permaculture

[Judith Hanna <jehanna@gn.apc.org>]

Dear >Russ Grayson and Fiona Campbell

At 17:48 29/05/00 +1000, you wrote:
>In her recent email announcement of this August¹s Permaculture Designer¹s
>Gathering at Djanbung Gardens, Nimbin, Robyn Francis writes: "You are
>encouraged to use the time until the gathering to commence dialogue on
>important issues via the net". >I would like to kick off that process by
raising for discussion issues which >I believe are pertinent to the future
of permaculture.
>
Can some of us who aren't in Australia and won't get along to the
conference join in? 
Certainly, my impression when I pop back from the UK on family visits to
Australia (dispersed families are, indeed, inherently unsustainable) is
that permaculture is much more mainstreamed in Australia -- but that many
who say they are 'into permaculture' see it as organic home-growing of veg
and fruit, composting and recycling, being nice to wildlife -- but will
casually motor twenties of miles in daily commuting or hundreds of miles
for a weekend. And car mileage is Australia's greatest contribution to
unsustainability. In Perth particularly, the amount of new tarmac and
cement being laid down as car space seems like a major contributor to at
least micro-climate desertification -- crazy given Perth's 6-month dry hot
summer and general wind-tunnel tendency. Challenging car-culture seems the
main new thing needed for a wider-scale switch to a more sustainable
Australia. Plus continuing to promote city (and country) greenery wherever
it can be fitted.

I'd pick out for strong agreement your point that:
>All of these ideas have been promoted in permaculture since its beginning.
>While they have become institutionalised, however, they are still far from
>widespread. Is our role as permaculture activists now to educate the public
>about them and to lobby local government for their adoption?

Absolutely -- how? Seems to me that:

1) Permaculture's 'unique selling point' in catching people's imaginations
and enthusiasm is the emphasis on demonstrating solutions in practice, so
that people can see how to make their own. The permaculture garden centres
in Fremantle are good for this -- everyone I know in Perth knows of them
and enjoys the excuse to visit them. And they look like businesses that pay
their way, helping people earn a living from working for sustainability,
rather than depending on chasing hand-out grants. (Is this the case in
reality?)

2) Campaigning groups -- often single-issue in focus -- are natural allies
in making the arguments and getting them through to the press and
politicians. What they need, and are often short of, are practical examples
of what they are talking about as solutions. This is what good permaculture
projects should be able to provide. From roughly biennial visits, I don't
get a picture of how effective a relationship there is or is not in
Australia between the environmental campaigners and the permacultural
examples relevant to what they are campaigning for. 
        Certainly in the UK, this relationship is generally lacking or weak. 
I say
this as someone who belongs to both camps -- and finds great gaps in
understanding and relevant contacts of the others on both sides. 
        I tend to think of it as a matter of human ecological niches -- one 
reason
is that effective campaigning requires tight logistical organisation and an
element of aggression, that doesn't sit easily with (for instance)
remembering to water the office plants. I reckon effective permaculture
requires a patient detachment that observes how things develop/grow/fail,
then replans. It seems rare to have both in the same person -- but a team
that includes both (and a range of others with different qualities) can be
very effective.

3) > Australia is fully a part of the global economic
>system, a fact which has brought social, environmental, political and
>economic change over the past twenty years. These changes have been
>discussed by, among others, social analyst Hugh Mackay (Mackay Research),
>who has identified:
>- a persistent rate of unemployment
>- underemployment (30% of the Australian workforce has been Œcasualised¹ in
>part-time, unreliable work)
>- an increasing polarisation of wealth and increased poverty
>- a persistent social ambience of insecurity
>- changed gender relations
>- changed working lives
>- reduction of government services at the same time as increasing regulation
>of life 
>- fear of the future mixed with a belief that things will improve.
This is the social milieu in which permaculture must operate. And to operate
>successfully ­ with relevance to the daily life of people ­ permaculture
>activists must address the issues.

By comparison with the UK, Australia has started from a much more
egalitarian, secure and relaxed base and life there seems still much more
relaxed and secure than here or in many other parts of the world. That
said, one of permaculture's gaps has been in 'social ecology' or
peoplecare. This seems one area in which British permaculture seems to be
ahead -- lots of people packed into a small island means emphasis on urban
problems and solutions. 

And the economy -- human patterns of owning and exchanging resources -- is
indeed pretty basic to these. There is a good deal of what was called 'new
economics' (before that term got taken up for the e-commerce economy) and
old-fashioned economic anthropology that isn't just about money, and
provides a useful starting point. US feminist economist Hazel Henderson is
one of the best starting points. In my view (which may be biased, working
as I do as lobbyist with the National Centre for Volunteering), valuing
unpaid work and environmental capital is central to a sustainable economics. 

National Centre campaigning briefings at www.volunteering.org.uk give more
info.
Also worth looking at what New Economics Foundation is doing at
www.neweconomics.org

Of course, the LETS systems that are mentioned in the Permaculture Design
Manual are a good practical start on tracking non-monetised exchanges and
values -- but there is a whole lot  more permaculture could and needs to
get to grips with. And maybe places like Maleny and the Blue Mountains are
doing so? 

But such such small-scale local initiatives seem pitifully tiny set against
the Global Economy -- which takes us back to making the links between
permaculture's action-exemplars and education focus and the campaigning
movements. 

Enough for one oar into the discussion..

Cheers, Judith
Judith Hanna
jehanna@gn.apc.org
15 Jansons Rd, Tottenham, London N15 4JU