Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

I agree with the philosophy of permaculture. But it's not going to save the
world, nor is any other philosophy, mostly because the financial-military
juggernaut isn't going to convert and give up all its power and money,
until the empire falls.

Peter Bane says
"At the risk of being thought romantic or utopian, I assert that the
solutions to these and most of the world's dramatic crises rests in a
rather simple shift of our awareness and our behavior."

Simple shift? What planet is he on? Changing human nature is a simple
shift? Human nature is even  commercializing permaculture to swindle
hundreds of dollars out of well-meaning individuals with dilletante
seminars. And at the same time the price excludes all who don't have the
money and time off work to go to them. At these seminars they show you how
much money can be made off permaculture - not by practicing it but just by
talking about it. How many of them are promoting it because their degree
didn't get them a job and they're allergic to work anyway?  Are they any
different from the fake gurus, phony shamans or healers who get people to
pay big bucks to become "spiritual"? What's the next fad for people with
money to burn? And people who are part of the system are going to do away
with the system?

The issue is not whether permaculture does some good. Lots of things do
some good. The issue is why some people and "nonprofits" demand money for
it. Buy the book and forget the seminars. Spend that money putting it into
practice instead.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.
--Henry David Thoreau

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 12/9/2006 at 7:34 AM E. E. Mitchamore Jr wrote:

