Dodging Diabesity

Dodging Diabesity

by | Dec 9, 2018 | diabetes

“Diabesity” is Colin’s word for the modern epidemic of diet-related disease – diabetes, obesity, heart attacks, strokes, dementia, leaky gut and more – driven by the way we grow and process food, and how that food changes our gut biology.

What Is Diabesity – And Why Is It Exploding?

In just a few decades, “diabesity” has gone from rare to normal. Around one in three people in many countries now live with diabetes, obesity or other chronic, diet-linked diseases – and the trend is still rising.

Colin uses “diabesity” as an umbrella term for all those conditions connected with modern diets: type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart attacks, strokes, dementia, irritable and leaky gut, Crohn’s, lupus, coeliac disease and more. It’s a miserable cluster of problems that causes huge suffering and costs health systems trillions of dollars.

What makes this so disturbing is not only the scale, but the timing. Fifty years ago, these diseases were rare. People worried about infectious diseases; very few had even heard of type 2 diabetes. Today, infectious diseases are under control for most of us – and chronic diseases have stepped in to take their place.

Why the Old Story About Calories Doesn’t Stack Up

For decades, the standard message has been simple: you are overweight because you eat more calories than you burn. According to this story, all calories are equal, and if you just eat less and move more, the problem will go away.

Colin argues this is pseudo-science. We don’t eat “calories”; we eat food, and our bodies handle different foods in different ways. A hundred calories of cabbage and a hundred calories of cheesecake do very different things in the body.

Calories measure how much energy is in food – not how your body chooses to burn it, store it as fat, or simply send it down the toilet.

Our bodies don’t just store all “extra calories” as fat. They decide what to do with each mouthful. Some energy is used immediately, some is stored as fat, and some is simply excreted. That decision is not made by a simple fuel gauge – it is made by a complex biological control system.

The Diet Wars: Fat vs Carbs vs Plants

Colin reviews the three big “diet tribes”:

  • “Fat is bad” – the classic low-fat, high-carb model, where fat is blamed for insulin resistance and blocked blood vessels.
  • “Carbs are bad” – the low-carb or keto approach, where carbs and sugar are seen as the main driver of high insulin, fat storage and weight gain.
  • Vegetarian / plant-based – focusing on fibre, phytonutrients and slow-release carbs to blunt sugar spikes and lower insulin levels.

Each group can point to studies, clinics and success stories. And that is part of the problem: all three can help some people, some of the time. There is no single diet that works for everyone, all the time.

Colin’s conclusion is that we are missing the bigger picture. Focusing on macronutrients – fat vs carbs vs protein – ignores the central actor that sits between food and health: our gut biology.

What Really Changed? Not Just How Much We Eat

Looking back, humans have feasted for centuries. Traditional cultures in China, the South Pacific and Europe all enjoyed big celebratory meals without triggering a diabesity epidemic. The shift is not simply that we eat more food.

The real revolution has been in how food is grown and processed:

  • Heavy use of herbicides and pesticides.
  • Routine use of antibiotics in farm animals.
  • Industrial processing that strips out fibre, phytonutrients and biological life.
  • Cheap, highly refined carbohydrates and sugars everywhere, all the time.

Modern food is now high in fast-release energy and low in minerals, phytonutrients, fibre and microbes – exactly the opposite of the wild and traditional foods our bodies evolved to handle.

Why Two-Thirds of People Are Still OK

Here is the surprising part: even in the middle of this food environment, two-thirds of people are still not officially diabetic or obese. That raises a powerful question: what are their bodies doing differently?

Genetics play some role, but they cannot explain such a rapid shift. Colin believes the most likely explanation is that the difference lies in our gut biology – the community of microbes that live in our intestines and help decide what happens to our food.

We already know that faecal transplants can dramatically change weight and metabolic health by changing gut bacteria. You can take a fat mouse, give it the gut microbes of a lean mouse, and it becomes lean. The same principle has been observed in humans.

Change your gut biology and you change how your body decides what to burn, what to store as fat, and what to throw away.

Transplants are not a practical solution for billions of people – but they prove a crucial point: gut biology is not a side issue; it is central to diabesity.

Pharma, Diets, or Gut Biology? The Three Options

Colin frames our choices like this:

Option 1 – Rely on Pharmaceuticals

Current diabetes drugs and insulin manage blood sugar; they do not reverse the disease. For some people this is enough to avoid immediate crisis, but many still end up facing blindness, amputations and early death. It is a costly, lifelong management strategy, not a cure.

Option 2 – Change Diet Alone

Low-fat, low-carb and vegetarian diets all have evidence behind them. Many honest doctors have reversed diabetes in their clinics using one of these approaches. But:

  • The “right” diet seems to vary from person to person.
  • Most versions are restrictive and hard to sustain in normal social life.
  • The success rates in studies are often modest – 10–20% improvements, not 99%.

That suggests we are missing a major piece of the puzzle.

Option 3 – Change Gut Bacteria

This is where Colin believes the real leverage lies. Our gut microbes act as an intelligent system that helps decide:

  • Whether food is burned as energy, stored as fat, or excreted.
  • How hungry we feel and what we crave.
  • How sensitive or resistant we are to insulin.

We may not fully understand the “software” in this gut computer yet – but we know one powerful way to reprogram it: through the food we grow and eat.

The Role of the Gbiota Project

The Gbiota project is not just about clever garden beds. It is about using biologically active soil and mineral-rich plants to support a healthier gut biome and, through that, to help people dodge diabesity.

The aim is to:

  • Grow food in living, microbe-rich soil, rather than in dead or chemically dominated soil.
  • Increase the “refurbishing” side of food – minerals, phytonutrients, fibres and beneficial microbes – not just the fuel side.
  • Make this practical for both home gardeners and commercial growers, so it can reach large numbers of people.

Colin’s view is that we cannot afford to wait for perfect science before we act. In real innovation, practice and research move together. Engineers try something that looks promising; if it works in the real world, scientists come later to explain and refine it.

The Gbiota beds are that practical starting point – a way for ordinary people to grow food that supports gut biology and then see, in their own bodies, what changes.

Decision Time

Dodging diabesity is not about finding the one magic diet, or the one perfect pill. It is about changing the way we grow and eat food so that:

  • Our gut biology works with us, not against us.
  • Our hormones steer us away from junk and overeating, instead of towards it.
  • We can enjoy food and social life without accepting a future of pills, amputations and early decline.

The Gbiota project is Colin’s proposal for how we begin that shift – from the soil, to the plant, to the gut, to the brain.

Download ‘Dodging Diabesity’ full PDF

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Re-making My Gbiota Beds (Update)

Re-making My Gbiota Beds (Update)

by | Jan 28, 2018 | Gbiota beds, gbiota club

This update shares a practical rebuild of a Gbiota bed after I noticed uneven water spread between rows. The core lesson is simple: the liner shape matters more than expected. A “saucer” profile gives too little contact area for wicking when water is only trickling through the pipe. A flatter base with a small lip dramatically improves lateral wetting. I also share two clear checks you can do before building: use stable compost in the base and test your slope using water, not your eye.

Why I’m rebuilding

I had some problems with my Gbiota beds and decided to rebuild one line so I can compare designs under similar conditions. I drafted an earlier version of this update to warn members about poor water movement across rows. Since then, a small change to the liner profile has made a substantial improvement, and it is important you hear this before you start digging.

The good news is the soil biology looks strong. I have never seen so many worms in a garden bed, which suggests we are heading in the right direction biologically. Some plants have flourished—especially the more aggressive, water-hunting types—while others have struggled.

In my beds, plants like Purple Amaranth, Kang Kong, Spinach, Okra, and Comfrey have done very well. Others, like lettuce and radish, went to seed quickly, and Chinese cabbages were decimated by insects. These can be normal Queensland summer issues, but the symptom that really worried me was poor germination and weak growth between rows. That pointed to a basic engineering problem: poor water distribution across the bed width.

