APC9 2008 Reflections by Sue Girard

Over the Easter long weekend a small group of BMPN members attended the ninth Australasian Permaculture Conference (APC9) organised by Permaculture North and held at Turramurra. Many other participants from across Australia attended for all or a number of different days and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and learned new and stimulating ideas. The main topic on the agenda was Water use and conservation and this was very apt because the weather "drizzled" for the whole four days.

The Conference was called a "convergence" and this was indeed the right word for such a gathering because this year it was 30 years since Permaculture One was published; all the big names in Permaculture came to celebrate: Bill Mollison, David Holmgren, Geoff Lawton, Haikai Tane, Robyn Francis and Rosemary Morrow. A full list of Australasian personalities and Roberto Perez from Cuba, can be accessed from Permaculture North's website.

Proudly BMPN played a small part in the presentation of this event. Our Rosemary Morrow spoke on Water as well as being on the panel of experts and facilitating several sessions. Pat Rayner introduced David Holmgren’s session on his property Melliodora and later Aaron Sorensen and Dan Deighton speaking on Permaculture in Schools. Celeste Salter introduced Josh Byrne’s talk on Conserving Urban Water and also Ross Mars’ talk on Working with Water and my daughter Jessi Girard sang the opening song at the Public Forum on the Saturday.

I wanted to attend just about every session presented but of course with four sessions running at a time that was impossible. Any of you who know me will recognize that my interests are design of urban landscapes, and getting PC knowledge out there by education and different types of media. So I went to sessions on teaching delivery styles and ‘web entry’ for PC but I also sat in on sessions I thought I knew least about - such as sewage, swales/ keylines, and development overseas. I’m not sure I can relate in words exactly what I learnt but I was definitely inspired by what I heard at this convergence.

Highlights for me were meeting and talking with people I had heard so much about over the years: I sat with Bill Mollison for one of my meals and we talked exclusively about PC, David Holmgren was one of my neighbours in our tent city and we were able to talk about things other than PC, I talked with Carolyn Nuttal about her experiences in schools and about her and Janet Millington’s new book Outdoor Classrooms, I talked with Jill Finnane about book illustrations (anyone who has seen her book From Lawns to Lunch will understand why), I talked with Roberto Perez about lots of things Cuban and I became reacquainted with Russ Grayson, Fiona Campbell, Robyn Francis and Rob Allsop. Oh and Josh Byrne was as nice to talk to as he is to look at!

The Cuban Experience : Survival, Sustainablity and Building Community

The famous Cuban activist, Roberto Perez, is visiting Australia in 2008, giving the key note address at APC9, and will be visiting the Blue Mountains on 27th March. He will talk about the Cuban experience (which experienced Peak Oil in 1990's) and engage in dialogue and discussion on practical ways we can meet the challenges of climate change and making the transition to a low energy society.

The big words on many people’s minds today are Climate Change and Peak Oil. The big question is how do we make the transition to a low energy society, and what would such a society be like? Where are there models we can learn and take inspiration from? If you have seen the award-winning documentary film The Power of Community you would promptly reply “Cuba”.

When Cuba lost access to Soviet oil, fertilizers and export trade market in the early 1990s, the country faced virtual overnight economic collapse and an immediate crisis – feeding the population. The story of the Cuban people’s hardship, ingenuity, and triumph over sudden adversity, through cooperation, conservation, and community, to create a low energy society is inspirational. Cuba’s transition to organic agriculture, and rapid relocalisation based on decentralized health care and higher education, bicycles and public transport, and community response to radical change is both thought provoking and empowering.

What is CAPE?

CAPE evolved in response to a request from the Foundation for Nature and Humanity, Havana, Cuba, for Robyn Francis to visit Cuba to provide training and support in integrated urban planning for sustainable cities and ecovillage design. The Australian Network felt that the Australian community had much to learn from the Cuban experience so the concept of an exchange was born: Roberto to Australia, Robyn to Cuba.

Erda Institute with Permaculture Education have established CAPE, and a dedicated CAPE fund, to bring Roberto Perez to Australia in March-April 2008. Roberto’s visit coincides with a number of key events including the 9th Australian Permaculture Convergence, Sydney.Roberto attributes much of the success of Cuba’s urban agriculture and food security to the introduction of permaculture by a group of Australian permaculture trainers during the early years of the Cuban crisis, or ‘Special Period’. The city of Havana now produces over 60% of its fruit and vegetables within the city and peri-urban areas.

