If your school offered a permaculture class

would you sign up?

Can you help a great high school offer one?

There are very few opportunities for high school students to learn permaculture and ecological design. New Roots is a unique charter school in Ithaca, NY committed to social justice and sustainability education. Offering permaculture design education is written into the schools charter!

Last year New Roots Charter School offered its first permaculture course with Michael Burns, a social studies teacher at New Roots and a cofounder and instructor for the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute. Twenty students came out to Cayuta Sun Farm, Michael’s permaculture-designed site and location of the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute’s annual design certification course. It was a huge success. Many of last year’s seniors said it was one of the most significant classes of their entire time at New Roots!

However, demand for the course outstripped the budget for transportation costs needed to bring students to Cayuta Sun Farm. Knowing that there is a large community of permaculture supporters out there, teacher Michael Burns is reaching out for help. We are asking the permaculture community to make many small donations to launch another amazing success story for permaculture education.

Michael and his students need to raise $500 before the class begins to pay for four days of school bus transportation to the permaculture site almost 20 miles away from the school. Without the buses, the course may not run or only a small number of students with the means to pay could attend.

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