What I was trying to achieve

Wicking beds are excellent for small areas. They are a reliable, well-tested system for home production. But the scale of chronic disease, especially diabetes, is enormous. The intention here is to produce food that is rich in minerals and phytonutrients, with active plant-associated biology that can help improve human gut biology. To do that at scale, the growing system must be low cost, simple, and able to operate with automation.

The idea was to use multiple rows of modified open wicking beds, potentially up to 100 metres long, supplied by an external reservoir. Water delivery would be automatic using a pulsed cycle, and the same loop would allow compost tea (with mineral additions) to be introduced to the root zone.

In theory the system is straightforward: create a gentle slope, dig a narrow channel, line it with plastic film, lay in a perforated pipe, and connect it to a reservoir and return path. Add a pump, a manifold, and a drainage system so excess water returns to the reservoir. Then provide a method to introduce compost tea into that loop.

Practical realities: slope, soil, and water flow

For pumping, I wanted to use a pond pump because they are cheap and have an open impeller, so they can tolerate a fair amount of dirt. They do not have much head—about a metre or so—but that is adequate for this type of distribution. The most convenient placement was near my shed where power is available. A commercial system would likely use solar, which is generally sufficient.

In my case, the shed location forced me to reverse the slope direction compared to what I first wanted. I do not have hard experimental data on the ideal gradient, but from flood irrigation experience I guessed a slope of about 1 in 100 would be fine. In a 7 metre bed, that is around 70 mm of fall.

I also needed soil to create that gradient. My existing soil is poor—essentially a silt layer sitting above clay—and I wanted to inoculate the system with a very active biology. That led me to bring in biologically active material for earthworks and soil building.

Two essential build lessons

After watching what happened over time, two practical lessons became very clear:

  • Use well-composted material in the base. Fresh, labile compost settles, and its open structure does not wick well. Wicking depends on a finer, compacted structure with small pores.
  • Measure your slope with water, not your eye. If you do not have laser levelling, lay out plastic and do a water-flow test. A small gradient is difficult to judge visually, but water will tell you immediately whether the slope is uniform.

The world’s most effective soil moisture monitor

In a previous life I ran a company making electronic soil moisture monitors. These days I use a simple wood auger I bought at the market for $8 because it gives me the information I actually need.

I could see the surface soil between rows was dry, but the auger showed moisture underneath. To test properly, I planted radish seeds across the rows, gave one watering, and waited. The result was unambiguous: the radish grew well over and near the pipes, but between the pipes there was almost nothing. The problem was not “maybe.” It was water distribution.

I explored the obvious suspects. I wondered if the soil was not wicking laterally, so I trialled a strip of rotted grass clippings in one place and a cotton cloth in another to improve capillary continuity. Those spots looked moist, but overall the improvement was not enough to solve the pattern.

I also tried a second pipe above the ag pipe, like a homemade dripper tube. Water use increased, but there was no strong sign it improved lateral wetting across the bed. The patches were starting to look like “patch after patch,” and that is often a warning sign: the basic geometry might be wrong.

Finding the real cause

I eventually accepted I needed to pull the bed apart and watch what was actually happening. Replacing liners is hard work—shovelling soil out and back in again—so I do not say this lightly. But it was monsoon season, and digging in wet conditions made it easier to see how water behaved.

Once I exposed the pipe and watched the flow, the mistake became obvious. Water flowing down the pipe was only a trickle—about a litre per minute—so the water depth in the pipe was only around a millimetre. Wicking is not a strong force. It needs the right conditions, and it needs contact area.

I had shaped the liner channel like a saucer and placed the ag pipe at the bottom. That meant there was only a tiny contact area between the soil and the water. With such a small contact strip, not enough water could move out of the pipe and into the surrounding soil to wet laterally.

The fix: a flatter base and a small lip

The solution was to change the channel profile. Instead of a saucer, I formed a flatter base with only a shallow lip at the edges. That creates a meaningful flat area where water can spread, increasing the soil-to-water contact zone. The difference was dramatic.

This change worked so well that I was tempted to trial a simple flat sheet on another bed. It felt like a silly idea at first, but sometimes a “simple” idea is exactly what the physics needs. In this case, it worked.

From here, the next refinement is to reduce the lip as much as possible while still preventing leakage. The goal is enough containment to guide flow, but not so much shaping that you lose effective contact area.

Following the water: a quick system walk-through

It helps to follow the water path as a complete loop. Water starts in the main tank, which catches rainwater from the shed. In Bundaberg, we either have too much rain or too little, so I use a float valve to top up when needed. That also gives me a simple way to estimate how much water I am using.

From there, water goes into a feeder tank (in my case about 40 litres). It is small, but it does the job. The pond pump sits in this feeder tank. Water then travels through a pipe to the distribution point at the top of the block, where a tap adjusts flow.

The flow is set so the header tank does not empty during a 10-minute irrigation cycle. That gives roughly 40 litres, plus whatever comes in from the main tank during the run. In my layout, that is just over 1 mm of water per cycle—if the soil is already wet, the excess simply returns to the header tank.

I irrigate on a pulse cycle (every two hours in this setup), which gives capacity for around 12 mm per day. Evaporation can be around 10 mm per day in hot conditions. Vegetable crop factors are generally under 1, but I also have trees pulling extra water, so overall the net demand can be near that 1:1 range. In practice, this level of delivery should be adequate, provided the bed actually distributes the water laterally—hence the importance of the liner geometry.

Key dimensions and planting test

In the revised bed, each lined channel is around 200 mm wide, and the plastic liner width is about 270 mm. The base of the channel sits roughly 150 mm below the soil surface. I would prefer deeper pipes, but depth is constrained by the header channel level.

To confirm wetting, I plant across the rows. This is a simple visual test: if seedlings are uniform across the bed width, water distribution is working. If growth repeats in stripes, distribution is still failing somewhere.

Compost tea flushing and next improvements

I am still using a regular compost bin for household compost and flushing manually at the moment. The intention is to automate compost tea flushing so the biology and nutrients can be delivered consistently through the root zone. Automation is the goal, but it needs to be built on top of a distribution system that works reliably first.

If you are about to build beds, especially in wet season, watch for updates and do not hesitate to check your slope and liner profile before you commit to filling and planting. A small geometry change now can save a huge amount of labour later.

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Diabetes Updates: What Monitoring, Stress, and Exercise Teach Us

Diabetes Updates: What Monitoring, Stress, and Exercise Teach Us

by | Jan 28, 2018 | diabetes

Two new diabetes articles are now available, covering both the scientific evidence for reversal and the practical steps to achieve it. Diabetes is used as a “canary in the coal mine” because continuous glucose monitoring gives fast, low-risk feedback on what works. Recent observations highlight how powerful exercise is for flattening blood sugar curves, and how stress can cause spikes even larger than food. Work is also underway to test gut biology changes using faecal analysis.

New articles now published

Two articles on reversing diabetes have just been completed. One focuses on the scientific evidence that diabetes is reversible, and the second focuses on the practical steps needed to reverse it.

The index page on the website has also been completely revised so these articles are easier to find and navigate. Feedback on the new web system is welcome.

Why focus so strongly on diabetes?

Diabetes matters personally, but it is also a useful test case for understanding diet and chronic disease. Diabetes acts like a “canary in the coal mine” because continuous blood sugar monitoring provides an immediate answer on whether a treatment is working.

The risk level is low. At worst, the person being tested experiences a short-term sugar spike, which is unlikely to cause meaningful long-term harm on its own. This makes it far easier to test ideas quickly and safely compared with other chronic diseases.

