permaculture

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

Thanks Marsha 

for your 'rules of thumb' listings -- a useful summary. Some thoughts:

>2. Substitute capital and work for planning and  creativity.
Seems different dialects of English read 'substitute' in different
directions (I've also noticed this reading newspapers and magazines). I'd
write this point "Substitute planning and creativity for capital and work"
-- which may read as backwards to many of you as Marsha's phrasing does to
me... Maybe safest to avoid the word 'substitute' in favour of "Use...
instead of ...."

  
>7. The problems are basically domestic and  can be solved at the domestic
>level.   
I'd agree if this said: "Start where you live with what is closest and
under your own control."  But there are problems that aren't just domestic,
and can't be solved at domestic level -- for instance, slowing down fast
traffic to make the road outside your front door safe. (There may be things
you can do that will have some effect -- even some that don't risk arrest.)
As this list previously discussed, some US states have laws against
gardens, only allowing close-mown lawns (this is the land of the free?).
Engaging with the local community goes beyond the domestic. Or, as the
saying has it: think globally, act locally.

This point is one I sometimes use as a starter for talks on 'what
permaculture is'. The world's problems can seem huge, overwhelming, like a
great brick wall looming over us. How can we hope to make a difference? But
if each of us scratches away around the one brick that is in front of us --
what we do in our own lives -- then we can see how to make it into a patch
of light. Just one brick is manageable -- and the more of us are make
bricks into patches of light, what is left of the wall?

10. It's cheaper to avoid emergencies than to face  them. 
Good one, that I haven't come across before. A neat statement of what 'the
precautionary principle' comes down to. 


The ones I haven't commented on I agree with as basics, of course.
>   Today they look more like rules of thumb than  principles to me... Will
>have to think about this...   Marsha   
Judith Hanna
jehanna@gn.apc.org
15 Jansons Rd, Tottenham, London N15 4JU