Learn Sustainability: May 19th to June 1st, 2013

International Permaculture-Design Course (PDC / 72 h course)

with Warren Brush – one of the Top 10 in Permaculture worldwide

May 19th to June 1st, 2013
M.A. Center Germany (near Frankfurt)

You can apply for an education-grant of up to half of the course fees. For more information, please contact the hotline: 0800 2623 000

The course includes a wide variety of topics:

Introduction to the principles of permaculture
Using alternative energy sources
Building with natural materials
Landscape design
City gardens
Composting
Combating pests and parasites naturally
Rain water use
Greywater use
Alternative economy
Sustainable social structures

Through project work on site, certain topics will be practised and more thoroughly covered.

At the end of the course, you will receive an internationally recognised certificate for your participation.

The course is designed for those who wish to begin practising sustainability and to perform actions in harmony with nature, be it in business, organisations, in the family, or in their own private life. Permaculture can be used in almost all areas of life and can make a huge contribution to the holistic and environmental consciousness of the world.

No previous knowledge is necessary, as hands-on experience is included.
Come on an adventure with a multi-cultural group of people, who want to change the world for the better in their own life and community.

Taught by Warren Brush, one of the Top-10 permaculture teachers worldwide (www.permaculturedesign.us / www.quailsprings.org )

Course language: English with German translation
Host: M.A. Center Germany e.V., near Frankfurt
More Information: www.hof-herrenberg.de/kurse-seminare/nachhaltigkeit/
ammazentrum@aol.com

The Teacher: Warren Brush

Warren Brush is a certified permaculture designer, teacher, and consultant, was well as a storyteller. For over 25 years, he has been inspiring people of all ages to discover, develop, and express their inner potential and at the same time to live a sustainable lifestyle. He is a co-founder of the Quail Springs Learning Oasis & Permaculture Farm, the Sustainable Vocations, Wilderness Youth Projects, Trees for Children, and his permaculture design company, True Nature Design.

He works intensively in permaculture education and sustainable design in North America, Africa, and other countries worldwide. Among other things, he was the consultant for the orphanage ‘Amrita Wototo Boma’ founded by Amma in Kenya. For many years, he has proposed sustainable and positive lifestyles for children and teens through the Nature Experience project. Warren has worked with former children solders, orphans, and teenagers with difficult family situations as well as from privileged backgrounds. He gives courses in: Certifying Permaculture Design, Rain Water Use Systems, Ferro-Cement Tank Building, Compost Toilet Building, Greywater Treatment, ‘Water for Every Farm’, Drought Prevention, Cultural Mentoring, Introduction to Permaculture Systems, Fruit Forestry, Prognoses Research, among others.

The certified permaculture design course in the M.A. Center Germany is the first course to be offered in Europe by Warren Brush, one of the leading experts in permaculture worldwide.

Course Contents:

1. Introduction
The course commences with an introduction to systems thinking and patterns in nature to provide a context for introducing Permaculture, its influences, history, principles and ethics, and issues of energy and sustainability. Participants are introduced to some of the concepts of creative problem solving as a learning process, different approaches to problem solving and individual learning styles and how to use these tools effectively in teamwork.

2. Eco-literacy for Sustainability – Patterns & Processes in Nature
This section of the course introduces the basic underlying earth sciences and ecological processes required for sustainable design and earth stewardship. Building on the introduction to patterns in nature, this section comprises detailed sessions on the patterning of ecological processes & their role and function in the design of sustainable systems.

3. Sustainable Design and Production Ecology – Patterns in Design
This section begins with the design process and various concepts of patterning in design (zones, sectors, spirals, flow, etc), permaculture design methodologies and site analysis. This provides the framework for a more detailed exploration of the following design systems in permaculture:

ZONE I
Appropriate technologies, energy & resource efficient house design, selecting a house site etc
home garden design: edible landscapes for urban and rural situations, small scale intensive vegetable production and functional design for home gardens

ZONE II
Small Livestock and poultry systems: small & large scale free-range chicken forage systems, chook tractors, chicken house design. Also ducks, geese, quail, rabbits, guinea pigs.
Orchard and food forest systems for temperate, subtropic and tropical environments, low maintenance strategies, diverse multi-story plant selection, site selection and preparation, implementation, planning for year-round production. Appropriate use of animals in integrated fruit production systems.
Honey bees: husbandry needs and forage systems

ZONE III
Windbreaks: location, design, function, yield, species selection, implementation
Main crops: growing staple foods and major income generating crops
Animal systems for Zones III and IV: characteristics, husbandry needs, forage systems, yields and functions of cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs and other common domestic farm animals.

ZONE IV
Tree crops: design and management systems for low maintenance structural forests for fuel, timber and other yields, agroforestry, coppice woods and integrated sustainable broadacre farming strategies

ZONE V
Conservation of forests for watershed management, native flora and fauna, refuges, reforestation, wildlife management, wildlife corridors, bushfoods and restoration ecology

THEMES
This section concludes with design strategies for various themes.
Utilities: roads, access ways and fences
Aquaculture: low maintenance freshwater aquaculture systems for ponds & farm dams, edible water plants, biological water purification and treatment systems
Fire and other natural desasters (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, Tsunami & climate change) effects of climate change on increasing frequency and violence of natural desasters
Integrated pest management and weed control in Permaculture systems

4. Invisible Structures
Bioregionalism and Transition planning sets the tone for this section followed by community economics and ethical investment, legal structures, land access, land ownership, settlement structures and characteristics of eco-villages. This section opens social factors, strategies for planing and implementation of waste recycling and die urban waste water treatment and strategies city centers, suburbs, towns, forest ecology, community gardens, municipal farms and other municipality-funded farming systems.

5. Conclusion – Permaculture at Work
This introduces local, national and global permaculture networks and organisations, work opportunities and fields of operation, pathways to achieve skills and knowledge for different kinds of permaculture applications, further training options.

Further Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture (External Link)