Permaculture at Ecocentro IPEC

•  Get hands-on experience in natural building and participate in a permaculture installation with the leading ecological community in Latin America.

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•  Become a Certified in Permaculture Design, which is recognized worldwide and it will enable you to attend networking events post graduation, attend advanced permaculture design intensives and teacher trainings.

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•  Travel and picnic at neighboring tropical waterfalls every weekend and experience Brazilian culture in the local town of Pirenopolis.

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•  Learn Portuguese and participate in Capoiera with the Ecocentro IPEC community.

Cost

Summer 2013: $3,850
Includes tuition, program costs, room and board, in-country travel.
Learn about financial aid options here

Credits

4 Transferable Credits from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst
upon successful completion of the program

Dates

Summer Session: June 5 – June 27, 2013

Requirements

Minimum GPA: 2.5
Minimum Age: 16 and above
Language: none required
Apply Online

Visa

Yes: Contact the Living Routes office for details

Housing

Guest Housing

Application Deadlines

Summer: March 15
*Deadline extended
Rolling admissions on a first come first serve basis, so apply early!
Contact us for availability.

FAQS

Ecocentro IPEC (Permaculture Institute and Ecovillage of the Cerrado) is dedicated to education for sustainable living by fostering a profound understanding of the natural world, grounded in direct experience, that leads to sustainable patterns of living.

Through the dedication of community members, students, adventurers and volunteers working together, Ecocentro IPEC has become one of the most important reference centers for sustainable living in Latin America. Learn more about the community here!

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Program at a Glance

Week 1

• Permaculture patterns
• Cultivated ecosystems- soils and forests
• Soil testing and compost teas
• Concepts and methods of design
• Ethics of permaculture
• Climate and microclimate
• Zone One Design Challenge
• Capoeira and Portuguese
• Journaling

Week 2

• Water/Aquaculture
• Swales and tree planting
• Community visit
• Group design task
• Practical- cob, earth bag building
• Community meeting
• Appropriate architecture
• Green roof and walls
• Journaling
• Heating up the pizza oven
• Capoeira and Portuguese

 

Week 3

• Appropriate architecture
• Natural plastering
• Completion of practical
• Integrating small animals
• Design presentations
• Permaculture on the table
• Practical – Urban Adobes
• Journaling
• Strategies for a new nation
• Capoeira and Portuguese

Health and Safety

The health and safety of students and faculty on Living Routes programs is always our highest priority. Living Routes has clearly articulated health and safety protocols and procedures compiled in our Health and Safety Manual. This manual is reviewed and updated on a yearly basis to ensure the highest standard of care is in place on all Living Routes programs. The Health and Safety Manual is available for download here, or contact our office for a copy to be sent to you. All students also receive a comprehensive handbook including detailed chapters on health, safety and guidelines for preventing illness during the program.

Living Routes faculty and staff have extensive international experience and numerous affiliations throughout our various host communities and countries. These individuals and networks ensure that we stay informed about changing conditions and help us prevent health and safety risks while also responding to emergencies quickly and effectively if they should arise. Our program managers and directors have regular communication with field staff and faculty, who all carry emergency cell phones and are trained to carry out Living Routes Emergency and Evacuation Protocols, in the event that we must respond to an emergency, or remove a student or program from the field.

The following are measures that we take on all of our programs:

• Regular updates from the U.S. Department of State and always abide by their safety precautions, travel warnings, and recommendations for U.S. citizens abroad
• Registration through the U.S. Department of State Smart Traveler Enrollment Program
• Abidance by the safety guidelines set out by the National Association for Foreign Study Abroad (NAFSA)
• In-country orientation on country, culture, host site, health and safety procedures, illness and injury prevention and emergency protocol
• Emergency Cards with program itinerary, local emergency contacts, emergency protocol
• International health insurance under iNext Basic Plan, which includes major medical, evacuation, repatriation, and 24-hour emergency assistance

For questions or more information about Living Routes Health and Safety policies, please contact our office at (888) 515-7333 or email us at info[at]livingroutes.org

Required Courses

Permaculture at Ecocentro IPEC

(Natural Resources Conservation 398A) (4 credits)

Course Topics

• Sustainable Shelter: Concepts and themes of design; Natural building and architecture; Renewable energy; Appropriate technologies
• Aquaculture: Water technologies; Earth movement; Dry composting toilets; Water harvesting, storage and distribution; Recycling water; Desertification and the salting of soils
• Community Development: Indigenous, intentional, alternative and traditional communities; Economic strategies; Globalization; Visits to various communities in the region
• Cultivated Ecosystems: Organic Gardening; Food forest; Small animal systems; Tropics and sub-tropics; Dryland strategies; Cold climate systems
• Portuguese Conversation Classes (optional): Learn the Portuguese through music, enacting and conversation.

Program Faculty

Lucia Legan

M.Ed. Science and Environmental Education, Deakin University, Australia

Diplomate of the Permaculture Institute of Australia, has worked in community development for more than 15 years with Aboriginal communities, women’s groups, young people, and farmers. Since arriving in Brazil, she has co-founded both IPEC and the Mollison School for Sustainable Studies where she remains as Executive Director. Lucia has authored a nationally selected prize-winning environmental education guide called “Escola Sustentavel” ["Sustainable Schools"] which is currently in its second edition. She has recently launched a nationwide program, “Habitats na Escola,” which empowers students, parents, and teachers with the skills to create sustainable habitats in school.

Hildegard Magdalena Klever Krause

PhD, Sustainable Development of the Humid Tropics, Federal University of Para, Brazil

Hildegard has lived in the Amazon since the age of nine, presonally witnessing the vast and varied impacts generated by humans on the forest. Through psychology, she works to increase awareness and empower people to change their behavior and renew their relationship with nature. Hildegard has a masters in teacher training in public school systems and her Doctorate in public policy and the implementation of environmental education programs. Through Ecocentro IPEC she came into contact with permaculture and social technologies, and currently serves on the teaching and administrative staff there and at University of the State of Goiás in Pirenópolis.

Andre Jaeger Soares

PhD, Sustainable Development of the Humid Tropics, Federal University of Para, Brazil

Soares is a master’s candidate in environmental education at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, and is a cofounder of Ecocentro IPEC, a trilingual teacher, natural builder and permaculture designer. He founded the Permaculture Institute of Central Queensland in Australia. As national coordinator with the United Nations Development Program, Andre taught more than 2000 people throughout the country in permaculture design. Andre was given the Casa Claudia award for innovative design in natural construction and is acknowledged as one of the 50 most important people in environmental development in Brazil. His leadership in sustainability has attracted a partnership with the Swiss foundation AVINA creating new projects in the area of low impact architecture and social development in South America. In 2005, Andre also worked as an international aid worker in Haiti as a team leader in sustainable development. He is a diplomate of the Permaculture Institute of Australia.

 

John Gerber

UMass Faculty Sponsor: Natural Resources Conservation 398A