Workshops in One Planet Development

We offer courses to organisations and venues of any length from a single day’s workshop to a weekend, week, or part-time year depending on the amount of depth required.

You’ll be guided through an overview of the necessary stages in writing a ‘One Planet’ Development (OPD) management plan, which is crucial for the planning application.
We’ll discuss how to find and evaluate suitable land, the planning process, regenerative land management, zero carbon building, renewable energy, food provision, water provision, ecological sanitation, community relations and Welsh culture, business management and marketing, and low carbon transport, with examples from existing OPDs in Wales.
We’ll visit an OPD and see what they’re up to (they’ve been on site for 3 years).
We will also discuss the possibilities for intentional ‘one planet’ villages with affordable homes, sustainable employment and training opportunities, guided by a new community land trust we’ve set up.

A key course book will be David Thorpe’s The One Planet Life: A Blueprint for Low Impact Development.

Weekend workshops are currently on hold

This is pending the Covid-19 crisis. However we are planning one in Newtown, mid-Wales, in June at the moment. Get in touch for more information. We’re also offering online training:

Online training

We are now offering online workshops for individuals and groups, conducted by Skype and email. There are 7 units:

1. The context, and introduction to the management plan

2. Land-based business ideas

3. Zero carbon building

4. Renewable energy

5. Water and waste

6. Transport

7. Land evaluation.

In between each there is a simple and enjoyable exercise to help you visualise and develop your plans. Once you’ve done it I feed back to you with a 15 minute Skype or Zoom chat and you get the next module, and so on. There is final online chat.

These cost £80 for one person, £45 each for two; £35 each for three; £25 each for four. If you can’t afford it, discounts are available. Get in touch for more information.

To sign up, please transfer the appropriate amount by BACS (Bank transfer) to: Sort code: 09 01 56 A/c no. 24876489. Bank: Santander. In the reference field please put: OPDOC and email david@theoneplanetlife.com to inform us.

This one is postponed:

We’ll let you know when this is rescehduled. Swn y Coed is an exemplary OPD with plenty to learn from. Peni Ediker (below) and Stef Balesi will be on hand to demonstrate their educational and harp-making businesses, and their fabulous soil-enhancing land management practices.

Camping facilities will be included in the price. If you want to have two lunches and an evening meal prepared from Peni and Stef’s OPD produce please add £10 per day per person.

What else do you learn on a short course?

The chief purpose of a short workshop is to map out a management plan for a ‘one planet’ project and understand the other requirements.

Topics include: land assessment, agroecology, renewable energy, food, land-based businesses, zero carbon building and transport, water supply, ecological sewage treatment, land management, monitoring, and planning applications.

Projects may vary in size from a single household to a neighborhood, to a town or city. Businesses may also work towards ‘one planet’ status.

The goal of the work is to measure and reduce the project’s total ecological footprint. The plan shows how to achieve this in a sustainable fashion.

A ‘One Planet’ Living is a way of living without harming the planet – and actually repairing it.

You will turn your vision into reality by making a draft of your own management plan and by the end of the course have a thorough overview of what is involved.