The Green Center

Restore the lands, protect the seas, and inform the Earth’s stewards.

Please Donate!

From 1971 to 1991, the New Alchemy Institute published its research and activities in a variety scientific journals, including its own journals and quarterlies. Decades later, this information still embodies the design-DNA that will enable the creation of ecologically-derived human support systems to direct the course of humankind towards a greener, saner world.

Click on the journal title to view or download the entire publication, or on individual articles (those with links are in green). All PDFs are searchable by keyword.

Journal of the New Alchemists – Vol. 1, Pub. 1973

  • New Alchemy: An overview of the Institute, including financial status, visiting and employment policies, and bibliography of research resources
  • Energy: Wind Power (Earle Barnhart); A Windmill in India (Marcus M. Sherman)
  • Land Use: A brief history & travel impressions (Nancy Jack Todd); The Endangered Tropics: A look at land use, restoration, and reconstruction in Costa Rica (John Todd)
  • Aquaculture: Introduction to aquaculture; Studies of the ecology of the characid fish Brycon Guatemalensis in the Rio Tirimbina, Heredia Province, Costa Rica, with special reference to its suitability for culture as a food fish (William O. McLarney)
  • Explorations: Traditional cultures in New Mexico (Will Wroth); “Earth Gypsies” (Laura & David Engstrom)

 Journal of the New Alchemists – Vol. 2, Pub. 1974

  • New Alchemy: A report from the previous summer and foundation support, letters, and book review
  • Energy: Water-pumping windmills (Marcus Sherman); Windmill electronics (Frederick Archibald); New Alchemy’s “Ark” : a proposed solar heat and wind-powered greenhouse and aquaculture complex adapted to northern climates (Robert Angevine, Earle Barnhart & John Todd)
  • Land & Its Use: Towards Self-Sustaining Agriculture (Richard Merrill)
  • New Alchemy Agricultural Research Report No. 1 (Hilde Atema) : A preliminary study of resistance in 20 varieties of cabbages to the cabbage worm fly; A Brief Natural History of the Imported Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris rapae)
  • New Alchemy Agricultural Research Report No. 2 (William O. McLarney) Irrigation of Garden Vegetables with Fertile Fish Pond Water
  • Aquaculture: Walden Two: A Compleat Guide to Backyard Fish Farming (William O. McLarney & John Todd); An Improved Method for Culture of Midge Larvae for Use as Fish Food (William O. McLarney)
  • Explorations: On the Need for Studies of Food Consumption Ideas (E.N. Anderson, Jr. & Marja Anderson)
  • The Dilemma Beyond Tomorrow (John Todd)

Journal of the New Alchemists – Vol. 3, Pub. 1976

  • New Alchemy: Looking Back (Nancy Jack Todd)
  • Trash Fish Cookbook (Bill McLarney & Bryce Butler)
  • Energy: An Advanced Sail-Wing for Water-Pumping Windmills, the Savonious Rotor, and Solar Collectors for Heating Water (Earle Barnhart); Earth Breath: Wind Power (Jim Bukey)
  • Design: An Ark for Prince Edward Island (John Todd); The Shape of Things to Come: An Architect’s View (Ole Hammarlund & David Bergmark)
  • Land & Its Use: World of Miniature (John Todd); Confessions of a Novice Composter (Tyrone Cashman); Our Gardens… and Our Rabbits (Hilde Atema Maingay); Further Experiments in the Irrigation of Garden Vegetables with Fertile Fish Pond Water (William O. McLarney)
  • Aquaculture: Midge Culture (William O. McLarney, Joseph S. Levin & Marcus M. Sherman); A New Low-Cost Method of Sealing Fish Pond Bottoms (William O. McLarney & J. Robert Hunter); Cultivo Experimental de Peces en Estanques (Anibal Patiño R.)
  • Explorations: Meditation on the Dark Ages, Past & Present (William Irwin Thompson); Self-Heath: Exploring Alternatives in Personal Heath (Nancy Milio & Ruth Hubbard); Women and Ecology (Nancy Jack Todd)

