My boyfriend and I were out hiking for the last couple of days and began discussing the idea of a non-profit
Permaculture Scholarship organization that will connect young people or those without the means to
permaculture education and resources with donors who are stoked about
permaculture. It would also serve as an Advisory to help connect people with opportunities that suit their needs, within the
permaculture world.
I began thinking about this after pondering the
Permaculture Voices Conference coming up, feeling like I
should be able to go to this, but also not being able to justify spending my money while I am pinching pennies to save for
land. I am a few years past college now but I have often thought that if I were 18 again and I had $100,000 I would probably choose to spend the money differently, like: go to EVERY permaculture
class, workshop, conference, and internship I could to become a highly-qualified
permie. There is plenty of free information out there, to be sure, but I don't see why scholarship money shouldn't be sent toward the incredible paying opportunities as well. Not to mention, send some funding to the many permaculture educators out there. I went to college and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree, and I would have to say that the time I've spent after college
WWOOFing, traveling on my own, reading permaculture
books, listening to Paul's podcasts, and going to workshops, has taught me more than I learned at my university. But I would never have been able to go to college without the innumerable scholarships and grants available, and I often wish that type of money would be available for the more unconventional, permaculture-related educational opportunities that are out there. I'd like to go study with
Geoff Lawton in a 10-week internship, get my
Sepp Holzer certification, intern with
Joel Salatin, learn from Dave Jacke, go to the Permaculture Voices conference etc. And I'm sure there are plenty of other people out there who would like to do the same. Maybe there is a way. And I am willing to get the ball rolling.
Jack Spirko recently said about the Permaculture Voices Conference that: "The education this will represent would put a year of college to shame, this is all the stuff that actually works and has been proven to work." If this is true, then there should be scholarship money out there that can support these types of opportunities! There has to be a way to connect sponsors who support the spread of permaculture with the next generation of Permaculture Leaders. And the opportunities out there can rival a college education. I would like to see there being a surge of educational scholarship money to promote this style of learning.
My thought is that it would require starting a non-profit organization, finding donors, and developing an application process to distribute the money to those who need it. This would not be intended to reward the lazy, but reward those who are serious about permaculture who don't have a way to pay, whether that's paying for a
PDC or sending them to intern with Geoff in Australia. This would also require developing a database of information, like: all the
PDC's available, internship opportunities, workshops, conferences, and even volunteer jobs.
There would be a screening process. Say, if a 19-year-old applied who is new to permaculture, I would advise them to go WWOOF for a year, and maybe provide the $40 fee in scholarship money and tell them to report back to us a year later. At that point maybe we could help pay for a PDC. There may be others who would greatly benefit from completing the
Sepp Holzer certification, or a Geoff Lawton internship. I can also see a portion of the funds going toward purchasing books, videos and other materials to distribute to those who can benefit from them. This will support the authors, and spread knowledge.
The idea here is to train up the next generation of Permaculture Leaders by providing the means and direction to do so, while at the same time paying educators what they deserve. This could not take the place of a college education and degree, but in my mind it is certainly a great alternative. It would provide incentive and education to send people off to fill niches in society or start their own farm. There has been talk about older generations wanting to find younger people to hand off their land to. There would also be an emphasis on trying to connect these people with one another and finding jobs for others in their field of interest.
I am a few years out of college now, but would like nothing more than to have the opportunity to study with some of the Permaculture Greats and I am sure there are others out there as well. I'd like to see a wave of people with the means to take advantage of some of these opportunities. Like the 4-day conference that would put a year of college to shame. I'm just not exactly sure where to begin, if this would work, or where to find the donors, but I'm willing to put some time in. My expertise is that I can understand what value this type of education can offer, and I have been a part of many different programs. I have wwoofed all over the world, been a part of conservation corps, applied for lots of scholarships, and have a degree in print media communication. We need help! What do you think? Will this work? And where do we begin? The intention would be to begin small, by serving as advisors and developing our database of permaculture educational opportunities, and would eventually hope to get some donors on board so we can begin sending people to some bigger events.
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