Discover Permaculture - The Podcast

Local community may be one of the most overlooked forms of resilience we have. In this episode, Geoff, Eric, Ben and Sam discuss how permaculture community groups can help people share skills, grow food locally, support each other through uncertainty and create practical systems that improve everyday life. From portable food forests and school projects through to local governance, youth engagement...

What happens when fragile supply chains break down? In this episode Geoff and the crew discuss survival gardens, water security, edible weeds, medicinal plants, and practical ways to prepare for uncertain times.  Watch the video episode here. 🎓 Explore Geoff's online courses: https://www.discoverpermaculture.com Key Takeaways: 00:00:15 - 00:03:28: Why modern supply chains are fragile and how...

In this episode, Geoff and the team unpack the hidden realities of the global aid industry—sharing firsthand stories from refugee camps, war zones, and on-the-ground permaculture projects. From inefficiency and dependency to real solutions that build self-reliance, this conversation challenges the system and explores what actually works. At its core, this episode asks a powerful question: Can we d...

In this conversation, host Geoff Lawton, Ben, Eric, and Sam sit down with David Trood from The Weedy Garden as he shares how he went from knowing nothing about gardening to documenting one of the most compelling garden journeys online today. From a lockdown turning point to building a thriving garden from scratch, this episode moves beyond gardening into something deeper — purpose, honesty, and th...

What does “efficiency” really mean in food production? Host Geoff Lawton and Ben, Eric and Sam discuss the hidden costs of industrial agriculture and explore how regenerative systems can produce more with less by working with nature, not against it. Watch the video episode here. Key Takeaways: 00:00 – 02:00: Introduces the idea of efficiency in food systems and questions whether yield and labor tr...

In this episode, Geoff, Ben, Eric and Sam sit down with business coach and permaculture practitioner Bronwyn Chompff-Gliddon to explore how ethical businesses can thrive while spreading permaculture ideas into the wider world. Watch the video episode here. Key Takeaways: 00:00:00 – 00:03:30: Permaculture needs profitable businesses to scale beyond small communities. 00:03:30 – 00:06:00: Bronwyn’s...

In 2007, Geoff was invited by Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture to teach composting and permaculture design to agricultural advisors. What followed surprised him. A single compost demonstration spread across the country and helped catalyze a national shift toward organic agriculture. In this reflective episode, Geoff describes ancient Iranian technologies like qanats (underground water canals), tradi...

What if our food systems worked like forests? In this episode, host Geoff Lawton and the team explore food forests—long-term, tree-based systems that produce food while restoring ecosystems. From perennials and succession to microclimates and legumes, this conversation breaks down why food forests are one of the most stable and productive systems humans have ever designed. Watch the video episode...

In this episode of the Discover Permaculture Podcast, we explore one of the most misunderstood and emotionally charged topics in ecology: invasive species. Are non-native plants and animals always destructive? Or are they often responding to damaged ecosystems—filling gaps, building soil, and restoring function where humans have removed it? Watch the video episode here .  Key Takeaways: 00:00...

Drylands are expanding across the planet, putting pressure on water, food systems, and entire communities. In this Podcast, host Geoff Lawton, Eric, Ben and Sam draw on real-world experience from places like Jordan, Saudi Arabia, California, and Somalia to explore what actually works in arid and semi-arid landscapes. Watch the video episode here. Key Takeaways 00:00–03:00: Drylands are expanding f...

What is culture, really? Is it food, clothing, music, beliefs — or something deeper? In this conversation, host Geoff Lawton and the panel explore culture through the lens of permaculture. From local food systems and ethics to migration, religion, consumerism and identity, the discussion keeps circling back to one core idea: culture emerges from place. When culture is disconnected from land, ecolo...

Wildfires aren’t just getting bigger — they’re behaving differently. In this episode, Host Geoff Lawton, Eric, Ben and Sam are joined by special guest Matthew Trumm to unpack why modern “mega-fires” burn hotter, faster, and across vast areas and what land design has to do with it. From degraded ecosystems and fuel loads to wind, water, and soil, this conversation explores how human decisions have...

