Permaculture Project Aid Worker Course (The Permaculture Research Institute, Zaytuna Farm at The Channon, NSW, Australia)
Starts Mar 19, 2012 and runs for 5 day(s).
This is a five day course, running Monday through Friday, comprising a fifty/fifty mix of the theory and practise of permaculture project establishment with Geoff and Nadia Lawton - specifically designed to give a reference and realistic expectation of the requirements to establish a permaculture project potentially anywhere worldwide, and to give an initial preparation for the same.
To attend this course you must have completed a Permaculture Design Certificate course, somewhere in the world.
Interested students are invited to watch our recent video promo of the work that this training is intended to help facilitate. This can be watched here.
With current world issues of depleting energy supplies, increasing energy demand, population growth and a resulting escalating food and environmental crisis, etc., there is increasing demand for trained, capable workers to fill permaculture spots worldwide - helping with the development of projects, or pioneering new projects.
Positions within projects fall into the following three categories:
- Project Farm Managers
- Project Teachers
- Project Administrators
Such projects provide challenging and rewarding work and experience in far-flung locales, and can be a springboard for a serious, paid career in permaculture, and towards the accreditation of a Permaculture Diploma.
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by Ryan Harb February 25, 2012
I’ve got some incredible news to share with you! The permaculture initiative that I facilitate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA) has been selected by the White House as a finalist for the Campus Champions of Change Challenge award! This means we are in the final round and the general public is now voting for which teams will get a trip to the White House (judges selected 15 projects from more than 1000 applications!) The top 5 winners also get featured on a television program called ‘The Deans List’ on MTV.
Imagine the potential this has! This is by far the most important thing that I can be doing for the world right now — I truly feel that in my heart.
We have only 1 week to tally as many votes as we can – voting ends Saturday, March 3 at 11:59PM est (New York time!) Here’s a short description about the student group that I oversee, and how to vote:
UMass Amherst Permaculture is a student group that educates the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus and the local community about ecological permaculture solutions by demonstrating edible perennial landscapes that are highly productive, low maintenance, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible!
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 The 12th edition of Green Week, the biggest annual conference on European environment policy, will take place from 22 to 25 May 2012 in Brussels. This year's theme is "Water".
Over some 40 sessions, the conference will focus on water. This valuable resource needs to be used properly and sparingly, making sure that we have enough for all of its uses, and avoiding polluting our rivers, seas and oceans. Along with all other natural resources, this is one of the most vital for our continued existence on this planet.
Green Week offers a unique opportunity for debate and exchanges of experience and best practice. Over the past decade, the conference has established itself as an unmissable event for anyone involved with protecting the environment. The 2011 edition attracted some 3 160 participants from government, business and industry, non-governmental organisations, academia and the media.
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XII INTERNATIONAL FORUM «ECOLOGY OF BIG CITY» OPENS IN SAINT-PETERSBURG 20 MARCH 2012
Download press-release 10.10.11 (.doc)
Download press-release 11.11.11 (.doc)
The International Environmental Forum “Ecology of Big City” is targeted at the representatives of the environmental authorities of the Russian regions and cities (municipal entities), producers/suppliers of equipment and providers of services used for fulfillment of environmental tasks in urban areas.
The Forum is organized under the support and with participation of the Government of St. Petersburg, the Government of the Leningrad Region, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, professional associations, specialized and business mass-media.
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Exploring, as part of his schedule in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Zayed University and Masdar City erected as the world’s first ecological city, President Gül shared his happiness with being the first Turkish President to pay an official visit to the UAE in years.
Welcomed by the Higher Education and Scientific Researches Minister of the UAE, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al Nahyan upon his arrival at Zayed University, President Gül, after chatting with the Rector, Deans and a group of students, was informed about the university and its activities by the Rector. He also conducted a teleconference talk with students of Turkey’s Bilkent University.
