Permaculture Master Plan Now in Spanish
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor March 17, 2009
Feel free to circulate:
Hacia Centros de Investigación del Permacultura por todo el Mundo
For more info, click here.
Thanks to Grifen Hope for facilitating this translation.
Comments (1)An Interview with Jules Dervaes
Consumerism, Demonstration Sites, Economics, Education Centres, Food Shortages, Society, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor February 14, 2009
Today we are pleased to talk to a very interesting man – a man on a very interesting mission; on what he describes as “the path to freedom”, where he escapes being part of the problem, to become part of the solution. Before we get started, watch the following ABC clip to get an idea of his work, and then we’ll hear from the man himself.
Craig Mackintosh: Thank you Jules. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about your work. Most of our readers will have watched the YouTube movie above, so will have an inkling of what Path to Freedom is about, but I wonder if you could fill in any pertinent details the short news report may have left out, so as to round out our grasp of what you’re doing today?
Comments (0)Developing Permaculture Aid Project Skills
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Project Positions — by Sakina Grome February 5, 2009
There are as many people holding different skills as there are species, and this diversity of skills is required to build permaculture projects around the world. As the world heads towards peak oil, peak soil, and peak water, the demand for permaculture education continues to grow, and at the forefront of this demand are people in developing countries who are dependent upon being able to grow their own food and whose livelihood depends on the health of the local soil.
The first Permaculture Project Aid Worker Course conducted by the Permaculture Research Institute was held in November at Zaytuna Farm in NSW, Australia. Geoff Lawton and Rosemary Morrow led the six-day course, which was attended by twenty-three students in total. Lawton established the course as a response to keeping up with the demand for skilled aid workers on overseas projects, as well as a vision to establish a network of permaculture education centres around the world.
Comments (2)Spotlight on Ethiopia
Aid Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Alex McCausland February 4, 2009
Ethiopia is a land of fantastic natural wealth and cultural diversity. In few places on earth can you buy locally grown apples and mangos from the very same market stall. But Ethiopia has a huge range of climates, which result from its truly awesome topology, making this a reality.
The great plains of Abyssinia sit atop two massive highland plateaus, cloven, as a coffee bean down the middle, by the Great Rift Valley. From the sweltering dry deserts of Somali Ogaden in the east, Sudan in the west and the Danakil in the North, where Africa crashes into Arabia, the land sweeps up, rising through semi-arid lowlands and pockets of tropical jungle, to montane forests, to alpine pastures on the slopes of the Simien, Bale and Ghugi mountain ranges, all of which top 4000m, and all of which are home to numerous endemic species of flora and fauna.
Comments (0)Greening the Desert Project Outcomes Profiled
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Conservation, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Land, News, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Swales, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor January 29, 2009
Most readers will be familiar with the awesome, seemingly miraculous work Geoff and Nadia Lawton accomplished with the ‘Greening the Desert‘ project in Jordan (not to be confused with the new Jordan Valley Permaculture Project, where completely new miracles are under way).
Well, this work has now been well profiled in the ProAct Network’s recent release:
The Role of Environmental Management in Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, Annex I, Case Studies (4.69mb PDF). Jump to page #59 in Acrobat Reader, or #98 if you’re scrolling by page numbers.
If you’re looking for more practical details on what happened, and is happening, there on the ground – this document should hit the spot, as it were.
Thanks to Andrew Jones for bringing this to my attention.
Comments (3)Letter from the Editor
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, News — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor
Howdy. Could you guys all take a seat for a minute? I’d like to have a little chat with you all today on a couple of points. Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble.
Comments (3)Reality Check one two…one two
Aid Projects, Building, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Energy Systems, Ethical Investment, Land, Project Positions, Village Development — by Eric Seider January 26, 2009
If you were to get up and walk to the sink and turn on the faucet, there is a pretty damn good chance that water will come out. And if it didn’t you’d be surprised to say the least, more likely pissed off and annoyed at the inconvenience. You’d then wonder who is to blame for this unacceptable turn of events. I mean it is your god given right as a human being to expect water to come out of the tap when you need it….right?
Well…..Salaam Alaykum. Welcome to Jordan.
Beduoin Camp, Dead Sea Valley, Jordan
It doesn’t work like that here.
Comments (6)Food Forests Across America
Community Projects, Education Centres, Food Forests, Food Plants - Perennial, Plant Systems, Trees, Urban Projects — by Ecofilms
For Erik Ohlsen, a Californian based Permaculture teacher and designer, 2009 is shaping up to become a year like no other.
"I run my own Permaculture contracting business and am about to launch a Food Forest campaign for 2009” he said. Erik’s dream is to encourage people to roll out a Food Forest systems across America.