(extract from CAPE Flyer)

9th Australian Permaculture Convergence March 2008

The 9th Australian Permaculture Convergence [APC9] will be held in Sydney over the Easter break from 20-25 March 2008.


Please fill in a pre-registration form which will assist us with planning and costing of APC9. Accommodation on site is strictly limited and at this stage we are offering pre-registration to PDC graduates. The forms can be returned via post or fax and a deposit is required to book accommodation on site. Deposits are refundable if bookings are cancelled before 15 January 2008. Full details are on the form which is available on the home page of our website http://apc9.org.au/ by clicking on "register your interest here".


We are asking teachers and educators to please send the pre-registration forms to past and present students. I would be grateful if you could also forward to other PDC graduates you may know of who are not on the usual lists.


Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any queries.


With thanks,
Robyn


CONTACT DETAILS

Robyn Williamson
APC9 Secretariat
Ph/Fx: (02) 9629 3560
Mobile: 0409 151 435
http://apc9.org.au/

Different Ways of Obtaining a Diploma

By Rosemary Morrow

More items from International Permaculture Convergence 8 (IPC8) - Brazil May 2007.

At IPC8, there was much discussion and several presentations by various people from the 'developed world' representing organisations for accreditation, diplomas and PDC's. People from developing countries were generally more preoccupied by the urgency of permaculture outreach and need for basic resources for the poor and disadvantaged people they work with.

There are now five routes to obtaining a diploma:

• Gaia University in USA which offers a range of courses and mentoring for diplomas - I think face-to-face and on-line.
• The Chaordic Institute based in Spain which is particularly interested in diploma subjects as valuable information for permaculture worldwide and which offers its supervision on line.
• The Accreditation process to diploma in Australia which takes candidates through four levels of certification.
• The Scandinavian Convergence model.
• Australia the Permaculture Institute will confer a diploma for $75 by submission of a portfolio of work and refereed by someone known to the Permaculture Institute.)
  

The value of presenting for a diploma is the advantage to a student of deepening knowledge and experience, and measuring that by putting a portfolio together. The value to the permaculture movement should be great. However, in most cases, we do not learn of the valuable information channelled through the Diploma nor who the examiners are. To remedy this, Gaia University, Chaordic Institute and the Scandinavian Convergence model all seek to share the knowledge obtained by the publication of the diploma topic and details of the applicant. The processes for conferring diplomas is transparent in these cases. The Gaia University, Chaordic Institute and Accreditation processes all belong in the field of formal education and as such meet a need for formal recognition in a world increasingly demanding certification.

The Scandinavian Model proposes that a diploma candidate work under supervision for two years with two mentors. When ready, the candidate presents their work to their regional Permaculture Convergence at specific sessions. Their colleagues hear/see the presentation, can learn from it, and know the candidate. Also people known to be doing challenging permaculture work could be asked to submit work for a diploma so we can all learn from them. This model appeals to me as the most democratic because appraisal by colleagues is the most appropriate, transparent and fair evaluation.

I am a fervent advocate of non-formal education. From my committment to poor and disadvantaged people, and work in Cambodia, Viet Nam and Afghanistan, where people are often illiterate or unable to find the fees necessary to be appraised, yet are doing brilliant permaculture, I suport the Convergence Model as enabling them to be recognised instead of overlooked. It is the most revolutionary model because it by-passes the formal education stream.

I was originally impressed in my PDC course by the Permaculture Institute saying that after the PDC we did not need more courses in case we get addicted to them instead of "doing" permaculture. Fundamentally I still agree with this. However I also believe that recognition is important.

As we have the PDC still existing informally throughout the Australia and the world, alongside other permaculture training so I would like to see candidates for their Diplomas, if they wished, able to choose this route through the Convergence Model. This increases diversity in learning and presenting. I'd like to discuss this more at Australian Permaculture Convergence 9 to be held in March 2008 (APC9). Would you be interested at a future APC (not this one) in attending a session where diploma candidates present their work?

Rowe Morrow

Cherish the Earth


Information on Accredited Permaculture Training in Australia can be found at www.permacultureinternational.org/apt


Pat Rayner