The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia

I grew up in Minnesota, born to Southern Alberta folks.

My introduction to permaculture came through interests in design efficiency--the first book that got me into the ideas was "Natural Capitalism" by Amory Lovins and Paul Hawken. From there it was "Cradle to Cradle," then books about sustainable building design, with interests in earthbag, cob, and strawbale building.

I'm currently managing a 700 square kilometer project south of Makkah in Saudi Arabia. We hope to have our 28 hectare demonstration site well-established by 2013, and a wide-scale implementation well on its way by 2016. Our project includes flash-flood control and harvesting, reforestation of a desert, desert agriculture, sustainable building, solar energy, aquifer replenishment, public health and education initiatives, and in the end we hope to build an off-grid sustainable village populated by settled Bedou who will have learned all these systems.