10/1 & 10/3:  ECOLIFE Conservation/Aquaponics Innovation Center

ECOLIFE Conservation/Aquaponics Innovation Center         

FREE

26933 Champagne Blvd., Escondido, CA 92026 

(760) 740-1346

Accessible: No.  We will be walking on a concrete pathway up the hill, and also walking downhill on uneven dirt.  This will be very difficult for those who need to use an electric scooter and is really not accessible.  It may also be difficult for those with a walker.  There are also steps to enter the greenhouse. 

Description: ECOLIFE Conservation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to protecting and connecting  people, animals, and the environment through holistic approaches in service and conservation.  Their aim is to help humans and nature prosper together.  The ECOLIFE team will educate us about ECOLIFE, its mission, work (like placing aquaponic systems and Patsari stoves in disadvantaged communities throughout the world), and the various opportunities available to get involved in supporting a happier and healthier planet.

Directions: From I-15 North, take exit 37 for Deer Springs Road/Mountain Meadow Road.  Turn right onto Deer Spring Road (signs for Mountain Meadow Road).  Turn left onto Champagne Blvd.  The destination (a private residence), will be on your right.  There is a large white gate, which will be open.   

Parking: There is limited parking onsite—the parking lot can fit about 15 cars.  If you find it full, you may park on the street outside the gate.  We strongly encourage you to carpool if possible.

Special Instructions: Our tour will be both indoor and outdoor.  Closed-toed shoes are required.  Also, please print and fill out the attached release form and bring it with you.   

Website(s): www.ecolifeconservation.org 

This week, we will be learning about a charitable organization, ECOLIFE Conservation, which is designed to protecting and connecting people, animals and the environment.  All that they do is in consideration of underserved humans and nature.  Their contributions are in service and in conservation.  In our lesson, we will learn about this organization, the background of the work done by the organization on aquaponics and stoves, and information about why these particular areas were chosen.  The website for ECOLIFE (ecolifeconservation.org) has a lot of information about the organization, the projects and the reasons behind their work.  

ECOLIFE Conservation began in 2003.  It was founded by Eric Hallstein and William Toone. They began by building stoves in Mexico in 2004.  But the website (and the organization) has turned to farming. In 2015, the ECO-Cycle hydroponics kit was patented.  New offices have been built in Mexico and Uganda.  And, getting back to the roots, the 5,000th stove was built in Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Reserve.

Their interest is in sustainability, focusing on simple solutions to leading causes of wildlife extinction and human death.  They address ways to avoid extinction, ranging from things in the home (indoor cooking fires) to sustainable agriculture. 

Co-founder and executive director William Toone is a renowned conservation biologist and a spokesperson for endangered species.  He completed a master’s degree from the University of California, where his work focused on the reproductive behavior of the California condor.  He worked for many years at the Zoological Society of San Diego.  He was able to use his passion to create new conservation divisions in the zoo.  Frustrated with the lack of progress in conservation, he co-founded ECOLIFE Conservation in 2003.  Ultimately, in 2008, he resigned from the zoo to work full time to make ECOLIFE survive. 

ECOLIFE is about sustainable agriculture and community conservation. They have developed a system of aquaponics to grow produce with 90% less land and water, as well as eliminating pollution from agricultural runoff.  This emphasis on sustainable agriculture targets the main driver of extinction.  They are creating produce using less land and water without chemicals or pesticides and feeding a growing population.

Their second emphasis is on conservation.  Their emphasis is on a healthy stove.  As we learned, they recently built their 5,000th stove in Mexico.  Their stoves enable locals to live healthier lives while reducing their impact on the environment.  According to their website, nearly 3 billion people around the globe cook on open fires inside their homes.  Children suffer burns from open coals, diseases appear from breathing smoke and indoor cooking fires are now the leading cause of death in the developing world, especially for women and children.  The stoves do more than offer a method of cooking.  They also protect forests by reducing local dependence on firewood, provide safer homes especially for children, and empower residents to speak out for their health and participate in the building of stoves. 

Their work is in Central Mexico at the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve as well as in Uganda at the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.  They also educate about sustainability in agriculture, conservation and biodiversity.  

Part of this education is at the Aquaponics Innovation Center, a state-of-the-art research facility where the public can see aquaponics in action.  Produce grown at this center is donated to local people in need. 

It is generally accepted that improved cooking stoves may reduce exposure to indoor air pollution, improve health and decrease greenhouse gas emissions, discovered by observational field studies and laboratory experiments.  

The type of stoves built by ECOLIFE are called “Patsari”, meaning “Caretaker”.  They were designed with feedback from users.  They have 5 common characteristics:

1.   They are designed for traditional cooking methods using a flat surface for cooking tortillas and two burners for heating

2.   Cool sides with an enclosed fire to protect against accidental burns

3.   A chimney to funnel air pollution

4.   Locally sourced materials and permanent

5.   Uses up to 60% less wood, reducing carbon emissions and deforestation. 

About one-third of the world’s households and up to 95% of people in poor countries burn coal, wood, dung, peat and other fuels.  Since women are usually responsible for cooking, and children spend time with their mothers, women and children are most affected by indoor air pollution.  The World Health Organization estimates that indoor air pollution contributes to nearly 4.3 million deaths a year.  Many non-profits and firms have joined ECOLIFE in building cleaner stoves by using cleaner fuels and adding chimneys.  

As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton launched a public-private partnership called the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in 2010.  The alliance created a global market for “clean and efficient household cooking solutions”.  They believed that this alliance would “save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and protect the environment.”

