On this episode of Ideas on the Verge, Mitch talks with a super rad guest, Dr. Dan Chiras – the author of an eclectic array of books regarding self-sufficiency, including (but not limited to): · Solar home heating basics https://newsociety.ca/books/s/solar... · Wind power basics https://newsociety.ca/books/w/wind-... · Green transportation basics https://newsociety.ca/books/g/green... · Solar electricity basics https://newsociety.ca/books/s/solar... · The scoop on poop https://newsociety.ca/books/s/the-s... · Superbia! https://newsociety.ca/books/s/super... · The Homeowners Guide to Renewable Energy https://newsociety.ca/books/h/the-h... · and his latest book, The Chinese Greenhouse: Design and Build A Low-Cost, Passive Solar Greenhouse https://newsociety.ca/books/c/the-c... Dan is the director of The Evergreen Institute in east-central Missouri, where he teaches workshops on self-sufficiency and sustainability topics. You can find Dan's YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/DanChi... About Rob Avis and Verge Permaculture: In less than 10 years, Rob & Michelle Avis left Calgary’s oil fields and retooled his engineering career to help clients and students design integrated systems for shelter, energy, water, waste and food, all while supporting local economy and regenerating the land. He’s now leading the next wave of permaculture education, teaching career-changing professionals to become eco-entrepreneurs with successful regenerative businesses. Learn more and connect with Rob & Michelle at https://vergepermaculture.ca/ FREE RESOURCES: As a special gift when you subscribe to our newsletter is that we’ll send you the link to download our drop-dead-gorgeous Blog Book: 50 breathtaking magazine-style pages of our most popular blog posts and articles over the past five years, from permaculture ABCs to property-buying, home design, eco-investing, and community retrofitting. Sign-up: http://bit.ly/2Dqjg5G Why should you reserve a place in your bulging in-box for Verge’s newsletters? One reason: because we challenge the headlines and cultural paradigms with a whole different kind of alternative fact: Permaculture-inspired businesses can succeed – and restore the planet. And we’ll show you how to do it.

On this episode, Mitch gets to talking with author and climate warrior Margaret Klein Salamon, PhD. Their discussion is very wide ranging and covers a lot of ground – everything from how to deal with difficult folks, what you can do after accepting climate truth, and how to turn your fear into action 🚨 . For those unfamiliar with the guest... Margaret is a clinical psychologist that has shifted all her energy into lighting a fire under the keesters of folks around the world to take action against climate change. She is the founder and director of The Climate Mobilization ( https://www.theclimatemobilization.... ) and is the author of Facing the Climate Emergency, How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth ( https://newsociety.ca/books/f/facin... FREE RESOURCES: As a special gift when you subscribe to our newsletter is that we’ll send you the link to download our drop-dead-gorgeous Blog Book: 50 breathtaking magazine-style pages of our most popular blog posts and articles over the past five years, from permaculture ABCs to property-buying, home design, eco-investing, and community retrofitting. Sign-up: http://bit.ly/2Dqjg5G Why should you reserve a place in your bulging in-box for Verge’s newsletters? One reason: because we challenge the headlines and cultural paradigms with a whole different kind of alternative fact: Permaculture-inspired businesses can succeed – and restore the planet. And we’ll show you how to do it.

All aboard the treatment train! On this episode, Mitch gets to talking with two preeminent treatment train conductors, Michelle Avis and Dr. Peter Coombes. Their discussion is very wide ranging and covers a lot of ground – everything from the commodification of water, the economics of water utilities, the friendly microbes that live in your rainwater storage tank, and how Mitch needs to work on his puns. For those unfamiliar with the guests… Michelle is the co-author of Essential Rainwater Harvesting and co-founder of Verge Permaculture, a globally-recognized and award-winning design, consulting, and education hub offering online and real-time programs to design and/or create integrated, regenerative systems for shelter, energy, water, waste and food. Dr. Peter Coombes is a systems thinker, scientist, engineer, economist, and the director of Urban Water Solutions, which provides strategic design, education on urban, rural, and natural water cycles and systems, and policy and economic advice to an eclectic array of clients including the United Nations. Furthermore, Peter has been involved in the design and development of over 120 sustainable developments in Australia and elsewhere. He’s the author of over 150 research publications, and is the associate dean at the faculty of science and engineering at southern cross university in Lismore, Australia. The topics covered delve into the importance of water, how the systems the majority of the world subscribes to is fragile in nature, and some solutions on how one may unhinge themselves from that system. If you are interested in learning more, head on over to www.vergepermaculture.ca/rain/ FREE RESOURCES: As a special gift when you subscribe to our newsletter is that we’ll send you the link to download our drop-dead-gorgeous Blog Book: 50 breathtaking magazine-style pages of our most popular blog posts and articles over the past five years, from permaculture ABCs to property-buying, home design, eco-investing, and community retrofitting. Sign-up: http://bit.ly/2Dqjg5G Why should you reserve a place in your bulging in-box for Verge’s newsletters? One reason: because we challenge the headlines and cultural paradigms with a whole different kind of alternative fact: Permaculture-inspired businesses can succeed – and restore the planet. And we’ll show you how to do it.

