The Green Center is a non-profit educational institute that evolved from The New Alchemy Institute. With the help of a small board of directors and volunteers, former New Alchemists Hilda Maingay and Earle Barnhart continue NAI’s mission to “create ecologically-derived human support systems” which include renewable energy, agriculture, aquaculture, housing, and landscapes.
As directors of The Green Center, Hilda and Earle are focusing on a critical unsolved problem of sustainability: the recovery and safe recycling of nutrients from human “waste.” In addition to demonstrating the ease and efficiency of this lifestyle in their own home (pictured above), they take an active role in the Cape Cod community, advocating for ecologically sound alternatives to sewers. In addition to their work with local and regional planners, Hilda and Earle provide resources for organizations and people interested in nutrient recycling, such as eco-toilets and aquaculture.
See a selection of recent press on The Green Center and New Alchemy.
Continuing New Alchemy’s legacy
Restore the Land, Protect the Seas and Inform the Earth’s Stewards.
-New Alchemy Institute motto
The Green Center is also the custodian and distributor of New Alchemy’s ecological research publications.
From 1971 to 1991, The New Alchemy Institute conducted research and education on behalf of the planet. A 1989 publication called Promise Rediscovered : New Alchemy’s First Twenty Years gives a nice overview of this research.
Among our major tasks is the creation of ecologically derived human support systems – renewable energy, agriculture, aquaculture, housing and landscapes. The strategies we research emphasize a minimal reliance on fossil fuels and operate on a scale accessible to individuals, families and small groups. It is our belief that ecological and social transformations must take place at the lowest functional levels of society if humankind is to direct its course towards a greener, saner world…
Our programs are geared to produce not riches, but rich and stable lives, independent of world fashion and the vagaries of international economics. The New Alchemists work at the lowest functional level of society on the premise that society, like the planet itself, can be no healthier than the components of which it is constructed. The urgency of our efforts is based on our belief that the industrial societies which now dominate the world are in the process of destroying it…
The urgency of our efforts is based on our belief that the industrial societies which now dominate the world are in the process of destroying it. It is our belief that ecological and social transformations must take place at the lowest functional levels of society if humankind is to direct its course towards a greener, saner world. …Society, like the planet itself, can be no healthier than the components of which it is constructed.
Contact us
We welcome queries, suggestions, and donations! Please note, a limited number of tours and demonstrations may be given with a negotiable donation.
The Green Center 