A ‘New’ Discovery – Soluble Nitrogen Destroys Soil Carbon
Compost, Economics, Fungi, News, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Craig Mackintosh July 27, 2010
How many times must we ‘discover’ something we’ve discovered before – particularly when our lives and our futures depend on reacting appropriately, and shaping society, to incorporate the lessons learned?
One of the most transformative experiences in my life was from studying soil science many years ago. Getting something of an understanding of the inner workings of that thin skin which covers our earth created thought-connections in my mind that had me looking at the world in a profoundly new way.
Comments (10)PRI Australia Course Update
Courses/Workshops — by Craig Mackintosh July 26, 2010
Photo copyright © Craig Mackintosh
An excavator at work at PRI’s Zaytuna Farm
There are still a couple of seats left on the next Earthworks course – but be quick!
- 2 August, Earthworks: There’s only a week to go and our next Earthworks course will begin. We still have a couple of seats available here, so there’s still a chance to get onto this very popular course if you move quick.
- 23 August, PDC Teacher Training: The PDC Teacher Training course kicks off on 23 August. There are few seats still left here. This course is a great way to boost your PDC teaching confidence – helping you on your way to becoming self-financing through permaculture education. Book here.
- 13 September, Permaculture Project Aid Worker: Some of the more adventurous amongst you will love this course, as it helps prepare you for weird and wonderful places where you can implement your permaculture knowledge and gain incredible practical and character building experience in tandem with cultural immersion. The next Permaculture Project Aid Worker course, where you’ll benefit from Geoff Lawton’s immense on-the-ground project experience, begins 13 September. Book here. Suitable students may even secure project placements post-course.
- 20 September, Compost Soil Biology Natural Fertilizer Course: This course is taught by renowned soil expert Paul Taylor, and will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of soil functions – which is truly the indispensable and foundational platform upon which permaculture systems must be based. You can learn more about the upcoming 20 September five-day course, and book, here.
- October 10, PDC: The July Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course just ended. The next one begins October 10, and is filling up fast, so no time like the present to get the jump on this one. Pay in full 30 days prior to course commencement, and you get a healthy early bird discount.
Crises of Capitalism
Alternatives to Political Systems, Economics — by Craig Mackintosh
Further reading/watching:
- Money as Debt
- The Crash Course
- Demystifying Economics
- Chicago’s $1.3 Million Experiment in Democracy
- Rediscovering Democracy
- Democracy for Sale by the Corporate Citizen
Solving All the Problems of the World – in a Garden
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Conservation, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Land, News, Nurseries & Propogation, People Systems, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Salination, Society, Soil Conservation, Trees, Urban Projects, Village Development, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh July 23, 2010
This video can be downloaded in high resolution from Vimeo (see ‘About this video’ section on lower right side’).
I hope you’ll enjoy this clip. More, I hope it encourages you to dare to be different, and dare to have your work noticed. The garden we profile in the video above, as you’ll discover after watching it, has just won a national competition held by the Jordanian Department of Education – for schools who incorporate environmental projects into their curriculum. This means that thousands of schools, in what is arguably the most water-stressed country on the planet, now have the possibility to learn from this humble example of permaculture in action – and get inspired to do similar.
Special thanks to Lesley Byrne for her enthusiastic support, and to Nadia Lawton for her vision and determination to help her own people – and in so doing setting such an excellent example for us all.
Terry McCosker Joins the Dots on the Challenges and Solutions of Food Production, Landscape Health and Human Health
Conferences, Conservation, Food Shortages, Plant Systems, Podcasts, Population, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Biology, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh July 20, 2010
I’d never heard of Terry McCosker of Resource Consulting Services before, but here he is giving an excellent talk to ABC Rural’s Bush Telegraph Radio on the need to go ‘back to the future’ in our agricultural systems as our populations balloon in combination with disturbing land resource declines. Terry talks about how cheap fossil fuels have been used for soil mining, and that current and upcoming energy/soil/water constraints will force us back to where we need to go to solve our food production challenges, with the effect that this can also solve our environmental and human health problems. Terry also refers to David Montgomery’s excellent Dirt – the Erosion of Civilizations book, talks about peak phosphorus, compost, compost teas, the need to ‘fire up the biology’ in our soils to harness the inherent energy found in natural systems – thus replacing the artificial ‘propping up’ of those systems with fossil fuel energy, and in doing so increasing plant health to further reduce/remove the need for chemical inputs.