Why diabetes research can guide other chronic diseases

It is much harder to run practical experiments on conditions such as heart disease. Outcomes are slower, risk is higher, and few volunteers want to trial experimental approaches when the result can be a harsh “zero or one” outcome.

Because diabetes is measurable in real time, what works for diabetes can often provide a strong lead on how to manage other chronic diseases.

Gbiota beds and the next evidence step

The Gbiota beds have been working very well as a food production system. The next step is to gather stronger evidence that they also improve gut biology.

An appointment with an endocrinologist has been arranged to help organise faecal analysis, but the process is slow and the wait extends to September.

What continuous monitoring is revealing

Continuous blood sugar monitoring has been extremely informative. One standout finding is how effective exercise can be for controlling blood sugar. Regular evening walks have had a clear effect in flattening the blood sugar curve.

Stress effects are even more dramatic than expected. Cortisol (the stress hormone) is known to raise blood sugar, but the size of the stress-driven spikes can exceed the spikes caused by food.

A simple experiment: magnesium and stress

Magnesium is considered important for stress management, so magnesium tablets have been added as a small experiment, even though they may be unnecessary when the diet is already strong.

Closing note

If you are using Gbiota beds, feedback is welcome—especially what is working well, what is unclear, and what results you are noticing in plant growth and day-to-day operation.

Download “The Sad Tale of Reversing Diabetes – Why the Message Still Isn’t Landing” (full PDF)

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The Sad Tale of Reversing Diabetes: Why the Message Still Isn’t Landing

The Sad Tale of Reversing Diabetes: Why the Message Still Isn’t Landing

by | Jan 28, 2018 | diabetes

Diabetes does not have to be a one-way path to worsening health. The newer model is simple: fat build-up can block insulin action in muscles, liver, and even the pancreas itself, so blood sugar rises. Remove the fat pressure and the system can work again. The practical problem is not science—it is uptake. Many people are still told reversal is impossible, and the default “pill-first” pathway can make reversal harder.

Introduction

For a long time, the mainstream story about type 2 diabetes was bleak: it was progressive, it always got worse, and there was no real way back. That story shaped medical habits, patient expectations, and whole systems of care.
But research and real-world outcomes have shifted the model. Diabetes is often reversible in practice, especially when addressed early and with the right strategy. The sad part is that this knowledge is not yet reaching everyone who needs it.

Conventional Wisdom (and Why It Seemed Logical)

The older view was built around a simple idea. Insulin, made by beta cells in the pancreas, becomes less effective as insulin resistance develops. For a long time there may be few obvious symptoms because the pancreas can compensate by producing more insulin.
Eventually a tipping point is reached: the pancreas cannot produce enough, blood sugar levels rise rapidly, and the beta cells are said to have “burned out” or been destroyed. Under that model, progression was expected and “reversal” sounded impossible.

There is also an amplifying trap in this older approach. Insulin encourages fat storage. So conventional pills that increase insulin production can reduce blood sugar in the short term, but they can also increase fat storage and make reversal more difficult over time. The immediate symptom looks better, while the underlying blockage can worsen.

The New Paradigm

A major shift occurred when bariatric surgery became common. Doctors noticed that diabetes could reverse—meaning the beta cells were still capable of working. Similar reversals were also seen with fasting.
This led to a different model: insulin is not only a regulator of blood sugar, it also drives fat storage. When the body stores excess fat, that fat can block the movement of sugar into muscles and the liver. Over time, fat can also block the beta cells in the pancreas, so they no longer produce sufficient insulin.

This change in framing matters. If beta cells are not destroyed but blocked, then removing the fat pressure can allow them to function again. Under this model, reversal is not magic—it is a mechanical outcome of removing the blockage and restoring insulin sensitivity. This new view has been accepted among specialist doctors and researchers.

Methods of Reversing Diabetes

Outside of bariatric surgery, three main approaches are described for reversing diabetes. Each has trade-offs, and the best approach is usually the one a person can stick with safely and consistently.

1) Fasting approaches

Long-term fasting can be effective, but it should only be done under strict medical supervision. A more accessible option is intermittent fasting, such as keeping an eating window each day or doing a full fasting day from time to time.
Intermittent fasting tends to be slower than long-term fasting, and it still requires sensible eating during the eating window. It is not a free pass to “pig out” and expect good results.

2) High fat, low carb (ketogenic-style) diets

High fat, low carb diets are often reported as effective for reversing diabetes. The concern is practicality: many people find them difficult or unpleasant to maintain long term. They may work well for some people, but they are not necessarily suitable for everyone.

3) A low glycaemic, vegetable-forward approach

The most practical pathway described here is a largely low glycaemic (slow acting) vegetable diet, with eggs, fish, and meat adjusted to individual taste. The key point is personal testing: continuous blood sugar monitoring, combined with careful experimentation, helps identify what works for a specific individual. This approach is not expensive or technically complex and can be highly practical for many people.

Reversal may not work for a small number of people due to genetics, and even when it is possible, psychological and emotional barriers can prevent success. Still, for most people the evidence and practical outcomes suggest reversal is realistic with the right structure and support.

Why the Message Still Isn’t Getting Through

Here is the “sad tale” part: many patients are still told diabetes is not reversible. The newer paradigm has not fully reached everyday practice.
In Australia, it is usually possible—at least in theory—to search for a specialist who follows the latest research. But doing leads to extra effort and expense, and not everyone has the time, money, or confidence to push against the default advice.

The reality is that diabetes has exploded in scale, and the medical system is overwhelmed. Under pressure, the easiest pathway is to prescribe pills quickly. But there is no pill that reverses diabetes. Worse, many conventional diabetic pills aim to increase insulin supply, which can make reversal more difficult because insulin also promotes fat storage.

The Situation in China

Reports from China suggest the situation can be even tougher. Medical services are often delivered through hospitals rather than a local family doctor model. With high patient load and limited time, doctors can be pushed toward quick medication-based responses rather than supporting diet and physical activity pathways that take time, education, and follow-up.

This creates a major opportunity for community and local solutions—but it also raises a practical challenge: how to connect with the medical system and credible diabetes education networks so that reversal methods can be taught and supported at scale.

Potential Leads and Useful Contacts

Some promising leads (based on publicly available references) include individuals and organisations connected to diabetes education and care in China. These may be worth exploring as starting points for collaboration, local referrals, or practical guidance.

  • Presentation reference:
    YouTube presentation link
    (one of the better presentations of the “blocked by fat” model).
  • China Daily reporting (diabetes care and education):
    Link 1
    and
    Link 2.
  • Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS): a national organisation established in 1991 (Shanghai), with provincial and municipal branches and thousands of members, focused on prevention, care, and education.

Chinese Diabetes Society Details

The following contact details are listed for the Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS):

  • Address: 42 Dongsi Xidajie, 100710 Beijing, China
  • Telephone: +86-1085158145
  • Email: wjianp@mail.sysu.edu.cn
  • Website: http://www.diab.net.cn
  • Founded: 1991
  • Member of IDF since: 1995
  • Approx. members: ~3,900 (with ~3,000+ referenced across China)

Conclusion

The science and practical evidence have shifted: for many people, diabetes can be reversed by removing the fat pressure that blocks insulin action and by restoring insulin sensitivity. The methods exist, and the tools to measure progress—especially continuous blood sugar monitoring—make the process more clear and personal.
The painful gap is adoption. Too many people still receive the old message: “It can’t be reversed.” Until the new paradigm becomes everyday knowledge, the system will keep treating symptoms first and leaving too many people on a path that could have been avoided.

