4-Day Introduction to Permaculture Lectures with local High Schools & Green Circle Farm in Singapore City, Singapore, May 2009
Singapore was our last stop on the Asia 2009 tour that took us from India to Malaysia and finally the island nation of Singapore. Sitting at nearly the equator, Singapore is a nation of 4 million concentrated mostly in what is a huge city. It is labeled as one of the cleanest city in the world and also “Fine City” where you can be fined for most things.
Despite these factors a lot of good environmental and social outreach is happening already. We merely went there to extend that knowledge and throw out some new ideas surrounding permaculture and community building.
Singapore proved to be a very busy time with our producers Ruyu and Andrew lining up lots of events in the most professional and well organized way. These included talks at High Schools, consultancy, and an Introduction to Permaculture workshop. The high school talks were very well attended and received thus enabling TreeYo to reach a different demographic than usual. They got to see the Introduction to Permaculture slideshow and had time for Q & A. One very interesting question came from a 15 year old girl saying this is great environmentally but what is the financial response of permaculture to the current economic crisis? Classic. Shows you how intelligent these kids are and also how the island is dominated by the banking institution.
The Introduction to Permacultrue workshop featured two night slideshow presentations by Doug on Permaculture Design and one on Patterns Understanding: Recognition and Application. These were very well attended and the talks proved to be very eye opening for many. This helped to completely fill the weekend hands on workshop. This was a blend on very hands on practical digging and planting and more community based lecture and activities. One of the major messages we are trying to send people in the tropics is the multi-level use of plants, farming on contour and alley cropping. We accomplished all of these and the farm, Green Circle Eco Farm, received many permaculture examples. Of course there was Gautier’s fortay of Banana circles making the count accomplished six in SE Asia. Doesn’t sound like much but they will be the inspiration for many more to come.
To read more about this event please see the following site:
TreeYo Permaculture 