Are you passionate about the environment? Do you prefer hands-on learning? Do you want to be a leader in creating solutions for your community to protect it?

Perhaps an educational path in permaculture is right for you!

Why permaculture matters

“We have not inherited the Earth from our parents, we have borrowed it from our children.”

– Chief Seattle 

We are members of the global ecosystem. The word ecosystem come from the greek root “ekos” which translates to “home”. The Earth is our home! There is a strong need to be resourceful within our home. Public education used to offer “home economics” for people to learn basic skills in taking care of themselves and their home. With the advent of capitalism and material wealth however, this became less important. Why learn to grow a garden, for example, when you can buy food at the supermarket? Why mend a hole in your clothing if you can buy a new one? 

Unfortunately, through due time, we’re starting to see the ill effects between separation between mankind and the Earth. Contrary to this modern belief, many of our ancestors accounted for how today’s actions impact the future. The Great Law of the Iroquois Nation  proposed the question: Will the actions I make today benefit my children 7 generations into the future? 

Climate change is becoming an increasingly hot topic. Although some people can react to this topic in fear, and even try to ignore it, this is not the reaction we should be having. Instead, the future needs inspired leaders who are ready to take right action. 

Problem-solving

“Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.” – Bill Mollison 

The modern education places a high degree on “specialization” for various niche fields. On the other hand, permaculture explores “whole systems thinking”. Instead of separating the architect, from the builder, the forester, the agriculturalist, the nutritionist, and the chef, we see the patterns that emerge when all of their combined efforts come together. 

In fact, there is a great amount of critical thinking that comes from obtaining an education in permaculture. Those who decide to learn this path only begin first by learning from other experts in the field. In time, you will become accustomed to the basic principles of permaculture as well as how to apply whole systems thinking, When this happens, your entire relationship with the Earth, your community, and the universe, will change. You will become actively involved in the pursuit of knowledge. Permaculture is about asking questions, making observations, testing a solution, learning the results, and responding to feedback. 

The Challenges that Lie Ahead

If we were to take a step back from our lives of specialization, we would reveal a simple truth. Most of the actions we take on a day-today basis don’t support future generations. With permaculture, we are speaking of the art of creating a culture and a lifestyle that accentuates the genius of the human spirit. We are the designers of our own reality! We’re not merely speaking of surviving here. We’re speaking about systems where we thrive! This means that we work well, we eat well, we live well, we create well, and we do it well with our community. This means examining the essential needs of us, beautiful social human creatures, and designing our whole livelihood that accentuates our creative spark. 

Food 

Let’s be clear. We are designed as mammalian creatures to enjoy food. Sugar, salt, fat – yes, these are important to our primal chemistry, too, but let’s speak to some of the finer delicacies in life. Fresh. Flavor. Have you ever noticed that the food that comes from your local farmer’s market or your grandma’s backyard is actually just infinitely higher quality than what you can buy in the grocery store? 

For thousands of years, our ancestors have been living simply off of the land. This often meant hunting, gathering, and farming. As the world “modernized”, however, our basic need to feed ourselves became replaced from the labor of human hands to industrialized methods. Essentially, it’s a challenge of resilience. The modernized food system depends on fossil fuels (which are now escalating in price and scarcity), long-distance transportation instead of local availability, and profitability over ethics. These challenges are slowly eroding the very fabrics of our social and ecological systems. 

There is only one way to become truly sovereign to these problems: grow your own food. The basis of permaculture is building agricultural systems that can weather any storm (literally or figuratively). What types of food grow in your climate? How do we create food growing systems in which each part benefits the whole? 

Check out our partners link regenera. 

Then, there’s the whole question of how we process the food we’ve just grown! How do we save it through cold winters? How do we take the shells off of nuts? How to process and cook foods in a way that they offer us the greatest nutritional properties for all of the effort to grow them? 

Building

Then, there’s the question of where we live. How do we design our living spaces in a way that accentuates the genius of the creative human spirit? 

Again, we must think critically about the resources that are available to us. How can we use nature as an ally to build structures that are resilient to the elements? How do we use smart design to ensure that we will be comfortable inside these living spaces despite hot summers or cold winters?

Natural building is an exciting new frontier. There are brilliant architects out there who are bending the human imagination of what is possible to create with all natural materials. (like our partners at link CASSA – include photos of beautiful buildings)

Creating value in the world

So what’s value of receiving an education in permaculture? 

• You learn how to think critically and solve problems
• You learn to think about what’s good for the whole rather than just the individual
• You become a leader for the future
• You uphold future generations 
• You see the patterns in the life that is right under your nose
• You become fascinated by the extraordinary miracles of every day life

If you think about it, what we cultivate and what we build are actually just extensions of our being. There is so much potential in what we can create on this Earth together. 

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein”

Each one of us has a unique set of skills. This doens’t mean that everyone will be doing everything. Even within a permaculture living situation, some people will specialize in growing food, and others in ecosystem restoration, and others in building, and others in processing food, and others in beautifying spaces. What’s important is that we become aligned on a set of values and how to execute them. 

Why study at a permaculture education center? 

A permaculture education center offers you a curriculum to get started on your path to higher learning. You will learn the foundations of permaculture, as well as how to think critically, and implement the skills you learned. You will be surrounded by mentors, resources to try your own experiments, and peers who are also passionate by the same things as you. 

The education path set out by permaculture is not one of instant gratification. Instead, it is the slow process of understanding nature, how to work with it, and how to build systems that are resilient. But it’s the process that is worth it. It is the joy and wonder that appreciates every opportunity to learn. This is a permaculture education.