Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] On an ethics of permaculture,

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Pierre Marx" <pierre@dalyellup-permaculture.com.au>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] On an ethics of permaculture,
  • Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 10:13:05 +0800

Hola Steve 'n all,

Interesting topic, but let's watch out for purism / fundamentalism.

The "fair share" ethic comes from Dave Holmgren, the very co-founder of PC!!! Have a look at http://www.permacultureprinciples.com and his book "Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability". I also believe Toby Hemenway makes mention of the zone 00 idea in "Gaia's Garden".

No permaculture garden remains static. It grows, develops and eventually "pops" (to quote Toby). I feel the same applies to these permaculture concepts. These concepts themselves are not "immutable natural laws" like gravity, but human inventions that are imperfect. Very much like a permaculture design is a human invention: we're intentionally trying to put certain things in certain places to allow Nature to take its course and through the natural processes of succession etc. we hope the garden would mature into a self-sufficient ecosystem ("it pops"). In the same way I think permaculture as a design system is very much still under development (although it has reached a high level of maturity in 40 years) and we shouldn't get stuck in fundamentalism.

*Fire suit mode ON*

Adios,
Pierre

www.dalyellup-permaculture.com.au


----- Original Message ----- From: "steve read" <permaculturefr@free.fr>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 5:21 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] On an ethics of permaculture,


Often wondered where this "fair shares" ethic got into PmC , I understand that its a funky soundbyte but for me philosophically and practically its very different to the original "3rd"ethic as put forward by Mollison in the designers manual , where also he expounds the "Life ethic" of which we hear perhaps too little when PmC ethics are discussed .

The same thing can I feel be said of the famous zone system where I often here about zone 00 and zone 6 and 7 , the things talked about for zone 00 seeming not only out of place in an approach created for efficient physical placement of elements in a design but also that they are more effectively discussed through the ethic of People care , me being people too . 6 and 7 just sound like a load of old guilding the lily nonsense to me .

earthcare --- work with nature not against, be part of nature and not seperated from it in my mind --- enabling the ability to select the appropriate techniques and strategies adapted to the Place , not pushing or forcing a pre-conceived favourite design model to make the Place fit it .

Peoplecare --- work with human nature and culture not against --- enabling the use of the attractive force , guiding in an awakened way , not pushing or forcing the people to fit a pre-conceived personal mental model . Loving them , loving myself .

Limit population --- showing our understanding of population doubling times and ecological carrying capacities , and also our PmC willingness to examine and discuss sensitive issues
Limit consumption --- of those things destructive to planetary and personal health , simply good sense and if coupled to discussions around abundance and appropriate consumption a very positive message is imo put foward .
Give away surplus --- frankly I'm not in PmC to create "just enough" so that it has to be "shared out fairly" , I try to guide the design of systems that will produce "too much" an excess to be given away in the same way as an apple tree "gives away" those kilos of apples each year . Yes in the short term distribute these surpluses in a fair way until we all have surpluses , but I'm not in this for the short term . Give away surplus for me being the main ethic with a sub-clause 're-distribute in an awakened manner' .

Life ethic --- that all forms of life have the right to exist and their place in the Whole , often with a place and rĂ´les not understood by us .

I imagine thats all old hat for most people on this list but I felt like writing it up anyway . Also to make the point that over these years of designing and teaching I've come to appreciate to what point PmC comes across as a secular Way for many people which has helped me understand the often strong reactions that people can have during courses and when being guided to unfold their own designs .

Ciao

Steve Read
www.permaculturefrance.org

_______________________________________________
permaculture mailing list
permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subscribe or unsubscribe here:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
Google command to search archives:
site:https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture searchstring





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page