With the news of peak oil, environmental degradation and economic collapse, the permaculture regenerative design system offers simple solutions through re-localization and a return to how humans have lived sustainably for centuries.

This experiential, permaculture-grounded workshop merges the fundamentals of cutting-edge sustainability and leadership programs into an intensive providing the most essential skills needed to facilitate the necessary change. Participants completing the entire course will receive a Completion Certificate upon meeting all the requirements of the program.
 

Here are some of the components and topics covered:

The Case for Regenerative Leadership: Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream
The world seems to be spinning ever faster toward disaster through climate change, warfare, disease, famine and financial meltdown. We could be forgiven for reacting with denial, despair or despondency, and some people are.

Yet simultaneously the largest ever social movement in history is rising up to resist the forces causing these crises and to build a world that works sustainably for all life. The movement embraces the work for human rights, for the protection of our environment, for access to education, healthcare, housing and even food and water. In another language these are: environmental sustainability, spiritual fulfillment and social justice.

This life-altering multimedia presentation features leaders including Paul Hawken, Julia Butterfly Hill, Van Jones, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joanna Macy and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
 

“The Symposium is designed to accelerate the Great Turning to a just and sustainable world. It awakens us and reconnects us with our place in the web of life. ” -Dr. Joanna Macy
 
Introduction to the Work That Reconnects
The Work That Reconnects is a pioneering group workshop developed by Dr. Joanna Macy starting in the 1970s, based on systems theory, spiritual teachings, and deep ecology. It demonstrates our interconnectedness in the web of life and our authority to take action on its behalf. Many thousands of people around the world have participated in these workshops and trainings.

Her group methods, known as the Work That Reconnects, have been adapted widely in classrooms, churches, and grassroots organizing. Her work helps people transform despair and apathy, in the face of overwhelming social and ecological crises, into constructive, collaborative action. It brings a new way of seeing the world, as our larger living body, freeing us from the assumptions and attitudes that now threaten the continuity of life on Earth.
 

Fundamentals of Permaculture Design
Permaculture is a sustainable design science rooted in natural patterns. By observing the way nature works and then applying the same patterns and principles, we learn to design truly sustainable, extremely resilient systems.

Permaculture is what our ancestors instinctively knew when they lived in villages, made their own things, and grew their own food. It is the art of respecting nature and working with it, rather than against it, to cultivate land, plants, animals and people by fostering mutually beneficial relationships between them. It is also is a philosophy, one that changes you from the inside, as you see that there is a way to heal the earth, live in harmony with nature, and create abundance.

“Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.” – Bill Mollison
 
Ecological Leadership – Eight Shields Cultural Mentoring
The eight shields mentoring model is based on the patterns that can be observed in nature. It models these cycles in a way that allows the observer to categorize these patterns and apply them in a variety of settings. This mentoring approach is very effective at mapping the flow of learning. This model is also used for organizing effective team interactions and cultural processes within community, educational, business, and many other settings.

With the Eight Shields Cultural Mentoring Model it becomes possible to map the phases and relationships occurring in nature, both on a grand scale and also within the nuances of human learning and culture. Within the context of mentoring nature connection, the Eight Shields Group has effectively used this model to map the journey of nature connection and create a toolkit of methods to enhance this journey both on an individual and community level.
 

Psychology of Ecological Evolution – Spiral Dynamics Theory
Spiral Dynamics is a theory of human development based on the idea that human nature is not fixed: humans are able, when forced by life conditions, to adapt to their environment by constructing new, more complex, conceptual models of the world that allow them to handle the new problems. Each new model includes and transcends all previous models.

“It’s not that we need to form new organizations. It’s simply that we have to awaken to new ways of thinking. I believe it makes no sense to spend a lot of time attacking the current realities. It is time to create the new models that have in them the complexity
that makes the older systems obsolete.” -Dr. Don Beck
 
Community Resilience Training
The community resilience process supports community‐led responses to peak oil and climate change, building resilience and happiness. Central to the community resilience movement is the idea that a life without oil could in fact be far more enjoyable and fulfilling as the coming post-cheap oil era is an opportunity rather than a threat, and we can design the future low carbon age to be thriving, resilient and abundant — somewhere much better to live than our current alienated consumer culture.

This is a “fundamentals” course for those wishing to know how to set up, run, and maintain a successful resilience initiative. It is packed with imaginative and inspiring ways to delve into both the theory and practice of resilience.

 
* Please note that course logistics and details are subject to change without notice or refund.

Space is limited, and courses often sell out early.
Payment plans are available for your convenience!
Click here to apply for this program!