The Institute of Ecotechnics is an educational, training and research charity with a special interest in ecotechnology, the environment, conservation, and heritage. With its U.K. headquarters in London, England and its U.S. affiliate in Santa Fe, NM, the institute was founded to "develop and practice the discipline of ecotechnics: the ecology of technics, and the technics of ecology."
Ecotechnology is a proposed applied science that deals with the relationship between humanity and the biosphere. It involves the use of technological means for ecosystem management. It seeks to fulfill human needs, based on a deep understanding of natural ecosystems, and minimizing disruption to those ecosystems.
The institute was founded and incorporated in New Mexico in 1973 by members of the counterculture community Synergia Ranch, and incorporated in the UK in 1985. It is a recognized charity in England, Wales, and the United States.
Activities, Sailing ship
The Institute of Ecotechnics runs workshops, organizes conferences, and carries out ecological field research. It has developed agricultural, waste water and air purification, and biosphere technologies; and has published books on ecotechnics, ecological and cultural issues.
The ecological research vessel, Heraclitus, which the institute owns was designed and built with personnel from its first ecological project in New Mexico. The ship is a unique blend of ancient and modern: ferro-cement for its hull and deck, Chinese junk sails supplemented with diesel engine.The Heraclitus has sailed the oceans for decades since its launch in Oakland, California in 1975. It has made twelve expeditions,. Some of them were a three year round the world voyage through the tropics exploring the origins of human culture. It also sailed up the Amazon River conducting ethnobotanical collections in Peru and circumnavigated South America with an expedition to Antarctica. It collected corals off the Yucatan coast for the Biosphere 2 project and from 1996-2008 teamed with the Biosphere Foundation to map and study coral reef health at many locations in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Its most recent work was an oral history project among the port and sea people of the Mediterranean. The RV Heraclitus is in drydock in Roses, Spain undergoing a nearly complete rebuild after sailing some 270,000 miles.
Ecological field project consultancies
The Institute is involved in a series of ecological demonstration projects, selected in challenging biomes facing ecological degradation and cultural conflict. These were chosen because conventional approaches do not work, requiring innovative, "ecotechic" approaches with the goals of ecological upgrade, economic sustainability and to develop the capabilities of I.E. members and associates. The projects, and the Heraclitus, are places where hands-on educational programsand volunteer opportunities are provided.
Synergia Ranch, started in 1969, was the Institute's first ecological field project. There on 130 acres of desertifying high altitude sem-arid juniper/pinon grasslands, I.E. developed a program to restore the land, with the goal of creating an oasis in the desert. Over a thousand trees were planted, including 450 fruit trees, organic vegetable gardens and an extensive soil-building program using compost to restore lost fertility to an area which had been overgrazed and cleared for inappropriate broad-acre farming in the 1920s. Adobe buildings and a geodesic dome were built and artisan enterprises started including pottery, woodworking, iron working, clothing, leather. A construction firm build some three dozen adobe buildings in Santa Fe, contributing to a renaissance of traditional adobe architecture. The orchards and vegetable gardens are certified organic and in 2016 Synergia Ranch won the Good Earth award at the New Mexico Organic Agriculture conference in recognition of its land care. The ecotechnic life style approach was to balance by engaging in three lines of work: ecology, enterprise and theater. The Theater of All Possibilities was based at Synergia Ranch for over a decade.
Les Marronniers near Aix-en-Provence, France, begun in 1976 is the ecotechnic field project in the Mediterranean biome. It has also served as a frequent location for the international conferences which I.E. organizes bringing together scientists, artists, engineers, managers and thinkers to engage on topics of broad interest. Les Marronniers has also revivified on 7 ha (17 acres) the mixed agriculture small holdings traditional in the area, with orchard, grapes, field crops, woodlot, domestic animals and art/sculpture workshops.