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Reversing Diabetes and Gut Biota: A Practical Refuge Model

Reversing Diabetes and Gut Biota: A Practical Refuge Model

by | Jan 27, 2018 | diabetes, Gut Health

Type 2 diabetes is no longer seen as a one-way decline. The core issue is not “burnt out” pancreas cells, but fat and metabolic stress driven by high-glycaemic food and damaged gut biology. Most people can improve, and many can reverse diabetes with diet, exercise, and lower stress—then maintain results with a sustainable routine. This article outlines a refuge-style model that combines nutrient-rich food, supportive carers, and measurable feedback like continuous glucose monitoring.

Paradigm Shift: Diabetes Can Improve and Often Reverse

There has been a major shift in how chronic disease is understood, especially type 2 diabetes. For many years, diabetes was treated as irreversible and progressively worsening, needing stronger medication over time. The fear was clear: ignore medication and the likely outcomes were blindness, amputations, insulin injections, and early death from heart attack.

That story is changing. The newer understanding is that insulin-producing beta cells do not simply “burn out” and disappear. Instead, they can become clogged and impaired by fat, driven by long-term high insulin levels. The drivers include high-glycaemic foods (sugar and processed foods) and compromised gut biology, especially when the body is exposed to toxins.

With that shift comes a practical conclusion: for the majority of people, diabetes can be improved and often reversed through a combination of better diet, consistent exercise, and stress reduction. The aim is not perfection. It is regaining metabolic control and keeping it.

An Invitation: A Diabetes Refuge in Australia

A practical idea is to create a refuge-style model in Australia where people can step out of the standard pattern and focus on reversing diabetes. The model draws inspiration from an eco-village approach, where food, routine, and education are aligned to support recovery.

This can be done using an existing eco-village structure in Gin Gin, Queensland. Housing exists and more may be available if needed. The real question is community interest: are there people willing to help establish an Australian diabetic refuge based on the model described below?

The Yangtou Project: Food, Routine, and Support

A major reference model is an eco-village being developed in Yangtou, Fujian province, China. Diabetes is a massive issue in China (alongside India), with more than 115 million people officially diagnosed and many more undiagnosed or pre-diabetic. Asian populations are often particularly prone because fat may accumulate around vital organs (visceral fat) even when overall body fat does not seem extreme.

The aim of the eco-village is to provide a refuge for reversing diabetes. The food system is designed to grow plants that are free of toxic chemicals, high in nutrients and trace minerals, and biologically active. Food is grown using Gbiota beds to lift nutrient density and biological quality.

A key part of the model is care. The plan includes empathetic carers who are trained in diet, exercise, and stress reduction. The role of carers is not to apply a rigid rulebook. The role is to help select a routine customised to each guest, then build skills so the reversal can continue after leaving the refuge.

A wider library of supporting information exists online, including diet and health material and detail on the Yangtou project and practical approaches to reversing diabetes.

Self-Regulating Routines: Intermittent Fasting in Real Life

A pragmatic approach to health is to use routines that regulate weight and blood sugar without needing constant calculation. Intermittent fasting is one example. A 10:14 routine (ten-hour eating window, fourteen-hour fast) can work well in many cases, such as eating breakfast a little later and having an early dinner.

But real life matters. When life circumstances change—more feasts, more treats, or simply more tempting food—weight may stop dropping as expected. In that case, tightening the routine can help. An 8:16 routine can be more effective, especially when paired with more discipline in food choices. The goal is not extreme dieting; it is steady correction and continuous self-management.

The practical lesson is simple: ignore overconfident “expert” rules that pretend everyone is the same. A useful routine is self-regulating and adjustable. Monitor results and change course when needed.

Continuous Glucose Monitoring: The Missing Standard Tool

Continuous blood sugar monitoring can be a powerful tool. It provides a 24-hour record of blood sugar and reveals patterns that single “prick tests” miss. A one-time reading can be misleading because it captures only a moment. A continuous graph shows what food actually does, when spikes happen, and how quickly the body recovers.

These graphs quickly show that standard diet rulebooks often fail because people respond differently. With continuous monitoring, problem foods and beneficial foods become obvious, and diet can be adjusted based on real feedback rather than guesswork.

A further insight comes from the recovery curve. The speed at which blood sugar drops after a spike provides practical information about insulin effectiveness. The slope of that line can indicate whether insulin response is improving. This matters because it suggests that impaired beta cells may still be functional when fat and metabolic stress are reduced.

Exercise Has a Bigger Impact Than Expected

Exercise can have a dramatic effect on blood sugar. A common claim is that exercise burns relatively few calories and may simply increase hunger, so it does not help much. Real-world monitoring can show the opposite: exercise can significantly reduce blood sugar and improve control, even without dramatic weight change.

A simple daily walk can shift the blood sugar graph in a way that medication alone often does not. For a diabetes refuge model, this is critical: exercise does not need to be complicated, but it needs to be consistent and built into the routine.

Stress, Cortisone, and the “Hungry Spike”

Stress hormones matter. Cortisone (and cortisol) can raise blood sugar, and this can be seen clearly on continuous monitoring. When stress rises, blood sugar can rise even without food.

One surprising pattern is that hunger itself can trigger a stress response. When hunger sets in, blood sugar can rise sharply. A likely explanation is that hunger becomes stress, the body releases stress hormones, and blood sugar rises as part of that response.

This insight changes how fasting is used. Fasting can help many people, but if it triggers stress spikes, the approach must be modified. The practical goal is to design a routine that improves metabolic health without pushing the body into dietary stress.

Medication and the Need for Better-Aligned Doctors

As diet improves and blood sugar patterns change, a new risk appears: blood sugar may drop below the safe line, increasing risk of hypoglycaemia if medication is not adjusted. That means medical supervision is essential, especially when medications need to be reduced.

A major obstacle is that some doctors still believe diabetes cannot be reversed. If a doctor is locked into that view, reducing medication can become a battle. A practical response is to seek a doctor who understands current evidence and is willing to work with diet-led improvement rather than assuming lifelong decline.

Gbiota Beds: Automated Is Not Maintenance-Free

A key strength of Gbiota beds is automation. Flood-and-drain style systems can be highly reliable and efficient. But an important engineering truth applies: automated does not mean maintenance-free. When no one checks the system, small issues can grow into failures.

One practical issue is water quality. If a rainwater tank lacks a first-flush system, roof debris can wash into the tank and clog a float valve (a typical toilet-style valve). A simple filter can prevent clogging and maintain flow into the local reservoir where pumps sit.

Compost Quality, Safety, and a “Living Filter” Approach

Compost systems raise an important question: fresh (labile) compost can contain growth inhibitors and potentially unwanted compounds. When the aim is to regenerate gut biology and food may be eaten straight from the garden, safety matters.

A long-used approach is multi-stage composting, where plant growth helps filter and stabilise materials over time. Weeds and hardy plants can act as toxin filters before the compost is used more directly. A mature compost layer can also act as a stabilising filter within a bin.

A practical experiment is to simplify the system by adding materials directly into the bin while increasing nitrogen inputs to speed decomposition. The goal is to keep the process robust, safe, and productive without becoming overly complicated.

Pumps, Pressure, and the “Simplest Working Design”

As compost piles grow, a small pond pump may not develop enough head pressure to reach the top of the pile. In that case, a dirt-tolerant sump pump with higher pressure and flow can solve the problem.

A design choice then appears: use multiple smaller pumps in sequence, or simplify into one stronger pump. A multi-pump system can be built on the theory that local tanks need time to refill between cycles. But a simpler one-pump design may work better in practice.

A key observation is that a larger pump can drain a small tank quickly, but return water can flush back in. With help from a float valve, the tank may maintain enough water to keep the cycle stable. This reveals a useful concept: when the soil is saturated, flow reduces dramatically and only a small amount continues as wicking into surrounding soil.

The broader lesson is a practical engineering philosophy: build as simple as possible, test, then modify. Complexity is not always smarter. The simplest design that consistently works is often the best design.

