Fresh From Our Contributing Authors What's a "contributing author"?
John Liu’s Green Gold Documentary – How the West (and East, North and South!) Could Be Won
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Conservation, Consumerism, Dams, Deforestation, Demonstration Sites, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Irrigation, Land, Plant Systems, Population, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Biology, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Swales, Terraces, Trees, Village Development, Water Contaminaton & Loss, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 24, 2012
As most of our readers will know, John Liu caught a vision years ago, and, thankfully, he ran with it. We’ve shared John’s excellent media work before (see here and here), and today have the pleasure of doing so again….
This new video, Green Gold, was first aired last month on Dutch TV, and will be shared at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (to a captive audience of influential representative delegates during their dinner!), which is being held next month in Brazil (20-22 June 2012).
The video takes you to China, Jordan, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Bolivia, and features the PRI’s own Geoff Lawton (and a cameo appearance from Nadia!), who adds impetus and technical know-how to John’s impressive toolbox, as well as the ‘Permaculture Princess‘ (Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan), and others.
It’s the story of healing landscapes at scale, and, with it, restoring life, livelihoods, security and a future.
Comments (0)The Need for Data and Documentation to Move Permaculture Forward
Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education — by Richard Perkins May 23, 2012
Bec Helouin, France.
Photos and article by Richard Perkins
A month into our epic family global film trip and we arrive at the beautiful and incredible La Ferme biologique du Bec Hellouin, an experimental organic farm being adapted according to permaculture principles.
Bec Hellouin is home to Charles and Perrine Herve-Gruyer. Farmyard buildings are mostly newly built, however with such sympathy for the traditional styles and materials that you might never guess. The original house is mimicked with its timber framing and cob wall infills, and thatched roofs are elegantly planted along the top. It is an incredibly beautiful farm and a lot of care has gone into the details of the infrastructure. Walking out through the yard down into the growing spaces I can see this is a very efficient place, with water carefully and magically carried through the landscape, creating productive islands and growing spaces where I can see immediately how multiple and diverse microclimates have been created. It’s breathtaking here.
Comments (0)Fukushima Meltdown Hastens Decline of Nuclear Power
Nuclear — by Earth Policy Institute
by J. Matthew Roney, Earth Policy Institute
On May 5, 2012, Japan shut down its Tomari 3 nuclear reactor on the northern island of Hokkaido for inspection, marking the first time in over 40 years that the country had not a single nuclear power plant generating electricity. The March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown shattered public confidence in atomic energy, thus far making it politically impossible to restart any of the reactors taken offline. And the disaster’s legacy has spread far beyond Japan. Some European countries have decided to phase out their nuclear programs entirely. In other countries, nuclear plans are proceeding with caution. But with the world’s fleet of reactors aging, and with new plants suffering construction delays and cost increases, it is possible that world nuclear electricity generation has peaked and begun a long-term decline.
Getting Kids Into Gardening, Part IV: Creativity in the Garden
Education, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Land, Medicinal Plants — by Anthea Hudson
Inspiring our children to develop an enthusiasm for gardening is a wonderful gift we, as parents or caregivers, can give them. This theme revolves around using the garden and its produce as an outlet for creativity. The following ideas will hopefully help give you some starting points for helping your children make the most of the garden in a myriad of ways. Use just one idea, combine several, or come up with your own ideas.
Mazes
Children are often fascinated by mazes. They can create their own living mazes, either on a miniature scale with low growing plants, or a full-scale hedge maze, if you have the room and can afford the plants. Get your kids to create a simple maze design on paper first (graph paper might be handy) and then lay it out on the ground using tent pegs or stakes and string. Alternatively, they could lay little stones or sticks out to mark the design.
Comments (2)Upcoming Courses at Zaytuna Farm
Courses/Workshops — by Bonnie Freibergs May 22, 2012
Zaytuna Farm is playing host to a unique PDC. On July 8th Warren Brush and Joseph Lentunyoi will start teaching for two intensive weeks. Warren works extensively in permaculture education and sustainable systems design in North America and in Africa as well as in other countries worldwide. He has devoted many years to mentoring youth to inspire and equip them to live in a sustainable manner with integrity and a hopeful outlook. His mentoring includes working with those who are former child soldiers, orphans, youth from troubled families and situations as well as those youth from other varied and privileged backgrounds.
Comments (0)Living Freely – Valuing the Marginal and Recycling Energy
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Village Development — by Richard Perkins
Plukrijp Community, Belgium
Photos and article by Richard Perkins
Wheat
We are now a month into our epic global family film journey documenting active and replicable solutions in all areas of permaculture design. Our recent trip to the Plukrijp community has left a strong impression on us, an account we feel moved to share. Situated in Schriek, Belgium, this small farm has developed into a thriving community hub over the last few years, and offers solutions in various aspects of permaculture design, but most notable is the way this community lives at vertically no cost. Around 4000 people pass through here a year in addition to a 15-strong community, and the whole thing is run on a simple magic hat. The running costs have been reduced to gas for cooking and water rates!
Comments (0)Gold Coast Permaculture Workshops – May/June 2012
Courses/Workshops — by Vanessa Fernandes
Honey from a home made extractor
1) Sunday 27th May, 2012 1:30pm: Gold Coast Permaculture Bee Keeping Equipment Workshop
This workshop will bring to you the home handywoman’s answer to excruciatingly expensive bee keeping, showing equipment put together by Syd Richards, the bee keeping mentor to Gold Coast Permaculture. Syd has a range of home-made equipment he would like to introduce to you including heated comb cutters, wiring and frame construction equipment and a honey extractor. This equipment will be on display at the workshop.
Comments (0)Letters from New Zealand: Villages for the Future — a Look at Bob Corker and the Kotare Ecovillage
Alternatives to Political Systems, Eco-Villages, People Systems, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 20, 2012
Editor’s Note: After reading this, you may want to quickly jump onto Bob Corker’s upcoming ‘Villages for the Future’ 2-day course (held at PRI Australia’s Zaytuna Farm, May 26-27, 2012). Don’t say I didn’t tell you….
Kotare Village surrounds, west of Wairoa, in the Hawkes Bay region of
New Zealand’s North Island
All photographs © Craig Mackintosh
The industrial revolution, coupled with its move towards privatisation of land and resources and its focus on capitalisation, has had effects which can be somewhat imperceptible when viewed over only a decade or so, but which become pronounced and dramatic when viewed since its inception until now. While the industrial revolution has brought not a few benefits — to some at least — it has also brought a host of significant negatives. The most obvious of these negatives, of course, is that the human race is, rather efficiently, bringing itself face to face with a potential complete meltdown of planetary biological systems, or, at least, with dangerously abrupt changes to them. But looking deeper at the problems of environmental collapse, we should quickly discern that our crisis is less about environmental systems than it is about people systems — the invisible structures that frame and facilitate the fulfillment of our needs, our ambitions and the form, and subsequent result, of the economic activity that comes from these.
In other words, our myriad crises find their source in a crisis of culture.
Comments (7)APC11 Presentation: Permaculture Disaster Response to Japan’s 2011 Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster, by Toru Sakawa
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Conferences, Food Shortages, Nuclear — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 17, 2012
At the recent Australasian Permaculture Conference (APC11) held in Turangi, New Zealand, one of the highlights for me was hearing Toru Sakawa’s tale of permaculture aid work in very unusual circumstances. I say unusual, as the triple woes of having an earthquake and tsunami followed by a nuclear disaster is somewhat unprecedented. Some parts of Japan were suddenly left without food, fuel, water and many other supports that we generally take (a little too much) for granted, and efforts to help oneself were restricted for many by the need to stay inside, out of radioactive harms way.
It was inspiring to hear Toru share how he and his peers did their best to help people in coastal areas, and how permaculture played some part in enabling them to do so. Toru and his friends, with fuel supplies cut, made their own biofuels from waste oil, and used it to transport their permaculture produce, and other supplies, to the people who needed it. They also brought people back to care for them, and to give them time away from the more radioactive areas.
It should help remind us what permaculture is really about; that being to not only create permanence, but also resiliency against abrupt shocks to the system, and the compassionate care of the people around us.
