[permaculture] Why Bother With Permaculture? An essay by Ted Trainer
Toby Hemenway
toby at patternliteracy.com
Wed Dec 19 13:57:30 EST 2007
Ditto to what Stella and Scott have said about Ted Trainer's article.
The article says
> Permaculture can easily be seen as another 'technical fix" that can
> save industrial affluent-consumer society. I think most people see
> things like solar energy, community supported agriculture, LETS, earth
> building, reed bed sewage and Permaculture as new ecologically
> friendly techniques
Trainer shows a serious misunderstanding of what permaculture is. Only
the rawest of permaculture beginners think that it is a technique like
composting or herb spirals. Does Trainer really not get that it can only
be properly applied as a design system based on indicators of
sustainability? I've never met a serious permaculturist who didn't have
a gut understanding that our culture is completely unsustainable, and
who hadn't adopted the "radical change in lifestyles" that Ted says is
missing from permaculture. On the other hand, I have seem people
dismiss permaculture because embracing it would make them feel bad about
driving their SUV.
How old is this article? It's listed as being from the "International
Permaculture Journal." Do they mean PIJ? Perhaps this is a really old
piece, from back in the days when more people thought Pc was about herb
spirals.
Toby
http://patternliteracy.com
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