Welcome to the basis and beginning of firming up the sustainable future. I recently completed my PDC in Ssanje, Uganda (at Children of Uganda, Sabina). The course was a combination of teachers (Rowe, Amanda and Dan, Lindsay, Claudia and Rachel) and students (together we ‘pushed forward’) that made the material and living together such an example of permaculture principles and ethics. Thank you to everyone.
This is not going to document every aspect of the course, but I plan to add materials from the course that could help people and give an insight into a lifestyle and choices with meaning: permaculture.
The Course
So the course was mainly about going through explanations, models, biology, ethics, science, backgrounds, history, world issues and EVERYTHING actually. Not only was it a course but we were practicing permaculture on site. During and outside classes we did many things that included: making a chicken tractor, started a banana circle, site visit to a Permaculture Centre (St.Judes), lots of yoga, played african musical instruments (adungu, the ‘thong’), shared stories, worked late together, got some local clothes made (Slyvia), visited Masaka, visited Kyotera, played heaps of football, made layered compost, created some sack gardens for the bandas, learned how to check contours, went to markets, made sheet mulch beds, bamboo tipees, swails and so so much more.
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture is a design science for sustainable living and land use - this sentence appeared many times in texts and also in the course. It pretty much sums up what permaculture is in its’ most simple form. It is an applied sense of living that is beneficial to both you and your land or world. A place where human impact on the land is only what is needed and humans use nature and natural science to live harmoniously with the land. There are many different definitions and I may come up with a different one in the future as we begin to practice this model more.
World Problems
This section is not intended to scare you into this lifestyle. It is important to understand why you would like to do this and at times when you feel like slipping I think that reading this over and over again is going to make sure that choices we make from now on are more correct and more inline with a sustainable and secure earth.
Peak Oil
Population
Land Degradation
Unfair Economics and Trade (Peak Money)
Loss of Biodiversity
Peak Water/Climate Change
