I’ve always been very interested in ways of taking care of our needs which are beneficial for the planet.  My personality wants to solve problems and I think that’s why I ended up in IT.  So whenever I see something that solves a problem in a way that is good for the planet, I’m blown away and I research it like crazy.

the first bit of inspiration

I was in college when I was watching National Geographic and it was on deserts, but they had a segment where they showed a lady who lives in the desert and planted trees there.  She planted palms I believe and used mulch to capture rainwater.  I don’t remember well enough to say if she was using permaculture or not, but it blew my mind that you could reverse desertification by planting trees.  That was when I realized how important trees really are.

Since I was in college though, I didn’t have any time to research agriculture, so I left it for a while.

I wish I could remember what the video was.  I tried searching for it, but I wasn’t able to.  If anyone knows the video I’m talking about, please let me know!

the next kick of inspiration

I got into a phase of watching TED talks.  I found them right up my alley.  People presenting their ideas and solutions to issues we face.  If you haven’t ever watched a TED talk, I would recommend you look into it.  They’ve had speakers like Bill Gates, JJ Abrams, etc.

While searching for TED talks, I stumbled upon a talk by Vandana Shiva (who is one of the most brilliant people alive today IMHO), and she was talking about sustainable and organic agriculture.  There is so many layers to her lectures, so I’m just going to post a video rather than write 10000 words on her.

my introduction to permaculture

Up to this point, I had never heard of the word permaculture.  Then while looking for that video I first told you about, I found this one by Geoff Lawton which is better.  This video amazed me because they took a desert plot in Jordan which is one of the driest countries in the world and made a forest in it.  Not only did they make a forest, they made one that requires no watering, reverses the horrid effects of chemical fertilization and over grazing and feeds people.

Everyone in the world should watch this.  It is incredible.

Since watching that video, I’ve watched hundreds of other videos on permaculture.  I’m reading Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway and often I wish I could learn everything by osmosis so it would go faster.

in conclusion

I could write pages and pages and pages on this, but I feel like I’m pushing it when it comes to keeping people’s attention, so I’m going to leave this post where it is and write more later.

Let me know how you like the videos, and if you agree or disagree with anything.  I’m happy to hear everyone’s thoughts.

Thanks for reading.

Caleb