Permaculture Design Certificate Course
September 11th to December 18th
Are you ready to become an Earth Healer?
Earth Activist Training’s Permaculture Design Certificate course (PDC) is our longest-running and most requested course– we’ve been teaching it for 20 years. This is the course where all of your learning about resilient land management and climate adaptation begins.
We are so excited to welcome you home to Earth Activist Training!
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
What is a Permaculture Design Certificate
A Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) is an internationally recognized 72 hr. design course.
Earth Activist Training’s PDC builds on the basic curriculum by adding a grounding in spirit and community activism.
Join lead instructors Starhawk and Charles Williams, along with guest presenters for an in-depth exploration of permaculture tools and techniques, along with hands-on interactive activities.
COURSE INFORMATION
- Location: Virtual
- Dates: September 11th to December 18th
- Time: Wednesdays 6-8pm PST
- All live sessions are recorded and closed-captioned.
- Access to resources, documentation and recorded class content in virtual classroom.
- A certificate will be awarded upon successful completion of this course
- Helpful Tool:Time Zone Converter
QUESTIONS?
- We are here for you. Please reach out at: support@earthactivisttraining.org
PAYMENT
- We are dedicated to making our courses as accessible as possible by offering:
- Early Bird tuition: $890!
- Full certificate tuition: $1000-$1200
- Four part payment plans: Four monthly payments of $275
- Alumni tuition: $100 to retake this course if you have already taken it before
- Diversity scholarships available: See below
- Group Discounts: See below
- All amounts are in US dollars
- See below for details
ABOUT THIS COURSE
Explore solutions to climate change.
Gain strategies and tools for resilient living.
Artist’s Credit: Jessica Perlstein, designed for Starhawk’s book, The Fifth Sacred Thing. ..
YOUR LEARNING JOURNEY
Do you feel called as an Earth Healer? This course is for you.
WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?
EVERYONE!
We firmly believe that everyone can benefit from learning how to apply the tools and insights of permaculture toward the broad goal of earth regeneration. Permaculture has solutions not just for landscapes and agricultural systems, but also for social design, public policy, and survival strategies for these challenging times.
WHAT TO EXPECT
- 15-week course with weekly assignments building to a final design projects
- Two hours of live class per week
- Three to five hours of homework per week
- Online support through dedicated teaching assistants
- A private class forum: Earth Activist Training Online Network- Mighty Networks for sharing information and resources
- Recordings of each session and class materials will be available for a year after the class completes
REGENERATION IS THE ANSWER
Permaculture has solutions not just for landscapes and agricultural systems, but also for social design, public policy and survival strategies for these challenging times.
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES
In this course, you will learn how to design human systems that mimic natural systems using renewable resources. We will cover principles and practices for how to read the landscape, heal soil, cleanse and harvest water, drought-proof land, make compost and biochar, sequester carbon, and bioremediate toxins.
HANDS-ON LEARNING
We’re not just virtual! Hands-on projects that you will practice during your learning journey include: site mapping, water harvesting , greywater and roof catchment, creating compost, sheet mulching, seed starting and plant propagation, an introduction to natural building concepts (cob, straw-clay, and plastering), and a collaborative design project.
WE ARE ALWAYS HERE TO HELP
Please reach out to our Student Support Team at: support@earthactivisttraining.org.
Permaculture curriculum
Graduating students will have completed 72-hours of approved Permaculture Design Certificate curriculum in the following areas
Design:
- Observation
- Reading the landscape
- Site analysis
- Zones and Sectors
- Mapping
- Design tools and processes
- Collaborative design projects
- Broadacre permaculture
- Urban permaculture
- Permaculture for gatherings, mobilizations, and disasters
Water:
- Creating healthy water cycles in living systems
- Water harvesting
- Swales, ponds, and earthworks
- Keyline systems
- Erosion control
- Rain catchment for roofs
- Greywater and blackwater systems
Earth:
- Soil structure
- Soil biology
- Soil building
- Compost
- Sheet mulch
- Compost teas and ferments
- Mushrooms
- Bioremediation and mycoremediation (mushrooms & fungi)
- Biochar
Plants:
- Plant needs
- Plant guilds and polycultures
- Cover crops
- Agroforestry
- Food forests
- Plant propagation
- Tree care: pruning and planting, choosing varieties
- Sustainable forestry
Animals:
- Animals in our systems
- Raising and feeding “microherds”—healthy soil microbial communities
- Beneficial insects
- Bees
- Worms
- Humane treatment of animals
- Poultry
- Livestock for the homestead
- Holistic management grazing systems
- Role of predators
- Wildlife habitat
- Alternatives for vegans
Climate:
- Climate change and strategies for adaption and mitigation
- Microclimates
- Windbreaks
- Drylands
- Tropics
- Wetlands
- Cold climates
Energy:
- Alternative and renewable energy: evaluating and designing systems
- Active and passive solar
- Wind
- Microhydro
- Alternative fuels and biogas
Natural Building:
- Insulation and thermal mass
- Sustainable forest products
- Cob, straw bale, light straw-clay
- Plasters
Social permaculture:
- Personal regeneration and self-care
- Site design to support social aims
- Urban redesign
- Group dynamics
- Communication tools
- Governance structures for collaborative groups
- Ecovillages and community design
- Meeting processes
- Meeting facilitation
- Alternative economics
Organizing and activism:
- Strategic organizing
- Pro-active and pre-figurative movements
- Campaign planning and organizing
- Power mapping
- Organizing in diverse communities
Spirit:
- Connecting to the spirit in Nature
- Creating ritual and ceremony
- Grounding and centering
- Sensing and shifting energy
- Drumming, dancing, singing and meditation
- Daily rituals
INTRO TO PERMACULTURE
INTRODUCTORY OFFERING
- Not sure you’re ready to jump in quite yet? No pressure. Try out our Introduction to Permaculture course, the first three sessions of the PDC. If you like what you’re learning, you can enroll in the full 15-week course.