 Journal of the New Alchemists- Vol. 4, Pub. 1977

  • New Alchemy: Reports on recent activities; opening the Cape Cod and PEI Arks; travels & technology appropriate to Costa Rica; the herb tea project; book reviews; Cookbook of the New Alchemists; The Trash Fish Cookbook Rides Again; Energy & the Oil Crisis
  • Land Use: Intensive Vegetable Production (Hilde Maingay); Experimenting With Growing Beans (Susan Ervin); The Effects of Mulching with Seaweed and Azolla on Lettuce Productivity (Susan Ervin); Fertile Fish Pond Water Irrigation Trials (Susan Ervin)
  • Aquaculture: The Saga of the Solar-Algae Ponds (Ron Zweig); Three Experiments with Semi-Enclosed Fish Culture Systems (Ron Zweig); An Introduction to Cage Culture (William O. McLarney)
  • Bioshelters: Tomorrow is Our Permanent Address (John Todd); Bioshelters as Organisms (Ron Zweig); Bioshelter Primer (Earle Barnhart); The Six-Pack: A Backyard Solar Greenhouse (Laura Engstrom)
  • Explorations: Return to the Feminist Principle (Evelyn Ames); Morningsong (Darwine Martinez); Political Prospects, Cultural Choices, Anthropological Horizons (Richard Falk)

Journal of the New Alchemists – Vol. 5, Pub. 1979

  • New Alchemy: Report on activities of New Alchemy, Costa Rica, visiting New Alchemy, book reviews, computers or “calculating engines” and mathematical modeling
  • Energy: The New Alchemy Sailwing (Earle Barnhart & Gary Hirshberg); The Green Gulch Sailwing (Tyrone Cashman); New Alchemy Hydrowind Development Program (Joe Seale)
  • Land & Its Use: Mexican Bean Battles & Effects of Mulches (Susan Ervin); A Study of the Energy Efficiency of Intensive Vegetable Production (Hilde Maingay); Some Other Friends of the Earth (Jeffrey Parkin); On the Feasibility of Permanent Agricultural Landscape (Earle Barnhart)
  • Aquaculture: Open System Fish Culture, 1977 (William O. McLarney & Jeffrey Parkin); Investigations of Semi-closed Aquatic Systems & The Birth and Maturity of an Aquatic Ecosystem (Ron Zweig); The Second Wave: The Application of New Alchemy Aquaculture Techniques to a Remote, Small-Scale Trout Farm (Meredith Olson)
  • Bioshelters: Biotechnic Strategies in Bioshelters (Earle Barnhart); Soundings from the Cape Cod Ark (Kathi Ryan); Where Does All the Heat Go? (Joe Seale)
  • Explorations: The Future of Latin America (William O. McLarney); The Life of the Naturalist Jean Henri Casimer Fabre, 1823-1915 (Meredith Fuller Luyten)

Journal of the New Alchemists- Vol. 6, Pub. 1980

  • New Alchemy: Creation Myth & Ongoing Saga, Farm Saturdays & Beyond, No Nukes, Notes of an Alchemist’s Apprentice, Book reviews, Poetry & Report from Costa Rica fish culture projects
  • Energy: A Water-Pumping Windmill Primer (Gary Hirshberg); An Integrated Wind-Powered System to Pump, Store & Deliver Heat & Cold (Joe Seale); Whatever Happened to Compressed Air? (Joe Seale)
  • Land Use: Further Experiments on the Effects of Mulches on Crop Yields & Soil Conditions (Susan Ervin); Tree Crops: Creating the Foundation of a Permanent Agriculture (Earle Barnhart); New Alchemy Tree Crop Research (Paula Gifford & Earle Barnhart)
  • Aquaculture: Where Have All the Fishes Gone (John Todd); Peek’s Milwaukee Sun, 1877; Cage Culture (Bill McLarney & Jeffrey Parkin); Biological Filters, Water Quality & Freshwater Clams (Michael Stewart Connor); Solar Aquaculture- Historical Overview & The Dome as a Nursery (Ron Zweig); Summary of Fish Culture Techniques in Solar-Algae Ponds (John Wolfe & Ron Zweig); Sunlight Patterns Without, Chemistry Patterns Within: The View from a Solar-Algae Pond (John Wolfe, David Engstrom, Ron Zweig); The Energetics of Solar-Algae Pond Aquaculture (John Wolfe); Dreaming in My Own Backyard (John Todd)
  • Bioshelters: From Our Experience: The First Three Years Aboard the Cape Cod Ark (NAI Staff & Solsearch Architects)
  • Explorations: Sensitive Societies: A Biological Perspective (Ron Zweig); New Horizon Economies & Renewable Resource-Based Economies (Joe Seale); Learning & Unlearning: Some Patterns & Connections (Jeffrey Parkin & Sava Morgan); Reflections on the Chilean War (Francisco Varela)