Conclusion

Diabetes reversal is not a fantasy and not a one-size-fits-all recipe. It is a practical process built around nutrient-dense food, daily movement, stress control, and measurable feedback. Continuous glucose monitoring reveals what actually works for each person and exposes hidden drivers such as stress and hunger spikes. A refuge-style model can combine biologically active food, empathetic carers, and structured routines so people gain results and learn how to maintain them at home. The pieces exist; the next step is community action to make the model real.

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Why I Run This Site

Why I Run This Site

by | Jan 21, 2018 | Colin's Writings

This article explains why this site exists and what it is trying to achieve. Colin Austin reflects on his personal motivations, his background in engineering and innovation, and his concern for future generations. The focus is on soil, water, food security, and soil carbon as practical tools to improve resilience in a world of growing population and resource pressure. The site exists to share knowledge freely, encourage action, and support long-term thinking.

My Mission — Colin Austin, 4 June 2013

Thanks for the Prompt

Thanks Marianne for the jog. I recently received an email from Marianne Kambouridis in Ballarat telling me about the great work she is doing on sustainability in her school. That message prompted me to sit down and write clearly about what I believe, what I am trying to achieve, and how others can support these aims.

From time to time it is useful to stop and reflect. Why run a website? Why write articles? Why keep pushing ideas that often sit outside mainstream thinking? This article is my attempt to answer those questions honestly.

Grandfather’s Syndrome

I suffer from what I jokingly call a medical condition known as “grandfather’s syndrome”. Instead of going out, spending the last of my money, and generally having a good time like a normal, sensible person, I find myself thinking about the sort of life my grandchildren will have, and in turn the lives of their grandchildren.

The current population of the world is around seven billion. By the time my grandchildren are mature, it will likely be closer to nine billion. More important than the numbers, however, is how the world will change. At present, the bulk of the world’s population lives in developing countries with modest lifestyles. In my grandchildren’s lifetime, many of these people will enjoy greater purchasing power and wealth than we currently do in the affluent West.

Wealth, Progress, and Hidden Costs

Our capitalist system has proven remarkably effective at increasing wealth and material comfort. In that sense it has been a great success. However, it focuses almost entirely on short-term profit and largely ignores long-term effects, particularly the cost imposed on the natural environment.

Yet the natural environment underpins everything we depend on: our food, clothing, shelter, and our ability to enjoy the world around us. When these systems are damaged, the cost is not immediately obvious on a balance sheet, but it is very real for future generations.

What Can You and I Actually Do?

It is easy to feel powerless. Wars, conflicts, inequality, and extremism are enormous problems, and I can do very little directly about them. But responsibility for the future does not lie only with governments or institutions. It lies with people — you, me, and everyone else — taking responsibility where they can.

I am an engineer. For many years I had a successful career in science, technology, and innovation. I understand how the innovation process works. I no longer work to create products for profit or commercial gain, but that does not mean the skills and experience disappear.

Growing Food Is Normal to Me

All my life I have had an interest in growing plants, and in the essential roles that soil and water play. Perhaps this comes from my early life experiences — when Hitler tried to bomb me and missed, he then tried to starve me into submission. Growing food became normal.

To me, food production is not an abstract concept. It is practical, essential, and deeply connected to human dignity and survival.

Soil and Water as Foundations

I have therefore used my experience in science and innovation to focus on better technologies for soil and water. For decades I have worked on ways to regenerate degraded soils and to use water more effectively.

Wicking beds, and more recently my biopacks for soil regeneration, are the latest outcomes of this work. These developments are not a hobby for an old man, nor are they a business in the usual sense. In fact, they cost money rather than generate it, at least for me. The hope is that they deliver wider benefits for people around the world.

The Problem With Worshipping Money

In my lifetime, our ability to produce goods has increased beyond belief. This has been driven by science, technology, and capitalism working together. Compared with my childhood, living standards have improved enormously.

We are now seeing a dramatic global shift as technology spreads through developing countries. This is, in many ways, a good thing. It raises living standards and reduces suffering. However, it also places unprecedented pressure on natural resources — soil, water, and ecosystems — on which all of us depend.

Limits of the Profit-Only Mindset

Many Western governments operate on the belief that the profit motive alone will solve environmental challenges. The idea is that governments can sit back and simply manipulate financial systems from a distance.

A quick look at the economic situations in Europe and the United States shows the limits of this philosophy. Whatever your political views, it is difficult to deny that China’s more pragmatic approach — actively interacting with the private sector rather than relying on it blindly — has delivered stronger results in many areas.

Soil Carbon and Time

Soil carbon is the second largest carbon sink after the oceans. Properly managed, soil could absorb around fifty years of man-made carbon emissions. This would buy us time — time to develop and implement new energy technologies — while also improving food security.

This will not happen automatically. It requires governments to become actively involved, and it requires practical, scalable systems that farmers and communities can adopt.

Why This Matters to Future Generations

Because I suffer from grandfather’s syndrome, I genuinely believe that technologies based on soil and water can play an important role in creating a better future. That belief is why I run this website, publish newsletters, write help columns, and try to spread information as widely as possible.

I also spend time trying to persuade governments of the importance of soil carbon. This is often slow, frustrating work, but it matters.

How You Can Help

You can help by spreading the word. Talk to friends. Share information in person or through the internet. The internet has extraordinary power to spread ideas that once would have remained local.

Access to Healthy Food Is a Right

I believe everyone has a right to a healthy diet. There is no moral justification for me making money from people — or from those trying to help people — who lack financial resources. Any technology or information I develop is made available to them freely, with no suggestion of payment.

Voluntary Support

From time to time, I write articles or booklets describing my work. I invite those who enjoy an affluent lifestyle to make a small contribution, typically around five dollars per item.

This will never make me rich, but it does help cover the costs of research, experimentation, and education. It also provides encouragement. I am a human being with normal emotions, and it helps to know that others value what I am trying to do, particularly when dealing with the frustrations of government processes around soil carbon.

In Closing

This site exists because I believe that soil, water, and food systems matter deeply for the future of humanity. I believe knowledge should be shared freely, innovation should serve people rather than profits alone, and long-term thinking is not optional.

If this site helps even a small number of people think differently, grow food more effectively, or take soil and water seriously, then it has served its purpose.

Colin Austin

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Publications And Topics On Water, Soil, And Irrigation

Publications And Topics On Water, Soil, And Irrigation

by | Jan 19, 2018 | Colin's Writings

This page lists Colin Austin’s publications across water, irrigation scheduling, salinity, soil, climate change, and practical farm innovation. It includes books, manuals, training material, and a DVD series, covering both technical methods (like adaptive scheduling and micro-flood) and wider policy themes. Use the table to scan by year and topic, and to see how the work developed from irrigation control through to broader water systems thinking.

Publications Table

Publication Date Theme
Resolving The Water Crisis Vol 1 2012 —
Resolving The Water Crisis Vol 2 2012 —
Resolving The Water Crisis Vol 3 2012 —
00 And The Soil Princess 2012 James Bond Type Thriller About Soil
Water And The Whistle Blower 2007 Water And Global Warming
Katie Keeps Her Cool 2007 Wicking Beds And Global Warming
Anticipatory Irrigation By Adaptive Scheduling 2006 Scheduling
Solving The Water Crisis 2005 DVD
Water, Wit And Wisdom – The Search For The Solution To The Water Crisis (Book ISBN 06463814-X) 2004 —
Myths And Fantasies Of Sustainable Food Production In Australia 2003 Critique Of DNRE
Irrigation Scheduling 2003 Scheduling Manual
Making The Most Of Water – Micro Flood Operating Manual 2003 Micro Flood User Guide
Sensor Based Irrigation Scheduling 2002 Training Course
Reaping The Benefits Of Water Saving Technology 2002 Implementation Of Water Saving Technology
Water, Technology And Policy Interactions 2002 Water Policy
Water Right – The New Thinking On Irrigation Scheduling 2001 Adaptive Scheduling
Vision For The Bush 2000 Managing Our Natural Resources
Irrigation Scheduling 2000 Guide To Scheduling
Agriflow Making Water Go Further 1999 Replacing Flood Irrigation
The Murray Darling Basin – A Technological Solution 1997 Replacing Flood Irrigation
Soil Moisture Interpretation Made Easy 1997 Guide To Soil Moisture
Intelligent Irrigation 1996 Closed Loop Control Of Irrigation

 

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Water And Soil References: Books, Research Links, And Sources

Water And Soil References: Books, Research Links, And Sources

by | Jan 6, 2018 | Colin's Writings

This page brings together key references that shaped the WaterRight and soil regeneration thinking, plus a large set of web links collected over time. The books focus on water systems, river decline, Australian water policy, and land repair. The links cover soil regeneration, mycorrhizal fungi, carbon, climate change, farming practice, and wicking bed examples. Some links were time-sensitive even when first collected, so expect that a portion may no longer work.

