The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia

I've been a bona fide boot-strapper for 20+ years. I put that to work as a home energy consultant.

Growing up in a farming and construction environment led me to many of the values and ideas that I heard Bill Mollison articulate in a 1983 design course he gave in Tasmania. For me, the vision and clarity that Bill put forth galvanized three decades of personal experience, in practical work, in the bureaucracy and in the fields of geography and community development. The collective permaculture experience that has evolved over the decades provides the essential approach that I'd been grasping for while the conventional models were driving me straight into the 'ditch' of life. Thanks to all pioneers that have kept permaculture growing for three+ decades, long enough that I could finally discover it.

My skills background is deep in building construction, mechanical and woodworking, and particularly in residential energy consulting, which combines technical skill with public education. I completed a master's degree, looking at knowledge management in planning community-based ecotourism. This research built on three years in international development with Save the Children Fund. My research was inspired when I encountered the World Wildlife Fund and realized that they did not know, what they knew. I've been honing my communication skills in the meanwhile, both as a speech-writer and a designer.

At present I'm studying permaculture from a 'survival library' I've assembled and am applying this to a half acre site in the Gulf Island's. Small-scale food processing is my goal. I would also like to explore the use of knowledge management strategies in permaculture (e.g., practitioner-driven knowledge networks).