Learning to see Anew

An international qualification and universal tool for the co-creation of resilient communities by Regenerative Design...this time we are doing it in the desert...in both English & Spanish.

29 Octubre - 10 Noviembre 2011

Grifen Hope, Javiera Carrion & the team from El Manzano co-facilitate this transformative journey with Macarena Suarez and the permaculture community in...

San Pedro Atacama

Experience real world learning, as part of a transdisciplinary global network working for eco-social regeneration.

Price from $ClP 354.000 - $565.000 (Chilean Pesos). Sliding Scale based on your income and ability to pay. Price includes all food and accomodation.

To speak directly with the team please contact Carolina Heidke or

Book Here Now!

Finding the Balance between Creativity of Emergence and the Stability of Design

Here are some notes from Fritjof Capra on the Center for Ecoliteracy site that are worth sharing. Have a read and let me know what you think.

Capra points out the connection between community and sustainability, and recognisies that the basic principles of ecology can also be applied to community. This is especially true in leadership and bringing about [or designing for] change in our societies.  

Sustainability is a community practice. This is the FIRST profound lesson from nature,

“To sustain life is to build and nurture community.”

It means a human community lives with other communities in ways that are mutually beneficial according to their own natures. It is not a static state but in continual coevolution.

Green Building & the Permaculture Master Plan in Chile 

El Manzano sets out to build a campus of the great reskilling, implementing a permaculture master plan, and a summer of bioconstruction. So ends a cycle of change, and another cycle begins.

Since 2009 we have been working on the plans to make El Manzano a world class centre for sustainable education that equips people with the values, knowledge and skills needed to make the transition from an unsustainable growth culture to resilient human communities. As we begin to attract more and more visitors students and interns our facilities are often found to be lacking, and not of a quality befitting a green campus.  

Building Local Resilience

The house of Miguel was almost finished this weekend, with a final layer of fine plaster going up. The windows are in, the doors are on their hinges, and Miguel almost the proud owner of a handmade house. Replete with frescoes on the wall, this little piece of art may be here in another century as a relic of our story, testament to the ethic of collaboration, of a local, national and international community coming together to help one man achieve his aspirations.

You can read another perspective about the workshop here 'good idea, good people, good place, good cause' in Arquitectura y Territoro by participant Elena Mayorga Marnich.

Bioconstruccion in El Manzano Chile

Common Sense Prevails...

The shortest day of the year in Chile and the rain is coming down. It is cold and wet. As we celebrate the new year and the return of the sun, thousands of people in the surrounding region are living in government supplied shacks....affectionately termed ´´Mediagua´´ or half water. Most of them are leaking with the rain, and the wind is coming in. You can find photos here.

Local and Healthy Shelter by the Community for the Community

These fotos were produced by Craig Mackintosh of the Permaculture Research Institute. You can see his work here.

The work is now underway in el manzano, with the foundations being put in in the last few days using available and affordable local materials and innovative simple construction techniques.

Design for Resilient Human Settlements

This is the second story from the learning process in Millenrama. You can read the first here.

The week 5-9th of May 2010 team El Manzano was hosted in Millenrama, Mantagua, 5th region to run an Applied Permaculture Design course.
As El Manzano tests ideas for assisting people and communities to engage in transition and design for resilient human settlements, the team develops competency in the delivery of catalytic learning events, in facilitation and leadership by design. As the experience is reviewed once again it is confirmed that there is no power equal to a community deciding what it will become.

Those who are willing must choose transition now (Español)

Liora and Andy will make a live appearance to El Manzano via skype conference. Students of the Permaculture Design Course will have the opportunity to think and listen together with two of the plantes finest ecosocial regenerationists, and to explore the role of higher education and action learning in mobilising our people to engage in action for sustainability.