Book References

The following books were used as background reading and reference material. They range from broad environmental science through to Australian water management and practical land repair.

  1. Gabriel Walker — An Ocean of Air — Harcourt — ISBN 978-0-15-101124-7
  2. Fred Pearce — When the Rivers Run Dry — Beacon Press — ISBN-13: 978-0-8070-8573-8
  3. Peter Andrews — Back from the Brink — ABC Books — ISBN-13: 978 0 7333 1962 4
  4. Karen Hussey and Stephen Dovers — Managing Water for Australia — CSIRO — ISBN 9780643093928
  5. Robert Kandel — Water from Heaven — Columbia University Press — ISBN 0 231 12244 6
  6. John Pigram — Australian Water Resources — CSIRO — ISBN 978 0 6430393 379

Notes On Web Links

Many of the links below were valid at the time of compilation, but some news sites, email tracking links, and older pages are temporary.
In other cases, the content may have moved behind paywalls, changed domain, or been removed.

Even when a specific link no longer works, the topic label next to it can still be useful. It can help you search for an updated version of the same idea, article, or study.

Web Links: Water, Climate, Soil Biology, And Regeneration

This section is a direct list of web sources collected for topics such as water scarcity narratives, irrigation reform, soil carbon, climate impacts, mycorrhizal fungi, and practical regenerative methods.

  • Climate Spectator (water markets): http://www.climatespectator.com.au/news/investors-thirsty-new-markets-looking-water-2?utm_source=Climate%2BSpectator%2Bdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Climate%2BSpectator%2Bdaily&utm_source=Climate+Spectator&utm_campaign=90c67185e0-CSPEC_DAILY&utm_medium=email
  • IRIN News report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94203
  • Forbes (climate treaty / business): http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericagies/2011/11/28/climate-treaty-would-actually-be-good-for-business/
  • CO2 Science (edit page): http://www.co2science.org/articles/V14/N46/EDIT.php
  • VOA Africa (food security / climate): http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/decapua-food-security-climate-16nov11-133965613.html
  • EcoNews (CSIRO food challenge): http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/csiro-to-help-fight-global-food-challenge/
  • EcoNews (brown to green economy): http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/unep-move-from-brown-to-green-economy-happening/
  • GWPF (IPCC definition): http://www.thegwpf.org/science-news/4374-ipcc-introduces-new-climate-change-definition.html
  • Climate Spectator (extreme weather / IPCC): http://www.climatespectator.com.au/news/extreme-weather-worsen-climate-change-ipcc-1?utm_source=Climate%20Spectator&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bc6ef3ee53-CSPEC_DAILY
  • The Conversation (extreme weather academic views): http://theconversation.edu.au/extreme-weather-climate-change-and-people-academic-views-4361?utm_source=The+Conversation+Daily+updates&utm_campaign=5ad365d2d3-DailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email
  • The Conversation (email link, repeated): http://theconversation.cmail1.com/t/r/l/iykykut/qklydjjku/ji/
  • PolicyMic (rural China climate impacts): http://www.policymic.com/articles/2485/climate-change-threatens-to-destroy-china-s-rural-communities&referral=category_list
  • Independent.ie (soil biology): http://www.independent.ie/farming/crops/tillage-harness-the-invisible-power-of-soils-biology-2941076.html
  • CBS News (skeptics): http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57329755/why-climate-change-skeptics-remain-skeptical/
  • Forbes (IPCC and business impacts): http://www.forbes.com/sites/mindylubber/2011/11/23/ipcc-report-confirms-what-businesses-already-know-extreme-weather-climate-change-has-economic-impacts/
  • The Land (success keys): http://theland.farmonline.com.au/news/state/agribusiness-and-general/general/nutting-out-keys-to-success/2368380.aspx?storypage=1
  • ABC News (greenhouse gases): http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-22/greenhouse-gases-rise-to-record-high-in-2010-un/3685334
  • The Conversation (weather patterns): http://theconversation.edu.au/new-study-analyses-daily-weather-patterns-4410
  • ABC News (water project flaws): http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-24/ombudsman-highlights-flaws-in-water-project/3691384?section=vic
  • IRIN News report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94301
  • ABC Science: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/11/29/3378297.htm
  • Climate Spectator (global warming timeline): http://www.climatespectator.com.au/commentary/how-world-discovered-global-warming-timeline?utm_source=Climate%20Spectator&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bc4f9afa2e-CSPEC_DAILY
  • VOA (IFPRI / climate): http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/decapua_climate-ifpri-2dec11-134895903.html
  • NYTimes (climate talks): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/science/earth/at-climate-talks-a-familiar-standoff-emerges-between-the-united-states-and-china.html?_r=1
  • Huffington Post (beyond denial): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-b-demenocal/beyond-denial-the-next-fr_b_1135050.html
  • Climate Spectator (Durban): http://www.climatespectator.com.au/commentary/durban-crossroads?utm_source=Climate%2BSpectator%2Bdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Climate%2BSpectator%2Bdaily&utm_source=Climate+Spectator&utm_campaign=7be20e60b2-CSPEC_DAILY&utm_medium=email
  • Soil carbon (US parks): http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_19527184
  • EcoNews (algae experiment): http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/qld-algae-experiment-may-lower-carbon-emissions/
  • The Conversation (Green Climate Fund): http://theconversation.edu.au/planning-the-green-climate-fund-so-it-works-for-african-farmers-4731?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+December+15+2011&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+December+15+2011+CID_ce05e599c625b42f55263199a6b26fb2&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Planning+the+Green+Climate+Fund+so+it+works+for+African+farmers
  • The Conversation (Australian agriculture): http://theconversation.edu.au/is-australian-agriculture-up-against-it-3794?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+December+21+2011&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+December+21+2011+CID_df12160c627237eff92b31a0e432b8cd&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Is+Australian+agriculture+up+against+it
  • EurekAlert: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/uoc–ioc121911.php
  • Edward Elgar (agriculture and climate): http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/bookentry_main.lasso?id=13942
  • Bits of Science (ecosystem shifts): http://www.bitsofscience.org/climate-change-ecosystem-shifts-biomes-biodiversity-4451/
  • Mycorrhizae (how it works): http://www.mycorrhizae.com/how-mycorrhizae-work
  • Swiss Re (China transitional changes): http://cgd.swissre.com/global_dialogue/topics/emerging_markets/China_Transitional_changes_under_the_Twelfth_Fiveyear_Plan.html
  • DataDryad handle: http://datadryad.org/handle/10255/dryad.37871
  • PhysOrg (fungi and crops): http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-knowledge-fungi-genetically-crops.html
  • MarketWatch (sustainable agriculture): http://www.marketwatch.com/story/global-leader-in-sustainable-agriculture-brings-green-tech-crop-innovation-to-california-2012-02-14
  • Grasscity forum (mycorrhizal myths): http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/976433-mycorrhizal-fungi%3B-myths-truths.html
  • Permaculture UK (plants and fungi): http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/plants-and-fungi-using-beneficial-mycorrhizal-fungi-boost-plant-growth
  • Vermicomposters network: http://vermicomposters.ning.com/
  • Capital Institute (grasslands): http://capitalinstitute.org/capital-lab/field-guide-investing-resilient-economy/grasslands
  • WVU Today (fungus collection): http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/n/2012/03/06/world-turns-to-wvu-s-unique-fungus-collection-for-answers
  • Native plant wildlife garden (mycorrhizae): http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/mycorrhizae-and-the-web-of-life/
  • UN News (water and sanitation): http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41513&Cr=Water&Cr1=Sanitation
  • State of the climate 2012 (Conversation): http://theconversation.edu.au/state-of-the-climate-2012-5831?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+March+14+2012&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+March+14+2012+CID_49ccd82c110b36f13a091f488bf9afb5&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=State+of+the+Climate+2012
  • AllAfrica: http://allafrica.com/stories/201203150655.html
  • IBBR PDF: http://www.ibbr.umd.edu/sites/default/files/event/Yi%20Zhang%2003-16-12.pdf
  • Mycorrhiza UTK (site): http://mycorrhiza.ag.utk.edu/
  • Richsoil (hugelkultur): http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
  • Blog (mycorrhizal inoculants): http://wildsuburbia.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/mycorrhizal-inoculants-panacea-or-snake.html
  • NCBI PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22584877
  • Fungi shifted plant balance: http://www.chem.info/News/2012/05/Fungi-shifted-plant-balance-of-power/
  • Fixing saline and sodic soils (PDF): http://treesthatplease.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Fixing-Saline-and-Sodic-Soil.pdf

