Conservation comment: Permaculture moves ahead

Floating ideas: Eco School interns paddle the permaculture waka.

The list of extreme weather events due to climate change in 2017 would fill this entire column and more.

In our region, farms have been hit hard by a repeating pattern of too much water and not enough water during two of the last three years.

Growing food is becoming harder and harder. Our garlic crop was greatly compromised by rust — likely brought on by the wet winter — resulting in the loss of thousands of dollars in value.

In the US, the Trump administration withdrew from the Paris Agreement and has been systematically dismantling environmental programmes ever since.
And, of course, David Attenborough's Blue Planet II brought to many of our attentions to the drastic plight of the world's oceans.

But I'd rather focus on good environmental news closer to home. 2017 was an outstanding year for sustainability and resilience projects in Whanganui.

Many will recall the incredible Zero Waste presentation by the "No-waste Nomads," Hannah Blumhardt and Liam Prince. Their knowledge and passion inspired a packed house at Mount St Joseph in November.

Earlier in the year, the Community Resilience Whanganui curtain bank was again a rousing success. With no budget and an all-volunteer team, it achieved results beyond fully funded curtain banks elsewhere. The venue was provided by YMCA Central in London St, where over 300 pairs of curtains were distributed in under two weeks.

Along with handing out curtains it provided high-quality advice on how best to manage moisture in homes that often leads to mould and poor health outcomes.

Helping people learn about how their homes function was also a major theme of last year's Adult Learners Week.

As has become tradition, Whanganui Permaculture Weekend fell on the heels of Adult Learners Week, highlighting innovative projects in our community and the diverse array of people who make them happen. Every year Whanganui gains more of a reputation as a permaculture hot spot in New Zealand with people travelling here to learn about local initiatives.

One such initiative that has gained both national and international attention is our small farm. Over the past three years we have transformed the former horse property into an exemplary permaculture farm that is ideal for teaching eco-design and regenerative agriculture.

A cornerstone of our education programme is the permaculture design certificate internship. This first-of-its-kind course has generated interest far and wide. We've hosted students from around the world. Anyone who has met our interns can vouch for their dedication and integrity.

Although smaller in size, our former permaculture property in Castlecliff has received even greater worldwide attention.

That project, which we called the Eco-Thrifty Renovation, is recognised as a model suburban retrofit. Earlier this month permaculture co-founder David Holmgren published a 600-page "encyclopedia" of small-section design titled RetroSuburbia. Our Castlecliff project is included as — from my understanding — the only project outside Australia.
We have been lucky to work with a small but skilled local community in Whanganui over the past seven years and look forward to many more.

Our annual Farm Weekend is on March 3-4 and includes workshops and tours.
Details: theecoschool.net/
what-we-do

Registration: theecoschool@ gmail.com

■Dr Nelson Lebo is an eco-design educator.