Because we focus on new and emerging solutions at Worldchanging, we don't talk too often about permaculture, because while it's a beautiful and brilliant tool for sustainable gardening and food production, it's been around for quite a while. But a story passed through today about a recent project by the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, which uses permaculture to turn a barren, arid Jordanian desert into a fruitful garden and orchard, and suggests that the process can be a powerful solution to some of our most pressing global problems.
This video tells the story of a seemingly impossible feat achieved by permaculture designer, Geoff Lawton, in which he trained a group of locals in the principals of permaculture, and together they transformed the "hyper-arid" land until it bore fruit, desalinated water, and created fertile ground which requires very little water to be productive. If it can be done there, argues Lawton, it can be done anywhere, and it can become a real tool for addressing pollution, desertification and global warming.