About Rob Avis and Verge Permaculture: In less than 10 years, Rob & Michelle Avis left Calgary’s oil fields and retooled his engineering career to help clients and students design integrated systems for shelter, energy, water, waste and food, all while supporting local economy and regenerating the land. He’s now leading the next wave of permaculture education, teaching career-changing professionals to become eco-entrepreneurs with successful regenerative businesses. Learn more and connect with Rob & Michelle at https://vergepermaculture.ca/ FREE RESOURCES: As a special gift when you subscribe to our newsletter is that we’ll send you the link to download our drop-dead-gorgeous Blog Book: 50 breathtaking magazine-style pages of our most popular blog posts and articles over the past five years, from permaculture ABCs to property-buying, home design, eco-investing, and community retrofitting. Sign-up: http://bit.ly/2Dqjg5G Why should you reserve a place in your bulging in-box for Verge’s newsletters? One reason: because we challenge the headlines and cultural paradigms with a whole different kind of alternative fact: Permaculture-inspired businesses can succeed – and restore the planet. And we’ll show you how to do it.

Ideas on the Verge is BACK! In this re-launch, Mitch talks to Malcolm Saunders about his journey with food, the four food groups, fermentation, elixirs, how we as humans have come to despise dirt when we really should be embracing it, and of course how permaculture ties into all of it! Malcolm is the man behind Light Cellar, Calgary's favourite superfood store. His goal in life is to help people recreate their relationship with food, and boy does he ever know his stuff. He is the author of Elixir Life: Modern Nutrition Meets Ancient Herbal Wisdom, which is chock-full of information AND recipes that will be making you feel empowered to create your own elixirs in the comfort of your own home. Make sure to peek in at Light Cellar to check out the amazing selection of ingredients and pick the brains of their incredibly knowledgable staff. Furthermore, Malcolm is hosting the Calgary Fermentation Festival. This year, the Calgary Fermentation Festival goes Online with a power-packed schedule of local and world-renown experts sharing about why fermentation is so important to your health, and how to safely ferment your own food & beverages. Check out Light Cellar here: https://lightcellar.ca/ For more information on Malcolm go here: http://malcolmsaunders.com/ And that's not the only awesome learning opportunity to come down the pipes this month. The team at Verge is hosting our second online PDC this year! We offered our internationally-recognized Permaculture Design Certification course online for the first time this spring to give positive, strategic solutions in response to the COVID-19 quarantine – and were astounded by the need it tapped! People around the world had been hungry for a PDC like this, fiercely seeking the answers it offered. We doubled, then tripled our capacity, and the registrations kept coming... So…we are opening registration for our second online PDC on October 30 with the course starting November 24! Like our first online PDC, this course offers content specially targeted to the challenges people are facing at this time, when access to food and economic security have been threatened as never before. In addition to internationally-recognized permaculture instructors, we are also offering a stellar lineup of coaches and guides to guide you in moving past fear and uncertainty, toward finding a new, sustainable calling for your own career. And to make it all as accessible as we possibly could, we’re offering it at 50% the cost of our In-Person PDCs! That includes live webinars combined with access to our student dashboard including all recordings, bonus materials, ability to post questions, and more! But this year is the only time we will offer this course twice. The next online PDC will be in November 2021. For more information, head to: https://vergepermaculture.ca/online... Ideas on the Verge is brought to you by the fine folks at New Society Publishers (https://newsociety.ca/). New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books for a world of change in a way that has a minimum impact on our environment. Their vision is to provide the world with fundamental tools to help build a just and ecologically sustainable society. New Society Publishers was the first carbon-neutral publishing house in North America. In 2001, they committed to publishing all their books on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, leading the book publishing community in Canada. New Society Publishers is proud to be celebrating 40 years of activist, solutions- oriented publishing. From their roots in nonviolent civil disobedience training during the Vietnam war, to today, they continue to bring positive solutions and cutting edge ideas, to some of the most troubling challenges of our time. Committed to building an ecologically sustainable and just society they walk their talk by printing their books in North America, never overseas, on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, they are Carbon neutral (since 2006), the Employees are shareholders, and they are a Certified B Corporation®. Find out more about how they put people and planet first at www.newsociety.com

