Renew America Success Stories

Plymouth Institute

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The Plymouth Institute is a consortium of environmental designers, eco-developers, inventors, educators and artists working to develop sustainable living and sustainable development demonstration programs. The Plymouth Institute's hands-on technical education programs introduce inner-city school children to 21st century careers based on principles of sustainability. Programs highlight state-of-the-art construction, renewable energy, and subscription-based organic agriculture. 

The Institute evolved from the High Wind Association, an eco-community, rural education and demonstration center founded in 1977 by a group of friends with a deep commitment to help restore the balance between people and nature. Originally limited to a construction project to build a passive solar "bioshelter" that would produce rather than consume energy, the High Wind Association soon evolved into a permanent community of individuals -- most of whom constructed solar homes on the 128-acre site -- working together to focus on the dynamics of interdependent community living. 

In 1992, the Association bought a 144-acre site containing 19 artesian wells, wetlands, more than 30 ponds, a fish hatchery, conference center and cedar chalets. The residential community comprising the High Wind Association became the High Wind Village and the Plymouth Institute was born. 

Plymouth Institute is committed to programs that illustrate the importance of the three "E's:" environment, economics and equity. 

• Environment: A sustainable world is one in which human impact does not exceed the carrying capacity of the natural environment. 
• Economics: A sustainable world is one that provides people with opportunities to meet their essential economic needs and to pursue a lifestyle that is ecologically sensitive rather than destructive. 
• Equity: A sustainable world is one that is free of conflict, it is one in which all humans know peace and it is one in which all people are treated justly.

Program Highlights 

Learning Activities 

• School children from local inner-city Milwaukee schools tour the Institute and participate in hands-on experimental programs in solar energy, aquaculture, biology, organic farming and nature studies.
• Bunk rooms in the renovated barn are used for housing the students.
• Students are trying vegetarian diets, some of them for the first time.
• The Institute's solar homes, both privately owned and those owned by the Institute, have been visited by thousands of people who learn that renewable energy can be both aesthetic and efficient.
• Through cooperative efforts with the University of Wisconsin, the Institute is developing conferences, retreats, consultations and seminars on sustainable living.

• A micro-hydropower initiative uses the Institute's artesian wells (water in an artesian well flows upward due to forces generated within the earth) to generate electricity.
• Ponds on the property are aerated to increase fish density to speed up the maturation process of the fish.
• A biological waste treatment initiative uses bacteria, plants and fish to treat sewage and purify waste water.
• Construction on the site employs state-of-the-art resource- and energy-efficient designs.
• A wind farm is being developed to work in tandem with a photovoltaic array to produce a hybrid renewable energy system.
• All agricultural practices employ organic farming techniques.

• The goal of the Plymouth Institute is to become economically self-sufficient through the development of businesses, each of which illustrates conservation/sustainability practices. To date, initiatives include:
• Selling organically-raised fish from the Institute's 30 ponds.
• Selling artesian and spring water. (This initiative will be run by inner-city families who will use their neighborhood contacts to get the business off the ground.)
• The Institute plans to develop eco-town houses using state-of-the-art construction, renewable energy and biological systems.
• Rental of the inn, bioshelter, remodeled farmhouse and four chalets on the property.
• The Institute 's 20-acre organic farm now feeds some 200 families in metropolitan Milwaukee and the surrounding area with fresh-picked, chemical-free produce through a community-based subscription farming initiative.

• A population that is stable in size and in balance with its natural support systems.
• An energy system that does not raise the level of greenhouse gases and disrupt Earth's climate.
• A level of human material demand that does not exceed the sustainable yield of forests, grasslands and fisheries or systematically destroy the other species with which we share the planet.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The Plymouth Institute is a nonprofit organization working with Silver Springs of Plymouth, a for profit enterprise developing small businesses that provide an economic base for education, research and development. Additional partnerships have been formed with the Milwaukee Public Schools, the University of Wisconsin, the President's Council for Sustainable Development and Citizens' Network for Sustainable Development. 

Budget: The latest figures are available by contacting the program. 

Community Served: Students enrolled in the Milwaukee public schools system and local Milwaukee residents. 

Measures of Success:

• The Institute has collaborated with a Milwaukee inner-city middle school with 680 students, 80% of whom are African American, Hispanic, Native American and Asian, to participate in day-long tours of the Institute and long-term projects.
• The Institute works with all the Milwaukee public schools (with an enrollment of 10,000 students) to organize educational summits where school staff spend a weekend at Plymouth Institute to explore ways to restructure public education to include sustainable development issues.
• The Institute has helped create "Sustainable Wisconsin," a consortium of state officials, ecologists, farmers and individuals.