2nd Permaculture Design Workshop

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Published on Tuesday, 13 December 2016 05:34

The 2nd Permaculture Design Workshop was organized by the Songtsen Library patronised by International Nature Restoration Action Association (INRAA) held at Dehradun, India from 28th Nov to 12th Dec 2016. The INRAA founded by His Holiness in year 2016.

Environmentalists working at the front line in the Himalayan regions were participated in this training.

Design methods, sector analysis, zones observation and mapping are the topics of the second day of the 2nd Permaculture Design Workshop.

During the teaching on sector analysis, participants from Bhutan, Ladakh and other Himalayan regions were asked to draw a map of a place that they know.

In this process, they learned techniques of map making including indicating windspeeds, wind direction, pollution, weather conditions, sunrise, and sunset.

The sector analysis is very important because it helps to map all the energy forces coming in and out of the site. By locating various sectors such as sun, wind, flooding, fire, pollution, and wildlife, we can place our design in proper relationship to the outside forces entering the site.

Later on they discussed about mapping. Thereafter, they went out and looked at some small piece of land. At this small piece of land the teacher showed them how to do the mapping. They learned about how to read a map by learning about the keylines and keypoints. Also learned about aspects, slopes, creeks, ridges and valleys. This information is very important for identifying a safe location of a house. Because of floods, cold and hot air, it is usually very safe to build houses at keylines. Identifying the contour lines is also very important in permaculture because by doing so we know exactly where rainwater can be collected.

The topic of the afternoon was about Water, specifically, the distribution of water and water ethics. They learned that saline water in oceans and seas makes up 97% of all the water on Earth. Only about 3% is fresh water and only 0.3% is drinking water. They also learned that water can occur in three states: Solid, liquid, or gas. The interrelation between different forms of water was discussed as well.

Then, they calculated the average monthly use of water per person as well as the water storage needs for a household of 4. They realized that using too much water and identified strategies to reduce our water consumption.

On the 3rd day, His Holiness joined the workshop as a guest of honor in the morning and actively engaged in the training throughout the session. During our discussion on the topic of soil, His Holiness pointed out the commonality in the function of Soil and Buddhism philosophies. He explained that both of them are based on the idea of interdependence. Later, participants were asked to collect soil samples in small plastic bottles and mix them with water.  The samples will be examined on the next day. His Holiness, Ms. Morrow, and the all other teachers had a great conversation during the break.

His Holiness also joined a morning session of the permaculture training in the next couple of days.