ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE.....

a design certificate course in eleven weekend day sessions with Lisa DePiano, Jonathan Bates, & Friends Northampton, MA

Course Dates: Nov: 6-7, 13; Dec: 4; Jan: 8; Feb: 5; March: 12-13; April: 2-3, 9

As we face the devastating impact of increased militarism, peak oil, climate change, and growing social and economic inequality, permaculture offers us skills, tools, solutions and strategies for healing social and ecological systems. Permaculture is a vision, design system, and global movement that draws on patterns and principles found in nature to meet human needs, while regenerating the natural world and creating abundance we can share.

This 72-hour permaculture design certificate course will give participants a comprehensive understanding of permaculture principles & ethics; design processes, methodologies & tools; and how they can be applied to create regenerative human systems including food, housing, personal relationships, communities, and economies.

The course will center around experiential learning and hands-on skill building. It will include local field trips where we will see theory in action. It will conclude with a design practicum, where participants will work individually or in small groups to create their own designs for a project of their choosing. This course is structured in eleven weekend day sessions from nine to five with some evening sessions, allowing full-time workers, students and people with families more flexibility to participate. Successful completion of this course will earn participants an internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certificate.

Topics will include:

Recognizing Patterns of Natural & Human Systems
Reading the Land & Understanding Natural Cycles
Water Harvesting, Conservation, and Greywater System Design
Renewable Energy & Appropriate Technology
Natural Building
Waste Recycling & Treatment
Aquaculture & Animals
Agroforestry, Forest Gardening, Coppice
Useful Plants and Planting Strategies
Cooperative Economics, Money & Financial Systems
Access to Land & Creative Financing
Urban Permaculture & Strategies for Cities
Soil Regeneration & Land Restoration
Bioremediation: healing soil & water with beneficial bacteria, compost teas, fungi, & plants
Media, Storytelling & Communication
Consensus Process, Facilitation, & Conflict Resolution
Group Dynamics & Community Building
Movement building & Social Justice
Health & Well-Being

Course Fee:
$ 950.00 early bird by October 15th
$ 1100.00 after October 15th

Register with a friend and save $50. Scholarships & work trades available.