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John D. Liu’s Green Gold Documentary – How the West (and East, North and South!) Could Be Won

As most of our readers will know, John D. 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 (more background on the PRI Jordan project here), 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.


"It’s possible to rehabilitate large scale damaged eco-systems. So, if we can
rehabilitate large scale damaged eco-systems… why don’t we do that?" — John Liu

Having this video aired at Rio+20 is an immense victory in itself — it feels like no small reward for our dogged efforts to bring permaculture into mainstream media and thus into mainstream consciousness. All of our readers and contributors are part of this effort, as you learn, share and help us inspire a new generation.

This video is not just a tale of hope, it’s evidence of hope — it’s proof that we do not need to give in to apathy, despair and an ‘eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die’ mentality. Instead, we see we have the simple solutions right in front of us. The only challenge is the people systems to make it happen — education and fostering collaboration.

If the main obstacle to change is our not having the vision to do so, well, now we have it…. Please share.

8 Comments

  1. Hello,

    this is a truly beautifull documentary! Thanks a lot for sharing. A version with english subtitles would be great!

    Best regards,
    Jonathan Eggers, med. Student, Germany

  2. It is hard to underestimate the importance of information like this. Let’s hope for all our sakes that some positive action results from this at Rio+20 next month.

  3. What an inspirational miraculous movement. My favorite part was John Liu’s ideal world concept that a partnership could be formed between people and places that had an abundance of biomass and arid places that did not. It revealed his true underlying humanitarian nature on sharing abundance and restoring balance….A rising water table lifts all boats.

  4. When I saw this, and realized what had happened and what was happening, so much joy rushed in…this is HUGE! Paradise is coming back and the word of it is being spread thru the internet. Landowners like sepp holzer and governments alike can create the paradise gardens again. I really feel that humanity’s greatest aim is to bring heaven back to planet earth again – and John Liu’s and the Lawton’s work is truly doing that. Growing paradise…what a relief!

  5. I am more inspired and hopeful everytime I watch this video. Today I am inspired to expand a concept we will call “tropical capital” The spent coffee grounds are really rich tropical soils transported thousands of miles north. Gathered from local coffee shops and fed to worms, then the castings are used to create fantastic soils to be used on a green roof project covering a monolithic dome in Ferndale Washington. This is a 50,000 sq,ft.indoor aquatic center and sports center being developed. The sustainable permaculture educational center will be the underlying theme..Baristas and coffee shop workers are traded swimming passes for their recycling help. Create value,health, wealth and beauty.

  6. This video inspired my creation of Restoring Pachmama on Facebook which unfortunately became admin-less after my FB account was hacked and lost. Simply, RP still exists.

  7. Yes this is hopeful for the future restoration of Earth. However, I’m disappointed that somehow humans find this to be so revolutionary. You mean that we have to tell people that not letting their livestock eat everything in sight allows the little baby plants to become big grown-up plants. Really?? They never thought of this?? That’s amazing!! *sarcastic*. Humans are so stupid. Thousands of years of stupidity and this is the revolutionary idea??? I’m sad again. I hope aliens use us as fertilizer.

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