Academy
The Academy
The first Academy was started by Bill Mollison in Australia in the 80s, because he saw that the concept he had created with David Holmgren in the 70s was sometimes being transmited in a simplified way and was being diluted in different 'ecological' variants.
As a reply he published the Designer`s Manual, protected the name "permaculture" with a copyright, and created the basic design course of 72 hours, and it´s conditions of use. Se curriculum is agreed and is reviewed worldwide, when necessary, at the international permaculture meetings.
The first European Academy was set up in the United Kingdom by Andy Langford (one of our teachers, who is now setting up Gaia University), as a certifying centre for the courses in the United Kingdom, and in order to organize the diploma trajectory for those interested.
Now (October 2005) there are 9 centres which act as Permaculture Academies in Europe, teaching & / or certifying in 9 languages the same course agreed by the International Community.
Some of these nodes are starting to organize themselves in a more co-operative and more formal way, as a network: this node is one of them.
Map of the Centres of the Academy in Europe
The dots are the various nodes of the Academies of Europe (not complete!).
The green ones, the ones which are colaborating to develop the Academy as a network in order to facilitaten an international access to the Design Diploma.
Academy Centres in the World
These are some of the best known ones: outside of Europe they tend to be Institutes which include the services of an Academy, but are physical places and normally practical examples. All use the same standards of teaching for the Permaculture Certificate through initiatives and organising adapted to local conditions.
See more links in the profiles of our teachers (Profes)
Permaculture Activist (USA) Lista de Institutos
Instituto de Bill Mollison en Australia
Permaculture Research Institute Australia
Planet Organic en Nueva Zelanda
American Permaculture Directory
From the Foundation Year Book of the Permaculture Academy, by Bill Mollison
ACADEMY: An association of scholars or academics. Also a school of study founded to promote a particular philosophy (e.g. Platonic philosophy). Here, the philosophy or ethics are those of Permaculture; the study and development of sustainable landscapes and settlements.
The teaching form of this academy is based on the ideals of Action Learning (see Aprendizaje).
PERMACULTURE: A copyright word, owned as a common copyright by the Permaculture Institutes and their graduates. Derived from permanent and culture, as below.
Permanent: From the Latin permanens, to remain to the end, to persist throughout. (Latin; per through, manere to continue).
Culture: From the Latin cultura cultivation of land, or the intellect. Now generalised to mean all those habits, beliefs, or activities that sustain human societies.
Thus, Permaculture is the study of the design of those sustainable or enduring systems that support human society, both agricultural and intellectual, traditional and scientific, architectural, financial and legal. It is the study of integrated systems, for the purpose of better design and application of such systems.
DESIGN: Restricted in the case of Permaculture, to integrated functional design, thus the conscious and intentional design of integratd systems. The process of design is to place any component of a system where it will best connect to other components, when therefore, it's requirements are met, and it´s products used. It is the science of best relative placement of components in a plan of pattern whose main function is to increase resources, conserve energy, and reduce or eliminate pollution or waste.
SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS: Restricted in Permaculture usage to any system that provides or conserves sufficient energy, over its normal life expectancy, to build and maintain itself, and to give a yield surplus to those requirements. Essentially, any system which amortisies its costs in energy terms.
Bill Mollison on the design of permaculture teaching
extract from article The Global Development of Permaculture, Feb 2004
...
Permaculture, with a curriculum text, PERMACULTURE: A Designers' Manual, has a body of many thousands of teachers, and millions of practitioners world-wide. Texts are available in about 20 anguages, more each year, teachers are itinerant (not static or in institutions), and their students are encouraged to teach wherever they feel they have the courage to teach.
Why does Permaculture attract activists / practitioners / teachers, and some other good systems lack them? The short answer depends on a few essentials:
1. A well-developed, practical curriculum, now of global agreement and well tested.
2. A body of itinerant teachers, resulting in local teachers of both sexes, at home in their own culture and language.
3. An emphasis on reaching local farmers (women in Africa, India) and not directing teaching solely to men, by men. In this way we differ too, from all "aid" agencies who send in male "experts" for teaching, but who do not inspire local teaching. We teach the poor for free, incur no local debt.
4.We teach only Permaculture; we do not teach repression of local skills, beliefs, religion or folkways. All sexes, races, beliefs and cultures are thus welcome in the world bodies, at global conferences; we are not culture-changing, just culture-enhancing.
All these simple and folk-friendly ways give us admission to all but the most arrogant or militaristic cultures ruffling no feathers and selling no uniforms, flags or badges. Thus, we are essentially uncountable, and invisible, not an easily identifiable group, and we never carry arms.
...
After all, in a world in crisis, why take 4 years and thousands of dollars to produce a usually-inactive graduate (96% of all university-trained graduates) when two intensive weeks can turn out 90% to 100% active, land-based farmers of both sexes? The latter have the good of their families and villages at heart, as does Furuno...
Thus Permaculture is democratic, training manual workers and the illiterate, as well as the over-educated, training "outcaste" women in India as well as nabobs developing friends in low, but essential places. Seeing solutions, not problems. Available to all.
