Environment and Ecology

What is Open Source Permaculture?

This is from a discussion with Lucas Gonzalez in the Canary Islands:

I think we should start raising awareness for the concept of Open Source Permaculture. Let's define what that mean by the term. This would be a crucial upgrade to what Permaculture today is about.

I have ended up an a parcel of land. I read the theory, and found myself basically clueless in terms of producing an integrated permacultural operation when I got onto the land. I believe that proper information access could have allowed us to avoid wasteful, trial-and-error-reinventing-the-wheel on the practical level (living material choices). We are still suffering from huge waste along these lines - either by spending long research hours or planting crop that will not do well here. There are issues that one can't read about - such as layout and geography - but the living material issue should be a non-issue. This way, the focus could be on further adaptation and breeding of region-specific materials - not in not knowing the optimal materials. This point may be difficult to grasp for people without an open source philosophy or without agricultural experience - but better access to information is a true bane of permaculture - as it tries to survive in a playing field of its factory-farm-global-neighbors.

By Krishna Gurung

The Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco Foundation (KRMEF) was established in 2008 near Khokana, in the southwest of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. KRMEF is trying to save the local environment by using local manpower, local waste, and educating the local population about the benefits of protecting the environment. The project periodically runs free health and dental camps in a local school and looks forward to opening a free clinic very soon.

KRMEF has begun a pilot project focused on recycling waste found in and around the city of Kathmandu and utilizing the waste to produce sustainable fuel in the form of bio-briquettes and bio-gas. Waste bottles have also been collected and made into walls and windows. This ecological architecture will soon be implemented in the new clinic. These processes give work to many jobless, helpless and disabled individuals.

Presently KRMEF is sponsoring schooling for underprivileged children, has an eco-guest house, a volunteer program, a working organic/biodynamic garden, and is working to implement Waldorf techniques in a village school. We look forward to further developing our network to include treatments and education for physically handicapped children and to take care of the old, among many other activities.

Our Roots

In the 1980s, Penny Livingston Stark and James Stark began developing their 3/4 acre home in Point Reyes, California, as permaculture oasis. They took what was once an open space with a few trees and transformed it into a living permaculture classroom, with features like a grey water koi pond that processes laundry and bath water, a cob library with roof catchment and an outdoor bread oven and attached bench, a vaulted strawbale cottage, and a permaculture food forest garden with fruit, nuts, herbs, berries, vegetables, bamboo and more. From their work at this site, the Permaculture Institute of Northern California (PINC) emerged and Penny and James began teaching courses in Permaculture and other sustainable, earth-based practices.

During this time, Penny and James also developed the Skywater Center in Trinity County as an additional site for permaculture trainings. Skywater is a large-scale restoration project that has hosted workshops on permaculture and wilderness awareness, forest management, erosion control methods and keyline patterning. PINC also partnered with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) , where Penny, James, and many of their students have developed a productive vegetable and perennial fruit garden, an artfully sculpted cob greenhouse, a series of flow forms for cleaning pond water, rainwater harvesting system, and much more.

The Birth of the Regenerative Design Institute

In 2003, Penny and James were offered the unique opportunity to apply their design skills and expertise to develop the Commonweal Garden - a beautiful 17 acre site in Bolinas, California - into a large scale living permaculture classroom and demonstration center for regenerative design. With this opportunity to expand their work and vision, the Permaculture Institute of Northern California became the Regenerative Design Institute (RDI), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to education and training skilled leaders in regenerative design. RDI works in partnership with Commonweal, a health and environmental research institute and retreat center.

The Permaculture Institute of Northern California still exists as the original home-scale permaculture site that Penny and James developed in Pt. Reyes. It is now a private residence, where several of their graduated students live and care for the permaculture oasis. Occasional tours and seasonal volunteer days continue to take place at this site.

The Regenerative Design Institute at Commonweal Garden has grown strong roots, and hosts hundreds of visitors and course participants every year. RDI now offers a wide array of courses in permaculture, nature awareness, leadership, wildcrafting and more. Our capstone course, the Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness (RDNA) Program, is a unique 9-month intensive that combines permaculture, nature awareness, community leadership, and mentoring skills. In addition, custom youth programs and private tours are also offered.

By providing skilled designers, farmers, trades-people, educators, facilitators and community leaders, the goal of RDI is to spread the awareness that we can design and build development models worldwide that address human needs while simultaneously regenerating the surrounding environment to become more fertile and diverse in the process.