[Scpg] Bicycle-powered landscaper Ken Foster to join Owen Dell talk Wed Jan 18 7pm Faulkner Gallery Santa Barbara Library

Wed Jan 11 05:17:33 PST 2006

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 18th 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 
<mailto:lbuzzell at aol.com>lbuzzell<mailto:lbuzzell at aol.com>@aol.com

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