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Here I am dancing with my partner Kate in our little house; my sister Gina is in the foreground
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Name Julia Balibrera
Registered 2010
Impact 2,676
Contributions Practivistas Chiapas biodigester
Superadobe project

About me, Julia B

Hi! I am a graduating senior at Cal Poly Humboldt in Northern California, soon to bear a degree in Spanish with a preference for an educational tract, as well as one in International Studies with an emphasis in Latin America; as of May 2011, I will be actively pursuing a practical medium within which to apply what I have learned and discover what I have not. I'll be living between the Bay Area and Nevada County, and so far, my only concrete plans are :

  • to volunteer at SF's Bike Kitchen so that I can finally understand the marvelous ingenuity of my preferred mode of transit
  • to build greenhouses with my brother
  • to work at the Nevada County Fair in August

My interests extend much further beyond that which I've experienced!

Experience in Appropriate Technology

I spent the summer of 2010 living and working in San Cristobal de las Casas,Chiapas, as part of the HSU_Chiapas_Program_2010. While there, I not only improved my language skills, but furthermore gained a good breadth of experience in appropriate technology projects. Specifically, I worked on Team Biogas as we designed and constructed a Biobolsa model BIODIGESTER for an appropriate-technology demo site in the city. Check out HSU_Chiapas_biodigester for more details on the project !

Team Biogas and Biodigester (photo: Lonny Grafman), I am in the far left, wearing a green shirt

I worked as part of a larger team which built:

I also learned the basics (the basic basics) of:

Here in Humboldt County, I've worked on an organic farm for 3 years. I've learned

  • techniques of drainage
  • simple greenhouse construction
  • seedling care and transplants
  • methods of non-synthetic fertilization.

I've built two backyard gardens (the first dug from pure lawn, the second by the construction of two small greenhouses) since I've lived in Arcata.

I've also taken a few workshops from the beautiful CCAT house in my time here, but more often than not the conflict of school and work has limited my ability to participate in the ongoing projects of the house:

  • Sourdough culture workshop (I have experience in both breadmaking and bagel making, the latter which I learned in San Cristobal)
  • Kombucha -- fungus care taking workshop
  • Worm Bin construction / management

Interests, Projects

  • Rain water catchment, Grey Water marches, and Water filtration techniques as methods to improve access to potable water
  • Microhydro electric dams as lesser-impact means to generate electricity
  • Biomass as an alternative to petro - fuels in energy production as well as crop fertilization
  • Counter-hegemonic practices in general
  • Linguistics / language acquisition / teaching English and Spanish, always improving what I know with definite plans to learn additional languages
  • organic agriculture / community advocacy and the move towards public space reclamation to build community gardens
  • Food banks, especially of Humboldt County's FOOD FOR PEOPLE model which harvests fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms during the height of the growing season so that access to local produce is not limited to simply those who can pay the rising costs; there is also a Food Bank garden plot in Mckinleyville I have heard, and that to me is one of the most exciting and revolutionary enterprises I've ever heard !

Contact

jmb171@humboldt.edu

References

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