Journal of the New Alchemists- Vol. 7, Pub. 1981

  • New Alchemy: Overview & introduction (Nancy Jack Todd); Adventures in the mail trade (Denise Backus); Reflections on apprenticeship (Scott Stokoe); Valentine season: Riverdale (Thomas Berry); Poem & another Earth Gypsy (Tyrone Chasman); Reaching Out (Robert Sardinsky); New Alchemy & Ecodevelopment in Costa Rica (William O. Mclarney)
  • Energy: Greasing the Windmill (Sietze Buning); Scale & Diversity in Energy Systems (Joe Seale); Forming the Cape & Islands Self-Reliance Cooperative (Greg Watson & Michael Greene); Autologic (J. Baldwin)
  • Land Use: Garden Notes (Susan Ervin); Introduction to Report from the Tree People (John Quinney); Surveying & Grafting Local & Antique Fruit Trees (Mavis Clark); Recycling Leaf Nutrients (Ed Goodell); Nitrogen-Fixing Trees & Shrubs (John Quinney); Hedgerows & Living Fences (John Quinney); Birds & Biological Pest Control (Loie Urquhart); Tree Crops for Structural Materials (Scott Stokoe); Weaving with Willow (Maryann Fameli & Earle Barnhart)
  • Aquaculture: Alternatives to Commercial Feeds in the Diets of Cultured Fish (William O. McLarney & Jeffrey Parkin); Defining & Defying Limits to Solar-Algae Pond Fish Culture (David Engstrom, John Wolfe, Ron Zweig); Modeling Algal Growth & Decline in Solar-Algae Ponds (David Engstrom, John Wolfe, Ron Zweig)
  • Bioshelters: Logging the Course of the Ark; Indoor Gardening & Controlling the Whitefly (Colleen Armstrong); Toxic Materials in the Bioshelter Food Chains & Surrounding Ecosystems (Dr. Han Tai, Colleen Armstrong, John Todd); Reglazing (John Wolfe); Modeling & Design of Future Bioshelters (Joe Seale, John Wolfe); Putting Ourselves on the Line; The BAM Greenhouse: Homemade Tapestry (Hilde Maingay); The BAM Greenhouse: It’s Great (Ate Atema); The BAM Greenhouse: Notes on Intent, Function & Form (Earle Barnhart); We Scrounged & Recycled (Denise & Dick Backus); From the Group Up (Christina Rawley, Ron Zweig); Why Not a Solar Greenhouse on the Second Floor? (Barbara Chase); Notes from a Professional (Rick Beck); We Threw Caution to the Sun (Nancy Jack Todd, John Todd)
  • Explorations: The Village as Solar Ecology (John Todd); The Need for Villages (William Irwin Thompson); Ourkind (Keith Critchlow); Feng-shui: An Ancient Theory of Village Siting (Paul Sun/Sun Peng-Cheng); A Single Shared World (Mary Catherine Bateson); Solar Village Principles & Construction Ideas (Malcolm Wells); Soft-Energy Paths From Here to the Village (Amory Lovins); A Dome Bioshelter as a Village Component (J. Baldwin); Note on an Agricultural Cultural Solar Village in the American Southwest (John Todd); Some Considerations for Agriculture in a Solar Village (Susan Ervin); The Need for Trees (L. Hunter Lovins); Wastewater Reclamation Through Ecological Processes (Steve Serfling); The Sustainable Farm & Looking Back to Now (Wes Jackson);  The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine (John Todd); A Maine Coastal Village (John Todd); Marin Solar Village (John Todd)

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com