From these experiences, he created the foundations for a pattern language, which he shares with us, that we can use to remove the restrictions placed upon permaculture designers, homeowners, and businesses that practice sustainability and build resilience.

Find out more about Avery and his work at ColoradoGreywater.com

I mentioned near the end of the conversation about some allies in our work to change the laws that restrict sustainable practices. The two you’ll find linked to in the show notes are Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and National Community Rights Network. The National Community Rights Network also has state chapters in Colorado, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. If you’re involved in any kind of community engagement around the use of natural resources, definitely check out those two organizations.

I really appreciate people like Avery, or Adam Brock or Karryn Olson-Ramanujan, who continue to develop various pattern languages, drawing on the earlier work of Christopher Alexander and team in the book A Pattern Language. I find that pattern languages extend the core principle of permaculture design and apply this language and thought process to specific problems. Karryn works on issues for women in permaculture. Adam on how to create change, here and now.

For Avery, it is to be involved in the stakeholder process and politically engaged on the things we care about and lend our expertise, which lead him to his patterns. The ones he explicitly identified that we walked through in our conversation today were: allies on the inside, stakeholder cohesion, speaking legalese, CYA, people power, immutable force, and grit.

Have you been involved in the process of political change? Are there patterns you would add to this list?

Let me know by leaving a comment below.

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Resources
Avery Ecological Design
Colorado Greywater
Colorado Aquaponics
Boulder Permaculture
Sandy Cruz
High Altitude Permaculture
Living Routes (Now defunct. Reorganized as CAPE - Custom Academic Programs in Ecovillages) Auroville Ecovillage - India
Master of Ecological Design - San Francisco Institute of Architecture
Greywater Action
Harvesting Rainwater and Brad Lancaster

Allies in our Work for Change
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
National Community Rights Network

Related Interviews on Pattern Languages 
Adam Brock - Change Here Now with Adam Brock
Karry Olson - A Pattern Language for Women in Permaculture

My wife and I spent the weekend talking about gray water systems and gray water reuse when the question came up, "Is that even legal?" So today I made a series of phone calls to find out.

I regret to report: No. In Pennsylvania they are not.

Now, I can't point to a specific piece of legislation outlawing gray water systems. No directly worded document like that exists. However, the source of this information is Martin Ferry, the Permits Chief and an environmental engineer for the the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. During the conversation he made it very clear that Pennsylvania does not distinguish between gray and black water. Both are sewage and must be processed to state standards.

PA DEP views gray water as a health hazard and no longer issues permits for residential systems involving any kind of gray water reuse. Mr. Ferry referenced DEP studies and examples of constructed wetlands for grey water reuse that did not perform as required, which ended permitting.

Another barrier to a better designed world, but now the barrier is identified, gray water reuse advocates can work within their community and with legislators to get this changed.