International Education Initiative Shoots for One Planet Living
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 12.21.07
We’re pretty familiar with the One Planet Living (OPL) concept that was developed by a partnership between the Bioregional Development Group and WWF. We’ve heard from one of its leading proponents about how OPL is taking off in North America, seen how it could be used to redesign British suburbs according to the latest in sustainable thinking, and watched as plans for giant flagship OPL communities around the world take shape.
Now, via the newsletter of the Permaculture Association Britain, we’ve heard that WWF are teaming up with Pestalozzi International Village to create an international education centre along permaculture and OPL principles [for those unfamiliar with permaculture, check out this mini-movie, and our interview with co-founder David Holmgren]. Pestalozzi is an organization that brings together young gifted students from around the world that would otherwise have little access to education, and offers them a two-year scholarship to eventually take the International Baccalaureate Diploma, a globally recognized qualification. Through the partnership with WWF, Pestalozzi will expose future leaders of the world to cutting-edge practices and concepts in sustainability. This from the newsletter:
The site is currently being redeveloped under the guidance of One Planet Living, the company responsible for BedZED among other Zero Carbon building projects. We have also designed a two-acre global garden on the principles of permaculture, planning not only to make the principles demonstrable to the students here and the various groups we host, but also to experiment in growing the staples our international students are used to. The rest of the 170 acre site is to be used for permaculture courses and the design and implementation that brings.What of the future then? A Zero Carbon site and conference centre set in 170 acres of integrated permaculture managed land with outreach and international students training here then returning to projects and centres set up around the world.
