Free Permaculture Course – The First Post
Earlier, we published an interview with Andrew Millison, the creator of the Free Permaculture Course offered by Oregon State University. You can listen here.
We are very happy that so many of you already listened to the podcast and that after less then a week of the beginning of registration, 5200 students had already signed up.
What a great way to expose people from all over the world to what Permaculture has to offer. In a recent conversation with Jenise, she said that taking a Permaculture course made her an inventor – it gave her the tools to invent solutions to her problems or challenges. For me, the biggest take away was to have hope again – that we can fix the damage we have done to our earth and that my children and grandchildren will have a beautiful, safe and sane world to live in. Okay, that might be a bit of wishful thinking, but one can hope. I believe that I am not the only one. Here is a quote from the interview with Andrew
Our species is not far from flipping into this ecological awareness and stabilizing our planet’s climate systems and cleaning up our water and building up our soil
Let’s hope so. To get you even more excited about the upcoming course, Andrew allowed us to publish the following blog post and the pictures and video.
A Permaculture Garden
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture design is a method of landscape planning that can
be applied to anything, from a home garden or farm to a city block
or entire village. Permaculture uses design principles from nature
itself and takes into account such things as how indigenous people
use the land; how water, fire and wind flow through the land; and
how soil, water, vegetation, buildings and habitats can be managed
in a stable and enduring way.
The Permaculture perspective has more resonance now than at
any other time since the term ‘Permaculture’ was coined in 1978.
The Paris Climate Agreement has the world admitting it needs to
turn civilization onto a different road. Permaculture design has
been scouting out that path for nearly 40 years, and now it’s time
that the world sees what we have learned about living in
cooperation with nature.
That is why Oregon State University is launching a huge public
education project with the creation of “Intro to Permaculture” — a
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) which runs from May 2
through May 27, 2016. Update: The course is being offered again from October 31 to November 27 2016. This free course covers the foundations of
the Permaculture design system in four weeks, with 12 to 16 hours
of engagement.
OSU is throwing the full resources of its development staff at Open
Oregon State to create a high-production, online educational
experience that includes video, images, animation, text, resource
lists, links, and interactive activities. When students complete all of
the interactive assignments and content quizzes, they will receive a
‘digital badge’ which verifies their participation.
The course is taught by Andrew Millison, who has been involved in
Permaculture practice, design and education for 20 years, and is
an instructor in the Horticulture Department at OSU and founder of
Permaculture Design International (PDI).
Global networking for mass education
We’re collaborating with the Permaculture Association, a British
non-profit recognized as the most organized Permaculture
organization on Earth. We’ll be using their extensive educational
database and media assets in the course, and adding many of our
The goal is to use the resources that a major U.S. university can
provide to present an organized introduction to the Permaculture
design system, and steer people towards further study and practice
of Permaculture, using the reach of our combined global network.
A host of other organizations have gotten on board to help
publicize and provide educational and media resources, including
Permaculture Design International, Regrarians, Oregon State
University Small Farms, Unify, Daiy Acts, Villiage Lab, NuMundo,
Permaculture Voices and more.
Who should take this course?
This course is for the novice and the professional alike, with no
prior experience necessary. For the person new to design and
land stewardship, the course will provide a foundation from which
to build upon with subsequent training, and introduce a new
perspective that can be applied in many careers and facets of life.
The class assumes no prior knowledge.
For the gardener, farmer, nurseryman, architect, landscaper, land
manager, developer, engineer, aid worker, planner or activist, this
course can help to deepen and focus the good work you’re already
doing, and provide a grounding in the Permaculture process that
you can apply in your current endeavors. The course is not
teaching specific techniques as much as a system and process of
design which can be used to enhance work in many different fields.
Permaculture is a roadmap to sustainability
Our aim is to elevate Permaculture further into mainstream
knowledge and discussions so this valuable design system can be
used to transition civilization to a future with clean water, safe and
abundant food, renewable energy and resources, healthy
watersheds, and prosperous people and ecosystems.
There is a lot of social, political and environmental instability in the
world right now. Consensus has been reached with the Paris
Agreement that we need to drastically reduce carbon emissions to
maintain a stable climate through this century and beyond. We
need a paradigm shift where we change the foundation of business
as usual. The Permaculture design system is a tool to accomplish
this great shift, and it’s time we put that tool in everyone’s hands so
we can all get to work repairing, restoring, regenerating, and
reaping the rewards that will come when we care for Earth and its
people.
Please accept this gift we are offering and share this opportunity
for free Permaculture education with your family, friends, and
community.
Written by and published with permission from
Outreach and Engagement
Oregon State University, 101 Ballard Hall , Oregon 97331-2212
T 541-737-0763 | http://open.oregonstate.edu/courses/permaculture/
Please sign up for the course here or visit
the University Intro to Permaculture Home Page
Listen to the podcast and read the first blog about the Course here
Please share this information through your social media network, tell your friends and your co-workers, and most importantly, sign up yourself.
