PDC FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT QUAIL SPRINGS

(excerpts from April 2012 Press Release)

Monetary assistance and training without stewardship ethics seems to be the standard for international aid today. With over 14 billion given by the U.S. Agency for International Development alone, it is increasingly important to ensure the results of aid are regenerative....

By using permaculture as a sustainable design framework to help secure community and individual stability, Quail Springs is innovating a new pathway for the international development community. Their upcoming Permaculture Design Certification course (PDC), taught by professionals with experience in international development projects, will teach participants sustainable systems thinking, design strategies and provide a comprehensive approach to permaculture as a tool for future development projects.

The instructors, hailing from Quail Springs in Southern California, all the way to Africa, span a gamete of professions whose various experiences make up an impressive group whose international efforts have seen much success.

Warren Brush, Julius Piti, Loren Luyendyk, Pete Schwartz and Lyn Hebenstreit constitute just five of the equally established twelve instructors involved in the course. Warren Brush is the co-founder of Quail Springs, Sustainable Vocations and numerous other permaculture and peacemaking oriented projects. Warren’s extensive understanding of permaculture and work with his organizations, as well as others, has sent him around the world to work in numerous development projects side by side, be it with other permaculture organizations or child soldiers in Africa.

Julius Piti, a Mozambican, has worked extensively in Africa. Julius’ work in community building led him to the Chakuwa village permaculture project in Zimbabwe. Chakuwa became one of Africa’s most successful post-war success stories by employing permaculture through an integrated agricultural approach. His constant work and dedication has made him a prominent peacemaker and community-building expert in Africa. His successes in using permaculture for community building in Africa bring an in-depth first hand understanding of permaculture’s potential for sustainable development projects.

In addition to the founders of different permaculture organizations above, the instructing roster also includes a university professor. Pete Schwartz is a physics professor at Cal Poly focusing on society, development, and sustainability. His student research involves developing low-impact technologies appropriate for developing countries (and for the USA as well), including concentrated solar power, passive solar heating, improved cooking facilities, and electric transportation. The practice and application of these studies can be exemplified by the collaborative summer school in Guatemala, Guateca which represents a natural extension of Schwartz’s academic, technical, and societal efforts.

Loren Luyendyk and Lyn Hebenstreit both add to the diversity of permaculture talent and knowledge available to participants. Luyendyk’s international permaculture work with Surfers without Borders and Lyn, the founder of the international organization Global Resource Alliance (GRA) will combine with the rest of the instructors to display the variety of potential applications for permaculture in international development projects, highlighting sustainable agriculture, to community development.... (continued)