>I thought this was a great year-end overview of our common concerns and
>wanted to share it.
>
>E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
>www.hillcountrynatives.biz
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Keith Johnson
>To: BPG ; Permaculture ibiblio ; openpermaculture
>Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 9:59 PM
>Subject: [Permaculture International] Time to Garden the Planet
>(pleaseforward)
>
>
>Time to Garden the Planet
>
>©2006 Peter Bane
>This is a season for talking truth about the world. Americans do
>elections and feasting in the same month and for good reason: All
>politics hinges on the question, "Who eats?"
>
>When we shifted our economy from the wild harvesting of nature's
>surpluses to the cultivation of cereal crops at the end of the last ice
>age, we started on a course of collective self-discovery: Will the
>clever monkeys solve the puzzle in time? Can they figure out how to grow
>enough food to keep up with their sex drive?
>
>So far, the answer is no. The Agricultural Revolution, sparked in the
>semi-arid regions of the Near East about 10,000 years ago, has been a
>failure. The production of surplus grains has always led to increases in
>population that outstrip the productive capacity of their regions,
>leading to war, empire, destruction of forests, and migrations. On a
>shrinking planet, there's nowhere else to go.
>
>To get to the root of politics we have to talk and act on food. Freedom
>isn't just "nothin' left to lose," rather it's an abundant supply of
>locally grown food for every household. Our current food system, and
>with it the entire economy of the now hyperlinked world is balanced
>precariously on a dwindling supply of fossil oil and gas, controlled by
>a tiny elite of mostly foreign powers.This is not a temporary problem to
>be solved by technology or better management. It is a structural problem
>of geological limits and burgeoning population that will never go away
>until we break our addiction to oil.
>
>Thirty years ago, two Australians, David Holmgren and Bill Mollison
>discovered in their conversation about energy and equity that they had
>something to say about this problem. They described their response to
>global limits and the failure of central authority with the made-up
>word, "Permaculture," or "permanent agriculture."
>
>In the generation since "Permaculture I" was published, a hundred
>thousand others have joined this conversation around the world and
>Permaculture has come to mean "permanent culture," because, of course,
>no system of farming can exist without a just and stable society to
>support it.
>
>Besides being a paradox ("permanent" means long-lasting while "culture"
>is about continuous change and adaptation"), Permaculture is a way of
>seeing the world that emphasizes context and processes. It requires a
>shift of focus from objects and actors—which is the cultural bias of
>western civilization and of our English language in particular—to
>relationships. Whether seen as feminine or right-brained or Eastern
>because these qualities have been suppressed in our culture, the
>capacity for holistic thinking is really about balance —drawing on both
>sides of the brain and emphasizing the connections between them.
>
>Permaculture is also a design system, based on ecology and taught by
>grassroots networks, for creating human habitats—homes, neighborhoods,
>towns, and the countryside—that capture energy, grow food, and recycle
>wastes, as they grow ever more diverse and abundant. The principles are
>simple but not trivial:
>• Humans must be engaged interactively with the natural world around us;
>• Our chief task is to capture and cycle solar energy, using it to meet
>our needs;
>• We have to feed ourselves and regulate our behaviors to fit in with
>nature;
>• Biological systems work best;
>• Waste equals food;
>• The patterns of natural systems show us how to create cultivated ones;
>• Combine top-down thinking with bottom-up action;
>• Always integrate elements and systems for mutual support;
>• Choose small and slow means;
>• Cultivate diversity and look to the margins for action;
>• Be prepared for change.
>These have endless ramifications.
>
>And out of these networks of "each one, teach one," has grown a social
>movement for people-centered development and grassroots scientific
>research that has successfully demonstrated pathways for a low-energy
>future in 100 countries. The abundance of cheap fossil fuel and the
>material excesses of USA culture have retarded Americans' awareness of
>Permaculture, but the rise of energy prices and the continued
>contraction of the global economy are helping awaken more people to the
>need for which Permaculture was created.
>
>Permaculture has a great analysis of the world—Energy comes from the
>sun, therefore it's time to reorganize our economy and technology to
>recognize that (Think biology.); The Earth has limits, of which energy,
>water, tree cover, and soil minerals are especially critical to life;
>People, once educated, are best able solve their own problems and meet
>their own needs locally, so teach them to teach others. The household,
>not the factory, is the source of prosperity, so create edible
>landscapes everywhere people live. But the Permaculture story would be
>empty theory if it didn't lead to positive action for change.
>
>If you want to turn the world on its head, it takes a really good idea
>and a lot of practice. And that's where the design system comes in. You
>apply these principles to your own life, your own household, your own
>economy to make permaculture happen where you live. And every one is
>different. Starting at the back door, permaculture designers and
>activists have created city farms, food forests, solar homes, living
>roofs, edible parks and schoolgrounds, backyard fish ponds, community
>health centers, water gardens, local currencies and credit unions,
>farmers markets, ecovillages, and a worldwide university.
>
>What will be your part of this story?
>
>The true test of permanent agriculture is whether it builds and
>maintains carbon (organic matter) levels in soil. This takes trees,
>animals, careful observation, persistence, and a new worldview. No
>mechanized agriculture can do it, only people who understand their
>kinship with all of life can. The land needs people. At the same time,
>there can never be enough "stuff" in the marketplace to satisfy our
>profound need for love and meaning. These can only come from
>relationship—people need the land and each other. In a world of
>diminishing resources, the only inexhaustible resource is our creativity
>and our undying connection with the Earth. These come together in the
>garden, and while Permaculture is much more than can be imagined by one
>person or captured in an essay, it is most often and truly associated
>with the garden, our deepest image of connectedness with the original
>source and of a world filled with pleasure and delight.
>
>Politics has captured the attention of Americans again after a
>generation of lethargy because the world's problems are growing more
>complex with each passing day. We face endless war over oil, rampant
>consumerism, a hollow economy and a crumbling dollar, an epidemic of
>obesity, toxicity and illness, and a medical system out of control.
>Hunger and plague stalk the global South. At the risk of being thought
>romantic or utopian, I assert that the solutions to these and most of
>the world's dramatic crises rests in a rather simple shift of our
>awareness and our behavior. We must care for the Earth and for people,
>and share that which is surplus to our needs so that others may meet
>their own. We must also consciously limit our consumption and
>population. These ethics are central to permaculture: they belong to no
>nation or creed but to all of humanity. It's time to garden the planet.
>
>/Peter Bane publishes /Permaculture Activist,/ the world's
>longest-running journal of permaculture design. He lives in Bloomington,
>Indiana.
>/
>*/_Permaculture Resources_/*/
>Permaculture Activist, quarterly journal, PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN
>47407. www.permacultureactivist.net. Magazines, books, videos, global
>directory of permaculture organizations, seed and nursery sources.
>Permaculture Magazine (U.K.), quarterly. www.permaculture.co.uk.
>
>Permaculture training is offered is most regions of the US and Canada
>throughout the year. In some areas there are community college courses,
>but most workshops are weekend series, week-long, or two-week intensives
>in private venues. A calendar of events is published Feb., May, Aug.,
>and Nov. by Permaculture Activist.
>
>For central Virginia and surrounding regions, contact
>ChristineGyovai@gmail.com, 434-982-6464. (weekends March and April 2007)
>For Ohio, Pennsylvania, W. Va. and eastern Ky, contact Josh Beniston,
>ramblinjosh@yahoo.com. 740-818-8422 ... (July, 2007. Hocking College
>affiliation.)
>For Indiana, Illinois, western Ky. and southern. Wisc., contact Andy
>Mahler, andy@blueriver.net. (June 2007, Ind. Univ. credit option.)
>For Colorado and the mountain west, contact Central Rocky Mountain
>Permaculture Institute, www.crmpi.org, 970-927-4158.
>For Florida contact Joanna Angel. gaiagrovefl@yahoo.com. (mid-March
>intensive)
>For southern New England, contact Dynamics Ecosystems Design,
>davej@edibleforestgardens.com.
>For northern New England contact Yestermorrow Design/Build school.
>802-496-5545.
>For New York, contact Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute,
>flpcipermaculture@yahoo.com ... (weekends ongoing)
>For Ontario, contact Ecology Retreat Centre,
>bookings@ecologyretreatcentre.ca. (July/September) /
>
>--
>Keith Johnson
>"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
>Permaculture Activist Magazine
>PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47408
>(812) 335-0383
>http://www.permacultureactivist.net
>also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting
>also Association for Regenerative Culture
>also APPLE-Bloomington (Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy) It's
>a small world after oil.
>http://www.relocalize.net/groups/applebloomington
>also Bloomington Permaculture Guild
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Permaculture mailing list
>Permaculture@openpermaculture.org
>http://openpermaculture.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture_openpermaculture.
org
>
>_______________________________________________
>Livingontheland mailing list
>Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland