Report From the Americas

Wes Adler, Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara PC Net, PC Credit Union, Hope Dance Mag editor, South Coast PC guild.
Margie, Santa Barbara - community development Santa Barbara PC Net.
Peter Bane: Earth Haven - teacher, PC activist for 15 years.
Keith Johnson, Earth Haven - web guy, bioregional congress.
Liona, New York/Mexico - eco-village network, gaia university
Christian Hawsen – PC natural building, society permaculture
Shanon – Alaska, Anchorage, Peru and Haiti

Healthy cross fertilisation between North America and the Portuguese and Spanish speaking Latin America regions.
Looked thematically at the development across the hemisphere at:
Education and accreditation
Teacher training advancing at 4 per year on the west coast.
Distribution of teaching very broad
Brazil running 40 courses a year.
US/Canada running about 30 courses a year in all regions, though more on the west coast.
Mexico, Bahamas, Central Guatemala, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Cuba and Argentina are running large numbers of courses.
There are 4-5000 students who have completed a PDC in the US and Canada with about 50 teachers plus 100 others in support.
Mexico’s Chiapas movement, Hue Hue Cueto ‘Guardians of the Earth’, 4-6 courses a year, have developed own centres leading to a network of grass root networks, converging NGO groups to define what is sustainable development.
Permaculture is reaching out into other areas; it is accredited in Brazil through a faculty of architecture.
The training network is extending through the eco-village network and through the gaia university network.

Efforts in media, especially in Radio have been successful with some TV: ‘Sustainable World’ in Santa Barbara on KCSB, ‘The Farm’ in Tennessee, Farm Radio Development Network in Canada, Helen Samuels ‘the Punks in Mexico City’, Tienna Viva, Prometheus Radio teach radio, local cable in Sta Barbara.
Indymedia all over the world, can post info.
Video: The Farm, the Bullfrog in PA, VA, Blackrange NM, Katherine Wanek -> to Int Distribute.
Publishing: Brazil – Pinenopolis, Escolas Sustentaro, PC mag, goal to have equivalent in Spanish. Building the media centre. Mexico PC design, Alescandra Cavalieno, bioregional Launa Cudi Bieuvebidoall… Argentina 12 week courses in English and Spanish. US PC Activist, Hope Dance, Communities Mag, PC Drylands, Talking Leaves.
Distribution through Chelsea Green (Greenbooks), New Societies, Creating a file of Diana Christian.
The PC Activist established and strong point of networking through list-serves, etc.
A magazine in Brazil being re-organised most likely into a more radical political format.
Books: Gaia’s Garden, Edible Forest Gardens, Escola Estenade (Portuguese publication), Rosemary Morrow. Two versions of ‘Intro to PC’ translated into Spanish – one is a poor translation.
Magazines: Communities, Hope Dance, Talking Leaves.

5 years of the PC credit union
with regular shows in Canada, Tennessee, California and Toronto. The Indymedia network has been strong, and there is some TV and Video emerging.

PC is reaching into the political area

Not formally in Canada.

Week long course.

Eco-village Training
Cuba urban agroforestry, 20,000 providing more than 65% of food for city of Havana.
Brazil had goal of 5 demonstration sites, have 3 complete, but required human personal so switched to schools. Redesigned the curriculum to include organisational capacity, accounting, applications, etc. A 4 month course that very successful and getting 2 more schools next year.
Established a school in Haiti and hope to in Brazil next year.
EcoVersity course receiving students from 11 countries and 100 organisations which feed back into other projects. => Need to achieve scale very quickly as 26,000 sq km of forest destroyed in Amazon last year.
Social Permaculture, Zapatista movement, learning from local projects which are appropriate to the moment – building, communication, healers, eco-village in Peru.
In 96 the ‘Caravana’ mobile teaching unit began with the ‘call of the hummingbird’, uses activities and theatre to teach others, an approach which has spawned may others.
Continental Bioregional Congress coming up on the 19th August that is moving into the Organic farming network.
‘Common Vision’ vegetable diesel bus, planted 1000 trees in schools, arrive with music, dancing and big performance.