Someone in one of the online permie groups* shared this article from PermacultureNews.org, about why one might want to take a Permaculture Design Certificate course.
An excerpt from the article by Jonathon Engels:
The concepts within permaculture design change the way you see the world. Looking from the window on a bus ride or walking through the park, the landscape becomes this vibrant piece of the planet thirsty for life. You’ll want to design it. You’ll want to fix mistakes you see in lawns and houses. You’ll have this enrapturing understanding of what trees, animals, streets, machines, and corporations are doing.
Rather than giving you a petition to sign or senator to call, as we see at the end of life-altering documentaries, permaculture texts give a blueprint for how to start making changes at home. In fact, they almost demand that you do so.
And my own experiene: I took my first PDC in 2005. Same as many other people who have taken Permaculture Design Certificate courses, I had a profound shift. For me, it was so profound that I immediately knew I’d found “what I wanted to do for real.” I immediately started a new career, helping my local permaculture teachers publicize and fill their classes. I also have co-taught parts of PDCs over the years.
AND — over the years, I have been a student at multiple PDCs, including ones that I helped organize. Each one brought me different layers of awareness and practical application, and each one formed its own community — and I still keep in touch with at least some of the fellow students from each class. We form a multi-layered, geographically decentralized network of resilience, shared skills, and emotional support.
Currently I am taking my fifth PDC! The online experience is very powerful and introduces a whole new dimension. The community I’ve met through the Transformative Adventures PDC feels like some sort of deep cosmic tribe. Soul-puppies, I call us!
And, I’m really looking forward to participating in the online PDC from my fellow Floridians at Grow Permaculture as well!
All of the time and money I’ve invested in PDCs and other non-mainstream education (most notably consciousness training) has come back to me many thousand-fold. Monetarily, AND socially. (And I consider the social capital far more valuable and durable than the monetary ROI, tho I certainly recognize the need for that monetary ROI in our current society!)
* Permaculture Money, Livelihoods, and Society via Transformative Adventures — that Facebook group I’m constantly raving about lately. It’s great to see so many of you joining the rich community we are weaving there!