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Multinational Knowledge Brokerage Event
on Sustainable Housing 28-30 March 2012
Venue: ETSAV (Superior Technical School of Architecture of the Vallès) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona
Introduction (Coordinators: Esra Başak, Begüm Özkaynak, Zeynep Kadirbeyoğlu)
Neither East nor West... This stereotypical assessment of where Turkey stands geographically and geopolitically plays an important role in both its ecological composition, and concerns related to its environment and ecology. As a land of transition between three continents, Turkey is a country that has critical natural and biological reserves at the global level (see the below map for its biodiversity hotspots) and diverse species and agro-environmental landscapes.
(Map: Conservation International)
According to Conservation International, there are thirty-four global high diversity “hotspots”, three of which are located in Turkey: the Mediterranean, the Caucasus and the Irano-Anatolian. Altogether, Turkey hosts a large array of fragile natural assets and is witness to a unique merging of diversity on the entire Eurasian continent.
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 Frontiers in Ecological Economic Theory and Application (Advances in Ecological Economics)
Jon D. Erickson (Editor), John M. Gowdy (Editor)
Hardcover: 365 pages
Publisher: Edward Elgar Pub; 1 edition (June 7, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1843768887
ISBN-13: 978-1843768883
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,697,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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New technical report: "An experimental framework for ecosystem capital accounting in Europe"
Ecosystems such as forests, wetlands and rivers as well as pastures or cropland supply basic goods and services. These include food, fibre, energy, clean water, temperature control and flood regulation, which are critical for people's wellbeing. However, the value of ecosystems is only accounted for in the economy when they provide monetary profits. Other ecosystem services of common value are simply ignored, thus fostering their depletion and environmental degradation.
Responding to an increasing demand to assess the whole interaction between ecosystems and the economy, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has created 'An experimental framework for ecosystem capital accounting in Europe'. The initiative is part of a process which aims to supplement the UN System of National Accounts with information on the environment and natural capital.
European Environment Agency (EEA)
http://www.eea.europa.eu/
Idealized Design
Idealized Design, a segment of Interactive Planning, is an organizational development process developed by Russell L. Ackoff in the 1950's which enables an organization to get beyond the problem solving mode and unleash their innovative potential.
Method
“An idealized design of a system is the design its stakeholders would have right now if they could have any system they wanted. The design is subject to only two constraints: it must be technologically feasible (no science fiction), and it must be operationally viable (capable of surviving in the current environment if it came into existence, with or without modification). The design has one requirement: it must be capable of rapid and effective learning and adaptation, and therefore be able to change. It is called idealized because it is the best ideal-seeking systems its designers could imagine at the time, recognizing that they and others may be able to imagine a better one in the future.” (WHCA, 1996)
Read A Brief Guide to Interactive Planning and Idealized Design, which is the most succinct overview of Interactive Planning and Idealized Design to date.
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Peter Burnell
 The science of climate change and human responsibility, the economics of addressing the problem, the justice dimension and, even, implications for North-South relations have all received substantial exposure in public debate and specialized technical, policy, and academic literatures. We also hear about the imperative to “climate-proof” society, the poor, and even the state. Occasionally we are told the “right political framework” is needed, usually meaning an improvement on the Kyoto Protocol and national legislation for regulating energy use.
A surprising omission is a balanced inquiry into what climate change and its effects mean for democratization, and what democratization could mean for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and climate adaptation. Democratization here means movement toward something like actually existing liberal democracy, present in many countries, not theoretical models of deliberative democracy, radical participatory democracy, or “eco-democracy”. Just as global warming has become headline news, so another but more celebrated phenomenon of recent times has been a wave of democratization, starting in southern Europe in the 1970s, subsequently embracing Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and sizeable parts of Africa and Asia, too. Hardly less eye-catching, however, is the wave’s recent slowing to a halt and, by some accounts, partial retreat.
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Changes to the way drinking water quality is maintained are set to be made across one county in Florida, it has been revealed.
BP Olympics scheme aims to boost air quality
