Earth Activist Training (Full PDC)
Family-Friendly & Bilingual (English-French)
August 1 - 14, 2025
We live in a challenging time on the journey of humanity, but one which is also full of potential and possibility. Through our everyday actions we can activate change and initiate a new way of being in the world.
The Centre for Environmental Living and Training (CELT) in partnership with Cultivate, Cloughjordan, are delighted to offer this unique and inspiring 4 day workshop and bring together earth activists, change makers, rebels and dreamers to share some time in nature, strengthen our connections, and deepen our creative vision.
Facilitated by international guests Starhawk and Alfred Decker, with a local contribution from Davie Philip of the Cultivate Cooperative (Cloughjordan), this special gathering will take you on a journey of transformation, regenerating inner and outer landscapes.
We will hear the positive stories that can keep our hope alive in these crazy times, fuel our inspiration for actions that have beneficial impacts for people and planet, and help us to create a new story for our own lives.
In this training, you will learn about:
Using permaculture & ecological design as a model for applying systems thinking to groups and social organization
How to facilitate meetings and processes
A range of tools and processes for group bonding and community building
Designing structures to support beneficial relationships
Designing the physical to support the social
Working with diversity– race, gender, class, sexual orientation, etc.
Group vision: picture of the world, mission, goals and governance
Effective group structure
Power: Power over, power from within, earned and unearned social power
Communication: Good communication skills and conflict resolution approaches; nonviolent communication
Effective feedback
Conflict—embracing, mediating and resolving group conflict
Dealing with difficult people (starting with ourselves!)
Included in the training is a field trip to Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Ireland’s leading community-led housing project, and its thriving Community Supported Farm. Here we will explore how applying ecology and permaculture principles can strengthen group dynamics, enhance resilience, and support more effective collaboration.
About the course facilitators
Starhawk (she/her) is the co-founder and executive director of Earth Activist Training. One of the foremost voices in Earth-based spirituality, Starhawk is an author, activist, and permaculture teacher and designer. Her 13 books include such beloved reads as The Spiral Dance, The Earth Path, and The Fifth Sacred Thing. Starhawk drew from 30 years of living collectively to write The Empowerment Manual, which is the basis for her social permaculture course, Empowering Collaborative Groups. Starhawk has been recognized by the Permaculture Institute of North America (PINA) as a leading figure in permaculture and has been awarded dual diplomas for excellence in education and permaculture site design. As a teacher of magical activism and permaculture education, Starhawk’s life work takes her across the globe. She currently lives part-time in San Francisco in a collective house with her partner and friends, and part-time in a little hut in the woods in Cazadero, California, where she practices permaculture in her extensive gardens and writes.
Alfred Decker is an award-winning permaculture designer; the Education Coordinator of Permaculture For Refugees; a certified educator with the Permaculture Association of Britain; a leading voice in Social Permaculture; and one of Europe’s innovative permaculture educators. His journey into ecological design began in 1998 when he completed his first Permaculture Design Course in California. Since then, Alfred has been involved with social movements and projects across many borders. He is the founder of the 12P Permaculture Design consultancy, Permacultura Barcelona and the Forest Gardens project at Can Masdeu; is a co-founder of the Spanish Permaculture Academy (Academia de Permacultura Íbera); and was a member of the European Permaculture Teachers Partnership and the Permaculture Council of Europe. Alfred holds a post graduate diploma in sustainable architecture and renewable energy (Centre for Alternative Technology).
After taking a “Permaculture Teacher Training” (PTT) course with Rosemary Morrow in 2011, he undertook a two year mentorship and later co-facilitated six courses as her assistant, ultimately earning a Diploma in Permaculture Education & Community Development in 2013 through the Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute (Australia). Committed to furthering the PTT course that Rosemary developed in over four decades of teaching experience around the world, Alfred facilitated over 20 PTT courses as lead facilitator and co-edited all three versions of the PTT manual. Rosemary has asked him to organise the PTT trainings in Europe, and he has developed an online version of the course on the Permaculture Association of Britain’s online educational platform.
In 2024 Alfred joined the Global Council of Permaculture For Refugees. He is passionate about how permaculture can be useful to refugees and migrants, and how permaculture education can be designed for them as learners…and how they in turn can best share their valuable knowledge and experience with others.
Alfred lives in the old town centre of Berga, Catalunya (Spanish Territory).
2025 is the eighth year that Starhawk and Alfred will be teaching together in Europe, having already collaborated on 13 courses together.
Davie Philip is a sustainable community advocate with over 25 years of experience in fostering resilience, climate action, and cooperative living. He is a co-founder and project manager at Cultivate, the Sustainable Ireland Cooperative, where he leads the Community Climate Coaching program. A co-founder of the award-winning Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Davie is actively involved in its Community Farm and serves as a director of Cloughjordan Co-Housing, developing a low-impact co-housing neighborhood.
Children's Programme by Annette Corkery
This Training is Family-Friendly…We encourage you to bring your children!
The course will allow parents to attend the training while activities are organised for their children around observing and connecting to nature with their heads, hearts and hands.
The activities will be designed and led by Annette Corkery, an experienced educator and Heritage in Schools Specialist. She works with children to design and create outdoor learning spaces that enhance biodiversity and connect with the local heritage of their area. She has recently completed the Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design and the Permaculture Teacher Training. She is also a Children in Permaculture Practitioner and has an MLitt in Creative Education.
https://scealtabeopermaculture.blogspot.com
https://scealtabeoschoolresources.blogspot.com
https://creativeardagh.blogspot.com
To request more info about the children’s’ activities, please write to Annette HERE.
Dates
Begins: Tuesday, August 19th – Participants can choose to arrive on the afternoon of Monday, August 18, and stay for the night and have dinner (not included in price***), or to arrive on the morning of for the first session on Tuesday at 9.30pm
Ends: Friday, August 22 – The training will end with a closing ceremony on Friday afternoon, followed by an optional dinner and “No Talent Show”.
Fees
We offer a sliding scale that encourages people with higher incomes to give a bit more towards the course fees. Those who can afford to pay more on the higher end of the scale will help those who can only pay less. The sliding scale recognises the differences in economic reality that people have, so this is a practical way that people with more resources can act in solidarity.
The sliding scale for course fees is between €240 – €300 per person.
Abundant €300
Standard €270
Resilient €240
TICKET OPTIONS
Course Only
- €240 – €300 per adult
- Half price for 4 to 16 year olds
- Under 4’s Free
Course, Camping and Meals
- €405 – €465 per adult
- Half price for 4 to 16 year olds
- Under 4’s Free
We also have some pay-what-you-can scholarships for members of marginalised communities and people of color working in environmental and social justice movements. That is part of our way of supporting reparations and of bringing in more diversity to our permaculture movement. If you are a member of a marginalised community, BIPOC or a refugee/migrant and interested in one of these scholarships, please apply HERE.
The price for children’s lodging and accommodation until 3 years old is free,
and from 4 – 16 it is 50% of the normal price.
To book eco-accommodation or Glamping and to book eco-accommodation or Glamping on Friday and Saturday for the All Ireland Permaculture Gathering, please email info@slieveaughtycentre.com.