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PERMACULTURE MAGAZINE
Permaculture News
Permaculture News is published in Permaculture Magazine and is reproduced on this page every quarter.
We are always looking for information concerning any projects, research or other news relevant to permaculture to inform and inspire others through the pages of Permaculture Magazine and this site. Help us promote good work and feed the information network, contact: tony@permaculture.co.uk.
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Permaculture News from PM57
Queen Honours Permanent Publications
Permanent Publications have won a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Sustainable Development Category 2008. The panel honoured the publisher due to its ‘continuous achievement and unfettered commitment to progressing sustainability internationally’.
“Everyone at Permanent Publications is passionate about providing people with information and the means to live a greener, more creative future”, says co-founder Maddy Harland. “We are very pleased to receive this award as it takes our positive, low carbon message to a very different audience. We also welcome this opportunity to emphasise the strength of the grassroots permaculture network worldwide and its creative solutions to the problems facing our planet.”
Permanent Publications’ offices are based at a recycled navy base on the South Downs, Hampshire. Now The Sustainability Centre, it is a thriving environmental educational centre for all sectors of the community. Permanent Publications itself is a low carbon operation and has a commitment to sustainable business at all levels (see PM50 for details). Helen Ghosh, DEFRA’s Permanent Secretary, cited the company as ‘a great example of sustainable development’. Permanent Publications has been at the cutting edge of sustainable solutions for almost two decades.
Ben Law Wins Viewers’ Favourite TV Design
Woodsman and permaculture teacher Ben Law, came out tops in a national TV viewer vote in May 2008 for his unique woodland house.
Viewers of Channel 4’s Grand Designs programme voted Ben’s house the best ever design and build. Presenter Kevin McCloud said Ben’s was his favourite build and programme from the series and that Ben’s house was an inspiration to people everywhere.
Ben launches his new book, The Woodland Year at the Bentley Weald Woodfair, East Sussex, 12-14 September 2008. For details: www.bentley.org.uk
Also, PM subscriber Rachel Shiamh won the Home of the Year, Best Eco Home category for her two storey load-bearing straw bale house Penwhilwr. For details see www.quietearth.org.uk (and read PM52, pages 21-22).
For more about Ben Law: www.ben-law.co.uk
Greenshop Opens New Ecobuilding
The Greenshop Group opened its new Bisley, Stroud building in April 2008 at a packed launch ceremony. Jonathon Porritt (who launched the original Greenshop in 1997) gave a fiery opening speech about positive grassroots initiatives towards climate change in contrast with the UK government’s political inaction.
The Greenshop has been pioneering sales of environmental products in the UK for over 20 years and it is a long time advertiser and supporter of PM. The new building is designed to be as low energy as possible. Visitors can see how the systems work – from recycled rubber, bamboo and FSC flooring, green and brown roofs, rainwater harvesting, solar PV and solar thermal systems, log boiler and underfloor heating, natural paints, various types of insulation, wall materials, window and door fittings, low-energy lighting and low-flush toilets. You can keep abreast of the building’s performance online.
For more information please call 01452 770 629 or visit: www.greenshop.co.uk
IPC9 News
The next International Permaculture Conference and Convergence, IPC9, will be in Africa in the winter of 2009.
Malawi will host the 9th Permaculture Convergence, South Africa will host the 9th Permaculture Conference, and Zimbabwe will host the 9th International Permaculture Design Course.
The theme for IPC9 is Permaculture for Improved and Sustainable Livelihoods. Its subthemes are: Food Security and Sovereignty, Organic Production and Marketing, Education, Earth Care, Green Economics and Lifestyles, Health and Nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. For all the very latest details view: www.ipcon.org
* A DVD of IPC8 (which was held in Brazil, May 2007) is now available. Permaculture: A Quiet Revolution (27 minutes) offers practical steps on how we can create a sustainable future of our own making. For details and to order, email Vanessa Schulz, vanessa@21paradigm.com
Handsculpted Barn Opened
Ben Law has unveiled his latest project; a unique handsculpted barn built as part of the regeneration of Pestalozzi International Village Trust in Sedlescombe, East Sussex.
