Allan Savory – Reversing Global Warming while Meeting Human Needs (videos)
Global Warming/Climate Change, Livestock, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation — by Rhamis Kent May 17, 2013
Reversing Global Warming while Meeting Human Needs
— an Urgently Needed Land-Based Option
Allan Savory never ceases to amaze and encourage me. It was really great seeing him present his recent TED Talk — and we now have another opportunity to see him speak. Tufts University hosted an event where he was given the floor to discuss Holistic Management and the many challenges and successes experienced in its development.
Comments (0)Permaculture and Slavery: A System Analysis
Economics, People Systems, Society — by Rhamis Kent March 11, 2013
Something interesting happens to you once given an opportunity to take a well-taught, well-presented, and properly contextualized Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course. You are provided with new tools with which to view virtually every conceivable topic through very different eyes – in this instance, economics & history.
The American Civil War, for example, could easily be understood as America’s first energy war. It was also explicitly a war over capital – the most important capital the United States held at the time, enabling it to become the world’s greatest, most influential economic power with the eventual emergence of mass industrialization & financialization globally.
Comments (14)Compost Toilets in Haiti
Biodiversity, Deforestation, Economics, Food Shortages, Health & Disease, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Rhamis Kent February 13, 2013
A student I had recently in my short course in California sent me a link to an award-winning NGO working in Haiti called SOIL (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods) — a nonprofit working within the country performing truly beneficial work, utilizing compost toilets to deal with the perennial problem of waste management.
In the following clip SOIL’s Co-Founder & Executive Director, Dr. Sasha Kramer, provides an excellent, well-contextualized explanation of her organization’s work as well as the legacy of ecological & environmental degradation (and its corresponding effects on impacted human populations) often missing from discussions about colonial history:
Further Reading:
Comments (1)Nature Resilience – Organizing Ecological Restoration by Partners in Business for Next Generations
Biodiversity, Community Projects, Conservation, Consumerism, Deforestation, Economics, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Rehabilitation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Rhamis Kent November 16, 2012
I was recently invited to contribute to a concept paper (2.2mb PDF) authored and edited by Willem Ferwerda.
Mr. Ferwerda, a tropical ecologist, was director of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) National Committee of The Netherlands from 2000 until March 2012. In his new role Ferwerda will support the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) in making businesses and investors work for ecosystem restoration and management. As Chair of the Board of Patrons he will be actively involved in rolling out Leaders for Nature internationally.
This paper was compiled to serve as:
A plea for the establishment of an international mechanism that actively creates collaborative Ecosystem Restoration Partnerships between businesses, investors, business schools, civil society organizations, farmers and local people, that international restoration targets will be reached, investments will be returned, and practical lessons are learned by working together.
One of the many contributors to this paper is Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Quoting his statements from the paper’s introduction:
Comments (0)Restoring the Terrestrial Body to Good Health: Thoughts from Spetses, Greece
General — by Rhamis Kent October 1, 2012
by Rhamis Kent
I’m a few months overdue in writing this piece, but better later than never. During the August 2011 PDC I taught in Spetses, Greece alongside Nicolas Netien, Maria Baltazzi and Stamatina Palmou, some interesting insights and reflections came to mind.
The beauty of Spetses has that effect on people – I’m not alone in that regard, I would think. Any opportunities provided to gain ever more useful insights into this work we’re pursuing are always welcome.
The most effective way I’ve found for me to gain a comprehensive understanding of earth repair, ecosystem restoration work has been to draw analogies with the workings of the human body. The parallels are quite stunning.
Comments (1)Intensive 6-Day Permaculture Seminar & Workshop with Rhamis Kent (Staggered over two long weekends, January 2013, El Sobrante, SF Bay Area, California)
Courses/Workshops — by Rhamis Kent
What: Intensive 6-Day Permaculture Seminar & Workshop
When: January 12 – January 14 & January 19 – 21, 2013
Where: Soulflower Farm (El Sobrante, California – SF Bay Area)
Who: Rhamis Kent (PRI PDC Teacher)
Price: $750 USD ($600 USD if booked before November 20th, 2012)
Deposit: $125 USD to secure course booking; the balance payment ($625 USD) is due by December 20th, 2012.
Over 6 days you will acquire the practical skills to set you on the path to regenerate any landscape and to design productive ecosystems.
Click here to book for this course!
Comments (2)Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Course on Koh Phangan Island, Thailand, with Rhamis Kent (Oct 22 – Nov 3, 2012)
Courses/Workshops — by Rhamis Kent September 5, 2012
phanganearthworks is stoked to announce another two-week Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course with internationally acclaimed teacher Rhamis Kent, to take place…
- 22 October – 3 November, 2012
- 11 February – 23 February, 2013
…on our property on Phangan Island, Southern Thailand.
Click here to download the A3 workshop poster for the autumn 2012 PDC taught by Rhamis Kent (PDF, 813 kb), and more details here.
Also, you can see a few pics of the site from 2011 here.
Comments (0)Peace for Somalia & Its People
Deforestation, Economics, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Health & Disease, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Rhamis Kent August 9, 2011
A comprehensive, lasting security is created through giving people a viable means to provide for themselves.
The ultimate goal should be to enable the country of Somalia and its people to create a self-sustaining economy of their own. Only then will there be a meaningful, lasting peace.