Graduates develop their own financial systems (women's banks in India) and teaching centres. The U.S.A. has its Permaculture Credit Union (in Santa Fe); Japan, Korea, U.S.A. and Australasia are developing farmer markets and subscription-only farms to supply families. And in all these initiatives, you may find Permaculture graduates, being useful and applied. They love their work.
How did we develop globally? By going to people, not asking them to come to us. By giving them well-tried solutions, not airy-fairy beliefs - we never ask for belief. By teaching the poor for free, and charging only the affluent (the Robin Hood approach to costing). By staying "below the horizon", not threatening any body. We do not define the "infidel". All are welcome in our classes.
Granted, some of us display a selfless regard for our lives, but as we have to spend them anyhow, why not be useful? Already many graduates have dropped dead in harness; the Ralph Long Brigade of extinct, selfless people! As I urge my students "the way is clear; the path is open; don't wait for orders!" All you have that you own is your life, and your work. Both are worthy gifts to those less well informed. We have the debt of privilege, and it will never be paid. Go for it.
Best regards
Bill and Lisa Mollison
The Permaculture Institute
THE DESIGN of this node of the Academy
The design of this node of the Academy is based on the same lines and traditions described in the above article by Bill Mollison, but consciously adapted to our European, national, bioregional and local circumstances. The following article explains a little how this design works.
AN ACADEMY WITH A PermaCulture SOUL
(article by Sara Arnaíz for EcoHabitar Feb 2005)
Nowadays we speak and hear more & more about two concepts that help us to convert ourselves into the healthy cells that need to slowly replace the contaminated ones which form the "cancer" of the system we live in, which, whether we like it or not, constitutes the planetary community. I´m speaking about networks and visions.
Networks are the dynamic and flexible alternatives to the rigid and disconnected structures of people`s real necessities, and visions are the bridge that connects our dreams with reality. Who hasn´t felt isolated in the path of trying to apply conscience and good works in the face of the oxidated machinery of all that which does things differently? Networks are the way we support and we feel supported, they create magic that allows us to face the isolation.
The PermaCulture Academy is a fantastic example of both concepts, as it is, on one hand, the result of a vision which was expressed in the first meeting of the Iberian PermaCulture Network (all the permaculturists who attended coincided in the necessity to have "something" which to back us in the task of spreading permaculture), and on the other hand, it is a network which grows and organizes itself adapting to the contributions of those who enter to be part of it.
Stella, who put it in motion, explains it very well: "the Academy isn´t a place nor an organization, but a concept which connects us. There are many 'nodes' or 'centres' of the Academy in the world (on the web we can see a map of the European nodes). What connects these nodes is the fact that we certificate the same Certificate and (more or less) the same Diploma (which are approved at all the world PemaCulture meetings and are kept developing collectively in a continuous fashion), with the same rules, standards of teaching and care, as they are valid all over the world".
"As well as these strong connections, we have much 'biodiversity' in styles of working which allows that, for any person who would like to collaborate, they can find her ideal "niche" in order to work comfortably, if not in any of the various "centres", at least in some of them. And if you want to train in permaculture, you have a huge resource at your disposal: you can choose where to do so, how and (to a certain extent) also in which language".
"The way this network will evolve depends on how we will support it: using it well, or not. We also encourage everyone to propose ideas to make it so the whole is even more accessible. Useful to first observe very well how it is designed now, keeping in mind as much the limitations and visions of the 'operators' of the various nodes, as well as ones´own ability to back the proposals that we make (without forgetting also the realities of the world in general, of course)."
"The node of the academy which I put in motion (now over a year ago), was designed after years of experience and observation, with much study, a great deal of consultation of "clients" and later with much time, resources, effort and care ... in order TO:
(Objectives)
1) Fill the gaps in lack of support for the diploma,
2) stimulate and accelerate the development of teachers, and
3) in general in order to make permaculture training as accessible as possible for all (including economically)
4) express as fully as possible the two basis (self-responsability + co-operation), the 3 ethics and the various principles of PermaCulture, and (of course) that it be as flexible and self-managed as possible at the local level.
HOW: (Methods)
a) encouraging any person (with time and willingness) to organize courses in their area (there is a lot of support but much creative freedom both for new organizers and those who already have experience)
b) allowing that the courses are designed in very different ways (they are modular and very flexible) in order to adapt them to local conditions.
c) inviting any person (with Certificate and willingness) to enrol as aprendice teacher (you don´t need to be a friend of another teacher in order to start, but we will do all possible in order to then stimulate these vital connexions between them)
d) opening the path to all who want to officially start their trajectory towards their Diploma, in order that through the open design of the academy itself they can access actual project opportunities for the action learning
e) creating a professional but open structure of "leaderful co-operative" and "action learning organization" in continuous development
f) keeping in mind and co-operating with the (emerging) "designs" of other european networks in the area of sustainability training - in order to leave open the widest collaboration possibilities for the future, particularly at european level.
As with any PermaCulture design, this is revised periodically and the pertinent changes are introduced according to what we have learned, and also according to the circumstances of the moment.
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