“My vision is to educate communities as to the whole system benefits of food forests from, climate change to relocalization of food sources and creating oases of human settlement in our communities. To do this we will help students and interns design and install these systems.”
“We’re going to install Food Forests like a brush fire, and we can.” he says.
Comments (15)Please Help the Palestinian People in a Time of Tragedy
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Village Development — by Nichole Ross January 12, 2009
The Jordan Valley Project site is the triangular section in foreground
As Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip escalate, more and more Palestinian civilians are being displaced by damage or destruction to their homes. The need for refugee shelter has become critical. Geoff and Nadia Lawton are currently working on a PRI project in a Palestinian refugee village in Jordan. The project, known as the Jordan Valley Permaculture Project, is an effort to set up a Permaculture demonstration and education center. Due to the increased influx of refugees that will need food and shelter, this project is essential for survival for these people fleeing to the very arid Dead Sea Valley. Geoff, Nadia and others are working at full speed to get this center established as soon as possible so they can train refugees and impoverished locals to set up similar sustainable systems (food, water, shelter).
Comments (6)PRI Site Info Session at Zaytuna Farm
Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, News — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor January 11, 2009
Geoff and Nadia Lawton have been running highly successful courses at Zaytuna Farm in Northern NSW, Australia, for a few years now. Now, with the pressing need to ramp up the pace of Permaculture education to try to help steer this misguided world onto something resembling a sane path, we’re now working towards improving and enlarging the PRI infrastructure and facilities. Click the image below for a larger view with more info. If you live in the neighbourhood, feel free to drop by on Friday the 16th to get the full scoop on developments.
And, whether you live nearby or not, any contributions to this noble endeavour are greatly appreciated.
Comments (1)
Hawaiian Homeland Security
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, News — by Nichole Ross November 23, 2008
Homeland Security. To the native people of the Hawaiian Islands, it’s more than just a buzzword thrown around by the Bush Administration to justify the creation of another branch of government. For Native Hawaiians, like many indigenous people around the world, the story is the same – foreign occupation resulting in loss of homelands and culture.
Traditional Hawaiian Gardening at Kapahu Farm on Maui (www.kipahulu.org)
In 1921, in an effort, led by Prince Kuhio Kalanianaole, to right these wrongs and help native Hawaiians reclaim their ties to the ‘aina (land), the United States Congress passed the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. The Act set aside 203,500 acres of public lands for those with at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood.
Comments (0)Volunteer Permaculturist Required for Ugandan AIDS Clinic
Aid Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Project Positions — by Brett Bell November 14, 2008
With an acre of land to work with, could you develop a sustainable demonstration garden for a health centre to teach its HIV positive clients about nutrition and gardening practices to maximize their land’s potential?
Comments (0)Letters from Vietnam – The Road to Na Sai
Aid Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, People Systems, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor October 14, 2008
We catch a rare glimpse of an ancient and beautiful culture – the Black Thai people – and applaud the work of a modern day NGO who is working to help improve the lives of these noble people whilst retaining their unique identity – just as a new road threatens their natural, low-carbon existence.
Black Thai Villager in Rice Fields, Na Sai Village, Vietnam
Photos: Craig Mackintosh
A few days ago I had the profound privilege of spending two days in a ‘lost village’ – a tiny community hidden away in one of Vietnam’s border regions. I invite you to share in this rare opportunity by way of the text and images below.
The topography of the landscape, and its remoteness, has isolated the Na Sai village, separating it from modern influences and modern ‘development’. Being here in Vietnam, whilst the world faces a potential "systemic" financial meltdown, is rather ironic, particularly as I compare the vulnerabilities of the outside world with a community like this – a community for whom industrialised society is a seeming universe apart in terms of culture and socioeconomic dependencies.
In many ways, from my observations, if the rest of the world were to sink into the ocean this community would barely notice.
Comments (15)Letters from Vietnam – Arriving to HEPA
Aid Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor October 10, 2008
Hanoi, Vietnam
Photos: Craig Mackintosh
Greetings from Vietnam. Geoff and Nadia and other PRI team members (including yours truly) landed here five days ago – aiming to continue to help develop the work of SPERI (Social Policy Ecology Research Institute), a Vietnamese NGO and sister organisation to PRI.
Comments (1)PRI Update – September 12, 2008
Aid Projects, Courses/Workshops, Developments, Education Centres, News — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor September 12, 2008
Every now and again we’ll try to keep you all in the loop as to progress and activity with our work here in the little village of PRI. As always, there is a lot going on, and a lot more in the pipeline. Some of you may well wish to get involved yourself!
Here goes:
Comments (3)