Learn more here
FUNDING YOUR EDUCATION
Payment Options
We are dedicated to making this course work for you, and offer a range of options for payment.
Early Bird Tuition: $890
- Certificate Student. For students looking to get the most out of this course. You will get full access to all course materials and ability to earn a Certificate. Sliding scale tuition $1000-$1200
- Alumni. Those who want a refresher or complete certificate. You need to have taken this course with us before. Flat rate $100
- Payment Plan for Certificate Students. Four monthly payments of $275 ($1,100 total)
- Diversity Scholarships. Available for Indigenous People and People of Color working in environmental or food justice.
- Group Discounts. For those who are coming as a group of two or more people.
- All amounts are in US dollars.
Every Abundant Tuition helps support a Diversity Scholarship.
FULL CERTIFICATE COURSE
This includes weekly live sessions, access to online class materials, access to google classroom and TA support. Requires completion of homework and a design project.
- Abundant Tuition: $1,200
- Standard Tuition: $1,100
- Resilient Tuition: $1,000
PAYMENT PLAN
- Four monthly payments of $275 ($1,100 total)
- Our Student Support Team will assist you in setting up this process
ALUMNI PRICE
- Alumni Tuition $100 – For those who have taken this class before, with full access to resources.
GROUP DISCOUNTS
- Groups of 2-5 people – Discount of $165 off each ($935 total for each person)
- Cohort of 6-10 people – Discount of $220 off each ($880 per person)
If you have any questions, we are always here to help: support@earthactivisttraining.org
DIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS
Earth Activist Training is committed to increasing the diversity of global permaculture and regenerative land movements. Permaculture teaches us to look at patterns, and we see a recurring pattern of devaluing and dehumanizing people of color that extends back through the centuries, including the histories of enslavement, the genocide of indigenous peoples, segregation, exploitation and much more. In acknowledgement, we offer diversity scholarships as a form of reparations.
Supported by donations, a select number of pay-what-you-can Diversity Scholarships are available for Indigenous People and People of Color working in environmental and food justice.
These scholarships are pay-what-you-can with the recommended value of 50% of standard tuition ($500), but any amount will be accepted and appreciated.
DEAF STUDENTS
If six or more students from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community register, we will provide an ASL interpreter for each class session. Each session will have closed captions.
Support students of color by donating to our Diveristy Scholarships: Donate here!
MEET YOUR TEACHERS
THE EARTH ACTIVIST TRAINING DIFFERENCE
Grounding in spirit and a focus on organizing and activism
Exploring solutions for climate change– and the strategies and organizing tools to implement them
Creating strength and abundance through biomimicry– human systems that learn from natural systems
Learning principles and practices for how to read the landscape, build healthy soil, clean water, and design integrated and sustainable food systems
SOCIAL PERMACULTURE
Social Permaculture = RESILIENCE
Social permaculture is the Earth Activist Training difference. It teaches us how to organize our human communities, resolve conflicts, make decisions, and work together effectively to maintain our spirits.
We are continuously looking to enhance our current online trainings with the magic of our in-person gatherings which are taught interactively, including songs, ceremony, and a variety of practical, hands-on, outdoor projects.
OUR STUDENTS
We are:
-
- Young people looking for a career oriented around sustainability
- People in mid-life looking for a new direction for work
- Established professionals wanting to broaden and deepen their knowledge of sustainable alternatives
- Retirees wanting new fields to explore
- Teachers, environmental educators, and youth workers
- Anyone involved in gardening, especially school gardens and community gardens
- Architects and landscape designers
- People involved with intentional communities, co-housing and ecovillages, or those who want to start or join one
- Gardeners, farmers, ranchers, and land stewards of all kinds
- Green business entrepreneurs who want to have a broader understanding of the possibilities
- Artists, musicians, poets, writers and dancers, and anyone who collaborates creatively
- Community organizers and activists from many movements, including environmental justice, food justice, global justice, anti-oppression, human rights workers, and others
- Dreamers, visionaries, and more
International Certification
Graduates of Earth Activist Training’s courses are recognized for their excellence by the Permaculture Institute of North America (PINA) . All graduates from this Permaculture Design Course will be registered with PINA.
GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
- Participation in all live classes
- Homework completion
- Final design project
TIME COMMITMENT
- 2 hours of live class- weekly
- 3-5 hours of homework-weekly
- 15 hours for design project (estimated)
- Additional support provided by teaching assistants, support sessions and on our online platform, Earth Activists Online
OUR NETWORK
A core component of this course – and every Earth Activist Training course – is our private forum: Earth Activist Training Online network. This platform is where you will find course resources, your homework, and a network to connect with classmates and other Earth Activist students.
Recordings of each class will be available to you as a resource. You will have access to the course for a year after the course ends should you want to deepen your understanding of the material.
REGISTER
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