news story / By Bob Doran

Water World

Humboldt eco-tech hits New York City rivers

(June 25, 2009)  It’s not your typical barge. The Waterpod, a floating art project currently plying the waters surrounding the island of Manhattan, is outfitted as be-domed “sustainable, navigable living space.” Launched last week from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where initial construction took place, the barge/pod is currently docked at South Street Seaport. The pod’s inhabitants, a group of New York artists, plan to spend the summer living aboard as it moves from dock to dock along Hudson and East River shores.

They’ll be growing food using a hydroponic system housed in a geodesic dome greenhouse, performing music and showing art in a larger dome where power comes from batteries charged by a solar array and bicycle power, and showing off alternative technology in general.

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In many ways it sounds like something you’d find in eco-groovy Humboldt County — and it is. Students from an engineering class at Humboldt State University designed many of the Waterpod’s sustainable living systems. Their instructor, Lonny Grafman, who also serves as faculty advisor for CCAT, HSU’s Campus Center for Appropriate Technology, is in New York helping to fine-tune various systems.

“It’s like Humboldt has invaded the New York waterways,” said Grafman. “Of course, CCAT was a large influence. They’re a leader in student-run sustainability organizations.”

Mary Mattingly, a sculptor/photographer from Queens, is chief visionary behind the project. She sees the Waterpod as “a composition, a transport, an island, and a residence … a realistic alternative to traditional living spaces” — one designed with climate change and the rising tides in mind.

“I’m concerned about what the future is going to be like,” said Mattingly, calling by cell phone from the barge. “In a country like America we have a different relationship with looking at the future than countries that are already dealing with climate change.”

So how did HSU engineering department students end up involved in this art project/experiment in sustainable, autonomous living? The connection with Mattingly came through a website and organization Grafman founded called Appropedia (www.appropedia.org), which serves as an open source wiki/clearing house for use of appropriate technology in sustainability, poverty reduction and international development.

For Grafman, the Waterpod was a natural. “It’s a project designed to engage and inspire communities in sustainability and the issues of climate change,” she said.

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