Appropedia

The Lesson of Appropriate Technology

Via the wiki database site of Appropedia

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http://www.appropedia.org/Appropedia:About#People_who_make_Appropedia_possible

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Intro to Appropedia

• Appropedia is a site for collaborative solutions in sustainability, poverty reduction and international development...

• Appropedia emphasizes sound science, principles and appropriate technology...

• Appropedia believes in sharing of wisdom and project information.

• Appropedia is a wiki, in our wiki community, allowing anyone online to add, remove, or edit content. Registration is encouraged but not required for contributors.

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Appropedia has been described as an "appropriate technology wiki," but it is much broader than that - it is a green living wiki and a wiki for all matters of international development and aid. Appropedia is an open site for stakeholders to come together to find, create and improve scalable and adaptable solutions. This can include sharing information and collaborating with others on how we can lighten our ecological footprint and live in harmony with nature and our environment in developed countries, or discuss ie low cost technologies for use in the developing world. A key aim of Appropedia is to provide this information, to support sustainable choices - sharing knowledge to build rich, sustainable lives.

Appropedia began in April of 2006. In the earliest stages it was a collaboration between passionate people from the United States and Australia, and quickly expanded to become a global project.

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Appropedia: A history of collaboration

Appropedia welcomes contributions of many types of content:

• Project histories and project how-tos

• Textbook-style information, tables, and figures

• Best practice in sustainability, development and all related fields

• Designs

• Photographs and illustrations

• Information for finding supplies and help

• Links and information on other organizations

• Collaboration pages for co-creating solutions

• Discussion pages for commenting on work done and work that needs to be done

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Related: Wikis for Sustainability

http://www.appropedia.org/Category:Wikis_for_sustainability

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Add Appropriate Links to Appropedia's Appropriate Tech Wiki

http://www.appropedia.org/Clean_water

http://www.appropedia.org/Appropriate_technology

Stages in Appropriate Technology

http://www.appropedia.org/Appropriate_technology#Stages_in_appropriate_technology

• Gandhi: self-reliance

• Schumacher, 'Small Is Beautiful'

https://gandhifoundation.org/2011/11/25/who-was-fritz-schumacher-by-diana-schumacher/

Schumacher believed that “an ounce of practice is worth a tonne of theory”.

From his youth Fritz had always read prolifically. At one stage or another during his life, Fritz questioned all the main traditions, whether intellectual, national, economic or religious.

Buddhist Economics - a ‘middle way’ between the Western model which sought to increase material wants and consumption to be satisfied through mechanised production and the Buddhist model which was to satisfy basic human needs through dignified work which also purified one’s character and was a spiritual offering. The tools of economics therefore had to be adapted to people’s needs and values and not vice versa.

Sustainable Development - His aim was to promote sustainable development strategies in the First and Third World alike. Food and fuel he saw as the two basic necessities for survival and sustainability. All communities and regions should strive to be self-sufficient in these as far as possible – otherwise they become economically and politically vulnerable. In this respect he was an early proponent of harnessing renewable energy in all its different forms and upgrading the existing traditional technologies.