Covering 40,000 miles through 40 countries, permaculture designers Richard Perkins and Michelle Asher are embarking on a journey to discover and share examples of communities creating regenerative, abundant and healthy ways of living.
With their one-year-old baby, Grace, alongside them, the couple will depart from Scotland in September 2011, travelling overland through Europe, Asia, Australia and beyond as they visit permaculture projects, eco villages, pioneering farmers, radical education institutions and indigenous communities.
The couple are recording their experiences as an online documentary series, titled (Im)permanence, which will include a series of free films as well as blogs and photos. The project is sourcing financial support through online donations, with half of its £13,500 target met at the time of publication.
“In the series we are keen to document real life solutions, which are both innovative and replicable, supporting us to live in harmony with one another and with the Earth,” says Richard. “We want to compile and share as much as we can about ideas that really work and which will see the human race return to a place of dynamic balance on Earth.”
Richard and Michele say that the motivation for the trip lies in their quest for answers to questions such as: What if we all did what we loved? What is the future going to look like when oil runs out? How can we design ways of living to meet all our human needs without harming others?
Equipped through professional and personal experience learning and teaching about permaculture and ecological design, the couple will make realistic appraisals of the relevance and success of the different models of living that they find.
