Rizoma Field School

The project of Rizoma Field School is four parts: research, teaching, activism, and living. In our research, and especially in Ashley’s book, we ask questions about sustainable technologies, adoption, and social structures. We seek to publish this research in accessible language so that others might learn and adopt sustainable livelihoods. In our teaching, we incorporate experiential learning; students spend time doing hands-on work with members of our community here in Uruguay who live sustainably, and we then discuss what students are seeing through the lens of scientific research. As activists, we work with local networks like Slow Food Uruguay, or the Agroecology Network, as well as international networks like Degrow US or SCORAI to help build connections and support political movements. Finally, we try to practice what we learn through our own living: we use low technologies like clotheslines, solar water heating, passive solar, greywater gardens and a composting toilet, we self-produce food through permaculture and regenerative animal agriculture, and we try to live a low-consumption life. We want to be a living example of living sustainably while not sacrificing quality of life.