Our sister organisation "Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast" (CASSC) has announced some exciting new projects which are already well under way.

The Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre, which will run courses and act as an information hub on climate change, peak oil and permaculture solutions.

Time For An Oil Change - a permaculture course which aims to implement the Sunshine Coast's very first "Energy Descent Action Plan".

Very exciting stuff! Let's hope we can learn from their example and implement similar ideas here in the hinterland!

See below the line for more info on the upcoming course

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It’s “Time for an Oil Change”

A new direction in permaculture education

Peak oil and climate change - two major global threats converging at this point in history. The effects of our rampant use of oil are now being seen in global temperature increases, catastrophic weather events and irreparable damage to the environment. We have created a society that is almost totally dependant on the belief that there will be an endless supply of cheap, easy to find oil, but that is coming to an end as the world faces global peak oil.

Permaculture, Peak Oil & Climate Change

Permaculture was created by Australians David Holmgren and Bill Mollison in response to the 1970’s US oil shocks and the 1972 Club of Rome report. Recognising that society’s over-dependence on oil was totally unsustainable, permaculture offers a clear, proven vision of preparedness, adaptation and social reorganisation in the face of the convergent global crises of peak oil and climate change. Permaculture is about creating intricately connected, productive, co-operative communities. Permaculture is conscious, sustainable design - whether designing a food garden in your own backyard or an entire society.

While well known and internationally proven as a successful food production system, few people are aware of permaculture’s broader application as a reorganisational tool for energy descent in all areas of society including; the built environment, education, health, land stewardship, community governance, finances, economics, employment, culture and community.

It’s Time for an Oil Change

The Time for an Oil Change course has been developed by Sunshine Coast permaculturists Sonya Wallace and Janet Millington. Using David Holmgren’s text: Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability as its basis, the course explores and begins the design process for the social reorganisation necessary for a successful energy descent.

Outcomes

Students will;

1.      Study the permaculture design principles of David Holmgren in direct relation to their application as solutions to peak oil and climate change. These principles can be applied to; the student’s own personal and home energy descent preparation, neighbourhood projects, local community projects, through to projects at a bio-regional level.

2.      Students will also contribute to the creation of the Sunshine Coast Energy Descent Action Plan. We will deliver the plan to Council/s in increments, rather than compiling an entire document covering all aspects, due to the need to urgently begin the relocalisation process. The Maroochy Shire Council has been approached and is very receptive to the idea of an Energy Descent Action Plan. We are in the process of contacting the other Sunshine Coast councils. [Energy Descent Action Planning follows the successful work of Rob Hopkins in Kinsale Ireland.]

Course format

Introductory workshop – Saturday July 28 from 9am

An introduction to the overall course. The full day workshop will cover the reasoning behind and the full scope of the course, introduce the texts, the content, define the weekly themes, the framework for the course and the concept of an energy descent action plan. Includes; what to bring, support available, expected outcomes, begins examining the principles, dvd screenings, group activities, goal setting.

Weeks 1-10 – Saturdays 11am-4pm Aug 4-Oct 6

Each week we will look at aspects of society and how we need to prepare for energy descent and relocalisation on a massive scale. Weekly sessions are outlined in the following pages. This is a trial course – the first one we are running, a test drive of the concept, curriculum and framework. Feedback from students will assist us in refining and improving the course for the future.

Cost

Cost is reduced for this initial course as it is a trial. It will be $20 per week and $30 for the introductory workshop - $230 in total. All monies from this trial course will be put back into buying resources (books, dvds etc) for the Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre to aid in community awareness raising and education about these important issues.

Location

The course will be held in the Blue House (part of the community gardens) at 41 Farrell Street, Yandina.

Educators

Janet Millington – M.Ed. CA, Dip, Permaculture, Cert IV Aquacult. Production

Janet began practicing Permaculture in 1979. She has now been teaching the Permaculture Design Certificate for 12 years. She was one of four writers of the Accredited Permaculture Training package which is owned by the Permaculture Community and running all over Australia with a thousand graduates to date. She is now working with schools in Newcastle, Scone, Eumundi, and Brisbane and writing a book for school gardens with Carolyn Nuttall. Janet and her husband have designed and implemented a 60 acre permaculture property based on crayfish, bamboo and farm forestry at Eumundi. Janet is a sustainable systems designer, a permaculture teacher and has extensive experience in community development.

Sonya Wallace – GradCertPR, MComm (underway), Cert IV Permaculture

A student of Janet’s, Sonya completed her PDC last October and has been living the permaculture lifestyle with her partner on a small acreage in Eudlo for the past two years. With a background in corporate communications, crisis management, media liaison, community education and communication campaigns for state governments and universities, she now focuses her energies on working with Janet to develop and deliver practical community solutions to energy descent. Current projects include; the Time for an Oil Change course, the establishment of the Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre, creating key stakeholder consultative processes and raising community awareness about energy descent as part of community and regional preparedness on the Sunshine Coast.

* Guest lecturers from specialised areas will also assist in the delivery of the course.

Links

We have links with David Holmgren, the Sunshine Coast Permaculture Network, international permaculture networks, community and school permaculture gardens, relocalisation networks internationally, the Maroochy Shire Council, the University of the Sunshine Coast, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil – Sydney, Rob Hopkins (author of the Kinsale EDAP report) and the Energy Bulletin website.

Further information;

Sonya Wallace                 
p :: 5457 3961 or 0408 013 012                                                   
e :: sonyawallace (at) yahoo (dot) com                                                      

Janet Millington
p :: 5442 7200
e :: miltech (at) bigpond (dot) com

Time for an Oil Change

Introductory Workshop – July 28 – course introduction – “How did we get here?” session

The reasoning behind and full scope of the course, introduction to texts, course content, weekly themes and energy descent action planning. Includes; How did we get here? A brief overview of climate change & peak oil, introduction to permaculture principles, dvd screening, group activities, and goal setting.

Week 1 – Aug 4
“Social Breakdown or Social Breakthrough?”
Permaculture , climate change and peak oil. Permaculture principles – an overview.

Week 2 – Aug 11
“You can’t work on an empty stomach”
Food production, supply and security. Relocalisation of our food supply, school & community gardens, home food production

Week 3 – Aug 18
Waste not, want not
Water, waste & energy – domestic – regional level. Technology, personal responsibility

Week 4 – Aug 25
“Setting the foundation for the future”
Infrastructure & transportation. Using existing oil supplies to build a post carbon future

Week 5 – Sept 1
“A roof over our heads”
The built environment. Materials, waste, water, energy use, retrofitting, developments, domestic and commercial.

Week 6 – Sept 8
“Healthy Communication”
Health systems, personal health, future communication, information retrieval

Week 7 – Sept 15
“You can teach an old dog new tricks”
Education, reskilling, education options, community education, school education,

Week 8 – Sept 22
“Money, money, money”
Finances, economics, relocalisation of our economies, future employment opportunities, debt, the future of tourism,

Week 9 – Sept 29
“Finding common ground”
Public land uses, community governance, land stewardship, public land for food production, neighbourhoods, community building, community support systems,

Week 10 – Oct 6
“From little things, big things grow”
Attitudes – personal and societal, future strategies, networking, support, moving forward, working around impediments. Where to from here?