[Scpg] PR/June 11/Permaculture Around the World Series/Mesoamerican Permaculture with Juan Rojas

Sat Jun 6 16:09:25 PDT 2009

Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
  Permaculture Around the World Series
with Juan Rojas of the
Institute for Mesoamerican Permaculture

Thursday, June 11, 7pm 2009, Donation $5
Santa Barbara Central Library, Faulkner Gallery

         Santa Barbara Permaculture Network 
continues to learn about the world and it's 
people with its special series “Permaculture 
Around the World”, this time focusing on Central 
America with a talk by Juan Rojas of the 
Institute of Mesoamerican Permaculture (IMAP). 

	 Mesoamerica is a term that recognizes 
the cultural, ecological, traditional, and 
sociological similarities, rather than political 
boundaries of what currently makes up the 
countries of Central America.  Juan Rojas is a 
certified permaculture instructor and one of the 
founders of both the Institute of Mesoamerican 
Permaculture and the Permaculture Institute of El 
Salvador who has worked with others to 
acknowledge these similarities along with the 
comparable dilemmas and obstacles that countries 
in the regions share. 

	Juan Rojas was born in El Salvador, who 
after qualifying as an industrial electrician 
became involved in the trade union struggles of 
the 1980's.  Forced into exile by a brutal 
military regime, he spent four years in Mexico, 
and later eight years in Australia where he 
studied Permaculture as a useful tool for 
rebuilding his home country following the peace 
accords of 1992.

	Rojas has been instrumental in 
establishing grassroots organizations aimed at 
appropriate methods of farming and land 
restoration, always seeking the skills and 
expertise of local farmers.   Since 1994 Rojas 
has been a part of the thirty year old Campesino 
a Campesino (Farmer to Farmer) movement that has 
helped farming families in the rural villages of 
Latin America improve their livelihoods and 
conserve their natural resources by individual 
farmers sharing their wealth of wisdom directly 
with each other.

	Rojas will speak about his experience 
convening with Permacultura America Latina and 
the Institute for Mesoamerican Permaculture, an 
eight day Mesoamerican Convergence on Sustainable 
Development and Permaculture on the shores of 
Lake Atitlan in the highlands of Guatemala.  With 
the pressures of globalization, free trade 
agreements, privatization, and open market 
approaches to poverty reduction, the Convergence 
hoped to address the urgent environmental and 
social threats facing the region, and create a 
Mesoamerican alliance.  Forty grassroots 
organizations from the region attended including 
representatives from Panama, Costa Rica, 
Nicaragua, El Salvador, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, 
and Guatemala. Since devastating hurricane Stan 
had recently impacted the area, participants 
discussed how vulnerable Mesoamerican countries 
could better prepare and mitigate the effects of 
disasters such as earthquakes, mudslides, and 
hurricanes.

	The event takes place at the Santa 
Barbara Public Library, Faulkner Gallery, 40 East 
Anapamu St, in downtown Santa Barbara, on 
Thursday, June 11, 7pm, 2009.  No reservations 
are required, donation $5. For more information 
please call (805) 962-2571, or email 
<mailto:margie at sbpermaculture.org>margie at sbpermaculture.org; 
www.sbpermaculture.org. Sponsored by the Santa 
Barbara Permaculture Network Non-Profit.

~Permaculture (PERMAnent agriCULTURE), a design 
system based on ecological principles for 
creating sustainable human environments ~
~Permacultura (agriCULTURA PERMAnente), un 
sistema de diseño a base de principios ecológicos 
para crear un medio ambiente sostenible.~
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

  Friday, June 12, 9-10am, Sustainable World Radio,
  Interview with Robyn Francis from Australia

Sustainable World Radio, KCSB 91.9 FM PST
  and streaming live on www.kcsb.org, interviews 
also posted on    www.sustainableworldradio.com.

	Join Jill Cloutier of Sustainable World 
Radio for an interview Juan Rojas

-end-

More resources/websites:

Institute for Mesoamerican Permaculture (IMAP)  www.permacultura.org

Campesino a Campesino, by Eric Holt-Gimenez. 
Author spent over 25 years in Mexico and Cenral 
America as a community organizer and agricultural 
outreach worker, learning that only when farmers 
taught each other, many times with parables, 
stories, and humor, was knowledge successfully 
transferred. His is executive director of Food 
First/Institute for Food & Development Policy.

Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
    an educational non-profit since 2000
(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
margie at sbpermaculture.org
  www.sbpermaculture.org

"We are like trees, we must create new leaves, in 
new directions, in order to grow." - Anonymous
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