Web Links: Wicking Beds And Practical Examples

The following links relate more directly to wicking bed builds, community discussion, and practical garden examples.
Some are older blog posts and forums that may have moved.

  • Wicking beds (overview): http://www.maireid.com/wickingbeds.html
  • Aussies Living Simply forum thread: http://aussieslivingsimply.com.au/forum/viewthread.php?forum_id=54&thread_id=11506
  • Green Change (wicking beds): http://green-change.com/2009/05/01/wicking-beds-water-efficient-gardening/
  • Scarecrow’s Garden (wickered dreams): http://scarecrowsgarden.blogspot.com/2007/09/wickered-dreams.html
  • Aussies Living Simply forum (another thread): http://www.aussieslivingsimply.com.au/forum/viewthread.php?forum_id=4&thread_id=11414
  • GardenGuides photo page: http://my.gardenguides.com/members/Basia/photos/1006/1
  • Cosmic Connection forum: http://cosmicconnection.forumc.biz/general-gardening-stuff-f4/wicking-beds-t217.htm
  • Hills and Plains Seed Savers: http://hillsandplainsseedsavers.blogspot.com/2008/01/wicking-beds.html
  • Scarecrow’s Garden (wicking box gardens): http://scarecrowsgarden.blogspot.com/2008/02/wicking-box-gardens.html
  • Foodnstuff (wicking beds): http://foodnstuff.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/water-wicking-beds-boxes/
  • NowPublic (build a wicking bed): http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/how-build-wicking-bed-your-veggies
  • Outback Harvest (wicking-worm beds): http://outbackharvest.blogspot.com/2008/09/wicking-worm-beds.html
  • Little Farm in the City (about): http://littlefarminthecity.wordpress.com/about/wicking-beds-how-we-built-them/
  • Timeless Oasis Garden: http://timelessoasisgarden.blogspot.com/2008/09/wicking-boxes.html
  • Foodnstuff category: http://foodnstuff.wordpress.com/category/wicking-beds/
  • Moo I Made It: http://mooimadeit.com/2008/11/20/wickerwomanpart1/
  • Inside Urban Green (raised bed rooftop): http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2009/02/raised-bed-rooftop-garden-with-rainwater-harvesting-.html
  • SGA forum topic: http://www.sgaonline.org.au/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=671

Other Useful Links

This final list includes a mix of organisations, sustainability references, and general-purpose resources that were included in the original compilation.

  • CSIRO publication page: http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/21/pid/6089.htm
  • Inside Urban Green (rainwater collection): http://www.insideurbangreen.org/rainwater-collection/
  • Twitter profile: http://twitter.com/maireid
  • Very Edible Gardens: http://www.veryediblegardens.com/vegucation
  • Globints: www.globints.com
  • Recycling4Live: http://www.recycling4live.com/
  • The Greenhouse: http://www.thegreenhouse.co.uk
  • Berkley Homes: http://berkleyhomes.org/
  • Wastewater Treatment: http://www.wastewatertreatment.co.in/index.php
  • AITong links page: http://aitong120.com/Links.html
  • Mil-tek: http://www.miltek-uk.co.uk/
  • EGB Colorado: http://www.egbcolorado.org/
  • Easy Garden Irrigation guide: http://www.easygardenirrigation.co.uk/pages/garden-irrigation-planning-guide-starter

Access More Files

Access more files from the index. Use date order to check for new files, and use subject grouping for specific topics.

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00 and the Soil Princess: A Story About Soil, Power, and Survival

00 and the Soil Princess: A Story About Soil, Power, and Survival

by | Jan 6, 2018 | Colin's Writings, soil, Soil Health


This story blends fiction, politics, soil science, and water management into a single narrative that challenges how the world values its most critical resource: soil. Through a fast-paced and sometimes confronting storyline, it explores how soil health underpins food, water security, human health, and climate resilience. Beneath the drama lies a serious message about regeneration, power, and the urgent need to rethink how civilisation manages land and water.

00 and the Soil Princess

The battle for control of the world’s most valuable resource

By Colin Austin

This story follows a familiar figure — a “00” agent — drawn into an unexpected conflict. He is tasked with overseeing the capture of a brilliant and elusive strategist, known as Ono, a Euro-Asian woman with a reputation as a master planner. What begins as a routine operation quickly turns into a reversal of power, forcing the agent to confront ideas that challenge everything he believes about control, security, and value.

Although presented as fiction, the technologies, ecological principles, and political dynamics beneath the story are grounded in real-world systems. The exaggeration, drama, and sensuality serve as narrative tools to hold attention while exposing uncomfortable truths about how modern societies exploit resources without understanding long-term consequences.

Soil as the Hidden Resource

The central idea of the story is simple but confronting: soil, not oil or minerals, is the most valuable resource on Earth. All food depends on it. Human health depends on it. Climate stability depends on it. Yet soil is treated as an expendable input rather than a living system.

Modern agriculture focuses on yield and short-term output, often supported by chemical fertilisers. While this produces calories, it strips soils of structure, minerals, biology, and resilience. The story contrasts this with ancient agricultural systems that actively build soil rather than consume it.

Healthy soils contain complex networks of fungi, bacteria, worms, plant roots, and organic matter. Together, these systems dissolve minerals from rock, concentrate trace elements, retain water, and buffer crops against drought and flood. When soil is destroyed, food quality declines, disease increases, and ecosystems unravel.

The Valley Lesson

In the mountainous valleys described in the story, farming is not extractive. It is regenerative. Plants are grown not for direct consumption, but to build soil. Deep-rooted species mine minerals from far below the surface. Mycorrhizal fungi dissolve these minerals and transport them into plant tissue. When plant material decomposes, those nutrients become available to future crops.

Worms play a critical role, creating tunnels that aerate the soil, improve structure, and distribute fungi through the profile. Organic matter acts as both food and sponge, holding moisture without waterlogging. Water is managed carefully — not too much, not too little — ensuring continuous biological activity.

