Category: Community Projects

Feed 250 African Families: Sow, Grow, Eat, Repeat

September 29, 2014 by Patrick Chung & filed under Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres

Summary Our demonstration gardens reduce reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers while increasing agricultural productivity and providing better nutrition. This project will help children in six Cameroon schools design, plant and maintain a demonstration garden. Their new knowledge, tools and skills will help the whole community eat more nutritiously with less work for years to come. Surplus produce can be sold to generate extra income.

Building Community Through Permaculture – an Interview with Mark Lakeman

September 24, 2014 by Marcin Gerwin & filed under Community Projects, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development

Marcin Gerwin: You used to work as an architect for a large company. How did you come to be involved in permaculture? Mark Lakeman: I was working for a large firm in 1988 and I wasn’t exposed to permaculture while working in a corporate career, which was very typical. But fortunately for me there was a day in my firm when there was a huge toxic waste cover-up that I […]

A Report on the April 2014 PDC at the “Greening the Desert Sequel” Site (Jordan)

September 19, 2014 by Nicole Caran & filed under Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Urban Projects

I am in Jordan, where the monthly average wage is 300 Jordanian dinar. To put that into perspective, a phone card for one month cost me five dinar. But buying a car is the same as it is everywhere. Their major issue here is water. They have little rain, with an average of under 300mm a year. They use underground aquifers, and they say that will only last for another […]

Call to Action: Reclaim the Climate Movement (Australia)

September 16, 2014 by Kari McGregor & filed under Community Projects, Consumerism, Economics, Global Warming/Climate Change, Peak Oil, Society

I’m sure you’ve heard that everyone – or, at least, everyone who cares – will be marching for the climate this weekend. If you’re not marching, then you’re not doing anything at all, or so we’re told. False dichotomies aside though, I won’t be marching this weekend. I’ll be taking action instead. I agree with Chris Hedges: the march is nothing more that street theatre. It won’t lead to any […]

Alihuen: An Agrarian Conservation Story (Chile)

September 16, 2014 by Jeroen Beuckels & filed under Biodiversity, Community Projects, Deforestation, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Food Forests, Plant Systems, Trees

Click the ‘CC’ button to choose subtitles (English and French available) Alihuen means big tree in the language of the indigenous Mapuche peoples of Chile. When Jeroen Beuckels decided to settle in the rural Chepu province of Chiloe with his wife Grecia this name was not taken lightly, for the farmland which it would represent has undertaken massive transformation from pasture to thriving forest.

Austin City Council Approves Edible Landscaping on Public Parkland (Texas)

September 16, 2014 by Jesse French & filed under Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Urban Projects

The Austin City Council unanimously passed an amended version of the Holly Shores Master Plan on the evening of August 28th, which includes Phase One (<1 acre) of the Festival Beach Food Forest! It may sound far-fetched, but the newly-passed, 99-acre Holly Shores Master Plan includes an edible forest garden, free and open to the public, on a patch of parkland just east of I-35. Adding to the already bustling […]

Seven Reasons Why World Peace is Possible

September 12, 2014 by Helen Long & filed under Alternatives to Political Systems, Community Projects, Eco-Villages, People Systems, Society, Village Development

Introduction The 21st of September will be International Day of Peace. It may seem a little premature to declare that world peace is due to break out by the end this month. I do not deny that the amount of killing and death and war and torture and death and coercion and abuse and death all over everywhere can be overwhelming. Nor do I deny that considering this it is […]

Permaculture in Vanuatu

September 12, 2014 by Zaia Kendall & filed under Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres

by Zaia Kendall, PRI Maungaraeeda, Sunshine Coast, Australia We hope to help the Ni-Vanuatu people restore their soil and improve the diversity of their gardens and their diet through permaculture We recently went to Vanuatu on a sponsored trip to initiate a long term permaculture project there. We were invited to come to Vanuatu in August, to go to two small villages and conduct workshops, do a consult on a […]

Caribbean Permaculture Research Institute in Barbados Opens PDC Registration!

September 10, 2014 by Kenton Zerbin & filed under Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres

Grow food, repair land, build community. Join PRI Certified Permaculture Teacher Kenton Zerbin for a 72 hour Permaculture Design Course which will empower you to create systems of abundance! Paying $1000 to our Kickstarter campaign gets you a place on this PDC! Learn how to design and create efficient and resilient gardens that feed, homes that meet your needs, and businesses that thrive; on-the-ground practical knowledge and skills for self-sufficiency […]

Open Source Recipes to Make Social Innovations More Shareable

September 3, 2014 by Lilian Ricaud & filed under Community Projects, Society, Village Development

Inspired by the principles of open source software, the concept of Open Social Innovation aims to document social innovations so they can be more easily shared. How can we share and transfer sustainable social practices across communities? Increasingly, we see individuals and communities experimenting with innovative sustainable practices, pioneering new ways to communicate, think, work, live, and share together. In that context the question arises as to how best practices […]

Kickstarting a Permaculture School for Barbados

August 28, 2014 by Kenton Zerbin & filed under Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Urban Projects

To Sustainability and Beyond! Kickstarting a Permaculture school to teach people how to grow food, repair landscapes and build community. Why an Education Centre for Permaculture? Humanity is more than ever threatened by its own actions; we hear a lot about the need to minimize footprints and to reduce our impact. But what if our footprints could be beneficial? What if we could meet human needs while increasing the health […]