permaculture

[Loren Davidson <loren@wombat.net>]

At 09:41 AM 10/8/97 -0400, YankeePerm@aol.com wrote:
>Regardin the Activist letters, I think that the authors took an unfortunate
>route to express what some people to perceive to be a problem.  I suggest
>that perhaps more harm than good will come of making this a topic of
>discussion on the internet.

Perhaps.  And perhaps the discussion will give list.members an opportunity
to really think about what they believe, examine their own self-picture with
respect to how they choose to relate to the greater Permaculture
movement/community/aggregate.  Observing and clarifying one's sense of self
and purpose is to me an important activity...perhaps the ultimate in "Zone
0" design.

I'm one of those Californians who had to choose this year:  Which course do
I take?  And I believe that the choice I made, to take the course from
local/bioregional instructors rather than from Bill and Scott, was the best
choice *for me*.  But I can see where others, with different goals and
needs, would have been better served by the Mollinson course(s).

>There are actual public matters that no one has commented on, e.g. arbitrary
>creation of a national permaculture organization for the USA, (...), with
no consultation of the permaculture
>community, meaning design course graduates. 

If this is true, it doesn't sound entirely consistent with principles of
local/bioregional control and grassroots organization...which while not
necessarily "100% Permaculture", are to me at least consonant with
ecological principles.  This may not have occurred to the organizers...yet.

 Do we want a national
>organization.  Is the design consistent with permaculture?  How do officers
>get selected?  If we want one, what do we want it to do?  (Here we get back
>to the point.)  Should it not promote American permaculturists as any other
>professional organization does?

All excellent questions, worthy of thought and reflection.

It's my understanding that a directory of *all* design course grads is being
prepared, to be made available to all design course grads.  I think this is
a Good Thing, as it will enable organization, communication, and networking
to occur on whatever scale the participants want:  locally, regionally,
nationally.  Personally, I'd like to be in better touch with folks in my
bioregion, and don't currently see much benefit to me in a national
organization.  But I realize again that others may see differently than I.

The idea of an organization imposed "from above" sounds to me a lot like
saying, "I want to grow ginseng, so I'll just plant it on this hot, sunny,
sun-facing slope".

If this is the case, I anticipate that the results will become obvious,
sooner or later, and perhaps some of the good Permaculturists involved will
observe these results and adjust their design accordingly. :)

Just another data point,

Loren,
learning to observe patterns...
--
Loren Davidson      
loren@wombat.net         http://www.batnet.com/beauty/
"Fundamentalism stops a thinking mind" - seen on a bumper sticker