Geoff Lawton's Permaculture Design Course (Online)

For Those Who May Be Interested

If you are interested in growing your own food and if you have a farm this course is excellent.

Last year saw the launch Geoff Lawton's first online Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course, with the hope of exponentially increasing our educational reach. It was a 'scary' undertaking, in that, being the first course, we were not sure what to expect.

But we are proud to share that the course brought an overwhelmingly positive response. I've been looking around the inner 'halls' of the course system and reading comment after positive comment, and I've seen many of the amazing designs the students submitted at the end of their training. The best news is that this course is reaching people who would otherwise never get to take a PDC course, due to remote locations, family and work commitments, health constraints, cost, etc. Doctors, lawyers, housewives, politicians, activists, nurses, rural farmers, urbanites, pilots, industrialists, even experienced Permaculture teachers - the list goes on - all are coming together in the same system to learn, share, network and cause ripples of influence we may never be able to measure.

This last weekend Geoff's second online PDC was opened for registrations - for the new and even more expansive 2014 course (we keep adding material!). This course is run only once per year, and the door for registrations closes this Sunday, April 6th, 2014. If you want to get onto this course, or if you know someone who should, there's only three days left before the door shuts until next year, and the course begins. More

If you're unsure of the value of this life-altering course, please take a few minutes to scan the many comments below this post: http://permaculturenews.org/2013/10/28/geoff-lawtons-online-permaculture-design-course-worth/

 

© 2014

Bill Clinton and Al Gore Discuss Climate Change with Charlie Rose

On September 25 former President Bill Clinton and former Vice-President Al Gore discussing climate change with Charlie Rose.

 

The Challenge of Climate Engineering

7th Kiel Institute Summer School on Economic Policy
Kiel, Germany, June 9 – June 15, 2013

1. Motivation

Climate change poses a major challenge to governments, industry and society. Since international negotiations on the control of greenhouse gas emissions have so far not led to an agreement that is able to avoid dangerous climate change, researchers, governments, and actors in civil society have started to consider, among other things, new options that could support the mitigation of climate change. Carbon capture and storage and climate engineering, including both carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation management (SRM), are prominent options considered. Before testing or implementing any of these options, the economic, social, ethical and technical aspects as well as the associated risks need to be evaluated. The summer school aims to provide information on the current state of developments in the field of climate engineering covering a variety of disciplines.

The summer school addresses PhD students and researchers from various disciplines, as well as members of policy institutions. It comprises lectures by professors, presentations by participants, reading time, consultation sessions and social events. Participants are expected to actively engage in debates on the topics discussed in class and jointly prepare the panel discussion with policy makers at the final day of the summer school.

2. Organisers

The summer school is organised by the Kiel Institute in collaboration with partners from the Helmholtz-Centre for Ocean Research GEOMAR, the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel and the Excellence Cluster “Future Ocean”. Participants will be hosted in the guest house of the Kiel Institute (“Haus Weltclub”).

3. The Speakers

James R. Fleming (Colby College, Maine)
Sebastian Harnisch (University of Heidelberg)
Klaus Lackner (Earth Institute, Columbia University)
Thomas Leisner (KIT, Karlsruhe)
Andreas Oschlies (Geomar Kiel)
Christopher Preston (University of Montana)
Alexander Proelss (University of Trier)
Wilfried Rickels (Kiel Institute)

4. Fees

The fee to attend the summer school amounts to 250 €. The fee covers full board at the guest house of the Kiel Institute. Participants have to arrange travel themselves. Nearest airports are Hamburg and Luebeck. The Luebeck airport is served by Ryanair, Hamburg is served by several airlines. Public transportation is available from both airports to the centre of Kiel.

In order to apply, please download the application form, fill it out and send it by the 30th of April 2013 to kissep@ifw-kiel.de together with your curriculum vitae.

♦ application form (doc-file)

In case of questions please contact: kissep@ifw-kiel.de

 

China to restart nuclear power programme

Beijing has indicated that it will lift its year-long moratorium on new nuclear projects in a move that will breathe life into an industry plagued by uncertainty since the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi reactor last year.

China’s cabinet announced it had approved the 2020 nuclear strategy, finalised new safety standards and finished inspecting the country’s existing nuclear plants. After the Japanese nuclear crisis China suspended approvals of new reactors while it conducted safety inspections and drafted new regulations.

As the world’s largest energy user China is key to setting the direction of future global nuclear expansion. Beijing’s latest announcement marks a major step towards the full resumption of its nuclear building programme, which accounts for 40 per cent of global reactors under construction today.

“This is the main hurdle,” said Guo Shou, energy analyst at Barclays. “Approvals for new nuclear reactors are around the corner, they are going to come very, very soon.”

Restarting nuclear approvals will help boost growth and create jobs in China’s nuclear sector at a time when Beijing is weighing options on how to prevent a further slowdown in the economy, although the plans are not formally part of any stimulus programme.

China draws most of its energy from burning coal but Beijing is building up wind, solar, hydropower and nuclear power as it seeks to shift toward non-fossil fuel sources. The country is targeting 60GW of nuclear capacity in 2020, according to comments by Chinese officials, which would put China’s reactor fleet on par with that of France. More