United Colors of Ho avy: Growing Trees and Growing with Them, Madagascar
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Energy Systems, Food Forests, Nurseries & Propogation, Social Gatherings, Trees, Village Development — by Martina Petru September 2, 2010
Editor’s Note: This is an update for the ho avy project in Madagascar. Previous updates here and here.
EcoExplorers Madagascar 2010 from Shannon Kohlitz on Vimeo.
Here we are past July’s time for fleece, hat and socks, wouldn’t you believe! Manintsy – cold (25/16 °C day/night or less) was the semiarid southwest Madagascar in winter; winter in the dry southwest where ‘it never rains’. Well, never say ‘never’ and/or be prepared for rain in the no rain season and for beautiful double rainbows arching gently over the glowing morning skies….
Since our last update in February, ho avy has been on a ‘high season rainbow ride’ – exciting in a way, admittedly speedy and bumpy some of the time – more like a downhill slalom race against time, where falling over exposed tree roots is unavoidable. Retrospectively, it’s been a valuable growing time: our trees are growing and we are growing with them.
We especially enjoyed the rainbow of colors left behind the pens, pencils and brushes of Eco-Explorers – talented undergraduate students of the University of Michigan’s School of Art and Design. These young students overflowing with creativity came to Madagascar expecting no rain. Although they got some, they seemed to greatly enjoy this mad ride, and so did we on ho avy & Madagascar Eco-Explorers’ tour and project service work in Ranobe.
Comments (2)Two Weeks to Go Before Next Permaculture Project Aid Worker Course!
Aid Projects, Courses/Workshops — by Charles Hamilton August 27, 2010
Life is rarely dull for a permaculture aid worker
Photo © copyright Craig Mackintosh
Do you aspire to be involved in the permaculture aid sector and permaculture projects in Africa, Asia, South America or the Middle East?
Enjoy the challenge and reward of work and experience in far-flung locales and use it as a springboard for a serious, paid career in permaculture. The September 13 Permaculture Project Aid Worker Course taught by internationally recognised permaculture teacher Geoff Lawton currently still has space for you.
This is a wonderful opportunity to train as a Project Farm Manager, Project Teacher or Administration Manager and is the last course of this type in 2010.
Comments (1)Letters from Sri Lanka – Sarvodaya and the Tea Plantation Challenge
Aid Projects, Alternatives to Political Systems, Community Projects, Consumerism, Economics, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh August 26, 2010
Part IX of a series – If you haven’t already, please read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII and Part VIII before continuing. This series is part of my work for the Sustainable (R)evolution book project.
Preamble: Described as ‘the champagne of tea’, Sri Lankan tea is consumed the world over. Second only to Kenya in exports, Sri Lanka’s tea industry accounts for a full 15% of the nation’s GDP, generating about $700 million per year. Yet very little of this money is seen by the people actually producing it…. Tea plantation workers are trapped in low paid manual labour positions and live in miserable housing conditions, while people around the globe slurp on the fruit of their misery. Sarvodaya has its work cut out to try to assist, but they’re giving it a good try.
Sri Lankan tea plantation worker
All photographs © copyright Craig Mackintosh
Permaculture and Society – a Look at the Example of Detroit
Aid Projects, Alternatives to Political Systems, Community Projects, Economics, Food Shortages, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh August 24, 2010
Rhamis Kent, friend and regular contributor to the PRI, recently gave a talk to Schumacher College in the south west of England. He starts with a look at the meltdown of Detroit’s once thriving manufacturing base, its dramatic consequences for the city and residents, and shares that the current state of affairs for the beleaguered city is a direct result of the economic model that’s been in place in the U.S. over the last century. Rhamis goes further, to share that this is, to one degree or another, the present trajectory of most of the world’s cities.
But, not stopping on the negative, Rhamis goes on to show some of the exciting movements within Detroit that these circumstances are giving life to. Out of necessity, people are working to increase their resiliency and quality of life – turning the problem of Detroit into a solution. Rhamis joins the dots between our socio-economic problems and the environmental catastrophes taking place, and begins to look through the lens of permaculture to see how we can turn things around by imitating natural systems to create low- to no-impact societies that don’t operate on the boom-and-bust model that present day Detroit is arguably the most striking example of.
Duration: 82 minutes
Part way through the talk Rhamis presents the following Urban Roots film trailer. I’ll put it below for convenience. To jump back to where the trailer below (higher quality) ends in the video above, click on 31:40 on progress bar above.
Comments (8)Permaculture Continues To Take Root In Kenya
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, People Systems, Village Development — by Warren Brush August 23, 2010
Take a PDC in Kenya (PDF) or donate, either way will help to underwrite the course expenses so that local Kenyans can participate without cost….
