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New Alchemy Institute
The New Alchemy Institute (NAI) was an American research center that did pioneering investigation into organic agriculture, aquaculture and bioshelter design between 1969 and 1991. The Green Center was established as a non-profit educational organisation to continue its mission, and houses the NAI's many research and education publications, published between 1971 and 1991.
The New Alchemy Institute (NAI) was founded in 1969 by John Todd, a marine biologist; his wife, Nancy Jack Todd, writer and activist; and William (Bill) McLarney, a fish biologist. It was situated on a 12-acre (49,000 m2) block of land on Cape Cod that was once a dairy farm, near the Falmouth village of Hatchville.
They improved the soil quality, planted food crops, started breeding rabbits, and dug fish ponds. The pond accommodated farmed tilapia, at that time relatively unknown, introduced by McLarney. Over time, other friends and colleagues joined them at NAI. The National Film Board of Canada made a documentary film about them in 1973, portraying the settlement as an "Arcadian utopia". Their techniques married scientific methods with common sense; everything was monitored and analysed, but John Todd believed that natural systems could be duplicated, harnessed, and connected.
In 1982, John Todd founded Ocean Arks International, which still exists.
Federal government grants dried up as the Reagan administration ruled during the 1980s, and the NAI struggled to survive financially. It eventually closed in 1991.
After its demise, former New Alchemists Hilda Maingay and Earle Barnhart established The Green Center, a non-profit educational institute that evolved from NAI, with the aim of continuing its mission.
The New Alchemy Institute's purpose was to research human support systems of food, water, and shelter and to completely rethink how these systems were designed. It aimed to "create ecologically-derived human support systems", including the use of renewable energy. Their stated aim was to do research on behalf of the planet:
"Among our major tasks is the creation of ecologically derived human support systems - renewable energy, agriculture, aquaculture, housing and landscapes. The strategies we research emphasize a minimal reliance on fossil fuels and operate on a scale accessible to individuals, families and small groups. It is our belief that ecological and social transformations must take place at the lowest functional levels of society if humankind is to direct its course towards a greener, saner world.
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New Alchemy Institute
The New Alchemy Institute (NAI) was an American research center that did pioneering investigation into organic agriculture, aquaculture and bioshelter design between 1969 and 1991. The Green Center was established as a non-profit educational organisation to continue its mission, and houses the NAI's many research and education publications, published between 1971 and 1991.
The New Alchemy Institute (NAI) was founded in 1969 by John Todd, a marine biologist; his wife, Nancy Jack Todd, writer and activist; and William (Bill) McLarney, a fish biologist. It was situated on a 12-acre (49,000 m2) block of land on Cape Cod that was once a dairy farm, near the Falmouth village of Hatchville.
They improved the soil quality, planted food crops, started breeding rabbits, and dug fish ponds. The pond accommodated farmed tilapia, at that time relatively unknown, introduced by McLarney. Over time, other friends and colleagues joined them at NAI. The National Film Board of Canada made a documentary film about them in 1973, portraying the settlement as an "Arcadian utopia". Their techniques married scientific methods with common sense; everything was monitored and analysed, but John Todd believed that natural systems could be duplicated, harnessed, and connected.
In 1982, John Todd founded Ocean Arks International, which still exists.
Federal government grants dried up as the Reagan administration ruled during the 1980s, and the NAI struggled to survive financially. It eventually closed in 1991.
After its demise, former New Alchemists Hilda Maingay and Earle Barnhart established The Green Center, a non-profit educational institute that evolved from NAI, with the aim of continuing its mission.
The New Alchemy Institute's purpose was to research human support systems of food, water, and shelter and to completely rethink how these systems were designed. It aimed to "create ecologically-derived human support systems", including the use of renewable energy. Their stated aim was to do research on behalf of the planet:
"Among our major tasks is the creation of ecologically derived human support systems - renewable energy, agriculture, aquaculture, housing and landscapes. The strategies we research emphasize a minimal reliance on fossil fuels and operate on a scale accessible to individuals, families and small groups. It is our belief that ecological and social transformations must take place at the lowest functional levels of society if humankind is to direct its course towards a greener, saner world.