Permaculture Course in Enschede

Groen:    Gemak:

Permaculture -- a method of design that helps you build your surroundings sustainably, thanks to examples from nature. *This is a Dutch course, but similar courses in English are possible.*

Keywords: permaculture habitat energy waste garden


Course description

Permaculture is a design approach for designing a sustainable environment around you or your family. The great example is set by nature itself, but modern technology also serves as a source of ideas. This course does not only practice making designs, but it also presents a lot of practical techniques.

Instead of instructing us not to do things because they are bad for the environment, Permaculture provides an astounding array of possibilities to live in a pleasant yet responsible manner. A must for people who are willing to rethink their lives in search of more sustainable habits.

Program

The course comprises of three parts:

  • Tutorial and design sessions: 5 evenings
  • If possible, a day of work building up a Permaculture
  • Optional tour: Permaculture at the Haarlebrink

The topics of the tutorial and design sessions during the Permaculture course in 2009 were as follows:

  1. Self-managing nature is about the disadvantages of the common technical design process, the way that nature grows its own solutions automagically, how this involves cyclical and symbiotic processes and how all this works much more smoothly than what technology provides us.
  2. Garbage without a smell explains that mankind is the first to create unusable garbage, how this can be avoided and what natural principles can make this possible in the home place in a pleasant manner. It is about understanding natural cycles, and about thinking ahead and overviewing a design; it touches upon Cradle to Cradle principles.
  3. Plants may be useful finishes off with the idea that a garden is either pretty or a food production site. It also gives other plant purposes, such as paint and construction wood. It is about a garden that takes less work than a paved area.
  4. Energy like water is about our addiction to energy; it starts from CO2 problems and Peak Oil, and derives the need for local production and consumption. It is about optimal use of solar energy, utilisation of water and heat/light. Some of these mindful uses of resources are based on remarkably simple techniques.
  5. Special places is about harvesting from ponds and tropical indoor gardens; about growing food in deserts as well as on rooftops and balconies. It shows Permaculture techniques for maximum utilisation of available space.

Teacher

Rick van Rein of GroenGemak is an experienced designer from a technical background. Permaculture is in many ways related to technical design, but it tries to avoid the weaknesses and pitfalls of engineering design.

Rick cooperated with Robin Boers to apply Permaculture in practice, with 600 square meters of public green at the Haarlebrink as a cheerful example, which was turnt into a sort of park with plants that are not just beautiful, but in which there is a remarkable array of edible plants.

Practical details

The course is scheduled on the following Tuesday evenings in 2010: March 9, 16, 23, 30 and April 6. The course starts at 20:00 and ends around 21:30. The location will be the VU Enschede. The course will be in Dutch.

The responses to the 2009 course were quite positive, and we seem to have succeeded in our desire to make a decent little course on Permaculture available to citizens of Enschede. This is why we repeat the effort of giving the course -- that is, if we get a sufficient number of attendents.

To enroll or for inquiries, please VU Enschede or call GroenGemak directly on +31.53.7113421 for more information.