Filmed at The Roots Initiation 18th-20th August 2017
Sector39 are planning courses for 2020 in Wales, Uganda and Rwanda as well as working on a series of local food initiatives here in Llanrhaeadr. This is your opportunity to get involved in this essential and rapidly growing global movement of permaculture design. The video is of Sector39’s Steve Jones in Manchester from a couple of years ago, laying out the basic concepts and ideas permaculture is established on. There is one below for 2018 placing permaculture in the context of international development, presented in Nairobi at the Norwegian Refugee Council.
UK courses in permaculture 2020Dragons co-op serves as a hub for creativity and enterprise
Breakdown of the six weekends of our Winter/Spring PDC at Dragons
Permaculture’s role in development, lecture in Nairobi 2018
Heart felt thanks to everyone who came along and especially those of you helped with the book launch event in Llanrhaeadr on Oct 11th. Between the two sessions we had well over 70 visitors and so far we have distributed 300 of the 400 complimentary copies available for those resident or working in Powys.
The final output of One School One Planet Project, a 100 page book of practical insight into how to work with the environment. Coming together as community to face complex challenges
The book tackles the challenge of our time, how to energise and inspire people to take meaningful action on the ecological emergency. The work is framed by permaculture design, which co-ordinates actions to be in line with both community and the natural world. Combined synergistic actions could create all sorts of unexpected positive outcomes. It is via these processes, we believe, we have the potential tools to make meaningful inroads into preparing ourselves for our low carbon and climate disrupted future.
How we choose to respond to the climate emergency will impact greatly on the options available to the next generation.
Coming soon, tackling the climate crisis with permaculture design
It has taken our team three years to complete this text book. We have been working with our local high school and across our whole community to investigate how we can raise this essential issue in a meaningful and constructive way.
Permaculture gives us the statement, ‘the problem is the solution’ recognising that a problem is the inverse of its solution, problems are not unrelated but directly connected to their solution. Furthermore simply presenting dire predictions of a problem so huge humanity cannot face it achieves nothing but either continued denial or all out nihilism. Permaculture is a design process that is inclusive, works out from one’s own experience and helps build a co-ordinated and unified response.
The 1975 ft Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg began her activism at 15, starting alone yet within months creating a worldwide movement. We take our inspiration from her work, we challenge everyone who cares to set in motion their small and slow solutions and let’s see how it builds and where it takes us.
Roger Hallam talking recently on the power of civil disobedience
The urgency of the situation demands that we stand up and be counted. Our governments have failed us, they sign agreements, nod to the science but do nothing real in response. We have to make an intervention. Human society needs to be governed in line with the laws of ecology and society. Solving climate change means building a whole different type of society and that will only happen if we all take part. It is time for the lunatics to leave the asylum.
Extinction Rebellion is our best chance of bringing climate change into everyday language; it needs to be on everybody’s lips, we need to be talking about it every day.
The next two weeks of disruption in London aims to be the spark that lights the tinder. The public needs to seize the narrative away from this corporate catastrophe and together we can evolve a new society that restores diversity and abundance to the earth. We know how to do it. Permaculture, co-operation, organic, solar powered we have to accelerate to the only future that can sustain us.
We are not innocent bystanders, the general public has obligations, and if they are not performing their obligations then it is justifiable to disturb the population. Failing to enact their social obligations to maintain and sustain a democratic and civilised society is a dereliction of social duty. We are trying to mobilise the general public.
Roger Hallam, Extinction Rebellion
Extinction rebellion are asking three things:
1: Full disclosure of climate science, let’s talk realistically about this crisis we are in
2: Develop policies in line with science and the agreements we have made
3: Form General Citizens’ Assemblies to hold governments to account and to involve everyone in shaping a sustainable future.
Videos: Calls to Action and an extended interview with Roger Hallam of XR:
Jonathon Porritt calls to rebellion
Extinction rebellion is here. The next 2 weeks are going to be a turning point in our collective history.
Chris Hedges is one of the foremost ‘public intellectuals’ in the USA. One of the clearest voices on the left and a harsh critic of US imperialism. Hedges takes a clear, uncompromising view of the reality that is confronting us.
He advises us to abandon hope, as that leads to disappointment and desolation, and to focus on what we can practically achieve and through that process find deep personal meaning in our engagement.
He references many key texts, and draws on his deep experience of 20 years as foreign correspondent for the New York Times before quitting his influential position as head of the middle east office over the NYT’s refusal to accurately convey the disaster that was the Iraq war. The interview is deeply revealing of how the state controls the narrative and also how journalism has been eroded to ‘court gossip’.
Keiser Report
Ex Wall Street bond trader, turned financial journalist presents a fresh perspective on economics and social change. This episode fits perfectly into the theme of climate emergency and collapse. It’s a good watch and on topic, witty, acerbic, insightful and informed.
Are we living in an era of soft totalitarianism?
Will there be a Davos 2020?
‘Bitcoin is the guillotine of the 21st century’
Thinking about the fragility and beauty of the natural world
We need to cultivate a culture of deep reverence for nature and be prepared to accept the lessons of our own observations. I added this as a counter balance to the other two videos.
