There is an increasingly probable theory that those on the rising tide of environmental illness are also the pioneers who will by necessity create the safe living and working environments upon which our futures and survival will depend.

It is not enough just to understand the causes and syndromes of Environmental Illness. It is not enough to define it as a legitimate disease and disability. Beyond that lies the challenge first of building safe and sane living and working environments ...and finally, to turn the disability into a future, constructive asset by enacting new objectives, techniques, careers, functions and viability for the EI. This is where the E.I. Land Steward project begins.

Repair of Damaged Lands- the "Micro"-equipped Land Steward travels through several locations yearly learning and utilizing permaculture technology to repair public and private lands damaged by livestock, vehicle use, agricultural abuse and development. Often the Steward sites are intentionally selected because they are damaged. The Land Steward, who already has a safe, detoxified, self sufficient and mobile "Micro Habitat" living environment is given a safe location removed from crop spraying, herbicides, urban pollution, etc in return for work performed on that land. This provides the E.I. with a much needed "trade off" location and is typically a service given to the land owner or manager at no cost... a win/win situation in which the environment stands to experience the real gain. The Steward is trained, trains others and is supervised on those sites ...which change several times each year. We even build and repair our site access roads by hand with native materials.

Safe Control of Invasive Species- the current panic over invasives is largely inflamed by the corporations who sell herbicides, but is significant just the same. Herbicides do not work. They produce only the illusion of kill (weeds are back in 4-6 weeks), weaken the native growth, destroy soil microbes and produce increasingly tolerant residual weed seeds (which are responsible for most of the current epidemic). They only insure repeated herbicide sales, besides destroying immune systems and the environment. Hand irradication is the only known and provable long term solution. The E.I. Land Steward Program provides the labor. Several years using manual methods on about 46 regional sites indicate it is not only consistently effective and safe, but also a good source for daily aerobic cleansing.

Increased Law Enforcement- even though the Land Stewards themselves to not become directly involved with criminal confrontations, they are a strongly repellent responsible, visible and observant presence. They video document at a distance all incursions, turn evidence over to law enforcement, appear to testify at prosecution and serve as public service supervisors for those convicted, who are sentenced along the lines of "Restorative Justice" not to incarceration, but to remediation on the land, where they undergo environmental education under the guise of the Stewards themselves.

Sustainable Technology- Advanced sustainable technologies are used such as water catchment, dc electrical power systems from recaptured energy sources, composting, passive solar design, artificial tree cooling and the Helena Madrigal heating systems. Smart Shelter pilots these technologies, gives them to the Stewards, and they then build and pass on the information to others. 186 technologies are currently under use or development along these lines with the E.I. Land Steward Program.