TOWARDS PERMACULTURE CENTERS WORLDWIDE!

We at Permaculture Action Asia, Inc. (www.permacultureph.info) are
excited to be part of a worldwide solution! We are setting up 8 demo
sites Cebu province wide to show sustainability on the ground. These site will be economically viable, showcasing sustainable living, and will serve as teaching and learning centers for our people and international learners!

Inspired by Geoff Lawton (http://permaculture.org.au) and mentored by
Greg Knibbs (www.edge5.com.au), who also serves as Chairman of our
Board of Trustees, 1-14 Nov 2010 is our 1st “The Permaculture Institute” accredited 72 hour Permaculture Design Certificate Course taught by Greg Knibbs in beautiful Cebu City, Philippines, the tourism capital of our country. Learn with us and every course participant’s US$875 course fee will enable 40 low income rural beneficiaries to learn Permaculture for free in 2011!

Enrol now!

info@permacultureph.info
www.permacultureph.info

Permaculture Design Certificate Course
1-14 Nov 2010 Cebu City, Philippines
Teacher: Greg Knibbs

Held over a period of 12 days, the curriculum for this course is based
on subjects covered by Bill Mollison, widely regarded as the father of
permaculture, in his book Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual.

The course includes:

Introduction to Permaculture
Methods of design
Pattern understanding
Climate
Trees & their energy transactions
Designing against disaster; fire; drought
Soil
Water
The humid tropics
Dry lands stragies
Humid cool to cold climates
Aquacultures
Earthworking & repair
Effective aid
Right livelihoods
Village development

Enrol now!

info@permacultureph.info
www.permacultureph.info

Jensen Go Chow
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Permaculture Action Asia, Inc.

Permaculture Action Asia is off the ground!

Im excited to write about all that has happened in Permaculture here in Philippines!  We incorporated Permaculture Action Asia as a non-profit NGO (a non stock corporation registered with the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission) thanks to pro bono work by Atty Michal Gatchalian. Greg Knibbs has visited Cebu twice and Edge5 Permaculture has pledged to be a major donor/sponsor to us. We have connected with Governor Gwen Garcia, some Provincial Departments (Agriculture, and Environment and Natural Resources), and Provincial Board members. We are organizing 5 demonstration sites in Cebu City and around the province. A number of NGOs and civic service
organizations have also indicated their support, including RAFI, Philippine Business for Social Progress, Cebu Leads Foundation, Cebu Business Club and the Rotary Club of Cebu, among others. We are blessed to have Roy Lotzof’s help in reaching so many more sectors of our community, including the mining sector.

The locations of the future Permaculture demonstration sites will be:
1) Cebu City- a 70 hectare forest/timberland project in the hills of Pardo
2) Toledo- partnership with Carmen Copper and Local Government (mayor and senior staff in Toledo are very supportive)
3) Danao- partnership with Seri Mining, a soon to be open coal project
4) Argao- partnership with Provincial Board Member Hon, Wilfredo Caminero- also involved in Coal mining
5) A 5th Cebu Province site provided by PENRO (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) through director Richard Abella is being selected now.
The demo farms will be up and running by the end of 2010

We are hoping to secure funding for a full time Permaculture teaching institute to spread the message nationwide! We will have a handful of Permaculture teachers on staff working teaching full time.

Most of the Permaculture community worldwide works outside of academe, while here, we are striving to get academia, government and business behind our movement from the start and introduction of Permaculture to our country. The Dean of Architecture of University of San Carlos, Omar Maxwell Espina is suppporting us. Join us!

We are looking for students, partners, volunteers, interested parties, funding, grants, land, support (financial, moral or otherwise!), etc etc. We are so excited about the potential of Permaculture to:
1) feed our people with a diverse and organic diet;
2) beautify our landscape;
3) reverse so many of the negative effects our overexploitation of our
natural resources has caused to our country;
4) save energy costs and reduce carbon emmissions.
5) provide a livelihood

www.PermaculturePh.info

I.T. for Managers

Information Technology for Managers- Ateneo-Regis MBA Program

As a requirements of my MBA subject, Information Technology for Managers, I needed to complete a website with the following:
a.  Brief Description of Yourself. Post your best picture.
b.  Expectations from this course.
c.  Other activities that are of interest to you. Include pictures.

a.  Brief Description of Yourself. Post your best picture.
This can be found if you click on the link to ABOUT in the menu above. Also, pls have a look at my videos!

b.  Expectations from this course.
What I’m most looking forward to is hearing the experiences in IT and management from the other members in the course. An unexpected but such a wonderful part of my MBA is the vast number of industries and experiences that I hear and learn about from other members.

c.  Other activities that are of interest to you. Include pictures.
Besides business, Im setting up a couple of foundations www.Pundok.org and I want to help spread Permaculture here in Philippines. Pls see www.InternationalPermaculture.com
Pls see “ABOUT” and scroll down to the pictures below and my Capoeira academy website: www.Capoeira.ph

Thanks all and thanks prof King! See you all 24 May @ my Capoeira Festival Ayala Center Cebu Center Stage!