However, we see the times we are living through. It seems to me it is this interaction between our economic world and the real ecology we are embedded in, that we need to concentrate on fully as we are clearly getting this very wrong currently. The issue both of the first two videos addresses is the mechanism by which we can overthrow the status quo. The overthrow of Wall Street, of the Imperialism and the empowerment of all people to face our collective challenges together seems to be a common theme.
Join us on Thursday evening to explore how these key issues impact on us at a community level
Cornwall Council has declared a ‘climate emergency’.
The authority says the declaration “recognises the climate change crisis and the need for urgent action”. It follows a motion debated at a full Council meeting today, where the Council called on Westminster to provide the powers and resources necessary to achieve the target for Cornwall to become carbon neutral by 2030 and committed to work with other Councils with similar ambitions.
The motion – ‘Urgency on Climate Change’ – was brought to Full Council by Councillor Dominic Fairman, local member for St Teath and St Breward, and seconded by Councillor Edwina Hannaford, the Council’s Cabinet portfolio holder for neighbourhoods.
The motion was amended by Councillor for Falmouth Smithick, Jayne Kirkham, to declare a climate emergency in line with the declarations of other local authorities.
Cllr Fairman said: “After a very lively debate, a cross-party amendment was accepted which went even further than the original motion. If we are to avoid the worst-case scenarios, then the social change required will be deep.’
Town by town and now whole counties are declaring a climate emergency, but what does that entail?
Should we all be pushing for similar action locally?
The science is settled, yet we seem unable to collectively plot a course to a safe horizon. Global emissions are still rising, they are still drilling and even worse we are still subsidising the costs of bringing fossil energy to market and putting obstacles in the way of renewable energy development and investment. This must change.
But we definitely know that continuing to work in the ways we have done until now is not just backfiring – it is holding the gun to our own heads. With this in mind, we can choose to explore how to evolve what we do, without any simple answers.
Prof Jem Bendal PhD
The Prof. in a recent paper of staggering implications argues convincingly that we have to consider three courses of action, immediately, as carrying on as we are is counter-productive to our own survival.
In the paper Deep Adaptation we are urged to look at our lives under these 3 headings:
Resilience asks us “how do we keep what we really want to keep?”
What are the valued norms and behaviours that human societies will wish to maintain as they seek to survive?
Relinquishment asks us “what do we need to let go of in order to not make matters worse?”
This involves people and communities letting go of certain assets, behaviours and beliefs where retaining them could make matters worse. Examples include withdrawing from coastlines, shutting down vulnerable industrial facilities, or giving up expectations for certain types of consumption.
Restoration asks us “what can we bring back to help us with the coming difficulties and tragedies?”
This involves people and communities rediscovering attitudes and approaches to life and organisation that our hydrocarbon-fuelled civilisation eroded. Examples include re-wilding landscapes, so they provide more ecological benefits and require less management, changing diets back to match the seasons, rediscovering non-electronically powered forms of play, and increased community-level productivity and support.
There is a different kind of revolution brewing, and much of it will entail a shift from us acting collectively as consumers to a role of producers.
There is much we don’t know.
Equally there is much that we do, the inevitability of transition or total collapse and the need for urgency. Every prediction made using 1990’s climate modelling is being overshot by current reality, we are looking at very grim scenarios within all of our lifetimes.. the only way we can mitigate the crisis we face is to begin to frame our collective response. If it is a crisis of our own doing, then we need to call it a crisis and stop doing those things rapidly
Regular meetings
We will be meeting in the Cross Keys again next week, that is Thursday 31st January, Llanfyllin High Street. It is a free event, refreshments are served, donations to Cross Keys are welcome. Doors open 7.00 pm formal business from 7.30.
In last week’s meeting we looked at issues around key topics.
Feedback points included the following:
Land, farming, food
A profound shift is happening in farming, localised, seasonal, organic, diversity friendly and carbon negative. There was interest in generating dialogue with farmers to release more marginal plots to re-wilding and local food projects. Starting co-ops, supporting local groups, more allotments and better growing skills and local distribution.
Church land? Other public spaces that could be re-wilded or made productive?
Education
Will also be profoundly hit by transport costs. Ideas shared; can children educate their parents, it is after all their future that is being destroyed. The kind of jobs people are being prepared for will not exist, are we even creating the right skill set in pupils? Can we cope emotionally with the changes before us?
Food growing, processing storing and cooking. Can permaculture be part of education, and children more empowered to shape the school environment and hierarchy?
Un-schooling, can we bring people of different ages and backgrounds together to share life experiences and skills and find new ways of learning?
Transport
Powys has miles of roads, a dispersed population and is very vulnerable to climate or market disruptions. We need to think a lot more about transport. Can we go car free through sharing schemes, car clubs and community taxis. Electric bikes, what other alternatives are there?
Money
Can we create a local currency, or several different types of ways to interact with local, esp. food economy. Social economy work can be rewarded with local currency.
Enjoyed this fantastic short video. Powerfully simple demonstration of the capacity of biochar to absorb and retain moisture. I will be using this in future teaching sessions!
The science is settled, yet we seem unable to collectively plot a course to a safe horizon. Global emissions are still rising, they are still drilling and even worse we are still subsidising the costs of bringing fossil energy to market and putting obstacles in the way of renewable energy development and investment. This must change.