Although research has yet to determine if the cleaner stoves had all of the benefits, the program has been shown to possibly have improved the incidence of respiratory disease and low birthrates.  In in the meantime, recent evidence suggests that indoor pollution is worse for health than originally thought. 

Cooking stoves haven’t always focused on health.  They were first seen as a way to reduce deforestation by reducing the trees needed for firewood. They have been used as a climate-change solution, a tool to empower women who are selling them, and a way to save poor people time and money that they no longer have to gather or buy inefficient fuel.  

Usage of the stoves has been mixed.  Many women are reluctant to abandon their former ways of cooking over open fires.  Follow-up visits to communities which received the free stoves found that other had stopped using them because users reported that they broke, burned more wood or didn’t get the food hot enough.  It has also been reported that women receiving the stoves have continued to cook over open fires, known as stove stacking.  A top concern is that stoves which are most healthy require the more expensive clean fuels, which they cannot afford.  

Since the alliance, many companies have entered the clean stove business. They might each focus on something else. 

Eric Reynolds moved to Rwanda five years ago to start a cookstove company called Inyenyeri.  They are deploying a low-emission stove from a Chinese manufacturer that Reynolds says is the cleanest-burning biomass stove available.  These stoves are expensive (more than $50 each), and the company thinks that customers will need two or three (as we use four burners on our ranges).  So, the company leases them at a nominal cost (about $7 a year) and will make money selling biomass fuel pellets to customers and carbon emissions credits in rich countries.  

ECOLIFE is working in Uganda, building biomass stoves and encouraging healthy conservation.  In 2006, a report was made at the International Conference on Advances in Engineering and Technology on the feasibility of conserving energy through education.  The paper states that Uganda is important because, as a developing country, there is a need to promote energy conservation programs and reduce dependency on wood fuel and fossil fuels.  Uganda has a variety of renewable energy including biomass itself, as well as solar and hydropower.  At the time of the report, fuel wood contributed to over 90% of the energy used in the country.  Women in Uganda were using inefficient three stone stoves and metallic charcoal stoves.  Efficiency of these stoves were between 5% and 10%.  The government began distributing biomass stoves.

The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is located in the mountains about 100 km northwest of Mexico City.  It was established by the Mexican government in 1986 to protect overwintering sites.  It covers 560 square km.  In 2008, it was declared a UNESCO biosphere reserve, which helps to protect overwintering zones essential to the monarch butterfly.  This reserve provides conditions needed to survive, due to the microclimate created by the forest canopy.

Each year, in late October, the reserve receives butterflies which have migrated from eastern Canada.  Within the reserve are several sanctuaries that protect the habitats of about 70% of Mexico’s migratory butterfly population.

To conserve energy for the return north in the spring, the butterflies cluster during the overwintering season, and fly off only to feed.  Near the end of February, they enter mating season, and by the end of March begin the journey back to Canada.  Several generations are born and die during the journey.  The last generation of monarchs born in Canada in August will make the journey to Mexico in the fall. 

This last generation is different from the others, having lived for several months while others survive only a few weeks.  Scientists are studying why these small butterflies can travel from Canada to Mexico.  They hypothesize that the sun guides them, or perhaps it is in their genetics.  They fly about 75 km a day, and cover some 4,000 km.  They travel in drafts of warm air to conserve energy.

They are threatened by illegal logging in the mountains of Mexico, which is destroying the forest and microclimate needed for survival.  In addition, milkweed (the primary source for adult butterflies and larva) is being destroyed by herbicides.  

This venue will be an educational and informative session.  It will open your eyes to the different challenges of people worldwide, and the importance of retaining our environment.  It represents a positive direction towards a healthier environment and a cleaner earth.  Understanding the concepts of the organization (cleaner stoves and aquaponics), you will better understand what you see during your trip.  

About. (2018, March). Retrieved from ecolifeconservation.org: https://www.ecolifeconservation.org/about/our-story/

Duflo, E. e. (2011, December). Cooking Stoves, Indoor Air Pollution, and Respiratory Health in India. Retrieved from povertyactionlab.org: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/cooking-stoves-indoor-air-pollution-and-respiratory-health-india

Gunther, M. (2015, October 29). These cheap, clean stoves were supposed to save millions of lives. What happened? Retrieved from washingtonpost.com: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/these-cheap-clean-stoves-were-supposed-to-save-millions-of-lives-what-happened/2015/10/29/c0b98f38-77fa-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc_story.html

HOW WILL A BIOMASS STOVE WORK FOR YOU? (2017, September 29). Retrieved from greensquare.co.uk: https://www.greensquare.co.uk/blog/2017/9/14/the-benefits-of-biomass-stoves

Monarch Butterfly biosphere Reserve. (2012, April 3). Retrieved from humanima.com: http://www.humanima.com/decouverte/en/article/reserve-de-biosphere-du-papillon-monarque

One page brief on stoves. (2018, June). Retrieved from ecolifeconservation.org: https://www.ecolifeconservation.org/resource/one-page-brief-on-stoves/

Sendegeya, A. e. (2006). Feasibility of Conserving Energy Through Education: The Case of Uganda as A Developing Country. Proceedings from the International Conference on Advances in Engineering and Technology. Elsevier Ltd. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-045312-5.X5000-6

What is Aquaponics. (2012, February). Retrieved from aquaponics.com: https://aquaponics.com/aquaponics-information/