This set of videos serve as an excellent introduction to the topics we are concerned with in permaculture.
Here is Colin Tudge setting out the agenda for a global transformation of agriculture, a great starting point.
Colin Tudge is a British science writer and broadcaster. A biologist by training, he is the author of numerous works on food, agriculture, genetics, and species diversity.He is also the founder of the Oxford Real Farming Conference to explore what he call enlightened agriculture, or real farming. He brings a clear perspective to set the scene as to why we meed to embrace permaculture, agro-ecology, regenerative economic models.
The context is that of discussing practices that are designed to provide everyone, everywhere, with food of the highest standard without wrecking the rest of the world.
How did we get here? Guns, germs and steel, Jared Diamond.
Part 1 (you will see links to the others) of 3 hour-long documentaries
One of the most insightful books I have yet read. Forgive the National Geo cheesy presentation style, the content of this it too important to overlook. He takes a massive 17,000 year overview of the story of human civilization, really helps put the whole human story into context.
In this series Diamond grapples with some of the greatest questions of humanity, why did the West evolve these technologies and why did the diseases of the South not cause epidemics, where as smallpox and influenza decimated first nation populations around the world, notably in the Americas.
The answers our bound in our common histories, our genes and an expression of environment and resources we happen to be born with. the insight within this helps us feel the connection and history of the whole human family, as well as the foods, seeds, domesticated animals and soils that they created for us over many thousands of years,
From the Heart of the World
Message to the ‘little brother’ from the Cogi first nation people of Columbia.
A truly extraordinary and important insight into traditional culture and a stark message for humanity.
I first watched this on a permaculture design course in 1996, it shifted my perspective on just about everything, this is a very very interesting and special documentary.
Once you have watched From the Heart of the World, then this video will open your eyes still further. This extraordinary video opens a whole new world of advanced civilizations we hardly are even aware of and the stunning discovery of terra preta, were these people some the greatest farmers ever? We have in our hands here one of the key components in our fight against climate collapse and for food security.
Albert is the author of Biochar Solution and Burn, two game changing books about biochar and the soil biology that it connects to. He uses a powered shredder, but otherwise he makes excellent biochar using only a pit in the ground and sticks, in this case bamboo that he has grown locally.
Hope in a Changing Climate optimistically reframes the debate on global warming. Illustrating that large, decimated eco-systems can be restored, the BBC World documentary reveals success stories from Ethiopia, Rwanda and China which prove that bringing large areas back from environmental ruin is possible, and key to stabilising the earth’s climate, eradicating poverty and making sustainable agriculture a reality.
“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And terrifyingly, it’s happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes – and his work so far shows – that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.
Rethinking permaculture for Africa with Eston Mgala, Malawi.
How do Mycorrhizal Fungi help your plants to grow? This video will tell you everything you need to know about this remarkable symbiotic relationship.