In this wide-ranging and deeply human conversation, host Geoff Lawton & Ben, Eric and Sam explore nationalism, immigration, borders and belonging through a permaculture lens. Drawing on Bill Mollison’s definition of a nation as a shared ethic — not a geographic boundary — the discussion reframes global challenges around scarcity, migration, labor and wealth. This is not a political debate...

What if pollution isn’t the end of the story but the beginning of regeneration? In this episode, host Geoff Lawton is joined by Sam Parker-Davis, Ben Missimer and Eric Seider for a grounded conversation on bioremediation – how living systems clean up humanity’s messes. This is a hopeful, practical conversation about resilience, confidence in nature, and why good biology wins in the end. If you’ve...

Compost isn’t just a pile — it’s the engine that drives soil fertility. In this conversation, Host Geoff Lawton and the regular crew, Sam, Eric, Ben are joined by guest Mohammed to unpack how compost really works, why biology matters more than recipes, and how the same principles apply from a backyard bin to large-scale farms. From hands-on composting stories to soil biology, bokashi, and scaling...

Artificial intelligence is being called the biggest change in human history—bigger than the wheel. But what does it mean for those of us designing resilient futures? In this conversation, Host Geoff Lawton and regular guests Eric, Ben, and Sam wrestle with the knife’s edge of AI: its potential for abundance versus its risk of deepening inequality, war and ecological destruction. Along the way, the...

Host Geoff Lawton and guests Sam, Eric, and Ben sit down to unpack the evolution of the Greening the Desert project, Jordan — from the early days of dust, salt, and heat to the cool, shaded food forest it became. Together they share field stories, design insights, and the lessons learned while turning a degraded desert site into a living demonstration of regeneration. It’s a roundtable tour throug...

In this episode, h ost Geoff Lawton and guests  Ben, Eric, and Sam explore what it really means to be responsible — for ourselves, our communities, and the Earth. They unpack how modern systems have stripped away our sense of agency and why permaculture offers a pathway back to empowerment. From personal energy audits to the illusion of technological choice, this episode challenges you to ret...

This episode takes a hard look at politics, power, and why the world feels so upside down right now. Host Geoff Lawton and the team jump from America’s political gridlock to the bold changes happening in Burkina Faso—and what it teaches us about leadership, resources, and real community empowerment. Instead of getting lost in the chaos, the crew keeps circling back to a simple truth: local action...

In this conversation, h ost Geoff Lawton  along with regular guests Eric, Ben, and Sam trace the rise of chemical agriculture and how permaculture offers a healthier, sustainable alternative. From Geoff’s childhood revelations about farming in England to real-world examples in Australia, Mississippi, and California, this conversation explores the ecological, human, and social impacts of chemi...

What does real food security look like? It’s not stockpiling tins or waiting for governments to fix broken systems—it’s designing abundance right where you are. In this episode of Discover Permaculture: The Podcast, Host Geoff Lawton sits down with Sam Parker-Davies, Ben Missimer, and Eric Seider to explore how permaculture transforms anxiety about the future into empowered action. Watch the video...

In this episode of the Discover Permaculture: the Podcast, h ost Geoff Lawton  and regular guests Eric and Ben sit down with a longtime friend of Geoff's and creative force, Addy Jones — a surfer, builder, recycler, wombat rescuer, and permaculture artist who somehow turns junkyard scraps into landscapes so beautiful they feel like sculpture. Addy's life reads like an adventure novel: li...

In this first episode of Discover Permaculture: The Podcast, Host Geoff Lawton is joined by Ben Missimer, Eric Seider, and Sam Parker-Davies to explore how water shapes landscapes, communities, and even peace itself. Water is the lifeblood of every living system and the foundation of good permaculture design.  From the hidden rainmakers of the forest canopy to the power of LiDAR map...