Climate Solutions: Permaculture Fundamentals for Educators

Climate Solutions: Permaculture Fundamentals for Educators

New online course designed for K–12 educators who wish to integrate sustainability and resilience into their teaching.

Climate Solutions is one of 11 online courses we offer in our Horticulture Distance Learning Program. We also offer three additional how-to permaculture courses online.

Next course: July 6 - August 14 (Or take our 2-week intensive option)

• Registration details and refund policy

• Cost: $350.

• Register online.

• Enrollment limited

• To be notified when registration opens for next course, fill out this form.

• Questions about the course? Email Monica Ibacache: mji33@cornell.edu

This online course introduces permaculture as a practical framework for teaching climate resilience, sustainability, and ecological literacy in K–12 settings. Through topics such as food systems, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, place-based learning, and circular resource systems, educators explore ways to connect environmental learning to real-world challenges and solutions.

The course is designed for educators who want practical tools, clear structure, and interdisciplinary approaches they can bring directly into their classroom or program.

This is a non-credit course. Participants who successfully complete the course and all required assignments will receive a certificate of completion.

• Provides 3 CEUs or CTLE credits (30h) to New York State Teachers

2-week intensive option

Start as early as July 6 or as late as August 3.  Whatever 2-week interval is best for you, we can make it work.

About the Course

Participants engage with weekly video lectures and curated readings. Assignments guide participants in applying course concepts to their own contexts, culminating in the development of a curriculum unit that integrates permaculture concepts into their teaching practice. Optional live Zoom sessions throughout the course provide opportunities for peer learning, curriculum feedback, and live coaching on curriculum projects. The course was also intentionally designed to be rigorous yet manageable within a teacher’s schedule, with approximately five hours of work per week.

• Lead Course Designer and Instructor: Monica Ibacache (Founder of Eco-Designers)

• Program Content by: Eco-Designers

Course schedule

How would you like to complete this course? There are two options, a slower pace and an intensive one:

6-week course: July 6 to August 14

• One lesson each week

• Biweekly Zoom sessions

• 5 hours a week (30hrs)

2-week Intensive: July 6 to 18

• Week One : Lessons 1 - 3

• Week Two : Lessons 3 - 6

• 15 hours a week ( 30Hrs)

Instructor: Monica Ibacache

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Integrate food systems concepts into classroom learning

• Introduce students to Traditional Ecological Knowledge and place-based learning

• Teach resource cycles through waste-to-resource systems

• Design interdisciplinary sustainability lessons aligned with your curriculum

• Develop a complete curriculum unit incorporating permaculture concepts