Food for crowded populations in an uncertain and compromised future

Northern Real Farming Conference
Permaculture for Refugees (P4R)
Panelists: Rowe Morrow and Marguerite Kahrl
Sep 30, 2020, 10:30 am –12:00 pm

The conference focused on just and sustainable farming and food systems in the North of England and Scotland. Run in partnership with @foodfutures and Oxford Real Farming Conference.

Against a background of uncertainty, and possibly cascading disasters, this panel provides a changed perspective for permaculture regenerative practices applicable to a range of variables and contexts.
 Permaculture is often used in rural settings, which don’t reflect the reality for the majority of the world’s population. This is set against an uncertain and rapidly changing world.
Working with refugees, P4R has gained experience in ways of life that are, unfortunately, likely to become common. With mass migration, crowded settlements will become a new norm in urban and rural areas compounded by economic collapse, global warming, and possibly further pandemics.
 Permaculture has the potential through its relevance to local bioregions and knowledge, and, working through principles to meet their needs. Facing an uncertain future requires people, materials, and methods to convey these to vulnerable communities and those living in crowded environments to the point where they can manage and scale up the learning and applications themselves.

Coordinated by @lessuk

Meet, Share, Inspire

International Conference of Good Practices on Refugee Protection, Ankara, Turkey

25th September 2019

Organized by Support to Life (STL), Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM), and Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH), with support of European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

Marguerite Kahrl taught Syrian refugee women in Turkey and here talks about the follow-up outreach she has been involved in:

This spring, I co-taught a PDC for Syrian Refugee women in Turkey with Rowe Morrow and Francesca Simonetti, in the capacity of Permaculture for Refugees. I returned to Ankara, Turkey later in the year to present the Permaculture for Refugees (P4R) project as a lecturer and panelist for the conference, ‘Meet, Share, Inspire: International Conference of Good Practices on Refugee Protection’.

Particular focus was placed on the PDC course which P4R held for Syrian Refugee women in Cesme, Turkey. Francesca Simonetti and Rafif Jijeh were also participants in the conference, thanks to the support of an American family foundation. Rafif, one of the few refugees present, had the opportunity to take the stage and give her testimony of the course to an audience of government ministers, conference participants, and NGOs supporting best practices.

Members of P4R: Francesca, Rafif, and Marguerite


Thirty times September

Peola Simondi Artecontemporanea, Turin, Italy

curated by Francesca Comisso
19 Sep – 24 Oct 2019

This exhibition will inaugurate the thirtieth season of the Alberto Peola Gallery, which opened in Turin in 1989. Marguerite Kahrl’s practice focalizes on ecological and environmental issues, expressed using different media. Photography, its linguistic and conceptual potential, as well as video, are the object of investigation of many artists who work for the gallery, now called Peola Simondi.

Marguerite Kahrl, “NS65” (2014) graphite,
watercolor, colored pencil – cm 38 x 28

Climate Change and Consciousness

Findhorn Foundation, Scotland
Lecture and workshop, April 20, 2019

Permaculture for Refugees — through the Spiral of The Work That Reconnects

Climate Change and Consciousness (CCC19) is an international conference to accelerate regenerative responses to the climate crisis. Through education, mentorship, leadership development, supporting indigenous-led projects, and cultivating an international community of skilled activists, CCC is a nexus of inner transformation and socially responsible, high-impact climate activism.

As senior students of Joanna Macy, environmental philosopher, systems theorist and root teacher of The Work That Reconnects, Marguerite Kahrl and Dr. Kathleen Sullivan offer a unique view on Permaculture for Refugees. Using the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects, our presentation will move through four stages —
Gratitude
Feeling our Pain for the World
Seeing with New Eyes
Going Forth

Marguerite Kahrl and Dr. Kathleen Sullivan at CCC19