I am a permaculture designer and sustainability educator based in Tokyo, Japan. I was born and raised in Upstate New York, and I hold a B.A. in Japanese Studies and Religion from Wellesley College. In 2003, I relocated to Boulder, Colorado, where I discovered permaculture and started growing and designing edible landscapes for drylands.

My studies include a Permaculture Design Course led by Brock Dolman at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, an Advanced Permaculture Design Course led by Robyn Francis at the Regenerative Design Institute, an Edible Forest Gardens Design Course led by Eric Toensmeier at Woodbine Ecology Center and a Permaculture Teacher’s Certification Course with Sandy Cruz from High Altitude Permaculture. I co-founded the Lyons Permaculture Design Course with Laura Ruby in 2009 while working as a residential landscape designer for Urban Oasis, a sustainable landscape design firm in Denver, CO.

When I'm not teaching, reading or growing food, I enjoys baking, sewing, mountain climbing and playing accordion with my husband in our gypsy jazz band, RUE. Now a graduate student of Keio University’s Graduate School of Media and Governance, I am dedicated to community revitalization, permaculture education and post-disaster recovery in rural Japan. Currently I am conducting edible forest garden research in Shikoku, Japan as well as assisting the zero-waste, mountain town of Kamikatsu with sustainable community building and terraced-rice paddy preservation projects.

エリン・シェイ

1979年生まれ、米国ニューヨーク州出身。東部の伝統校ウェルズリー大学で日本学、宗教学を学ぶ。2003年コロラド州ボルダーにて「パーマカルチャー」と出会い、造園デザインと食べ物の森の研究と活動を始める。 カリフォルニア州Occidental芸術エコロジー・センターとRegenerativeデザイン学院でパーマカルチャー認証書を取得、コロラド州でパーマカルチャー教職も受ける。2009年デンバー市のアーバン・オアシス造園会社でデザイナーとして勤めながら、ライオンズ・ パーマカルチャー・デザイン・コースを設立。趣味は読書、山登り、手作りの「もろもろのこと」。またプロのミュージシャンとしてジプシージャズバンド「RUE」にてボーカル・アコーディオンを担当し、東京を中心にライブ活動に参加。現在は慶應義塾大学大学院政策・メディア研究科にて、日本のエコビレッジや持続可能な社会作りを研究中。