permaculture

[Rick Valley <bamboogrove@cmug.com>]

I thought this might be of interest to our cybersociety.
I connect this with our discussions of spirituality and (indirectly &
hopefully) tolerance.

One of the brilliant unsung permaculture people in my neck of the woods
(although he chooses not to work under the Pc label) is Daniel McGrath, a
PDC grad, Phd in agricultural entomolgy, an Alan Chadwick student, OSU
extension agent, well-versed in biodynamics. When I had him teach a few
sessions at the first Oregon PDC which was at Lost Valley Education Center
in '90, he brought up the pattern of mass extinctions being followed by
rapid, adaptive evolution. (my friend Stephen Jay Gould's "punctuated
equilibrium")
As many do not have in the forefront of their consciousness, we face
currently not only a holocaust of biological diversity, we also have a
holocaust of cultural diversity. Languages, cultures, (breeds of domestic
species would fit on the edge between culture and biology I suppose)
So, Daniel told us, as we can assume there is pending an evolutionary event
similar to that at the onset of the Mesozoic or Cenozoic, if humans are to
survive, we ought to begin the rapid radiative evolution of culture.
Could this be the most important function of Permaculture? It gives us a
(perma)cultural imperative:
MUTATE!