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permaculture - RE: Both? Both!

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  • From: John Schinnerer <JohnS@STLabs.com>
  • To: "'permaculture@listserv.oit.unc.edu'" <permaculture@listserv.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Both? Both!
  • Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 11:33:47 -0800

Aloha,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jack Rowe [SMTP:jackrowe@compuserve.com]
>Both. . .

Thanks, Jack, for a much more eloquent expression of my intent.
I cannot miss "the" point of permaculture design because for me there
are countless "points."

As to my choice of words, I explain what I sometimes do as
"designing" (when it is, anyhow :-). I personally avoid using a
"problem-solution" manner of explaining because I see a dominant culture
implicitly operating in a myopic problem-solving/creating mode and I
offer "designing" as a possible preferred alternative. I think of
design as asking "what do you (I, we) want?" rather than "what's wrong?"
- and I prefer (well, sometimes :-) to ask the former sort of question.
Both are good to keep in mind.

So as I look around at existing systems, I quite often see
design opportunities. Same planet; different observers and thus
different manners of explaining.

>Don't let the reductionists co-opt your language and prevent you from
>expressing what needs to be done.

By inviting people to inquire into what might constitute
"designing" (and design cultures, cultures of design, etc.), I may
sidestep any such semantic struggles. Or not...I'll see. "Design"
carries cultural implicits of its own... There are countless ways to
express "what needs to be done" - at least one for every person alive!
This has been a little bit of mine... :-)

John Schinnerer




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