1. GSR's Newsletter is a collection of news, reflections, innovations and ideas that our team has
found important enough to write down and share with you. We hope you'll be as excited as we
are with all the latest developments around the world and what it means for us all.
GSR Newsletter
Issue No.4
June 2013
Desertification and Ways to Combat It
UN reports state that every year the amount of farmable landmass lost to the
desertification is roughly three times the size of Switzerland. Desertification is a
form of land degradation that is caused by several compelling factors such as
lack of water reservoirs in a region to overtaxing the nutrients in the soil
through poor farming techniques. This phenomenon puts a strain on the local
economy and society. Often it forces farmers in the central Sahel areas of Africa,
South America (i.e. Brazil and Argentina), Australia and parts of South East Asia
to relocate from what becomes unusable land (i.e. a desert) to unused areas.
Desertification is both a cause and an effect of climate change as degraded land
release its carbon into the air while such land is also more susceptible to damage
from a changing climate as it lacks the resiliency of healthy, diverse landscapes.
Oftentimes these are forested areas,
creating a new problem with the slash and
burn technique, which is a form of land
clearance that deforests an area for the
express purpose of gaining access to fertile
soil for new farmland. This new farmland
will almost certainly become deplete of
proper nutrients within three to five years
upon slash and burn (due to continued
improper management of the farmland)
and the rural community will find itself once again on the retreat ever deeper
into forested areas. Now we find that the average rural farmer in the developing
world is caught in a vicious cycle to escape the encroaching desert and the
poverty that drives them to adapt unsustainable farming practices.
GSR has a solution to combat the
process of desertification. Since the
1970’s Australia has had a
desertification major crisis. Some
farmers and agronomists got
together and decided to find a way to
stave off imminent self-destruction.
They realized that the only way to
stop the expanse of the desert was
sustainable agricultural practice. The
resulting epiphany and team up was
the foundation of the method known today as Permaculture. Permaculture uses
innovative techniques advanced by newfound understanding of sustainability. In
addition to these innovative techniques such as keyline contouring, windbreaks,
planned rotational grazing systems, and agroforestry, GSR follows the
engineering principle of “appropriate technologies” meaning that we apply high
level or low level technology depending on the local region’s ability to sustain
the level of resources needed to sustain that technology. Therefore, in an area
where fossil fuel is uncommon, a gas powered tractor is not considered
appropriate to the region as compared to an ox team tethered to a plow. Some

2. examples of appropriate technologies are the yeoman’s plow (check our
previous article featuring the Yeoman’s plow) and biodigesters.
How important is Water Sanitation for Healthy
Living?
With its many great lakes and rivers, people often falsely assume that Africa is a
continent of overflowing clean water. But in reality Africa suffers from severe
water scarcity, rivaling Australia as the driest continent on the planet. Its lack of
water is exacerbated by high demands from multiple sectors of the local
economies and general population. Africans are sometimes forced to vie for the
same water resources for drinking, livestock grazing, farming, industry, and
regrettably dumping needs. All these needs create conditions which undeniably
contaminate the scarce water resources of these developing nations.
For children this can be especially
devastating. “Every year, around 700,000
children die from diarrhea caused by unsafe
water and poor sanitation,” said David
Winder, CEO of WaterAid USA. “That's almost
2,000 children a day. In addition, one-third of
all cases of under-five mortality are
attributed to undernutrition; 50 percent of
undernutrition is attributed to unsafe water
and poor sanitation...” UNICEF also confirms this, stating that six thousand
children die each day from diseases transmitted through unsanitary water. Many
of the national governments in Africa simply do not have the resources to invest
in infrastructure to protect the purity of their sparse water resources. This is
why Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the highest mortality rates, is riddled by
constant epidemics, and is one of the poorest regions in the world; due in large
part to a lack of access to clean water. This is the gut-wrenching story of the
average developing nation.
With such a great need in the developing world for action, the world community
answers the call with the formation of international government and business
alliances, planning strategic deployment of people, resources, and equipment.
Yes, ordinary people who want to make that extra difference needed to forever
change the life of an innocent child suffering from water related disease or want,
need not venture into the jungles of Africa or the mountains of South America.
They can support B-corp businesses such as Green Self Reliance, Inc. through
crowdfunding and promoting GSR across cyberspace via social media
endorsement. GSR will be completely transparent from the launch of our
upcoming crowdfunding campaign and will explain all the processes for
development projects in such a manner that is simple, succinct, and timely.
Our solutions to the challenges of water availability revolve around:
1. Minimizing waste generation and storage
2. Maximizing our use of clean water, through sound conservation practices
3. Scout for new technologies that help generate clean water
Currently, there are many low cost appropriate
technology solutions being developed that make it
possible for rural communities to provide fresh
clean water for rural communities. One technology
produced by Saltworks Technologies uses passive
solar energy to create an osmotic process that can
desalinate water with up to 70% more efficiency
than conventional standards. This potentially grants rural communities,
especially located in arid regions, with a reliable source of fresh clean water.
There are also promising new low cost technologies being developed to reduce
the cost of recycling waste water using algae technology as a sub-branch of bio-
digester technology.

