|
Joined:
|
24/02/2012 |
|---|---|
|
Last Updated:
|
08/12/2014 |
|
Location:
|
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada |
|
Climate Zone:
|
Cold Temperate |
|
Gender:
|
Male |
|
Web site:
|
www.urbanpermaculture.ca |
(projects i'm involved in)
(projects i'm following)
As Project Lead for ReThink Red Deer and past Education Chair of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA), I've helped bring resilient community planning to the forefront of public dialogue in Central Alberta. I'm currently studying renewable energy system design and installation, biomimicry, and resilience theory; exploring urban ecological systems to understand the foundations of community sustainability. I'm a Renewable Energy Electrician (Red and Blue Seal certifying), Marketing graduate of the Haskayne School of Business (UofC) and Red Deer's Leadership Centre, a Permaculture Educator (since 2016) and practicing Designer (since 2009), certified Transition Towns trainer (since 2010), accredited Rainwater Harvesting System Installer (since 2012), and aspiring SPIN-Farmer.
I came to be interested in permaculture after learning about sustainability and resilience - pouring over hundreds of books and videos, attending conferences, workshops and seminars. I ran into an up-and-coming permaculture trainer and then quickly registered for the first PDC in Alberta back in 2009. I came home overflowing with enthusiasm and got to work on my 2-year practicum; hosting a major regional conference on sustainability presented from a food, fuel and finance lens, and then set up an urban homestead complete with a rainwater harvesting system, hoophouse, annual garden and perennial food forest.
My time pracitising permaculture is spent developing the Centre for Urban Agriculture in Alberta and an urban homestead demo site - planting and cultivating a food forest garden, developing a rainwater-fed aeroponic and an aquaponic growing system (www.foodgarage.ca) for four-season growing in Canada's unforgiving but beautiful northern climate, helping build community gardens throughout my home town of Red Deer, and increasing participation in the provincial Growing Food Security in Alberta Network (www.foodsecurityalberta.org) to develop and apply a framework in rural communities for Sustainable, Equitable, Local and Regenerative Systems for food (SELRS).
June 29, 2015 - Aside from the inherent challenges of water management in desert drylands, Arizona's water situation is even more dire than that of California.
The CANARM Prairie Chapter 2014 Fall Training Tour, led by Rene Michalak, turned out to be a valuable research and development exercise. Numerous commercial and residential rainwater harvesting systems were inventoried and promoted to increase awareness o
| Verge Permaculture PDC |
| Type: Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course |
| Verifying teacher: Jesse Lemieux |
| Other Teachers: Rob Avis, Barb Hazenveld, Ron Berezan |
| Location: Gull Lake, AB |
| Date: Aug 2009 |
| SPIN-Farming |
| Type: Gardening |
| Teacher: Curtis Stone |
| Location: Red Deer, AB |
| Date: Feb 2012 |
| Level One Beekeeping |
| Type: Other |
| Verifying teacher: Patty Milligan |
| Other Teachers: Eliese Watson |
| Location: Calgary, AB |
| Date: Jun 2010 |
| Transition Towns - Train the Trainer |
| Type: Teacher Training |
| Verifying teacher: Naresh Giangrande |
| Other Teachers: Sophy Banks, Michelle Colussi, Lena Soots |
| Location: Stratford, ON |
| Date: Aug 2010 |
| Art of Hosting |
| Type: Teacher Training |
| Verifying teacher: Tenneson Woolf |
| Other Teachers: Chris Corrigan, Teresa Posakony |
| Location: Lumsden, SK |
| Date: Sep 2011 |
| IAP2 Certification (Facilitation) |
| Type: Teacher Training |
| Verifying teacher: Jan Bloomfield |
| Other Teachers: Gale Simpson, Gay Robinson |
| Location: Edmonton, AB |
| Date: Jan 2011 |
| The Four Seasons Garden |
| Type: Gardening |
| Verifying teacher: Jerome Osentowksi |
| Other Teachers: Rob Avis |
| Location: Calgary, AB |
| Date: Jun 2012 |
| Permaculture Project Establishment Course - Permaculture Aid in Action |
| Type: Aid Worker |
| Teacher: Geoff Lawton |
| Location: Zaytuna Farm, The Channon, NSW |
| Date: Sep 2012 |
| Four Days of Dirty Tricks and Secrets |
| Type: Soil Biology/Compost |
| Teacher: Doug Weatherbee |
| Location: Calgary, AB |
| Date: Sep 2011 |
| Permaculture Teacher Training |
| Type: Teacher Training |
| Teacher: Michael Becker |
| Location: Calgary, Alberta |
| Date: Jun 2013 |
| NOA Fisheries Aquaponics |
| Type: Other |
| Verifying teacher: R. Charlie Shultz |
| Other Teachers: Dr. Nick Savidov, Dr. James Tidwell |
| Location: Edmonton, Alberta |
| Date: Nov 2013 |
| Rainwater Harvesting Certification (CANARM) |
| Type: Other |
| Teacher: Ken Nentwig |
| Location: Surrey, British Columbia |
| Date: Jan 2013 |
| 0 PDC Graduates (list) |
| 0 PRI PDC Graduates (list) |
| 0 Other Course Graduates (list) |
| have acknowledged being taught by Rene Michalak |
| 0 have not yet been verified (list) |
| Rene Michalak has permaculture experience in: |
|---|
| Cold Temperate |
| Cool Temperate |
| Warm Temperate |
