way of life, not just for our children but for ourselves as well.

There were beautiful gardens long before there was fossil fuel, he says. Our dependence on oil for the creation and care of gardens and landscaping is not a necessity, just a bad habit. The wise landscape professional can redefine his or her career to make the best of the transition to fossil-free landscaping. And the prudent home gardener can find new/old ways of creating and maintaining a lovely landscape.  Indeed, fossil-free is the Next Big Thing in horticulture.


But Dell warns: On the other side of the coin, many of the practices that are now standard fare in landscape construction and management will be part of the dinosaur era when oil prices skyrocket. This includes the use of power tools, off-site materials, irrigation systems, pesticides, water intensive plantings and a lot more.

 

For more information on Ken Foster, visit http://www.terranovalandscaping.com.

 
For more information call: (805) 563-2089 or e-mail lbuzzell@aol.com