Comments (1)Autotrophic Infrastructure & How Real Work Gets Done: A Historical Dilemma
Biodiversity, Consumerism, Deforestation, Economics, Global Warming/Climate Change, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss, peak oil — by Rhamis Kent July 9, 2011
All photographs © Craig Mackintosh
I’d like to revisit a few points I brought up in a piece that appeared here at the PRI Australia website in April last year; “Things That Can’t Last Forever, and Things That Can: A Few Thoughts”.
I’d like to begin with the following premise:
Economics is a continuation of energy by different means.
Classical physics defines energy as the ability to do work. Money represents the ability to do work. Fossil fuels furnish the ability to do work — quite a great deal of it — and, for the moment, relatively cheaply when one accounts for the finite nature of its supply in relation to what it facilitates.
Comments (6)“Debunking the Stubborn Myth that Only Industrial Ag Can ‘feed the world’”
Biodiversity, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change — by Rhamis Kent March 17, 2011
Image courtesy of Marc Roberts
Tom Philpott has been writing great articles covering issues related to agriculture & food security issues for quite some time at Grist. These two are no exception. With the recent global unrest being partially attributed to sky rocketing food costs and widespread environmental & ecological destruction directly tied to abysmal land management methods, and the increasing scarcity of arable land becoming prominent we are drawing closer to having to take definitive action to "right the ship".
Be sure to look at the United Nations reports he references in the articles. Huge credit goes to Mr. Philpott and all others shedding light on this critical topic:
- Debunking the stubborn myth that only industrial ag can ‘feed the world’
- The Economist dismisses organic ag, while also making the case for it
Further Reading:
- Monsanto Has Us Walking the Gangplank, and Wants to Give That Final Push
- The Food Crisis: “A Perfect Storm” – and How to Turn the Tide
- Food Futures Now – Feeding People & Place Without Fossil Fuels
- A Call to Large Scale Earth Healing and Lessons from the Loess Plateau (Video)
The Price of Food is at the Heart of this Wave of Revolutions
Economics, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Society, peak oil — by Rhamis Kent March 9, 2011
It seems as though the wheels are continuing to show signs of coming off as it concerns the issue of global food security. The recent unrest in the Middle East and North Africa are a testament to that. It has caught everyone by surprise — experts and laypeople alike. The article that follows, which was published by the UK Independent 27 February 2011, provides some of the detail. Click the link at bottom of the quoted paragraph here to read the whole thing:
Comments (9)The Need for Sustainable Agriculture – It’s So Obvious and Inevitable That Even The UN Has To Admit It
Biodiversity, Consumerism, Deforestation, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss, peak oil — by Rhamis Kent February 25, 2011
Editor’s Note: Quite some time ago, I shared the big 400-scientist-strong IAASTD worldwide study that concluded that small scale, localised, ecological agriculture was an imperative we cannot afford to ignore any more. The post was titled The Food Crisis: “A Perfect Storm” – and How to Turn the Tide. If you missed it, do check it out, and if you’re already conversant in the multiple crises we’re dealing with, then simply jump to the ‘The Solutions’ section. Now, halfway through 2010, whilst I had my head down, working on a tool to help fast track the aforementioned solution — www.permacultureglobal.com — yet another study shares the same holistic, science-based vision. Read on.
The great need to stop burning out our soils, wasting precious water, and polluting both, is no longer open to dispute. A rapid transition to sustainable methods of agriculture simply needs to be implemented on a massive scale — and it needs to be done yesterday.
This is the great task of our age.
"Agroecology outperforms large-scale industrial farming for global food security," says UN expert. — The United Nations Office at Geneva
In the aforementioned article (first reported 22 June 2010), UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Professor Olivier De Schutter "makes an airtight case for a global policy shift toward agroecological production."
Comments (1)Support the Latest PDC in the West Bank!
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Urban Projects — by Rhamis Kent January 13, 2011
The view at sunset, westwards from Marda, Palestine
Photograph © copyright Craig Mackintosh
Preparations are being made for the upcoming April 2011 PDC taking place at Marda Permaculture Farm, located in the village of Marda, Palestine, the occupied West Bank.
There have been a number of great pieces written about this project on the PRI Australia website, providing great insight and background about the people responsible for this effort and the place itself. Just follow the links below for more information about the project site, and click here to learn about the course and teachers.
- A report from Craig Mackintosh from his visit in mid-2010.
- An older video covering the now-defunct Marda Sustainable Development Centre, and how it influenced locals, one Murad Alkufash in particular, to give birth to Marda Farm, the site of the upcoming PDC.
- A January 2010 overview of the Marda situation.
- Patrick Blampied talks to Murad Alkufash
Step By Step Earthship Construction in Normandy
Building — by Rhamis Kent December 21, 2010
Further to our recent Earthship post, I’m adding this nice step-by-step video for good measure. We’ve put it at the end of the earlier post as well for your convenience.
Comments (4)
An Agriculture that Stands a Chance: Perennial Polyculture & the Hard Limits of Post-Carbon Farming
Animal Forage, Economics, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Livestock, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Trees, Village Development, Water Contaminaton & Loss, peak oil — by Rhamis Kent December 16, 2010
More and more articles are being written that continue to hit the proverbial "nail on the head". This one was posted to the Energy Bulletin website a couple of days ago. It does a great job of summarizing the problems with annual monoculture-based food systems and the advantages of those which are perennial polyculture-based.
The evidence is undeniable and overwhelming. It has been for a very long time. Now it’s just time to "do the damn thing".
I’ve included a portion of this piece summarizing "The Four Smiling Faces of Perennial Polyculture":
Comments (4)
