permaculture

[Permaculture Extension Services <permaext@magna.com.au>]

UrbanHarve@aol.com wrote:
> 
> The Web certainly seems to be the wave of the future for information
> distribution, but few so far in our area (Houston) have email, let alone Web
> access.

Like the situation in Australia!

 My question about information distribution was directed at the issue
> of distributing it to ALL elements of the population including the
> illiterate, don't reads, read but don't type, word process but don't use
> modems, and so forth of all education and wealth classes.  Bob/Urban Harvest

I guess that would call for a multiple media approach, Bob. Video, 
print, radio etc. But that means money. Maybe we need a permaculture 
educational comic!

April Sampson-Kelly (Mt Kembla, Australia) worte me today that it's 
time for another major video production similar to Bill Mollison's 
Global Gardener series on permaculture around the world. The ABC 
(government run national broadcaster) has run the production three 
times but told April that the series will not be shown again. This is 
unfortunate.

The situation we face in Australia is that much of the funding we 
receive from government for community initiated stuff is drying up. As 
for raising money from the community (we have 18 million people here 
in a country about the size of the USA), I believe that's unlikely. A 
video production such as Global Gardener is expensive to produce.

The impact of Global Gardener was significant. Permaculture classes we 
taught at adult evening colleges more than doubled in size as a direct 
result of the broadcast of Global Gardener on prime time television. 
It was a great boon to the grassroots sustainable development ethos 
and provided direct evidence that community self-help really works - a 
change from the usual stories in the media concerning the developing 
world, which focus on disasters, disease and war.

The lesson of Global Gardener attests to the value of television as 
valuable media for sustainable development matters and is relevant to 
your discussion (above) on information distribution.
 
Thanks for discussing the issee...

...Russ and Fiona
-- 
PERMACULTURE EXTENSION SERVICES
Russ Grayson and Fiona Campbell
PO Box 446, Kogarah NSW 2217 AUSTRALIA

Phone   02-9588 6931    (IDD-61+2+9588 6931)
Fax     02 330 2611 (Mark fax: ATTN: RUSS GRAYSON - APACE) 
        (IDD-61+2+330 2611)
Email: permaext@magna.com.au

Permaculture education, publishing, design. 
NSW co-ordinator, Australian City Farms and Gardens Network.