Healing Earth - Unleashing the power of earning a living doing work you believe in

[@mitchellreed9720]

Teach me to travel around with a truck camper and mini ex on a trailer doing this work. I’ve done just about every major trade in construction and have experience operating equipment. I’m currently a pipeline construction inspector for water company. I’m ready to stop destroying the earth with new developments and ready to give back

[@JoelBeltman]

Sounds like you just need some savings, a contractor's license, an LLC and a few certs. Bet you could get it going spring of '25. Just do it

[@Water_Stories]

This is exactly what we do through the core course! There are so many people like yourself with the motivation and skills to make a real different. In just over a year we have already helped dozens of people around the world start a business doing water cycle restoration. So often people are presented with the theories and concepts for ecosystem restoration, without any of the practical parts of implementing projects and earning a living doing it. That's where our course helps fill in the blanks. We also have a free community full of educational content and resources, certainly worth checking out! community.waterstories.com/ I would recommend renting the equipment where you're working, instead of trailering it around, but that's more of a logistical and range question.

[@mitchellreed9720]

@@JoelBeltman which certs? I’ve started a failed small business before so In term of learning experience I’m well on the way there !

[@JoelBeltman]

@@mitchellreed9720 don't burden me with your education. Google it so I don't have to, for you.

[@farmhoplife]

This was my plan. Still is the plan, but I'm in the middle of my detour getting there

[@CplusO2]

Thank you for your work. Just found you and subbed. As an Australian I would like to address your point about permaculture. You are correct that there are more people designing than doing the main reason here is that most of the people who can afford to don't want to and most of the people who want to can't afford to.

[@Water_Stories]

Exactly, for every designer there should be 10-100 practitioners to implement the project. But right now it is the opposite, for every person who knows how to do the work on the ground, there are 100-1000 designers working out theories on paper.

[@simonpannett8810]

Another revolution to give land back to people who want to work it and live there from empty land owned by the elite rich & powerful!!!

[@Joan-o6i]

Amazing results

[@JoBa8282]

Very accurate observation on permaculture, and the will to apply is key. Doing it for the frogs 🐸

[@SuerteDelMolinoFarm]

Great! We are doers on our 5ha farm in Huelva province of Andalusia Spain. We will join some programs of yours. We need hands to help. God bless us all

[@Water_Stories]

For the frogs, for the birds, and for the wolves. We totally agree, we do this work both for our human and non-human relatives. Thank you for thinking of and helping the frogs!

[@Water_Stories]

Excellent, we look forward to it!

[@MelpomeneAlchemist]

I would love to be able to do this.

[@brucearterbury1856]

I have watched the Agees KZbin channel content concerning Laguna Salada. When Laguna Salada is full, its evaporation rate is the highest in North America! It increases the precipitation in the Colorado River watershed by 15% . I hope everyone reading this will copy this link and send it to every radio, TV, and network in the Colorado River watershed. Every canyon emptying into the Laguna Salada needs a plan accounting for being on the east or west side of Laguna Salada. Agees plan will circulate Gulf of California water north up the east side and south down the west side of Laguna Salada. Each canyon’s plan needs to be developed with a ocean front. Mexico signed an agreement with the United States to proceed, but now says that it doesn’t see what is in it for Mexico. So it seems that you’re the man who can make the call for action that will motivate current and future property owners to take action. Good luck Sir

[@eugenio1542]

Australia has a proud heritage in Permaculture and Regenerative Agriculture 🧑‍🌾. Propagate to everybody and everywhere 😊☝️❤️✌️🌍🙏

[@sluggo3slug]

I can really relate to your philosphy.

[@eugenio1542]

I once Bill Mollison in his food forest in the crater of Mount Warning. Beautiful Man ☝️❤️✌️🌍🙏

[@acquisitium]

wonderfull content

[@SamudExu]

This was a long commercial for a course one could learn for free at OSU Ecampus.

[@Water_Stories]

There is a world of difference between our course and the courses available through OSU. The OSU course is great for learning theories from people who make excellent videos, our course is for moving beyond theory to learn the practice from people who do the work at scale. They're really intended for different people. If you want to learn the theories and tabletop design, then the OSU course is a good option. If you want to learn how to do projects and create change on landscape, then our course is the one for you.

[@jamiereife5581]

You have my dream job ❤

[@onesuavestudio]

When are the actual tips and strategies coming? Or are you just advertising on this channel?

[@Water_Stories]

Have you checked out the other videos on our channel? We have many different kinds of videos, and also webinars with the world's leading practitioners. Also to be noted, all of our best content is in the community, not here on youtube. It's free to join and full of films, videos, resources, and other educational and actionable content. community.waterstories.com/

[@Oxnylia]

love you energy and moral fiber, thank god you and other are doing this most important work, thank you!

[@Water_Stories]

You are so welcome, thanks for the kind words!

[@BeautifuLakesStreamsBiologists]

The comments to this video are pretty revealing of the human condition. While real value is rarely achieved "on the cheap", the quest for ecological knowledge can be very rewarding unto itself, but most people are impatient to learn. That is just human nature. It seems this inherent impatience is a reality across the realm of permaculture, just as it is here. A person needs to embrace the core sciences of chemistry, math and physics to better understand ecology. I was fortunate to keep my hands dirty while I was learning in order to ground truth the theories. While these courses look like a good starting point, they are not going to transform you into a watershed ecologist. On the other hand simple ponds that only receive runoff water and not live stream water help the environment everywhere. That is a message worth sharing, but it not the entire answer to store water and rehabilitate a watershed. ,,,,, but again it's a good place to begin. Now if you ARE impatient, then get a job with a rural excavation company. You will learn to work the "dirt" and work in rural areas where these types of projects often occur. You will get to learn from a few great ecological designers if it works out .

[@eugenio1542]

It’s Too simple. Intellectual mass debation. Misses the opportunity to open head and heart ❤️. Aborigines taught me to “go with the flow bro “ and “listen to the wind “ 😅🙏❤️✌️🌍❤️

[@BeautifuLakesStreamsBiologists]

@@eugenio1542 think what you could accomplish by understanding both.

[@BongLoy13]

I am impressed by the amount of people that moan about courses you have to pay. Zach is not a university publicly funded and he decided to invest his time to create a hell of a course with great support by teachers and himself. If you are not happy with this, just watch YT videos and go change the world any way you feel is good. Dont throw stones at someone that is obviously doing good around the world; otherwise, what are you doing here?

[@John-hu9bo]

Well said!

[@dennisscharfenberg1293]

Is a certificate needed to do this work?

[@Water_Stories]

No, what is needed is the skills and ability to competently and confidently carry out the work. That's what our community and course offer. The course also offers a certificate, and listing on our website as a practitioner for those that complete the program. We have heard that many of our students' new project leads come in this way. So it can certainly provide a boost to help you get started, but we wouldn't say it's necessary. What is needed is to be able to safely and effectively carry out the work. When moving earth that is a lot easier said than done, that's where thorough training and mentorship come in.

[@michaelgusovsky]

this video is just some stories, no real info on HOW to transform land. but it's also an advertisement for the course on the water stories website (link in the show notes), supposedly that will provide real instruction.

[@Water_Stories]

Have you checked out the other videos on our channel? We have many different kinds of videos, and also webinars with the world's leading practitioners. Also to be noted, all of our best content is in the community, not here on youtube. It's free to join and full of films, videos, resources, and other educational and actionable content. community.waterstories.com/

[@michaelgusovsky]

@@Water_Stories thanks for the note. first time seeing your channel.

[@remypetit1791]

Subbed baby!

[@simonpannett8810]

So inspiring for hope of a different Healthy Life rather than a depleted and destroyed Nature!!

[@Fierology]

The current trend of dam decommissioning seems to be at odds with this whole premise. There are criticisms to address, but just eliminating dams and the lakes they form is only going to reduce the amount of water cycling into the local soil and ecosystems.

[@eugenio1542]

Swales, small dams and wetlands 😊

[@eugenio1542]

🤔

[@sluggo3slug]

And by the way: CO2 is the gas of life. A fact that people tend to forget. And More CO2 makes plants more drought resistant

[@claudiaperea]

The fact that you’re charging for your course also makes me think that you are “making your living” from selling the theory, not from actually doing the work. Like, you may be doing the work as well, but if you were really passionate about teaching people to do this work and that the work alone could be self-sufficient economically, you wouldn’t need to charge over $2000 for the course. I hope more people get into this line of work, but it’s also cost-prohibitive from the get-go for a lot of people if they can’t even afford your course.

[@Water_Stories]

It's understandable that it can look that way from the outside. Zach has actually volunteered ALL of his time creating and teaching our course, guiding the creation of our films and other free content, and managing the Water Stories organization. He makes 100% of his income from doing real projects for clients through Elemental Ecosystems (a different company), and 0% of his income from Water Stories. This is a passion project that he actually (in addition to his own time) spent all of his saved project earnings to bring into reality. You would be shocked by the amount of time, money, and energy required to make a course this high quality and value packed, with a custom interactive platform for the actions and guided experiences, and with a supportive environment for the mentorship of our students. This course is Zach's way to give this information to others in a meaningful and effective way, because as Sepp Holzer said "we need thousands of people like him, all around the world - millions would be better." It takes a whole team to deliver an experience like this, and considerable resources to fund that team. We also have a global equity scholarship so that this course is available to people all around the world. As our students say, the course pays itself back with the first big project. It then keeps paying for itself again and again with each project after. For what it offers and the results it yields, it's actually amazing cheap.

[@hoon_sol]

Sure, I'd love to do work healing Earth, I wouldn't even require any pay beyond food and lodging; but no, I'm not going to pay for any course, that's the opposite of what you're claiming to teach people.

[@permanick]

In your situation I would highly recommend volunteering with workaway or wwofing. I was in the same situation and spent my first few years just getting my hands on all the books, videos and podcasts I could find and then applying it on other people's land. I didn't quite feel ready to work on big projects though. I saved up for the water stories course and since then I'm able to work on water cycle restoration full-time and I don't need to do any work that I don't believe in to finance my volunteering life. Looking back, the course paid for itself many times already with the work it allowed me to get.

[@hoon_sol]

@@permanick: Well, I already know an enormous amount about how water cycles work and what needs to be done to fix them; so where's all this work you're talking about? From what I can tell the work people want you to do is work that just destroys everything even further, and in many cases they even want you to pay for the products of that destruction too. As for the volunteering things you're talking about I know many people who have had extremely bad experiences with it, even that seems to have been commercialized these days; not to mention how 99% of the places engage in animal agriculture and other evil practices that just destroys the environment even more.

[@John-hu9bo]

@@hoon_sol Sounds like you are just a talker instead of getting things done...

[@hoon_sol]

@@John-hu9bo: You couldn't be more wrong; but not much you can do when you're in the totally wrong place on the planet and 99% of humanity want to actively destroy what's worth doing.

[@John-hu9bo]

@@hoon_sol what do you mean? You are talking about doing things but everyone around you don't? Is that correct?

[@mmmSandwiches]

You could just talk about your process without shutting down permaculture. You keep repeating this opinion that people who learn permaculture don’t act. The same could be said for anyone who takes your courses.

[@andrewparry1474]

We live in a theoretical world; it's not a permaculture thing. He's probably very right in saying that too many people are theorists.... It's indoctrinated into us from day one - I see way too much of it in myself. Practising real permaculture is about having the theory/practice in balance. I think that this guy is biased, and making a good point badly. People will theorise what he is teaching just as quickly. A while ago I started taking a seat and just sitting in random parts of my property for an hour or two. Sitting in the places I don't like. Observing. Sitting. Observing.... Then his video criticising permaculture showed up in my feeds. At the end of the day I thought he had some really good points for permaculture and the human species generally.

[@jerseyboi85]

Agree. I don't see why it's necessary to put down permaculture as if it's a monolithic thing. What this guy is doing could well be an expression of permaculture, assuming he subscribes to the ethics. It's possible the reluctance to identify with permaculture is more of a marketing decision than a philosophical departure.

[@mmmSandwiches]

@@andrewparry1474 yes, observation is a crucial component to permaculture and is written clearly in the designer’s manual. As well as taking action. Throwing punches at a group to make a point about how his way is somehow better feels disrespectful and disingenuous.

[@Water_Stories]

This is actually what makes our course so different, you can't take it without acting. We require and guide the actions, so that by the end of it you've done each of the techniques with your own two hands and have some basic experience and competency with the real world aspects of implementation. We've resisted doing any online training for SO LONG despite so many requests, and that's because we know that to really learn this you need to act and experience. So it wasn't until we created a custom platform for our course that could facilitate all of the activities and exercises needed to really learn this, along with the mentorship to help guide students, that we were ok finally offering a training program. It is not the intention to shut down or speak badly about permaculture. We love permaculture. We also see a clear weak point and want to see the movement succeed instead of fail.

[@Water_Stories]

Jerseyboi85, as we said above we don't intent to put down permaculture. We love permaculture, and we see a clear weakness we want to improve. We do maintain an arms length from permaculture, as the techniques and approaches we've learned didn't come from permaculture, though as you say they could certainly be considered an expression of permaculture. It's actually from the learning of our mentors, and their eventual regret with choosing to call their work permaculture, that helped inform our decision to keep it at arms length in terms of how we describe and market what we do. Permaculture illicit a strong response in people, both good and bad. A LOT of clients have a bad taste in their mouth after hiring a permaculture designer, as usually the deliverable at the end is a very pretty, very expensive design on paper, but no real noticeable improvements to their landscape and no clear way to implement said design.

[@DarthNehimis]

I did not really get anything actionable from this video, despite it talking about the importance of acting over theorizing.

[@SamudExu]

What he meant was: "act now and get my course at 0% off by clicking the link in the description" Dude's just selling Andrew Millisom's course under a different name and false pretenses. In their FAQ they claim that no traditional universities offer certification when OSU offers the same certification at half the price.

[@Water_Stories]

Have you checked out the other videos on our channel? There is lots of actionable content, including webinars with the world's leading practitioners. Also all of our best content is in the community, not here on youtube. It's free to join and full of films, videos, resources, and other educational and actionable content. community.waterstories.com/

[@Water_Stories]

There is a world of difference between the Water Stories Core Course and the OSU permaculture courses. Different approaches and totally different content and subject matter. Our course is nothing like a Permaculture course or PDC. PDC's are certainly offered by universities and many people all over the place. Ask our students, they will tell you the difference. Many of them have taken PDC's and different courses, learning about this stuff for years, but it wasn't until after our course that they were actually able to start doing real projects (instead of just designs) and making a real career of it; finally able to make the switch to going full time.

[@John-hu9bo]

Jesus, all those people who are whining about paying for such knowledge and experince etc.. I bet those people never even grew a single lettuce or doing nothing at all and wont ever! Go, learn just from youtube and try make a living without being funded or whatever. Go, try to create a customer base. You are all keyboard warriors. After watching some permaculture wannabes you put on Netflix and start whining that you would do everything better. Then go and DO it. A lot of people are so pathetic....