“What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet”
David Suzuki
The implications of puncturing the earth's skin continue to play out before a horrified world as we watch the gruesome toll of the BP oil disaster. It is easy to feel powerless when it seems that our futures are being traded by corporations, however it is the work of such groups as the Rahamim Ecological Learning Communityin Bathurst that is leading to restorative action and a renewed passion globally for protecting life on earth. Rahamim takes inspiration from the Earth Charterand from permaculture's ethics of caring for the earth, caring for people and caring for future generations.
"Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life. The forces of nature make existence a very demanding and uncertain adventure, but Earth has provided the conditions essential to life's evolution. The resilience of the community of life and the well-being of humanity depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters, and clean air. The global environment with its finite resources is a common concern of all peoples. The protection of Earth's vitality, diversity and beauty is a sacred trust."
Australasian Permaculture Convergence Kuranda, Cairns, September 24—27, 2010
Planning and preparation for APC10 is powering along. This year the Australasian Permaculture Convergence (APC10) will be hosted in the beautiful Wet Tropics township of Kuranda, 30 km west of Cairns and with the involvement of Major General Michael Jeffery and a host of organisations getting behind the event, Permaculture has come of age.
Two companion events will run across the 5 days. The “Festival of Permaculture” is an opportunity for us to participate in practical workshops, learning from one another is specialised streams and showcasing all this to the public. APC offers an opportunity to engage our farmers, designers, urbanites and ideas-people in a forum that’s unlikely to be repeated for some time to come. The “Official Convergence” runs over 2 full days, the traditional space for the movement to explore a variety of themes including: the future of formal and informal education in Permaculture; the movement’s structure and voice; tackling governance and policy settings on issues that matter such as population and climate change responses; and the regeneration of Australia’s agricultural landscapes.
In early 2009, Lis Bastian from the Permaculture Institute worked with the Orange Community Gardeners at the Environmental Learning Facility in Orange (The ELF) to "permablitz" the existing Community Garden. After an introduction to Permaculture in the morning, a team of very dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers set to work in extreme heat and, over a few hours, sheet mulched a large area of lawn to create new garden beds, set up a strawbale compost bin and built a pond. The slideshow above shows the creation of the sheetmulched garden beds.
We have the opportunity for Africa to awaken the full potential that we see in ourselves .....
hope that for the first time is not based on foreign solutions and support, but is based on the wealth of local resources that Africa is endowed with.
The Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute's Rosemary Morrow is shortly heading to Africa to attend IPC9, the next International Permaculture Conference and Convergence, which will be held in Africa in October & November, 2009. The theme is "Plan Africa ~ Food & Empowerment". If you'd like to assist, there is a wishlist at the end of this article by Mugove Walter Nyika .
Sowing the Future - An African Food Project in St Marys
In this article from the Sydney Morning HeraldSudanese refugees, on their farm in St Marys, sow the future as part of an African food project. (Photo: Kate Geraghty)
"I'M GROWING a lot of varieties of vegetables, some Australian and some African," says Bolis Longy, walking through neat rows on a small plot where frilly leaves of rocket poke through the soil.
The Seedsavers Network is pleased to present two Sydney workshops - a rare opportunity to learn everything you need to know about seedsaving from two of Australia's best - Jude and Michel Fanton.
Click on the image above to view the slideshow of Green Santa
2010's International Year of Biodiversity was heralded by a very merry Santa donning green and rolling in to the Blackheath Community Christmas Market with Mrs Claus and his elves, and baskets laden with trees. Santa chose to give hisendangered reindeers a rest, so his troupe rode in on electric bikes instead. They then presented each child with a native tree, sourced exclusively for Santa by Wildplant Rescue.
The small beginnings of permaculture in Zambia are likely to be in schools. There are perhaps three people who have done PDCs - one with Bill in Zimbabwe years ago and the others in the region.
They are highly motivated and so it is with the Kasisi Organic Agricultural Training Centre who decided to develop permaculture on one field, and then did a short 5-day Intro course with teachers that it is likely to take off.
From May until July this year Rosemary Morrow spent time teaching Permaculture in Darwin and East Timor. This interview highlights how, while Darwin and East Timor have very different communities, they are still both equally vulnerable to food shortages in the event of a supply disruption. Click on the picture above to listen to the interview.
As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms
In an ideal world we'd all be using public transport but that's not possible for everyone. The quickest way to achieve the reduced emissions and petrol consumption of a hybrid car is to lower your speed. The following article also highlights why resource depletion means that reducing consumption must be our main priority rather than expecting renewable energy to maintain our current and expected future lifestyles.
In this edited extract from "A Greener Life" by Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott, find out how gardeners in the U.K. are being encouraged to grow their own grains ... in a climate not dissimilar to parts of the Blue Mountains!
" We are not here merely to make a living, but to enrich the world with a finer spirit of hope and achievement - and we impoverish ourselves if we forget the errand. "