At the beginning of May 2008 the site was just an empty field, but within just eight weeks Ben and his team completed the barn. Using locally sourced materials, the traditional A-frame design created opportunities for local apprentices to learn about the construction process.
As we reported in PM55 (page 31) the project complements the charity’s ‘head, heart and hands’ philosophy. Pestalozzi offers solutions for improving conditions in the developing world through educating young people from impoverished communities.
As well as Pestalozzi students, the barn will be used as a workshop area for local groups and schools as part of the Global Garden project. There will be a community allotment, a herb bed, as well as exotic vegetables.
Ben is delighted with the project and says, “All my buildings come from local woodland and help support sustainable forest management. We have the local materials to build ecological buildings. What the Pestalozzi barn is achieving is the education of a new breed of carpenters.”
For further information contact 01424 870 444 or visit www.pestalozzi.org.uk
For details of Ben Law’s courses see www.ben-law.co.uk
Indonesian Permaculture Project Update
On In PM issue 53 (page 26) Stuart Coles wrote about the role permaculture was playing in helping tsunami-ravaged Indonesia rebuild itself.
Well, we are glad to report that Yayasan IDEP, the Indonesian non-profit NGO, continues to encourage programme sharing with grassroots projects in the region and make a real difference to the lives of thousands.
The Permaculture Programme is active both in Aceh and Bali. It has helped train over 1,400 adults including 529 women.
Meanwhile, nearly 6,000 children at 13 schools have participated in educational activities. Over 26 independent facilitators have been trained and they will go on sharing work beyond their own projects.
Bali’s Permaculture Programme offers a sustainable approach to development that is vitally independent of the country’s declining tourism industry (the tsunami brought into focus the unsustainability of an economy primarily based on tourism).
Another success is Aceh’s Greenhand Field School, it continues to restore land, livelihood and community.
For more information about IDEP and its programmes visit: www.idepfoundation.org
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News in Brief
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Hampshire Green Fair,
The Sustainability Centre, 11 May 2008. See the advert on the inside back cover of this issue. Tel: 01730 823 166.
www.sustainability-centre.org
Spike Surplus Scheme
Please help to save the Spike Surplus Scheme in Peckham, London. In the late 1980s Spike took over an abandoned, fly-tipped, burnt-out building. It is now a beautiful and diverse community space that raises awareness of low-impact living and has a community garden with free permaculture courses. Spike is run on a donations basis and open to all. Any help would be appreciated. Contact them and sign their petition. Web: www.spikesurplus.org Web: www.petitiononline.
com/paulk
The European Permaculture Convergence
18-23 July 2008 in Hostetin, Czech Rep. Tel: +420 605 905 005. Web: www.permakultura.cz
Urban Green Fair, Brockwell Park, Brixton, 31 August 2008 has a permaculture zone, organised by South London Permaculture. Web: www.urbangreenfair.org
Let’s Do It!
In May 2008 volunteers participated in Let’s Do It! a countrywide cleaning day, in Estonia. People helped clean forests, roadsides and other public areas from illegal waste. The initiative aims to recycle up to 80% of the collected waste. Web: www.teeme2008.ee
Bee Health
There are virtually no wild honey bees left due to the effects of the parasitic varroa mite and the viruses it carries. The Government refuses to increase the bee health research fund despite acknowledging we may lose our bees and their massive contribution to agriculture and the environment. Please sign the online petition at: petitions.pm.gov.uk/
BeeResearch/
Hell For Leather
The cost of cheap leather to the environment and humans is uncovered in a short documentary Hell For Leather. It exposes the environmental degradation via the discharge of untreated effluents from tanneries. View at www
.theecologist.org/ETV
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