There are two very unique and exciting opportunities to learn Permaculture Design and obtain your certification in Kenya this coming December of 2010 or in March of 2011. Students from around the world are invited to join local Kenyan students and International permaculture teacher and designer, Warren Brush, of Quail Springs Learning Oasis and Permaculture Farm and other teachers from the local culture for this learning journey of a lifetime.
Get Paid to Share Your Permaculture Passion With the World
Aid Projects, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Networking Sites, News, People Systems, Project Positions, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh August 18, 2010
How to Help Us Educate the World and Save Our Futures
Tongue-in-cheek instructional video
Note: This is an update on PRI’s position and direction, and an opportunity for you to get paid to help!
The short version: We’re now paying you to write for us! Click here to get started.
The background/long version follows:
Over the last two years since I took over the running of this site, I’ve been pleased to see significant growth in traffic. I’m not so narrow-minded as to believe this is just due to my efforts or Geoff and Nadia Lawton’s or the rest of the PRI team, however. Aside from the tremendous support and input from the wider permaculture community, I also note that current events and the spread of information through the internet is threatening to actually wake the world up – and this ‘awakening’ is seeing an unprecedented growth in interest in sustainability, transition and the creation of resilient people systems. This interest certainly isn’t coming too soon, but better late than never.
Comments (20)Morocco Observations, Past, Present and Future – Part III
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Alex Metcalfe August 14, 2010
Written by Alex Metcalfe. Photo credits to Alex Metcalfe, Asiya Brock, Helen Evans and Houssa Yacoubi. Part III of a series. Be sure to check out Part I and Part II.
Journey to Igourdane: Large communal extended family home.
Only the part on the far right is now inhabited.
The days on the course were spent going through the theory and wandering about on the farm trying to apply it to surrounding landscape. Every now and then we might be given some mint tea, batboot and olive oil.
Comments (4)Looking Back at a PDC in Southern Ethiopia
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Pierre Theriault July 29, 2010
A personal account from taking the Permaculture Design Course at Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge, Konso, Southern Ethiopia, 9-15 June 2010
Together with three Ethiopians and eight other international participants, I recently attended a 72-hour permaculture design course hosted by Alex McCausland and the Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge in the Konso province of southern Ethiopia.
Comments (1)Morocco Observations, Past, Present and Future – Part II
Aid Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Alex Metcalfe July 28, 2010
Written by Alex Metcalfe. Photo credits to Alex Metcalfe, Asiya Brock, Helen Evans and Houssa Yacoubi. Part II of a Series. Click here for Part I.
Spicer and Asiya Brock shop for supplies in Marrakesh Medina
Consistent with Global Warming trends, Observation from Morocco’s National Meteorological Directorate show rising temperatures, less precipitation, and an increase in drought, widening the gap between water supply and demand. Average temperatures are expected to rise between 2 and 5 degree Celsius by the end of the century, while rainfall is predicted to decline 20 to 30%. – Moroccan Coastal Management: Building Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change through Sustainable Policies and Planning
Deforestation, water management and erosion are all evidently interlinked and inseparable issues faced by rural Imazighen, particularly those living amongst the unique and ever changing weather systems of the high Atlas Mountains.
After my first memorable visit I searched for a project in Morocco I could contribute to. I wanted to have a good reason for returning, something other than purely for pleasure. Morocco is a country where everyone can have a passport, but only those with enough cash in their bank account can get a visa to travel to places like Europe or the U.S. I had a much smaller sum in my account when I went to Morocco the first time and yet I was free to do so. That fact set me apart in some sense from the people I had the pleasure to meet and although they did not appear overly occupied with it, it was something I was keenly aware of. I felt that if I could work with Moroccans I would receive a more intimate education on life in their country than I would as a tourist and hopefully earn their respect by doing so. Like many, many other people who volunteer or work for positive change abroad I wanted, if possible, to side step what can sometimes turn into a series of purely economic interactions. I wanted to meet people’s families, work with them, to eat at their table and to digest their way of life literally instead of just intellectually.
Comments (2)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.
Morocco Observations, Past, Present and Future – Part I
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Conservation, Deforestation, Education Centres, Irrigation, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Urban Projects — by Alex Metcalfe July 21, 2010
Written by Alex Metcalfe. Photo credits to Alex Metcalfe, Asiya Brock, Helen Evans and Houssa Yacoubi.
The view from the course site ‘Ourthane’ which means ‘gardens’
Background
In 2004, during my first visit to Morocco, one night in the desert with the full moon at its zenith I climbed an enormous dune with Francois and Vincent, two Québécois I had met on the bus journey south.
Ascending that great pile of sand, every step forward seemed to take us three steps back. Our beleaguered progress was painfully slow. The nameless mountain of sand we were climbing stood far above neighbouring dunes to shelter a small and equally anonymous oasis a few hours slow and ponderous journey by camel from Merzouga, a small, one road collection of pisé houses and auberges that sit amidst the bleak and stony Hamada. The only movements to catch the eye was the shimmering heat rising from the Earth and the tall, thin and spectral twisters that listlessly faded into existence only to fade out again, as if exhausted under the unforgiving glare of the desert sun from the effort of giving form to the eddying winds of the Hamada.
