Please support IPCUK scholarships

IPCUK Scholarships Crowdfunder

Help us build up a scholarship fund so that we can support permaculture practitioners from across the world - especially people from the Global South - to attend the international permaculture conference and convergence this September in London and Essex (IPCUK). Your donations will help bring representatives from across the world via a scholarship fund, and help make the event more accessible, diverse and inclusive. You can help to ensure that:

• Their voices will be at the heart of discussions for the next phase of the international permaculture network.   
• Their needs can be recognised and better supported now and in the future.
• They will be able to access information and support, and share it with their communities when they get home.
• They can share their experiences, skills and achievements with other participants at IPCUK.

Travelling permaculture library (online)

Travelling permaculture library created

The travelling permaculture library is a fascinating idea; get a book through the post, read the book, post it on to another reader. The initial offering of books is very small but if people donate more titles it will grow rapidly. Check out their offering and think about becoming a patron or a librarian.

Food sovereignty research film (film)

Coventry university researchers release multi-lingual film on DVD to influence transnational policy

A new film, Imagining Research for Food Sovereignty, highlights key moments in the process and outcomes of the St. Ulrich Workshop on Democratising Agricultural Research for Food Sovereignty and Peasant Agrarian Cultures. The Democratising Food and Agricultural Research initiative focuses on transformations needed for the democratic governance of food systems and more specifically on the potential role citizens can play in rethinking food and agricultural research for the public good. In September 2013, the partners of this initiative organised an international workshop to share lessons and reflections from Africa, Asia and Latin America with a wider community of European farmers, policy makers, and representatives of the donor community, bringing together 95 participants from a total of 17 countries.

Dynamic design for resilient landscapes (course)

Resilient Landscapes, Resilient Futures

The Digest doesn't normally promote courses, but this one is the first ever workshop of it's kind. It is at the cutting edge, starting to teach the material which the 'Resilience' researchers are researching.

The challenges for landscapes in our 21st century are complex, interwoven, and can feel overwhelming. Where do we even begin in such tangled situations of social and ecological difficulties? Dynamic Design is a process that addresses real-world complexity through its approach to landscape design. Combining regenerative sustainability frameworks (Holistic Management, Keyline® Design, Landscape Ecology, Agro-ecology, Permaculture Design, etc.) with important insights from Resilience-science, Complexity, and other ecological sciences, Dynamic Design boils down to a dynamic three-stage process for actively creating greater resilience of the evolving systems and landscapes we design, manage, and inhabit.

Live with less stuff! (on-line)

The Story of Stuff Project

We have a problem with Stuff. We use too much, too much of it is toxic and we don’t share it very well. But that’s not the way things have to be. Together, we can build a society based on better not more, sharing not selfishness, community not division. The Story of Stuff Project’s journey began with a 20-minute online movie about the way we make, use and throw away all the Stuff in our lives. Five years and 40 million views later, we’re a Community of 750,000 changemakers worldwide, working to build a more healthy and just planet. We invite you to watch and share our movies, participate in our study programs and join our campaigns. Come on, let’s go!

UK food system fails the poor (report)

A Recipe for Inequality

The Fabian Commission on Food and Poverty has gathered evidence on how the UK’s food system serves those on low incomes. This interim report shows those on the lowest incomes are losing out from our food system. Food price rises have hit low-income households and now those on lower incomes spend a greater proportion of their budget on food. And while the proliferation of supermarkets has held food prices down, it has come at the cost of huge pressure on the food supply chain. Low pay and zero hour contracts are rife. The commission will present its final report later this year and recommend what politicians can do to fix Britain’s unequal and unsustainable food system.

PhD on permaculture in Malawi (on-line)

Doctoral Thesis on Permaculture in Malawi!

The study takes an in-depth look at Malawi’s agricultural history, exposes several drawbacks to current ‘conventional’ agriculture, highlights many benefits of practising Permaculture, and analyzes the challenges of expanding Permaculture in Malawi. The study is exciting and encouraging in many ways. First, there has been a glaring lack of academic research surrounding the use of Permaculture. Secondly, the findings  highlight the benefits Permaculture farmers are already experiencing. Interestingly, the research took place during an economically unstable period in Malawi, yet Permaculture farmers continued to express gains and benefits.