Daphne Hulse
March 11, 2019
Emmanuelle Schwarz
CARMEL, Ind. -- From a childhood spent on sandy beaches in Brittany, France and an aspiration for understanding Earth science, Emmanuelle Schwarz, M.Phil., cultivated her environmental awareness through her life experiences.
After the Schwarz family settled in the U.S., they sought to reconnect themselves with nature. To do so, they transformed their home into an ecosystem. Emmanuelle’s enthusiasm for regenerative living came to life when she, her family, and the community nurtured their Sunburst Permaculture Homestead.
“For me, the only response to the environmental crisis is permaculture,” Emmanuelle said. Permaculture contains a set of tools for design that considers basic needs: where the water source is and where the sun hits the property.
The Beginnings
Around 11 years ago, French expat Emmanuelle and her family packed their bags and made the transatlantic voyage to the United States. Their destination: Carmel, Indiana, a growing suburb city of Indianapolis.
Travel was no foreign concept to Emmanuelle: she enjoyed residency in England and Italy before her life in the U.S. But when she transitioned to an American lifestyle, she faced issues different from those in Europe. Cultural shock took shape in Americans’ disconnect with their natural surroundings. For Emmanuelle, she said American food culture at supermarkets exemplified this broken link.
“Going shopping and finding clean food without plastic and chemicals was a struggle,” she stated. “This was really weird to me, because you go in the [farmers’] market and you buy vegetables without any packaging.”
The Age of Restoration
As a teenager, Emmanuelle related to the goal of protecting the environment. But she never self-identified as an environmentalist; instead, she said she felt awareness regarding the environmental problems that existed in her surroundings.
“I think we’ve had the stage of being sustainable,” she noted. “It doesn’t mean anything, because we will not be sustainable with the state of the planet. We will have to be regenerative.”
She explained that the difference for her between sustainable and regenerative action lies within the end goal. Sustainability today is to barely keep one’s head above water.
Emmanuelle added: “Unfortunately, we’ve done so much damage to the planet that we have to help more than just being on the same level. We need to clean and fix, and that’s not being sustainable. That’s being more proactive about cleaning the damage.”
From Personal Lifestyle to Community Project
Emmanuelle said her feeling of frustration and disconnection from nature drove the desire to create an ecosystem for her homelife. After experiencing success with her own ecosystem, Emmanuelle said she questioned whether or not other people in the community might be interested in transitioning their homes.
That consideration sparked Osmos Permaculture Design one year ago. The inspiration behind its name was simple, Emmanuelle said.
She said: “I like the concept of osmosis. It reminds me of living in an ecosystem.”
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, osmosis is defined as a usually effortless often unconscious assimilation. Emmanuelle said her aggregation of environmental knowledge was propelled by the desire to understand how the world connects.
How It Works
When presented with a site, the team considers the space. Emmanuelle said: “I focus on very simple stuff: the sunshine, the water, the structures, the topography.”
In her projects, she used her expertise on geomorphology -- the natural formation of the land -- and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping -- characteristics one sees from the sky down below -- to assess the area.
“Not all of what I do, I have been trained for,” she said. “Geomorphology is very helpful for all of the erosion processes.”
Geomorphology is analyzing the shape of the land, she added. Studying whether or not the ground is convex or concave is vital when working with an ecosystem.
Emmanuelle said that the intention for permaculture is to determine how one can best use the property.
She recounted three clients who contacted her in the past year. The sites ranged from family homes to a Montessori school, and they yielded her jobs. She also worked gratis with her neighbor.
“It’s not like I’m earning money,” she said, laughing. “It wasn’t the purpose, either. The purpose was to open it and see what happens.”
March 11, 2019
Emmanuelle Schwarz
CARMEL, Ind. -- From a childhood spent on sandy beaches in Brittany, France and an aspiration for understanding Earth science, Emmanuelle Schwarz, M.Phil., cultivated her environmental awareness through her life experiences.
After the Schwarz family settled in the U.S., they sought to reconnect themselves with nature. To do so, they transformed their home into an ecosystem. Emmanuelle’s enthusiasm for regenerative living came to life when she, her family, and the community nurtured their Sunburst Permaculture Homestead.
“For me, the only response to the environmental crisis is permaculture,” Emmanuelle said. Permaculture contains a set of tools for design that considers basic needs: where the water source is and where the sun hits the property.
The Beginnings
Around 11 years ago, French expat Emmanuelle and her family packed their bags and made the transatlantic voyage to the United States. Their destination: Carmel, Indiana, a growing suburb city of Indianapolis.
Travel was no foreign concept to Emmanuelle: she enjoyed residency in England and Italy before her life in the U.S. But when she transitioned to an American lifestyle, she faced issues different from those in Europe. Cultural shock took shape in Americans’ disconnect with their natural surroundings. For Emmanuelle, she said American food culture at supermarkets exemplified this broken link.
“Going shopping and finding clean food without plastic and chemicals was a struggle,” she stated. “This was really weird to me, because you go in the [farmers’] market and you buy vegetables without any packaging.”
The Age of Restoration
As a teenager, Emmanuelle related to the goal of protecting the environment. But she never self-identified as an environmentalist; instead, she said she felt awareness regarding the environmental problems that existed in her surroundings.
“I think we’ve had the stage of being sustainable,” she noted. “It doesn’t mean anything, because we will not be sustainable with the state of the planet. We will have to be regenerative.”
She explained that the difference for her between sustainable and regenerative action lies within the end goal. Sustainability today is to barely keep one’s head above water.
Emmanuelle added: “Unfortunately, we’ve done so much damage to the planet that we have to help more than just being on the same level. We need to clean and fix, and that’s not being sustainable. That’s being more proactive about cleaning the damage.”
From Personal Lifestyle to Community Project
Emmanuelle said her feeling of frustration and disconnection from nature drove the desire to create an ecosystem for her homelife. After experiencing success with her own ecosystem, Emmanuelle said she questioned whether or not other people in the community might be interested in transitioning their homes.
That consideration sparked Osmos Permaculture Design one year ago. The inspiration behind its name was simple, Emmanuelle said.
She said: “I like the concept of osmosis. It reminds me of living in an ecosystem.”
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, osmosis is defined as a usually effortless often unconscious assimilation. Emmanuelle said her aggregation of environmental knowledge was propelled by the desire to understand how the world connects.
How It Works
When presented with a site, the team considers the space. Emmanuelle said: “I focus on very simple stuff: the sunshine, the water, the structures, the topography.”
In her projects, she used her expertise on geomorphology -- the natural formation of the land -- and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping -- characteristics one sees from the sky down below -- to assess the area.
“Not all of what I do, I have been trained for,” she said. “Geomorphology is very helpful for all of the erosion processes.”
Geomorphology is analyzing the shape of the land, she added. Studying whether or not the ground is convex or concave is vital when working with an ecosystem.
Emmanuelle said that the intention for permaculture is to determine how one can best use the property.
She recounted three clients who contacted her in the past year. The sites ranged from family homes to a Montessori school, and they yielded her jobs. She also worked gratis with her neighbor.
“It’s not like I’m earning money,” she said, laughing. “It wasn’t the purpose, either. The purpose was to open it and see what happens.”