Permaculture is Deep at the Roots
As part of the celebration for PermacultureDay.org, this mini-conference brings together a lot of great minds in a harmonious collaboration.
Permaculture is a lot more complex than designing food forests. Lets examine how we can abundance, and empowerment into a social context. How can we build lasting changes in our relationship with nature?
Permaculture may be the best lifestyle we can design but if it’s not integrated into our society, it will never truly blossom.
Permaculture is still very much is a minority movement. We need to examine why and what we can do about that?
Every community has different needs and social issue and culture. Listening and building strategies is our gift to our neighbourhood. We can sit down and flesh out how we make real and lasting changes. Lets build our passion for doing good, get stimulated and enjoy meeting up with others who work for a better future.
Mini-Conference Program Overview
Dr Terry Leahy will give his presentation then we will have short presentations by some amazing permaculture activists. You are invited to present a 5 min talk about what has been working for you and where you would like support. Then we will have world-cafe style discussions.
In this mini-conference, Dr. Terry Leahy will deliver a key note speech guiding us through sessions to explore how we can develop and apply some new permaculture ideas in our community.
About Dr Terry Leahy
Dr Terry Leahy, Senior Lecturer Newcastle University, together with local permaculture teacher April Sampson-Kelly will present ideas about social permaculture. Economic and social disharmony can affect everyone from all parts of the world. Lets learn how radical strategies can stimulate social currency and build community resilience.
Dr Terry Leahy, and his documentary-making sister, Associate Professor Gillian Leahy of the University of Technology Sydney, travelled to Zimbabwe in 2010 and saw how the use of permaculture changed the degraded landscape into a lush paradise that produces food. “Where once the 7,000 people of the Chikukwa villages suffered hunger, malnutrition and high rates of disease, this community has turned its fortunes around using permaculture farming techniques,” Dr Leahy said.
Chikukwa – The Biggest Permaculture Project in the World
The Chikukwa Project was started over 20 years ago and through the use of permaculture practices has consistently produced food during that time. The process it documented in their film Chikukwa project. The Chikukwa project is the biggest permaculture project in the world. Dr Leahy has undertaken research and consultancy work on environmental attitudes, landcare and sustainability in the Hunter Valley, Australia, as well as in Indonesia and Southern Africa. He says his present research covers three broad topics:
- food security in the context of rural development.
- global environmental crisis and the response of the public to environmental politics.
- Social theory, the philosophy of the social sciences and the place of a humanist realist perspective in sociological analysis
Get a Great Set of Tactics
Out of Terry’s research in South Africa came a monograph “Permaculture Strategy for the South African Villages” which was published in 2009.
“The book explains a set of tactical approaches to environmental sustainability in regard to land care, local agriculture and food security in the South African villages. People and their meaningful interaction with land is the starting point for strategies and planning principles that address sustainable food and fuel production in villages, to enhance the quality of life for the rural poor,” Dr Leahy said.
Dr Leahy has continued his research into food security when he travelled to Zambia, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe in 2014. He visited villages where successful project designs for food security are operating. “A lot of money has been spent on projects in Africa which have had no lasting impact and the intention of my research is to find out what actually does work and to promote it. The film on the Chikukwa project is a key part of that work as that project has been remarkably successful over a 20 year period,” Dr Leahy said.
One of the key goals of this mini-conference is to build support between activists, listen to the needs of our community and build empowerment.
Mini-conference Program
We will start with a presentation from Terry then April Sampson-Kelly we invite comments and thanks and facilitate some quick presentations http://www.pechakucha.org/ style by permaculture delegates including seasoned aid worker Russ Grayson.
Over lunch we will start world-cafe style means of determining agenda, focus and break out groups.
Please bring
- Drinks and your favourite toppings for Pizza. Pizzas will be cooked in our home-grown-wood-fired oven. If you are gluten free – please write ahead to let the catering team know.
- and BRING a copy of your ticket – Bookings are essential.
A Sneak Preview of Who is coming
We have an impressive line of guests! Russ Grayson of pacific edge permaculture, Eco-Patty a successful permaculture businesswoman, Sheryl Wiffen of Wollongong Permablitz, Kirsten Bradley of Milkwood and more… are you coming?
Make sure you get a ticket as seats are strictly limited. No sales at the door.
Who is this mini-conference for?
This workshop is for all people interested in building resilience, connections and skills in our community.
If you are a Permaculture student, participating in this workshop can serve as your homework assignment for our Permaculture Design Course in related topic of Community Design OR Village Design (not both). Permaculture Wollongong Institute offers hybrid training.
Why Do I need to Book and buy a ticket when we are talking about Gift Economy and Sharing?
In 2013, April and Paul of PermacultureVisions.com and 20 other delegates went to the Cuban International Permaculture Conference. One small mishap of not limiting intakes resulted in serious overcrowding, hunger and illwill. In 2015, SCAPA of Bega conducted an amazing Permaculture Bio-regional Conference where everyone had a seat, felt welcome and enjoyed the weekend. We really want to enjoy this, build goodwill and learn from one another. Please book and please share this with other people if you are unable to come. We promise to turn people away if they haven’t booked and we don’t have the capacity to serve them.