Growing Green Economies ,
International Permaculture Convergence &Conference May 2007 Brasil
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/46583.html   
        
  Ali Sharif, Iranian born head of Santa Fe-based Permaculture America Latina, is in town promoting green economics. Sharif studied with Australian founder of Permaculture Bill Mollison and now manages projects around Latin America.

        
By Staci Matlock | The New Mexican Sante Fe USA
July 18, 2006

In true Ghandian style, Ali Sharif has spent time with Third World pit toilets and high-level government officials.

As projects director with the Santa Fe-based nonprofit Permacultura America Latina, www.permacultura.org Sharif is putting his decade-long experience with low-tech solutions and political power brokers to use as coordinator of next year's 8th International Permaculture Conference and Convergence in Brazil. www.IPC8.org  The conference will focus on designing true, prosperous green economies. "We need to go beyond inspiration to a real definition for green economy," Sharif said during a recent Santa Fe visit.

He's tracking down economists, bankers, businesses and practicing "permies" from 40 countries so they can collectively figure out how green economies -- based on renewable-energy products -- can actually function. Sharif is hoping the conference will attract the likes of An Inconvenient Truth star Al Gore.


"Permies," like Sharif, are permaculturists trained to design communities and homes based on common sense, sustainable practices and local needs. Permaculture stands for "permanent culture" or "permanent agriculture." Bill Mollison of Australia founded permaculture-design principals in the late-1970s.

Permaculture helps villages and individuals look at better ways to grow food, produce clean water, create energy and build low-cost houses. "Permaculture is not water, or a chicken or the tree," Mollison once said. "It is how the water, the chicken and the tree are connected."

Sharif, born in Iran in 1953 and educated in Europe, was an early student of Mollison's. He helped found Permacultura America Latina in Santa Fe 18 years ago. He's spent most of those years directing and building permaculture projects in Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala and for the last several years, the Brazilian rain forest. His job, in part, has been to help people figure out a way to build villages, make a living and prosper without plowing under the rain forest. A lot of the ongoing "colossal levels of destruction" has been because of poor decisions and bad design, Sharif said.

In the mid-1990s, Permacultura America Latina's work attracted the United Nations' attention. The U.N. said it would cut a deal with Brazil for land if the group would establish six demonstration and education centers in six different ecosystems. To date, they've accomplished four where local people and government officials can get a look at practical solutions to everything from raising chickens without commercial feed to building better toilets. Their newest center, in Salvador, Brazil, is directed by a Santa Feans Isabela Coelho and Yarrow Schley.

"When we started, the word permaculture wasn't known," Sharif said. "Now we're known nationally. We're negotiating at all kinds of levels."

Brazil's government and businesses are beginning to support their methods, Sharif said.

One of Sharif's newest projects will combine solar-powered computers, kids and rain-forest restoration. He's received seed money to buy mini Mac laptops.

Eventually, he plans to have solar systems installed to run the laptops. Amazon youth can learn to use the computers in exchange for helping replant destroyed portions of the rain forest linking five villages with "useful" plants such as trees and herbs.

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com .

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 Go to www.IPC8.org for more details

2007 Permaculture Conference & Convergence
Greening our Economy with the
Principles of Permaculture

Permaculture is an ecological design science for creating efficient, productive, and self-sustaining systems that serve human communities and evolve into dynamic and regenerative relationships with the surrounding environment. As such, the promise of Permaculture extends far beyond food production systems to our entire economy. How we can use the principles of permaculture to green the global economy will be the theme of the 2007 Permaculture Convergence in São Paulo, Brazil. By linking the Permaculture concept to the emerging field of green economics we can begin defining what a sustainable global economy might look like and how it can be practically adapted to ensure that human welfare and ecological imperatives are rooted at the center of the model. The theories and language of green economics provide sustainable policies with a compelling argument couched in the powerful language of money and economics.

The Conference will host international speakers who will present plenaries, workshops and case studies that are directed towards responding to the immediate challenges facing a world that must decide its course. Their work will highlight public policy requirements and the active participation of the business community necessary to encourage sustainable economies at the local, state, and national level. Successful banking strategies, business and innovations will be the three panels during which the themes of global environmental markets, micro-financing, green accounting, certification, complementary currencies and carbon credit exchange will be presented.

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International Permaculture Conference
Greening our Economy with the Principles of Permaculture
May 16-18, 2007
Convention Center, São Paulo, Brazil
Ticket Cost: USD $100


The Conference will be organized around three panels each of which will cover six themes. The panels are: Successful Banking Strategies, Successful Business Strategies and Successful Innovative Strategies.

Those wishing to participate must reserve their tickets on-line. All international participants must pay for tickets on-line at the time of reservation. For those who cannot pay on-line, special arrangements can be made with the IPC8 secretariat. Brazilian participants must pay by "boleto bancario". Some tickets will also be available at the door.

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8th International Permaculture Convergence
May 22-25, 2007
Pirenópolis, Goiás
USD $250

The Permaculture Convergence is a private four-day gathering organized on behalf of the larger global permaculture family. It provides a unique opportunity for permaculturalists to set continental and global agendas, make appropriate connections, and share innovative experiences. The event will be hosted in IPEC which is located on the outskirts of Pirenopolis. IPEC is a unique permaculture reference center and school and has been awarded national prizes for innovative architecture and technology.

To participate, delegates must be recognized Permaculture Design Certificate holders (PDC). Convergence working committees will be organized under major climate groupings and special attention paid to the issues of green technology, seeds and genetic resources, trade, academic degree certification, bioregionalism, women in development, ecovillages, permaculture schools, development of permaculture organizations, disaster strategies, and urban self-reliance. (Design of this program will be undertaken over the next several months.)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Convergence participation will be limited to 250 people. Prospective participants must pre-register online. There will be a selection process for qualified participants. Accepted participants will be notified via email of acceptance.

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