Comments (0)The Transition Trail to Resilience
Community Projects, Society, Urban Projects — by Emma Crameri
by Emma Crameri, Gustoso
“The Transition Trail to Resilience” illustrates the steps our local communities can take to transition to living with climate change and shrinking supplies of cheap energy and oil.
I was inspired by first developing The Permaculture Path to Sustainability which deals with how individuals and households can transition to a life with a smaller footprint on the earth.
I then wanted to expand these issues to encompass a community wide scope and take on the perspective of the Transition movement.
Comments (0)Saturday Morning Breakfast, Queensland Style
Processing & Food Preservation, Recipes — by Zaia Kendall
Editor’s Note: Besides making a mean Saturday morning breakfast, Tom and Zaia make a formidable team to learn from as well. It’s not too late to jump onto their next PDC, starting in just a few days… (May 20).
Saturday is a special day for us: it is our only day off in the week and we like it being a family day. That is why I like making a nice pancake breakfast on Saturdays. This week our breakfast was made with mainly homegrown or locally grown ingredients.
by Zaia Kendall, PRI Sunshine Coast
Bunya nut pancakes, avocado chocolate mousse,
raw cream and a dollop of yakon & passionfruit jam. Mmmm….
Saturday is a special day for us: it is our only day off in the week and we like it being a family day. That is why I like making a nice pancake breakfast on Saturdays.
Last Saturday we had a feast of mainly homegrown yummies on the table: Bunya nut pancakes, Yakon and Passionfruit jam, raw cream, avocado chocolate mousse and bananas.
Comments (2)Soil Microbes Help Save Plant-growing Input Costs (Video)
Compost, Fungi, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Doug Weatherbee
Learn how beneficial soil microbes can provide soluble nutrients and plant disease suppression to your farm or garden.
Comments (9)Swales: The Permaculture Element That Really “Holds Water”
Conservation, Dams, Food Forests, Irrigation, Land, Swales, Water Harvesting — by Rob Avis May 16, 2012
by Rob Avis
Michelle, Rowen and I were driving home from a vacation in the mountains when we passed by a swale on a farmer’s field in the middle of Alberta cattle country. Naturally, it piqued my curiosity and I had to stop the car to investigate. It was such a great example of how this simple technique can catch and store water on a large scale, we decided to make a short video about it….
What’s a Swale?
 Rob walking along a swale after a huge rain event at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia |
Simply put, swales are water-harvesting ditches, built on the contour of a landscape. Most ditches are designed to move water away from an area, so the bottom of the ditch is built on a modest slope, usually between 200:1 to 400:1.
Swales, however, are flat on the bottom because they’re designed to do the opposite; they slow water down to a standstill, eliminate erosion, infiltrate the surrounding area with water, and recharge the groundwater table. When water moves along the flat bottom of a swale, it fills it up like a bathtub — that is, all parts of the bath tub fill at the same rate. The water in a swale is therefore passive; it doesn’t flow the way it would on a slope.
Comments (8)Three Exciting Workshops Coming to PRI
Courses/Workshops — by Bonnie Freibergs May 15, 2012
Bob Corker stands above the valley where
the new Kotare Village is being established
Photo © Craig Mackintosh
At the Permaculture Research Institute’s Zaytuna Farm we have three fantastic workshops with guest teachers running at the end of May:
1) Villages for the Future, with Bob Corker — May 26-27 (two days)
Villages for the Future is a theory-based workshop teaching the philosophy of Community Land Trusts, using the example of the developing Permaculture Settlement ‘Kotare Village’ in New Zealand. It will give you an outline of the philosophy and global context for this alternative model of land ownership, with an explanation of the legal, social and environmental structures that are being used to develop Kotare Village, and other possibilities in Australia and around the world. Using International examples, Bob will look at ways to identify your resource base, and begin investing in self reliance, and explore pathways to establish a Community Land Trust.
Comments (2)Bill Mollison Four-Book 20% Off Special Offer
DVDs/Books — by Bonnie Freibergs
Click here for more info and to purchase.
Comments (0)
