Enhancing Permaculture Through Research
Community Projects — by Andy Goldring May 11, 2012
Bill Mollison and David Holmgren developed permaculture through a combination of years of study and observation, many late night discussions and practical testing in the field (in fact it was a garden!) What has emerged since is a powerful network of action learners busy putting permaculture theory into practice the world over. But can we do it better? Is there more to learn? I think there is. For many years the Permaculture Association has focussed on supporting learners and educators, but more recently we have begun to realise that to do this well we need to be doing more research. Research is essentially a refined learning method that gives us the capacity to understand how things work, how well different methods work, how we could improve practice, and what we might learn from others.
To get an understanding of who is already conducting permaculture research — either as academics, or as practitioners using a research approach in their project work — we have put together a series of surveys that will be rolled out over the next six months:
Comments (0)International Permaculture Convergence 10, Jordan: Notes from a Grateful Participant
Conferences, Courses/Workshops, Social Gatherings — by Andy Goldring February 11, 2012
Andy Goldring, the Coordinator/CEO of the Permaculture Association (Britain) attended the International Permaculture Convergence 10 (IPC10) in Jordan. He was there alongside hundreds of others, including Permaculture’s founding father Bill Mollison. Andy reviews an event which is acknowledged as making global breakthroughs in such areas as greening deserts and helping to connect people globally. He also talks about how you can attend future IPCs and support permaculture the world over.
by Andy Goldring – first published on permaculture.co.uk
Children enjoy the increasingly shady Jordan Valley Permaculture Project
Photographs © Craig Mackintosh
I’ve been the coordinator at the Permaculture Association since 1999, and as a "busman’s holiday" I attended the 2005 International Permaculture Convergence (IPC) in Croatia. There were interesting workshops, but overall the event could be described as "argumentative". So whilst colleagues had attended subsequent IPCs with good reports, it was with some trepidation that I made plans to attend IPC10. Would we spend hours in heated debate, and would I overheat in the 40 degree plus desert?
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