Breaking New Ground at The Omega Center for Sustainable Living
by Lauren Yanks

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. —Chief Seattle, 1855

On October 11th at 3:30 in the afternoon, the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its new project — The Omega Center for Sustainable Living. Some of the speakers included New York’s First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer, legendary folk musician and activist Pete Seeger, and Ned Sullivan, President of Scenic Hudson. The opening was a celebration of innovation and creativity in solving our current environmental challenges.

“I think we all understand the magnitude of the problems we face globally,” said Skip Backus, Omega’s Executive Director. “It is no longer a matter of whether global warming will happen, but rather how we best deal with the consequences of the damage.”

Omega’s Center for Sustainable Living will serve as the heart of Omega’s environmental initiatives and will include a greenhouse, a laboratory, a classroom, a water garden and a constructed wetland. Founded in 1977, Omega is a nonprofit organization offering a variety of holistic programs. Located on 195 acres in Rhinebeck, more than 20,000 people attend its conferences, workshops and retreats each year. In just the past seven months, they’ve hosted such renowned speakers as Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jean Houston and Eckhart Tolle.

“As Omega moves forward we will continue to create programs that speak to personal development and cultural transformation through the lens of interdependence,” said Backus.

At the heart of Omega’s new center will be the 4,500-square- foot greenhouse containing a water filtration system called the Eco Machine. Unlike chemical-based systems, the Eco Machine is a living system that uses bacteria, plants, fungi, snails and algae to recycle approximately 5 million gallons of wastewater a year. It is a simple and efficient approach to the transformation of industrial wastewater.

“Walking through an Eco Machine is an exhilarating experience filled with plants and the smell of a fresh April rain,” said Backus. “It will not be possible to walk through the completed project without coming away with a gut-level understanding of what interdependence means.”

Omega plans to use the Eco Machine’s recycled water to irrigate their campus grounds and gardens, and the staff looks forward to its use as an educational tool. “The center is a metaphor for holism,” said Carla Goldstein, Omega’s Director of External Affairs. “It demonstrates and teaches how everything is interconnected.”

The Eco Machine is the brain child of the ecological architect, Dr. John Todd, currently a Research Professor & Distinguished Lecturer at The Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources at The University of Vermont. Dr. Todd holds degrees in parasitology, agriculture and tropical medicine, as well as a doctorate in fisheries. He radiated with pride as he spoke at the ceremony. “I have a very good nose for when something important is happening, and something very important is happening here,” he said. “The Omega Center for Sustainable Living demonstrates how we can live in harmony with nature rather than destroying it.”

Dr. Todd’s living machine technology has been in existence for over twenty years, and more than seventy institutions are working with it on some level, including Oberlin College, Ben and Jerry’s, the Audubon Society, and municipalities in Burlington and San Francisco.

When asked by CNN why inventions like the Eco Machine are so important, Todd answered, “As we enter an age of limits, we’re going to have to rely more and more on nature’s wisdom to solve the problems that humans are facing. The water problem is one of the biggest of these issues.”

Currently, less than one half of one percent of all water on the planet is potable, and one-third of the world’s population will experience extreme water scarcity within the next quarter century. At least 1.5 billion people in the developing world lack access to clean water, and many scientists believe that the scarcity of water is currently the greatest threat to human health.

With the help of the Eco Machine, Omega looks forward to being a part of the solution to these vast challenges. Supported by donations, the $2 million construction project is expected to be finished and fully operational by next year, and everything will be built so that it is easily observable to visitors. “Usually, when you walk into a building you see a mechanical room with the sign ‘Keep Out,’” said Backus. “For this building, the mechanical room will be made of glass.”

As the keynote speaker, Silda Spitzer spoke enthusiastically about the project and emphasized its potential as a model to others. She spoke about the changes she and her husband have made in the Governor’s Mansion, including recycling and composting initiatives and the use of fluorescent bulbs. “The Governor and I have promoted green building initiatives,” she said. “Each new green building affects our society in a positive way.”

The Governor has assigned some of the environment’s most ardent advocates to the top offices of the Department of Environmental Conservation, and the First Lady hopes that New York will continue to be a leader on environmental issues. “The center that we’re building at Omega is a leadership model for New York, the country and the world,” she said.

Well into his eighties, Pete Seeger looked as feisty and vibrant as ever as he spoke about the importance of societal transformation.

“The whole world may learn the non-violent revolution,” he said. “Violence is just a descending spiral. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” Seeger went on to sing a couple of songs, including “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and continued to share some optimistic thoughts. “The next few years are going to be so exciting—win, lose or draw,” he said. “We know bad things are going on, but at the same time, more good little things are going on than ever before. This world is going to be saved by humor, by the arts, by all sorts of unexpected things.”

After the last speaker, everyone gathered outside on the rainy afternoon beneath a large white tent. Blessings were given by a Native American performing artist as members of Omega’s staff struck the ground with shovels — the first cracks in the center’s construction. In the midst of all the chaos and devastation in the world, this was an afternoon of hope.

“To me, the building of this center is a step in finding greater balance in society,” said Backus. “Through education and communication, we can make the cultural changes necessary to become a more sustainable, more loving world.”

For more information, go to www.eomega.org or www.toddecological.com