Comments (4)The Challenges and Rewards of Implementing Permaculture in Ethiopia
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Village Development — by Alex McCausland July 20, 2010
Editor’s Note: This is the most pleasureable part of my work – seeing people soaking up permaculture goodness, being empowered by it, and benefitting from their labours. Alex gives us a great update on his selfless labours in Ethiopia – nicely loaded with documentary images. If you appreciate the work Alex is doing, and haven’t yet taken your Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course, you might want to consider studying in Ethiopia – so your course fees will help fuel the juggernaut project described below even further. The August 02 – 12, 2010 course will be particularly relevant to you if you live in a semi-arid climate zone.
Our international PDCs use the schools’ project in its learning exercises;
Participants act as judges for our schools’ competitions. This both helps to
motivate the schools (prizes for best school, best parent, best child and best
teacher are awarded bi-annually) and is a learning exercise for the
international participants.
 Tichafa, our facilitator/consultant, trainer for ReSCOPE – 15 years experience around southern Africa |
In much of Africa, environmental problems and rural depravation are closely tied together. The rural poor lack access to education which means they have no chance to earn better incomes. Stuck in a poverty trap, they often resort to practices which degrade the very environment that supports them; clearing indigenous woodland to make charcoal, overstocking animals, or planting harmful species which give fast cash rewards such as Eucalyptus and so on. Population growth, of course, worsens all this. As a result land is wrecked and won’t produce enough food to feed them.
In the case of Ethiopia we are all familiar with the dust bowl image and the starving kids. Geldof’s Live-Aid was supposed to put an end to all that in the 80’s, but 30 years on many communities there are still reliant on handouts. In fact it’s the same in much of Africa. Why? It’s not that the land does not have the capacity to produce the food. There are many places on earth which are less productive but people manage to grow what they need. It’s not that the people are lazy either. Women especially, live a life of constant toil and drudgery in many areas of the continent.
Comments (1)Confessions of a Permaculture Aid Worker, Episode 9: Andy in Morocco
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Networking Sites, People Systems, Village Development — by Patrick Blampied July 19, 2010
Editor’s Note: I made a boo-boo. When I put this post up the other day, I checked the podcast code was working as it should, so you could all play and enjoy. It checked out okay. After that I added some code for a Digg/Reddit plugin, but failed to notice this clashed with the podcast code and broke it! Then the post slipped down the main page, as posts do, without my realising people couldn’t play the podcast. As such, I’m putting it back up top to ensure it gets heard, as it’s a great discourse deserving of a good listen. Apologies to all.
‘Confessions of a Permaculture Aid Worker’ is a weekly podcast show from PRI Australia aimed at documenting the experiences of people out in the field and making more information available about what’s happening in the Permaculture world.
This week I’m speaking with Andy of Tribal Networks about his project in Morocco and the Irish NGO he’s set up which supports and networks connections to remote areas of the world.
Click play to hear the interview (and read further below for more details):
Confessions of a Permaculture Aid Worker, Episode 9: Andy in Morocco
Subscribe to Confessions of a Permaculture Aid Worker.
Take an Exciting PDC in Ethiopia and Your Course Fees Will Support Crucial Aid Work
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Alex McCausland July 16, 2010
Certified 72h Permaculture Design Course, Konso, Ethiopia: Permaculture for the Rural African Environment – Oriented towards food security development for rural communities, lead by Tichafa Makovere; Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge (SFEL): August 02 – 12, 2010.
Tichafa Makovere, lead trainer for the re-SCOPE (Regional Permaculture in Schools and Colleges) initiative and the Fimbadzanai Permaculture Centre in Zimbabwe, is to lead a 10-day residential PDC (English language medium) in Konso, South Ethiopia in August 2010. This PDC focuses on application of Permaculture to semi arid environments in rural Africa, of particular relevance to those wanting to apply PC in the rural developing world. Attention is given to appropriate technology, soil and water harvesting, indigenous knowledge systems and Permaculture in schools as a key focus point for the community, and a chance to influence the coming generation.
We use SFEL’s model PC site as the primary example for demonstration, as well as visiting implementation sites on our Permaculture in Konso Schools Project (PKSP) for design examples (more info on PKSP here). We also look at Konso’s renowned indigenous agricultural system and incorporating IKS (Indigenous Knowledge Systems) into Permaculture Design. We can also include day long field-trips to wet-highland Afro-montaine, wet-tropical lowland and dry agro-pastoral lowland agro-climactic zones, upon request, and can incorporate design examples from these environments into the PDC.
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