This system produces people who are strong, healthy, and active well into old age. Their diet contains not just energy, but the trace elements required for DNA repair, immune function, and metabolic health. These are invisible to economic metrics but essential to human wellbeing.

Water, Soil, and Climate

The story makes clear that soil and water cannot be separated. Soil biology depends on stable moisture. Too dry, and life shuts down. Too wet, and oxygen is excluded. The challenge is maintaining moisture without saturation — a principle central to wicking systems and contour-based water management.

When soil is healthy, it absorbs rainfall rather than shedding it. Floods are reduced. Drought resilience improves. Carbon is stored underground instead of released into the atmosphere. Regenerative farming therefore becomes one of the most powerful climate tools available.

The narrative argues that farmers, if properly supported, could remove billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air while increasing food security. Yet farmers are trapped between input suppliers, commodity traders, and supermarket chains that capture most of the value.

Power and Exploitation

Between farmers and consumers sit multinational corporations whose primary obligation is short-term profit. These organisations are not necessarily run by malicious individuals, but by systems that reward extraction and punish restraint. Governments, dependent on corporate donations and economic growth, rarely challenge this structure.

The story draws parallels between resource extraction industries — oil, mining, agriculture — and highlights how soil has remained invisible simply because it was once abundant. As soil becomes scarce, its true value emerges, and with it the risk of exploitation.

Unlike minerals, soil cannot be relocated or replaced. Once destroyed, it may take centuries to recover. This makes control of soil knowledge and regeneration techniques a matter of global importance.

The Role of Culture and Belief

A central question posed is how such knowledge can be protected and shared without being captured by powerful interests. The answer explored in the story is cultural rather than technological. A decentralised, non-hierarchical system — symbolised by Buddhist teaching traditions — offers a model that resists consolidation of power.

The idea of a “Roshi” or teacher is not about authority, but responsibility. Knowledge is shared openly, guided by ethics rather than profit. Anyone may teach, anyone may learn, and no single organisation can claim ownership of the system.

This contrasts sharply with corporate models that rely on patents, secrecy, and control. By embedding soil regeneration within culture rather than commerce, the system becomes harder to exploit.

Fiction as a Warning

The provocative elements of the story are deliberate. They force the reader to confront discomfort, power imbalance, and manipulation — not just between characters, but within global systems. The exaggerated control exercised over the protagonist mirrors the lack of agency experienced by farmers worldwide.

The narrative ultimately asks whether humanity will continue to destroy the foundations of its own survival, or whether it can relearn how to cooperate with natural systems. Soil regeneration is presented not as a technical fix, but as a cultural shift.

Underlying Message

The core message is clear: there is no single magic solution. Healthy soil arises from cooperation between plants, microbes, animals, water, and people. Remove one element and the system collapses. Restore them together and regeneration accelerates.

Soil is not dirt. It is a living system that connects food, water, climate, and health. Ignoring this truth has led to many of the crises we face today. Recognising it may offer one of the few viable paths forward.

What appears at first as a fictional thriller ultimately functions as a warning — and an invitation — to rethink what we value, how we farm, and how we measure success.

Download ‘00 and the Soil Princess’ (full PDF)

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Water, Soil, and Irrigation Publications: Two Decades of Innovation and Research

Water, Soil, and Irrigation Publications: Two Decades of Innovation and Research

by | Jan 5, 2018 | Colin's Writings

This page brings together a chronological overview of publications that document a long-term exploration of water, soil, irrigation, and sustainability. Spanning more than two decades, these works trace the development of practical ideas, experimental technologies, and policy critiques aimed at solving water scarcity, improving food production, and managing natural resources more intelligently. Together, they show an evolving journey from technical irrigation scheduling through to broader systems thinking about water, soil, climate, and society.

Publications Overview

The following publications reflect a sustained effort to understand and respond to Australia’s water challenges. They include books, manuals, training materials, policy papers, DVDs, and experimental works that combine engineering, agriculture, and systems thinking. While the themes vary, a common thread runs through all of them: water must be managed as a finite, living resource, closely linked to soil health, food production, and long-term environmental stability.

Major Water Crisis Volumes

Resolving the Water Crisis Vol 1 (2012)
This volume introduces the core ideas behind rethinking water management. It challenges conventional assumptions about scarcity and focuses on evaporation, inefficiency, and system design rather than rainfall alone.

Resolving the Water Crisis Vol 2 (2012)
Building on the first volume, this work explores practical technologies and management strategies, with particular attention to irrigation, storage, and local water harvesting.

Resolving the Water Crisis Vol 3 (2012)
The third volume expands the discussion to include policy, adoption barriers, and the social and institutional challenges that prevent effective solutions from being widely implemented.

Creative and Narrative Works

00 and the Soil Princess (2012)
A James Bond–style thriller that uses fiction to communicate serious ideas about soil health and sustainability. The story format allows complex environmental themes to reach a broader audience.

Water, Climate, and Public Awareness

Water and the Whistle Blower (2007)
This publication examines water management in the context of global warming, highlighting uncomfortable truths and overlooked data.

Katie Keeps Her Cool (2007)
A more accessible work that links wicking beds with global warming, using simple language to explain how better soil and water systems can help communities adapt.

Irrigation Scheduling and Technology

Anticipatory Irrigation by Adaptive Scheduling (2006)
Focuses on scheduling irrigation based on plant needs and soil behaviour rather than fixed calendars, reducing waste and improving efficiency.

Solving the Water Crisis (DVD, 2005)
A visual series designed to challenge how people think about water, combining explanation, case studies, and practical demonstrations.

Water, Wit and Wisdom – The Search for the Solution to the Water Crisis (2004)
A book that blends technical insight with broader reflection on how societies approach water problems. ISBN 06463814-X.

Food, Soil, and Sustainability

Myths and Fantasies of Sustainable Food Production in Australia (2003)
A critical examination of popular sustainability claims, questioning whether current practices truly protect soil and water in the long term.

Manuals, Guides, and Training Materials

Irrigation Scheduling (2003)
A practical scheduling manual aimed at farmers and water managers.

Making the Most of Water – Micro Flood Operating Manual (2003)
A user guide explaining how micro-flood systems can improve efficiency while reducing losses.

Sensor Based Irrigation Scheduling (2002)
A training course introducing the use of sensors to guide irrigation decisions.

Reaping the Benefits of Water Saving Technology (2002)
Focuses on the implementation of water-saving technologies and the real-world challenges of adoption.

Policy and Systems Thinking

Water, Technology and Policy Interactions (2002)
Explores how technology choices are shaped by policy, and how policy can either enable or block innovation.

Water Right – The New Thinking on Irrigation Scheduling (2001)
Introduces adaptive scheduling concepts that respond to changing conditions rather than fixed rules.

Vision for the Bush (2000)
Addresses broader natural resource management issues affecting rural Australia.

Earlier Foundational Works

Irrigation Scheduling (2000)
A guide focused on practical scheduling methods for irrigators.

Agriflow – Making Water Go Further (1999)
Examines alternatives to traditional flood irrigation and the potential for more efficient systems.

The Murray Darling Basin – A Technological Solution (1997)
Proposes technical approaches to addressing water problems in one of Australia’s most important river systems.

Soil Moisture Interpretation Made Easy (1997)
A guide designed to help farmers understand and use soil moisture data effectively.

Intelligent Irrigation (1996)
One of the earliest works in this collection, focusing on closed-loop control of irrigation systems and laying the groundwork for later developments.

Closing Perspective

Taken together, these publications document a long and evolving effort to rethink how water is managed. They show a progression from technical problem-solving toward a more integrated view that connects water, soil, food, policy, and human behaviour. Rather than offering a single solution, the body of work encourages ongoing learning, adaptation, and a willingness to question established practices.

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