We’ve all experienced it - the unending tension and anxiety of potentially missing out on key news, trends or important developments online. But how to break free from that spiralling “must know now” compulsion? Thankfully, a rising wave of mindful thinkers are now offering ways to cope with the overwhelm of must-see data flooding through our computers, tablets and smartphones. Join Mitch Rawlyk and Ideas on the Verge as he interviews one of the leading voices of that backlash, Christine Crook, on her new book, “The Joy of Missing Out.” From the insights gained through her own Internet fast, she considers the impact of FOMO on our relationships, children, health, work, communities and more, and suggests strategies for a new, more balanced way of living, beyond our steady state of distracted "connectedness." Christina’s book was a harbinger of the global #JOMO movement and kicked off her ongoing work as a digital mindfulness thought leader, speaker, writer, and host of the JOMOcast podcast. She’s a founding member of the Digital Wellness Collective, a body of professionals in the digital wellness space. Ideas on the Verge is sponsored by New Society Publishers (https://newsociety.com/)

For years millennials have been tagged as perpetual adolescents, profiled with generational “failure to launch.” Today, Verge grad and permaculture educator Sam Chaib confronts that stigma in an inspiring Ideas on the Verge interview with Mitch Rawlyk. Unlike the Greatest Generation and baby boomers, says Sam, millennials did not emerge from school into a strong economy. They learned early on that they could not depend on existing systems to support their success. And now, as the generation in power is reaching their 70s and 80s, millennials are realizing “We need to step up - but how?” Join us for an exciting conversation as Sam outlines the new vision millennials are bringing as they take on growing civic responsibility with a back-to-basics perspective and community-building ethic. Ideas on the Verge is sponsored by New Society Publishing.

In this episode of Ideas on the Verge Rob talks to Tim J. Krahn, P. Eng. about building with rammed earth. Tim is the author of Essential Rammed Earth Construction. He is also a registered professional engineer and partner in Building Alternatives Inc., consulting engineers specializing in non-conventional structural and building envelope design. He holds a masters degree in geotechnical engineering, a bachelors degree in civil engineering, is a founding member of the Natural Building Engineering Group, and is the chair of the Ontario Natural Building Coalition. He currently resides in Ontario, Canada. To get the book go to: https://bit.ly/2IVBNZP Join Rob every second Wednesday at 3 pm MT as he interviews leading experts in permaculture, sustainable building, new economies, progressive leadership, renewable energy, modern homesteading, resilience and much more. Live listeners will be able to ask questions, win books and get the tools, tips and insights needed to help create a world that works for people and the planet. Hosted by permaculture expert Rob Avis. Ideas on the Verge is a collaboration with New Society Publishers and Verge Permaculture. Watch past shows, get FREE Resources and sign up to receive book coupon codes here: https://vergepermaculture.ca/books DONATE TO THE SHOW!! $5 - http://bit.ly/2mRYEd4 $10 - http://bit.ly/2Deg0Xx $20 - http://bit.ly/2rjHqtM About Rob Avis and Verge Permaculture: In less than 10 years, Rob & Michelle Avis left Calgary’s oil fields and retooled his engineering career to help clients and students design integrated systems for shelter, energy, water, waste and food, all while supporting local economy and regenerating the land. He’s now leading the next wave of permaculture education, teaching career-changing professionals to become eco-entrepreneurs with successful regenerative businesses. Learn more and connect with Rob & Michelle at https://vergepermaculture.ca/ #Naturalbuilding #earthbuilding

