Andrew recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from Athabasca University. Andrew is passionate about cultural diversity, indigenous ecological knowledge, indigenous and rural peoples' justice, and actions that strengthen and build community everywhere.

Andrew has always loved the natural world, and dreams of ways to "fit in" with natural systems in harmonious ways. From Holistic Management to Herb Hammond's Ecosystem-based conservation planning procedures (www.silva.org), Andrew has read extensively on ecological design and management systems. Exposure to all these good ideas led Andrew to take the permaculture design certificate course from Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture in 2011.

In spring and early summer of 2011, Andrew travelled to both Africa and Indonesia to study international sustainability issues firsthand. In Zimbabwe he attended community training sessions at the Africa Centre for Holistic Management. In Indonesia Andrew was a student in an ethnoecology field school, spending over a month with Wehea Dayak villagers and learning their methods of swidden rice agriculture and complex food forestry. These experiences further fuelled Andrew's passion for culture, community, and regenerative eco-social design. Andrew is now going to Thailand and Burma to work on Indigenous peoples' land and environmental rights, and to learn strategies to bring back to Canada to apply to Indigenous-settler relations there. While in Thailand, Andrew will be doing volunteer research with the Karen Environment and Social Action Network (KESAN) www.kesan.asia.

“The dichotomy of nature versus culture deeply embedded in Western culture can be deconstructed as we examine the ways that other peoples live in and with their landscapes.” --Leslie M. Johnson

Opportunities for involvement in permaculture aid projects

I am looking for ways to be involved in community-based permaculture aid projects. If you are looking for an assistant, let me know!

Water harvesting on sandy soils

Looking for advice where soil water retention, not run-off, is the main design challenge

Vandana Shiva, permablitz in Calgary

This weekend I will be in Calgary attending Vandana Shiva's talk "Making Peace With the Earth." While in the city, I hope to take part in two permablitzes -- should be a good time!