About Us


The Permaculture Education Center's mission is to provide training in Permaculture while promoting and demonstrating sustainable living techniques to the world.

Main Instructors:

Alan Enzo, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Dr. Enzo (also known as "Enzo") is an award-winning researcher and international consultant in Ecological Economics and Ecological Design. He is a co-founder of Asheville Permaculture, and is a registered Instructor and Consultant with the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia. He earned a Ph.D. in Management (specialization in Ecological Economics), and an M.B.A. in Sustainable Business from Tennessee State University.

Dr. Enzo has extensive experience in management and sustainability consulting for private corporations, non-profit organizations, universities, and state and local governments. He has worked with clients and universities in the U.S., Western Europe, China, and Japan. Dr. Enzo completed his first Permaculture Design Course in 2009 (taught by one of Bill Mollison's first PDC graduates). He is passionate about sustainable systems research, alternative local economic systems, natural building, organic food production, and helping students and clients start their own small green businesses.

Jessica Enzo, B.A.

Jessica Enzo is a Permaculture co-teacher and consultant, and is also a certified Health Coach specializing in Integrative Nutrition. Jessica has a love of natural landscapes and an eye for patterns and appropriate design. These skills brought her to the study of Permaculture, and have helped her develop into a great Permaculture co-teacher and design consultant. She has a B. A. in History from Middle Tennessee State University, and is a certified teacher. Jessica taught 6th grade Ancient History from 2006 to 2010. Her passion and desire is to demonstrate and share her love of Permaculture and its amazing principles with as many people as possible.

The Enzo's are currently working to create a Permaculture Demonstration site and Education Center in Asheville, North Carolina. It will be called Asheville Permaculture, and will serve as the regional Permaculture Research Institute for the Southeast U.S. Alan and Jessica are respected teachers and consultants in the region, and are best known for designing the new Permaculture Demonstration site at the Mother Earth News Ecovillage near Asheville, N.C. This famous ecovillage was one of the first ecovillages established in the United States. In addition to teaching and consulting, the Enzo's work with other Permaculture and Sustainability professionals to help re-localize economic activity and organic food production, while creating a network of small local green businesses in the Southern Appalachian Mountains Bioregion (Katuah).

In 2011, Alan and Jessica Enzo, Tom Brody, Ian Booth, Galen Hull, Raoul Russell, and several other Permaculture teachers created a new online PDC curriculum and started PermacultureEducation.com. The site is now managed by the Ecological Education Association - a collective of local Permaculture teachers in the Southeast U.S.

Other key instructors:

Ian Booth – Executive Director, Appalachian Center for Resource Empowerment & Sustainability (ACRES)in Asheville. Founder of SustainableNow.us and respected teacher and lecturer in sustainability and Ecological Design. Producer of The Green Radio Bistro (radio show in Asheville covering sustainability topics).

Thomas Brody – Director of Operations, Appalachian Center for Resource Empowerment & Sustainability (ACRES)in Asheville. Director, Broad River Botanicals. Permaculture and Natural Building instructor and researcher.

Lalita Booth, MBA/MPP – Harvard University, Master of Business Administration and Public Policy (MBA/MPP). President & Treasurer, Appalachian Center for Resource Empowerment & Sustainability (ACRES)in Asheville. Writer, instructor and lecturer in financial literacy, resource empowerment, and Ecological Design.

Galen Hull, Ph.D. – Director, Office of International Business Programs. Professor of Sustainable Business and International Business, Tennessee State University, Nashville. Peace Corps volunteer and Sustainable Development Specialist - Malawi.

Raoul Russell, M.B.A. – Management Officer, U.S. Department of State – Foreign Service Office. Currently stationed in Greece. International consultant in Sustainable Business and Sustainable Development.

The Permaculture Education Center partners on a regular basis with qualified Permaculture instructors from around the bioregion and world to assist in teaching our courses. The list of instructors may change over time, but the quality of the instructors will not. Every instructor interested in teaching in our online or live courses must be approved by the Board after submitting a copy of their PDC certificate, along with a portfolio of design work and their resume or CV.

If you already have your PDC and/or have experience in related disciplines and are interested in teaching either online or in live courses in the Asheville/Western NC or Nashville, TN areas, please feel free to contact us.