The podcast is well worth a listen. Click play below:
Terry McCosker Joins the Dots on the Challenges and Solutions of Food Production, Landscape Health and Human HealthI love to see people joining the dots like this!
Should you be in the area, Terry and others will be speaking at a three-day conference in Brisbane, titled ‘Farmers – Heroes of our Future‘ from July 20-22. You can view the conference program here. Given it’s July 20th as I type, it may be too late to register and go along, but if you’re in the Brisbane area I’ll leave you to make your own enquiries if you’re interested. Sounds like it’d be a great event to attend.
Comments (1)July and January 10-Week Internships Now Full
Courses/Workshops — by Craig Mackintosh July 15, 2010
A couple of days ago we told you that there was a single spot left on the upcoming July 10-week internship program. Well, it’s gone now….
The January internship is now also booked to capacity. We can potentially waitlist two or three people in case there are cancellations. To put your name down in case a vacancy opens up, please flick an email to Charles on education (at) permaculture.org.au
Alternatively, get yourself booked onto the 25 April 2011 Internship, while you can.
Comments (0)How Small We Are
Comedy Break, Health & Disease, Society — by Craig Mackintosh
I had to cheer someone up the other day. In my bid to be imaginative and put their blues into perspective, I remembered Monty Python’s ‘The Galaxy Song’ from The Meaning of Life. Yes, that’s right, don’t put me at top of your list of those who might be there to lift you out of depression or save you from suicidal tendencies – it’s not in my repertoire of talents….
But, I thought I’d pass the thought along anyway, and share the clips below. When you’re swimming in difficulties, sometimes it’s good to recognise that we, and our problems, are just a small part of a much bigger picture. A happy life is more about perspective than circumstances.
Graduates from Geoff Lawton’s PDCs will no doubt recognise the words in the first of the two clips below:
Comments (3)
One Spot Left on July 25 Internship!
Courses/Workshops — by Craig Mackintosh July 12, 2010
We have space for just one more on the 10-week Internship Program that begins July 25. If you’ve been procrastinating, this’d be a good time to stop!
The Internship program, begun at the beginning of 2010, is proving an instant success. Students are leaving Zaytuna Farm with a much higher degree of confidence to implement permaculture, whether it be for their own property, for project aid work or for paid consultancies – or all of the above!
P.S. At the moment there are only three places left on the 24 January 10-week Internship Program as well, so there’s no time like the present to get in there if July isn’t going to work for you.
***UPDATE HERE***
Comments (3)Capitalism’s Crowning Achievement – a Cold, Cold Heart, and Deceit to Hide It
Alternatives to Political Systems, Consumerism, Economics, Society, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh July 7, 2010
The following video is shocking. If you don’t want to see real people getting killed with real bullets, then please don’t watch it.
Collateral Murder (Warning: Very disturbing imagery)
But, just like it’s good for us to meet the animals we consume, I think it’s good for us to see what happens to our taxpayer dollars when they’re used in war; in securing oil, securing the lifestyles we’ve grown accustomed to, and in protecting our economic stranglehold on the rest of the world.
In this video, along with a dozen or more ‘unknowns’, two Reuters reporters were killed. In the immediate area, a New York Times reporter almost met the same fate, when he pointed his camera at one of the U.S. attack helicopters.
People will argue over the content of this video. Were the soldiers justified in their request to, as they pleaded to their superiors – "Let us shoot!"? Perhaps there were RPGs. Perhaps they didn’t see the children seated in the front seat of the van they were begging to destroy. Perhaps the children were brought to "a battle", and weren’t on a mission to collect wounded, as it appeared to my untrained eyes. Perhaps they really thought the wounded man attempting to crawl to shelter posed some kind of threat.
Whatever you may think of the incident, the official version given to the media speaks volumes that can be summed up in two words. They lie.
I just feel sadness for an erosion of more than morality – but a complete absence of sympathy or empathy. The modern soldier, protector of liberty and justice, has instead become defender of corporate interests and unbridled consumption, and murderer of anyone who stands in their way.
