Restore the Land, Protect the Seas and Inform the Earth’s Stewards.

-New Alchemy Institute motto

The Green Center Inc., is a non-profit educational institute that evolved from The New Alchemy Institute. We are the custodian and distributor of New Alchemy’s ecological research publications. We also support projects that demonstrate ecologically-derived forms of energy, agriculture, aquaculture, housing, and landscapes, and how people can live in harmony with nature.

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.

-Fall 1970
Bulletin of the New Alchemists

Current and New Alchemy publications are available for download via Adobe PDF format.

Current work

We take an active role in our community, advocating for ecologically sound alternatives to sewers such as eco-toilets and aquaculture. In addition to our work with local and regional planners, we run the Cape Cod Eco-Toilet Center as a physical and virtual resource for people interested in taking responsibility for their own “waste” by nutrient recycling.

The Green Center sponsors Nature’s Circle, a free program of nature walks and classes about clean water, recycling, land management, and other aspects of our relationship with nature in Falmouth, Massachusetts. We’re also involved with climate issues, as members of the Falmouth Climate Action Team.