1st National Capoeira Festival!

My Capoeira Batizado in Sydney, with Mestre Cicatriz

Im so excited to invite you all to my first Batizado in Cebu! Capoeira is such a healing, holistic art, and above all else, fun! Capoeira gives the happiest healthiest high! And even those who will never do the art are still entertained!

With the support of my Capoeira master, Mestre Torpedo, and my “brother from another mother”, Coach Guerreiro, who will come all the way from Sydney, Sinhá Bahia de Capoeira National Batizado Festival will be held at Ayala Center Cebu over the weekend of 21-24 May 09. Im so grateful for the support of Ayala Center Cebu, Havaianas, Hilton, Nature’s Spring, Go Large, Mango Square Mall, Sikatuna Security, Rapide, Granstar Motors, Bite Magazine and our new media partners, Freeman and Cebu Daily. Others may come on board this week. Its such a huge task to bring this new art to Cebu, and it is really warms my heart that others can see the value of this incredible art. I really believe in the power of Capoeira is create happy, healthy, connected community and

Batizado literally means “Baptism” and the event is an initiation rite for new Capoeira students into the family of Capoeira. Come along and watch a thrilling display of the beauty and excitement that is Capoeira. Students will be baptized from all of our academies, high schools and primary schools from all around the country. Guests will include our Capoeira master, Mestre Torpedo, a native of Rio de Janeiro, Coach Guerreiro, all the way from Sydney, Australia, our Manila coaches and students, and invited Capoeiristas from around Asia.

 Info on www.Capoeira.ph

p.s. Mestre Torpedo’s batizado will be in Manila on the weekend before 16 May! I cant wait!

Mountain Barangays Visit in Argao

Made a trip with Joe Gapas, a former regional director of Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Stephen Scott, the Australian Embassy’s Deputy Head of Mission to Philippines, to mountain barangays in Argao, about 2 hours drive from Cebu City. It was great to see some of the tax money I paid back in Australia going to really make difference in the lives of people so so far away!

That far away they are very disconnected from the rest of the world, very little resources, without paved roads, long distances from schools and little to eat- PERFECT place for Pundok and Permaculture to start at! How can we not spread this knowledge to everyone?!? We know that a 65 sq meter permaculture mandala garden can feed a family of 5- that means there should be no-one starting in Philippines (or d world!).

Xmas and New Year fun at the Maldives!

It was a glorious christmas and new year at the Conrad Maldives! Its a stunning island resort, where rooms are up to US$8000 a night. The resort was twice voted ’Best Hotel in the World’ and several times ‘Best Resort’. We did lots of Capoeira for the guests with shows for xmas and new year’s eve and daily Capoeira workshops for guests. My Capoeira master, Mestre Torpedo, Canguru and Mariposa and I were the Sinha Bahia de Capoeira members who made up the show team! (I did miss being away from family for the holidays tho!)

Permaculture Design Course – Cebu 2009!

Really excited to have confirmed a PDC in Cebu City for May 2009! I’m working closely with Greg Knibbs to introduce permaculture in a big way to Cebu province and nationwide. Lots and lots of work to do until the day of the course. I’m looking forward to the course and hoping to get lots of businesses, NGOs, and government behind it. I’ll keep you posted on developments!

Hello World!

Welcome! This is my first post-

Why blog? coz Aaron thinks that people may wanna know about what I’m doing in Philippines (running away from d rat race, retiring to d beach, adopting kids, coming home/back to my roots, starting up a couple of foundations, teaching a little bit of Capoeira, doing ethical business, starting social enterprises, giving everything away, enjoying life, etc, etc), so here I am, blogging, and here you are, reading! But mainly, I’d love to share with others the progress of Pundok and my advocacy in promoting permaculture here in Cebu province. And these works belong to us all-

Pundok will connect children around the world so that they can learn about each other and cultures, and hopefully, help each other. The existing site has a basic outline of what I’m working towards. We are presently, a small team, with a little support from my Rotary Club, my class mates from my University of San Carlos, Strategic Social Entrepreneurship course, and Singles for Christ Cebu chapter. We need you around d world to make it work…

For permaculture here in Cebu, very very few people have heard of it, and yet, it has incredible potential to:

1) feed our people with a diverse and organic diet;
2) beautify our landscape;

3) reverse so many of the negative effects our overexploitation of our natural resources has caused to our country;

4) save energy costs and reduce carbon emmissions;

5) provide a livelihood.

I’m really excited to now have the support of Greg Knibbs, who I met with last Saturday, and we are working towards setting up
-an urban demonstration site
-a rural demonstration site
-a non profit school/institute
-a consultancy for property developers and government
- curriculums for high school and colleges
- socialized housing projects

Hopefully, some of you will help in either or both of the above to projects- through prayers, love, input, ideas, time, skills, mentorship, land, cash or any other way you can think of!

But pls be patient, it may take a while to get this site complete, and even longer to get the 2 above social enterprises moving, but it’ll come (what else have I got to do with my life?)

- slowly, but surely

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