What they cover
Geoff Lawton is one of the world's foremost permaculture designers, trained directly by Bill Mollison (co-founder of permaculture). His YouTube channel documents projects spanning decades across deserts, tropics, temperate regions, and urban environments. Content covers food forest design, water harvesting earthworks, natural building, animal systems integration, and community development. His online Permaculture Design Certificate course has trained tens of thousands of students.
Why they matter
Lawton proved that permaculture works at scale in the harshest conditions on Earth. His 'Greening the Desert' project in Jordan's Dead Sea Valley transformed salt-crusted wasteland into a productive food forest using swales, mulch, and pioneer species. This single project has inspired more permaculture adoption than any academic paper. His decades of documentation across climates provides the evidence base that permaculture is not a hobby but a viable land management system.
How to engage
Subscribe to YouTube for regular project updates and design tutorials. His Permaculture Design Certificate course (online, self-paced) is considered one of the gold standards in the field. His website hosts a free video library with hundreds of hours of design instruction.
Start here
Watch 'Greening the Desert II,' which documents the 10-year evolution of his Jordan Dead Sea Valley project from bare salt flat to productive food forest, proving that permaculture design can regenerate even the most degraded landscapes.