Week 1 - State & Challenges of the World

In these two videos, we explore the need for Permaculture and what some of the issues are we face on the planet are.

State of the World

To understand the reasons why we do Permaculture, we need to examine the problems we face to get a picture of what issues we are solving. This video looks at the Earth at night in order to get a new perspective on resource distribution.

Download Intro to Permaculture State of the World Video Transcript

 

References:

World Energy Statistics Links to an external site.

Map of Global Carbon Emissions Links to an external site.

World Shipping Routes Links to an external site.

Many of the world's conflicts and problems seem to make some sense when we look at the distribution of energy consumption. The lights on Earth represent the standard of living from a Western perspective; transportation, consumer goods, economic activity and technological development. When designing Permaculture systems, we want to have a wide perspective on the world so we can best assess the forces at work wherever we are.

Challenges of the World

The ecological challenges we face are daunting, but Permaculture provides solutions. Watch this video to identify some of the problems and see how Permaculture addresses them.

Download Intro to Permaculture Challenges of the World Video Transcript

 

Featured Links:

Environmental Education Media Project Links to an external site.

Commonland: 4 Returns From Landscape Restoration Links to an external site.

Special thanks to John D. Liu for permission to use his video footage

Here we look at the causes of land degradation, and then several snapshots of how a Permaculture perspective can reverse the problems. While this video introduces a general overview of a complex problem, throughout the rest of the course we explore the details of how to restore landscapes and stabilize the climate.