Further watching:
Comments (40)PRI Course Updates, July 2010
Courses/Workshops — by Craig Mackintosh July 6, 2010
We recently advised that our upcoming 11 July PDC was full – but a few people have had to cancel, so we can now mention we have a few seats available again! Act quickly, as there are only a few days left before Geoff takes the wrapping off this one! The next PDC after this 11 July course isn’t until October 10.
For those of you who want to get your teaching career started, and with confidence, the five day PDC Teacher Training course is the one to go for. There are still a couple of seats left on this August 23 course. Same goes for the always popular August 2 Earthworks course, and the amazing September 20 Soil Biology course by soil expert Paul Taylor.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
Comments (0)Take a PDC at Embun Pagi, Malaysia: Nov 23 – Dec 5, 2010
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Craig Mackintosh July 2, 2010
When: November 23 – December 5, 2010
Where: Batu Arang, Selangor, Malaysia
Who: Teachers Greg Knibbs and Chakra Widia
Sabina Arokiam is a fired up permaculturist who is taking the earth and people care ethics seriously. You can read a great little piece from The Star Online about Sabina, her goals and how she came to begin the Embun Pagi permaculture project site in her home country of Malaysia. As well as developing the permaculture demonstration site, where she has already organised two Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) courses, Sabina is helping refugees from Burma, who are jammed into high rise tenements, learn how to develop urban permaculture gardens that increase their resilience.
Sabina’s vision is to create a wide-spreading permaculture community in Malaysia. By taking your PDC at Embun Pagi you can directly assist this effort whilst learning a great deal from two very experienced and dynamic teachers – Greg Knibbs and Chakra Widia – and have a great immersion into Malaysian culture to boot.
- Click here to download the 10mb PDF with full details
- Click here to go to the Embun Pagi website to register
Seats are limited to 20, so get in quick to avoid disappointment!
Comments (2)Letters from the West Bank – Seeds of Hope Scattered from the West Bank’s First PDC
Aid Projects, Alternatives to Political Systems, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh June 30, 2010
Editor’s caution: I trust our objective, peace-loving permaculture readers will resist the temptation to comment such, but just in case, please know that non-productive, antagonistic comments against any of the players involved in the Israeli/Palestinian Middle-East conflict will not be moderated through. Keep them civil, well-intentioned and constructive and you’ll pass muster though.
The view at sunset, westwards from Marda, Palestine
All photographs © copyright Craig Mackintosh
This is now the second time I’ve had an automatic weapon aimed at me. I hope it doesn’t become a habit….
Comments (20)BP Oil Spill – If it Was My Home
Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh June 29, 2010
The If It Was My Home website has made it easy to get some grasp of scale of the BP Oil tragedy. Simply head to the above link, enter your city, and cover your region with the gulf spill.
Now, for good measure, we just need the program to add in the gulf’s hypoxic zone – a 6,000 square mile oxygen-starved dead zone largely caused by excess nitrogen runoff (fertilisers and livestock waste) flowing into the Mississippi basin from U.S. farmers/agribusinesses lining the Mississippi watershed. (The resulting algae blooms and die offs consumes all the oxygen, until there is little to no life in large parts of the ocean water affected – a recent study counted more than 400 such dead zones worldwide.)
I’ve heard a few anti-environmentalists in the past try to tell me it’s impossible for man to damage the earth, as it’s "just too big, and we’re too small". Oh how I wish they weren’t sooo wrong.
Hypoxic, or ‘dead zone’, along the Louisiana coastline
Video Tour of Sabina Permaculture Project, Uganda
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Craig Mackintosh
Dan Palmer of VeryEdibleGardens (VEG) has sent through this nice collage of abundance from the Sabina Permaculture Project in Uganda. It’s great to see all the fertile gardens and smiling faces. What a vision of hope for a better future!
Comments (4)
David Holmgren and Su Dennett Visit Zaytuna
Social Gatherings — by Craig Mackintosh June 28, 2010
David Holmgren (co-originator with Bill Mollison of the permaculture concept) and his partner Su Dennett were at Zaytuna Farm for the first time just a few days ago and, along with Geoff Lawton and others, had a really nice timing chatting and hanging out. Geoff was able to give Su a bit of a tour while David was interviewed on film by some of our students.
I wasn’t on the farm at the time, but Geoff has sent through this pic. Perhaps we’ll see some of the student interview material in due course!