Kelly Hart is a pioneering earthbag builder, author, and filmmaker. The building of his multi-dome earthbag Colorado residence is chronicled in the video Building with Bags: How We Made Our Experimental Earthbag/Papercrete House. Kelly also founded and hosts the widely visited natural and green building websites www.greenhomebuilding.com, devoted to all aspects of sustainable architecture and natural building. Buy the Book: https://bit.ly/2TfNdxf (Updated link - sorry!) Ideas on the Verge is a collaboration with New Society Publishers and Verge Permaculture. Watch past shows, get FREE Resources and sign up to receive book coupon codes here: https://vergepermaculture.ca/books DONATE TO THE SHOW!! $5 - http://bit.ly/2mRYEd4 $10 - http://bit.ly/2Deg0Xx $20 - http://bit.ly/2rjHqtM About Rob Avis and Verge Permaculture: In less than 10 years, Rob & Michelle Avis left Calgary’s oil fields and retooled his engineering career to help clients and students design integrated systems for shelter, energy, water, waste and food, all while supporting local economy and regenerating the land. He’s now leading the next wave of permaculture education, teaching career-changing professionals to become eco-entrepreneurs with successful regenerative businesses. Learn more and connect with Rob & Michelle at https://vergepermaculture.ca/ #permaculture #Earthbagbuilding #Naturalbuilding

Composting toilets are a key feature for local resilience, money saving, water conservation, resource recovery, septic system replacement, and an improved bathroom experience in rural and urban buildings. Essential Composting Toilets is a streamlined manual that takes a practical, how-to approach to composting toilet system selection, design, installation, and operation, while meeting universal health and safety objectives. Drawing from existing regulations and research, this book dispels myths and provides tools to assess various systems. It includes: - Easily-understood drawings, plans, and photos - Coverage of all main composting toilet systems - Selection criteria including site considerations, urine separation pros/cons, renovations/new builds, ventilation, servicing, and composting details - Design and installation details. Offering a professional approach accessible to DIYers, homeowners, designers, building consultants, water conservation advocates, and regulators, Essential Composting Toilets provides key information for redesigning toilet systems anywhere in the world. #permaculture #compost #Compostoilet #humanure Get the coupon code for these books https://vergepermaculture.ca/books/ Gord and Anne's Website: Composting Toilet Book: https://newsociety.com/?aff=9/Books... From waste stream to mainstream, a practical guide to composting toilet systems.

Darrell and Rob talk about embodied energy in food, and how Permaculture elements like perennial forest gardens and passive solar greenhouses solve the issue of the incredible embodied energy of our industrial food system. #permaculture #foodforest #Passivesolargreenhouse #bioshelter #greenhouse Get the coupon code for these books https://vergepermaculture.ca/books/ The Food Forest Handbook:https://bit.ly/2RnDLYr The Oil We Eat Narrated by Rob Avis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcg... Darrell has been a permaculture consultant and teacher since 1987. He earned a BA in Sustainable Community Development from Prescott College and holds Diplomas of Permaculture Site Design, and Permaculture Education from The Permaculture Institute of North America (PINA). He is a lifelong learner with a strong background in horticulture, natural sciences, regenerative systems and permaculture design. He has extensive practical experience in small business management, homesteading, construction and project management. Darrell’s permaculture journey began after reading an interview of Bill Mollison in Mother Earth News Magazine # 63 in November of 1980, and subsequently reading Permaculture One and Permaculture Two. In 1982 Darrell attended a weekend Permaculture workshop at Stonyfield Farm in New Hampshire, where he asked Bill how to bring permaculture to Western Pennsylvania. Bill encouraged Darrell to pursue his ideas to develop what became Three Sisters Farm and Bioshelter. After six years of intensive self guided study of permaculture, Darrell completed a permaculture design certification course in 1986.

In this video we talk with Mark Anielski, author of "The Economy of Well Being" about the current state of the Alberta oil focused economy,. We will discuss how we could make deliberate choices now to direct the future toward an economic system where everyone thrives. What would an economy of well-being for Alberta look like? How is well-being becoming the new bottom line for measuring Alberta's progress? What if Alberta's economy was based on optimizing the returns on investment in abundant human, social or cultural, natural and built assets? Alberta has the largest public bank in North America -- ATB (Alberta Treasury Branch) Financial -- established over 80 years ago by the Social Credit government of Premier William Aberhart. Having a public bank means that Alberta can create its own financial credit and finance any number of undercapitalized assets like renewable energy development or even a new pipeline without any cost of interest charges. Could Alberta become the model of an economy of well-being for the world? Can permaculture design principles, applied to the economy, help make it happen? Join economist, happiness auditor, an author Mark Anielski as he outlines his vision for a new economic future for Alberta based on his new book The Economics of Well-being: Common Sense Tools for Building Genuine Wealth and Happiness (New Society Publishers, 2018). To find out more about Mark go to: http://economyofwellbeing.com/ To watch how Singapore started transforming themselves over fifty years ago check out the following documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi6...