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Episode 142: Have you ever thought of going to the International Permaculture Conference and Convergence (IPC)? Held every two years, switching between continents at different locations,\xa0the IPC is a gathering of Permaculture designers, teachers, and enthusiasts. This year, the\xa0IPC is held in India, which is celebrating 30 years of permaculture!

To learn more I spoke with Margie\xa0Bushman & Wes Roe of the\xa0Santa Barbara Permaculture Network. In this interview, Margie and Wes discuss Permaculture, their involvement with the IPC, and the next one taking place in Hyderabad India, in November and December of 2017. Hosted by\xa0Aranya Agricultural Alternatives NGO, the IPC 2017 will be a unique and possibly transforming experience. The whole Aranya organization, including community members, farmers from nearby villages, a dynamic group of international volunteers,\xa0and\xa0especially the community's women and children are all joyfully preparing to welcome the world to the IPC conference & convergence.

Margie\xa0& Wes are founding members of the\xa0Friends of the International Permaculture Convergences (FIPC)\xa0that works to insure there is a diversity of participants at each IPC by providing scholarships for delegates from around the world.\xa0Diversity is key here. Delegates come from a wide variety\xa0of regions and contribute toward a diversity of ideas and solutions arrived at each IPC.\xa0IPC's reach into every corner of the world, local to global, to bring forth and share these ideas.\xa0Past host sites have been in Australia, USA, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Nepal, Croatia, Brazil, Malawi, Jordan, Cuba, United Kingdom, and India in 2017, followed by Argentina in 2020. This year for the first time FIPC launched an ambitious worldwide crowdfund, so all in the global Permaculture community could easily contribute using\xa0the powerful energy of money to help shape a better world.

We are a global society, and more than any other time in history, in order to be resilient, we need a diversity of ideas from all regions and cultures to survive. For more than forty years Permaculture has been leading the way with innovative, planet and climate friendly design strategies, that are just now being fully recognized by the rest of the world as the answer to some of our most pressing challenges.\xa0

Margie\xa0Bushman and Wes Roe are the co-founders of the\xa0Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, an educational non-profit founded in 2000 that has sponsored hundreds of workshops and events about Permaculture and sustainability. Margie\xa0was the Program Coordinator for the Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) Center for Sustainability from 2009-2013, where she developed a\xa0Cities as the Solution\xa0series and an Eco-Entrepreneurship pilot program. Together\xa0Margie and Wes teach the\xa0Invisible Structures\xa0component of the Permaculture Design Course, a\xa0credited class, that they are proud to have helped initiate at SBCC. Wes served as a board member of the Permaculture Credit Union for nine years, later as Board President. Margie and Wes\xa0have been volunteer coordinators for the IPC Support Group since its inception in 2005.

For more information on IPC2017, visit the IPC India website at :\xa0http://ipcindia2017.org/

Visit the\xa0Santa Barbara Permaculture Network/IPC page for the FIPC and crowdfund information:\xa0http://www.sbpermaculture.org/ipc.html

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