PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Alissa Sears
Christie Communications
alissa@christiecomm.com
(805) 969-3744
FIRST ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATION COURSE ANNOUNCED
Quail Springs Permaculture launches Permaculture Design Certification Course
for International Development Professionals and Social Entrepreneurs
CUYAMA, CA – FEBRUARY 1, 2012 - 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty surviving on less than US$1.25 per day. More than two thirds of them live in developing countries. With the projected population growth to over 9.1 billion by 2050, global food production will need to increase by 70 percent per IFAD’s Rural Poverty Report 2011. With such heightened awareness of the need for sustainable solutions for international development, social entrepreneurship, and community building, permaculture has continued to rise as one of the most effective integrated, sustainable design methodologies that provides the framework for designing landscapes and living systems that promote stability, biodiversity, and resilience for individuals and communities around the world.
Quail Springs Permaculture is proud to announce the launch of their first annual Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) Course developed exclusively for International Development Professionals and Social Entrepreneurs hosting a dynamic lineup of world-renowned instructors from June 18, 2012 through July 1, 2012 at Quail Springs’ site in Southern California.
Quail Springs’ two-week course will address holistic design, increased food security, community-based development, waste cycling, sustainability dedication, clean water and drought proofing, health, nutrition, sustainable vocations and a collaborative strategy in the participants future projects and endeavors. The course will provide hands-on instruction and knowledge from renowned professionals in their respective fields to help participants fold integrated design strategies into international sustainable development projects.
Since its inception as an interconnected design process in Australia during the 1970s, permaculture has taken root worldwide. Permaculture is currently practiced in over 160 countries with an estimated 850,000 grassroots projects on the ground.
“We are extremely excited about the breadth of application in international development that will be provided by our roster of world-renowned instructors for this unique course,” says Warren Brush, co-founder of Quail Springs Permaculture. “With course participants ranging from social entrepreneurs to NGOs, community-based organizations to impact investment groups, we feel that this course will be incredibly valuable in helping participants to develop the skills, strategies, methodologies, and resources necessary to create sustainable international development strategies and programs needed more than ever before.”
Quail Springs’ PDC course offers a full spectrum of relevant practices applicable for International Development and Social Entrepreneurship. Non-Governmental Organizations, Government Agencies, academic institutions and community organizers working in international development and social entrepreneurship are encouraged to participate in the course to increase the sustainable nature of their respective developmental projects.
Aside from the participants, the instructors, guests and hosts alike, span an impressive professional background. Headed by Warren Brush, an international permaculture educator as well as the designer and co-founder of Quail Springs, the course also boasts, Loren Luyendyk (the founder of Surfers Without Borders), Julius Piti (Zimbabwean permaculture designer and teacher), Alissa Sears (Global Betterment Director at Christie Communications), Andrew Jones (permaculture instructor and designer), Jeannette Acosta (indigenous permaculture designer and educator), Cathe’ Fish (founder of Practical Permaculture Institute), Lyn Hebenstreit (Co-founder of Global Resource Alliance), Tara Blasco (Co-Founder of Global Resource Alliance), Daniel Parra-Hensel (Permaculture designer and educator), Pete Schwartz (Cal Poly professor and International Programs Coordinator) and Brenton Kelly (principal farm educator for Quail Springs Permaculture).
The Permaculture Design Certification Course employs knowledgeable instructors, who will cover five overarching sections supplemented by applicable hands on learning, design exercises and systems thinking among other development strategies. Starting with an introduction centered on creative problem solving as a learning process, the course will cover Eco-literacy for sustainability, sustainable design, designing for sustainability and invisible structures. These combined topics enable the participants to develop a skill set and practices essential for a more sustainable future.
“Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract -sustainable development – and turn it into a reality for all the world’s people,” stated Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General.
About Quail Springs
Quail Springs is a non-profit organization and community collaboration dedicated to the multi-generational learning journey of seeding and tending the gardens of human, land-based culture in a sustainable way. Quail Springs strives to inspire people and organizations to learn the languages of the land and one another to live in accordance with the infinitely diverse web of ecology and its vitality through many generations.
Quail Springs’ work has expanded to other sites regionally and globally. With programs now offered around central and southern California, throughout the US, and internationally, Quail Springs is dedicated to providing quality education programs and germinating demonstration sites.
For further information, please visit www.quailsprings.org. To schedule an interview or for media related inquiries, please contact Alissa Sears at (805) 969-3744 or via email at alissa@christiecomm.com
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Quail Springs First Annual Permaculture Design Course for International Development
June 18-July1, 2012
Early Bird registration for ends March 1, 2012
For more information and pre-registration, please visit www.quailsprings.org (http://www.quailsprings.org)