3. The efficacy of any water management system can be observed directly by its
results. Is the improvement significant in terms of meeting basic needs for the
maximum number of people? Is it environmentally sustainable? Is it cost
effective? We shall discuss these extremely important topics in great detail in the
coming months, and even further on, as GSR begins to mobilize water
management systems for more and more communities.
The Undiscovered Role Model for African
Development
Imagine a small landlocked country comprised almost entirely of mountainous
terrain, with very little in the way of natural resources – boasting one of the
highest per capita incomes on the planet. What is their secret to success? And
can this success be replicated in Africa?
That country is the Swiss Confederation, aka
Switzerland. At first glance, Switzerland and
Africa don’t appear to have much in common.
Unlike many countries in Africa, Switzerland
doesn’t have much in the way of rare mineral
resources. Instead, it is famous for banking
and high quality technology products. It is very
stable – both in terms of economics and
culture. However, on taking a closer look,
African countries should look carefully at
Switzerland as a role model. Switzerland contains, like Africa, a plethora of many
different ethnic groups, religious traditions and languages. Additionally,
Switzerland was not always a bastion of tranquility. The confederation has
existed in some form or another since the 13th century and was formed as a
means for organizing a defense force to oust any would-be invaders. Nowadays,
invaders no longer threaten its borders but the modern Swiss State has
remained sincere to the principles, of the original confederation, to protect the
liberty and sovereignty of the Swiss peoples.
Switzerland engages in a
lot of international
business and trade. We
often hear how the
country loans money to X
developing nation, or has
invested in Y technological
advancement. Yet the
Swiss Government never
forgets to regulate trade in
ways that favor locally
grown crops and
manufactured products.
Can the Swiss success story be replicated in Africa? What we see in Switzerland
is good old-fashioned conscientiousness that is the necessary precursor of
successful community-based self-reliance. This scenario demonstrates how the
Swiss make the best of the bad bargain. Despite severe limitations, they have
even managed to create one of the world’s most successful economies.
Today, African nations must also try to “make the best of a bad bargain” via
focus on strengths, work on shortcomings and unite together to create a potent
regional bloc much like the Swiss Confederation. These regional blocs won’t
require tribes or ethnic groups to give up their identities, but at the same time it
will function for the purpose of regulating economics, trade and finances to
secure a better future for its constituents. This can best be accomplished by
focusing on community self-empowerment.
Of course, each place on the planet is a little different – with its own special
geopolitical makeup, advantages and challenges. What Africa can learn from
Switzerland is the efficacy of banding together into a cohesive organization and
placing a high priority on community empowerment to build up the regional
economy. Rather than trying to fit into the jigsaw puzzle of the global economy,
African communities will do better to first master teamwork with their closest
neighbors, much like the role model of the Swiss Confederation has done.
What is Good Disaster Relief?
Currently, the need for major disaster relief
operations is looming over large sections of the

4. United States, and in fact all over the world. In the
developed world, disaster relief tends to be highly
organized, with great availability of funds, trained
personnel, and professional disaster relief
management. Still, despite the high availability of
resources in developed countries, the task of
rebuilding devastated communities can be daunting.
Natural disasters can rip communities apart, as
happened recently in Moore, Oklahoma. But what
happens in the developing world, where food, water,
medical equipment and trained personnel are not so
easy to come by? Does GSR’s community development focus have any potential
benefits that will improve disaster relief?
There are two major sides of disaster relief: meeting immediate needs
(evacuation, emergency, food, water, shelter and medical) and then recovery and
reconstruction. The situation in many places in Africa is akin to what in the US or
Europe would be considered an ongoing disaster. There is often not enough
food for people to get their next meal. There is often no medical care, no public
health facilities. Often there is not even a source of clean potable water.
Millions of people are living very close to the “disaster” line as their everyday
reality. When a real natural disaster occurs, the effects can be much more
terrible and long lasting. An example of this is Haiti, which was hit by a major
earthquake in 2010. Three years have passed, and precious little has been
accomplished in the way of recovery. Large numbers of people are still living in
makeshift tents which were set up as emergency housing. All over the developing
world, there are refugee camps handling the victims of both natural disasters
and political instability. The generosity of the citizens of developed countries
appears to be running thin, as there are pressing social equity issues that
require attention in their own countries. The apparently never-ending
emergency relief mode and unresolved “humanitarian crisis” has disillusioned
many that their donations have any impact.
GSR agrees with this assessment. Donation
handouts breed dependence. It is far better to help
rural communities in the developing world
establish self-reliant economies that take care of
not only employment, but also the ongoing supply
of food, clean water, housing and clothing. In
addition, economic prosperity gives a community
time and energy to spend on planning, education
and training programs that prepares its citizens
for natural disasters and other disturbances. Then,
when natural disasters strike unexpectedly, each
community can minimize the time required to
complete the meeting of immediate needs, and
begin reconstruction. It may be that a number of
communities are hard hit by a natural disaster, but
nearby communities remain untouched. Those
unaffected communities can begin immediately
helping their neighbors with emergency food, water and medical supplies. If
stockpiles of food are maintained in a decentralized manner, as GSR would
commonly do with its farmer’s cooperatives, this minimizes the risk to the entire
food supply and provides a source of surplus food that can be re-allocated in
times of need.
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