Geoff
Lawton
Permaculture Consultant,
Designer, Teacher
Managing Director, Permaculture Research
Institute, Australia
They laughed at him and said it couldn't
be done. Nothing could be grown in that salt laden dustbowl. But Geoff
Lawton had other ideas.
Today, he travels the world teaching others how to repair trashed
environments that are beyond hope of becoming productive. By applying the
principles of permaculture, for example, Lawton helped a desert community in
Jordan salvage a heavily salted environment and turn it into a green oasis.
Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the harmonious integration of
landscape and people to provide food, energy, shelter, and other material
and non-material needs in a sustainable way. It is also the conscious design
and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the
diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems.
Over the past 20 years, Lawton has become one of the world�s foremost
experts in �permaculture,� providing consulting, designing, teaching and
project implementation for clients that include private individuals, groups,
communities, governments, aid organizations, non-government organizations
and
multi-national companies. Lawton has served clients in 17 different
countries, including Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, USA, Mexico, Macedonia, Vietnam,
Costa Rica, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, England, Denmark, Australia and the South
Pacific.
In 1997, Lawton became managing director of the new Permaculture Research
Institute (PRI) on the 147-acre Tagari Farm in Australia�s province of New
South Wales. Through his work, PRI has become a leading non-profit in
providing solutions to local and global ecological problems, innovative farm
design, and related design and consultancy work on project around the world.
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