Over a period of aobut 15 years, I have been trying to live the dream of complete self sufficency. Much research and little action (due to lack of funds, or funding uni and trying to survive off megre earnings) over the first few years, but as life progressed, got married and now have three beautiful kids, my journey to self-sufficiency has pushed along with greater urgency. Initially, I was a little selfish, I wanted to do it for me... along came my wife and then it was for us... then the kids and it was for them. However now, after completing my PDC with Geoff Lawton and Bill Mollison, life has taken a fairly dramatic change. The dream is to change the world, starting with my own family (well really we are already working our way there) and then to the students I teach (I am a secondary teacher), who will hopefully shape the nation and some will go further and take on the world. After completing the PDC, although I always realised it, it hammered home that there is so much more than my backyard, but the process is slow and the change has to be subtle to make it permanent. Too much too soon, scares people off, so my philosophy has been, change the system from within.

Our school will soon be the first that I know of in this state (Victoria, Australia) possibly the country, to offer a secondary school based PDC, covering all the 72hr (plus) course requirements as well as the State curriculum requirements for Geography at the Year 9 level. Initially it will be an elective (as the proof of concept) however, the aim is to eventually make it the main Year 9 Geography course. Slow and steady.... now that the idea is approved, I don't want to scare them off...