permaculture

["Jeremy Sharp" <jez@monitor.net>]

Go toby  go  amen  Sono Perm
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>From: Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>
>To: "permaculture" <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
>Subject: Re: Permaculture: old and new paradigms
>Date: Wed, May 26, 1999, 10:06 AM
>

>Like Scott, I wince when I hear of old versus new paradigms (the introducer
>of the word "paradigm," Thomas Kuhn, must be whirling in his grave). There
>are many uses for both linear and non-linear thinking, for hierarchy and
>"flat' organization, and so forth. We need both, applied at the appropriate
>scale and time. So I'll try and add something helpful here. Permaculture
>has its feet in both camps, straddling the edge (a good place to be)
>between these two viewpoints.
>  The PDC mirrors this, because it has evolved far from Mollison's original
>(linear?) "stand in front of a class and talk for 72 hours" format
>(something that ony someone as charismatic as Bill can get away with). Many
>PDCs now focus on learning as opposed to teaching. There's lots of data
>showing that most people learn poorly by listening passively to an
>instructor. Some PDC's now reflect this, with often less than 1/3 the time
>as lectures, and the rest in cooperative learning games, hands-on work,
>participant-led instruction, community-building exercises, kinesthetic
>learning, and a host of other techniques. The whole point of the PDC,
>mentioned in many, many posts so far, is to inspire by drawing the
>participants into a new community and a more holistic, balanced way of
>thinking. I think the PDC continues to evolve into a better and better
>format for doing just that. It can't do everything, but it's supposed to be
>just the beginning.
>   The point of this is that I don't think there's much to be gained in
>complaining about or radically changing the PDC. It seems to be evolving
>very well. I'd say the problems lie elsewhere. I'm frustrated here because
>I feel like I'm not operating from the same set of experiences as those
>advocating changes; my experiences with the PDC, transmission of knowledge
>in Pc, teachers, and most course participants all indicate an extremely
>healthy and responsive system. Many of the complaints seem to be describing
>a world different from what I see ("are Pc teachers really living Pc
>principles?" or "the PDC is old paradigm" etc.).
>  To me, Pc is not growing fast because in our enthusiasm to build a new
>world we have ignored the old one, yet are asking it to change for us.
>There's a parallel with the environmental movement: it was a fringe group
>of scraggly hippies until it learned how to deal with the mainstream by
>writing grants, publishing research, lobbying, etc. On one hand, it got
>co-opted by "the system," and some will never forgive the Sierra Club or
>NRDC for that. But on the other hand, environmental protection and
>awareness are now part of daily life. We need more Pc projects in schools,
>in public buildings and parks, at ag extension colleges, with foundations,
>in government agencies and corporations. Who wants to take that on? Until
>we accept the legitimacy of the non-sustainable 99%, and learn to work with
>it (maybe even wear a suit!), even at the cost of the dilution of our
>message, we will continue to be a marginal movement.
>
>Hey Marsha: I really appreciate your provocative questions--thanks.
>
>Toby
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