permaculture

[Scott Pittman <pci@permaculture-inst.org>]

A few comments on Mollison interview:

> SV:  If someone was interested in studying permaculture in America,
> where would you send them? What do you think are the best
> centers?
>
> BM:  Damned if I know.   The Bullock brothers up on Orcas Island
> have always been great, you know, mixed system, marsh and hillside
> and there are many others, I'm sure. But for every Bullock brother,
> there are a hundred woo woos spinning around in circles.

Bill knows very well that their are many good teachers in the U.S. most of 
whom he trained.  He has always enjoyed bashing the U.S. because it is so 
easy to bash, I must admit I enjoy bashing myself but I confine it to the 
corporate greed heads and don't bash my allies in permaculture.  So in 
addition to the Bullock brothers there is Dan Hemenway, Jerome Osentowski, 
Jude Hobbs, Tom Ward, Penny Livingston, Toby Hemenway, Larry Santoyo, Peter 
Bane, Keith Johnson, and etc. etc.  There are many good teachers in the 
U.S. who have been teaching for many years and who deserve credit for 
furthering the work of permaculture.  At present Bill is miffed at some of 
those teachers and as a result paints all of U.S. permaculture with the 
same black brush.  It is not helpful.

If this interview had been in Australia I think it very likely that Bill 
would have had difficulty in recommending anyone there as teachers as well.

Woo woo is another example of Bill's black brush work which is applied to 
any person or group that holds beliefs contrary to Bill's.

I find it disturbing that in all of the references to permaculture's origin 
in this article Bill doesn't once mention David Holmgrin.  I also found 
this true when I taught with Bill, that he was loath to share credit with 
anyone.  The personal pronoun "I" predominates this interview which I think 
is a clue to why Bill is unwilling to promote any work that might not be 
his own.

Scott