permaculture

["Gaden@ziplip.com" <Gaden@ziplip.com>]

Excellent pioneer work is being done in Australia and New Zealand in 
establishing the credibility of permaculture education within mainstream 
accreditation practices. In part, their rewards will be good placement within 
a growing industry. It must also be gratifying to see something grow from 
bare feet and dreadlocks, to formulated learning objectives and parchment 
certificates of achievements.

Something gained, something lost? The innocence, the social naivety, the 
self-righteous outrage of a protest counter culture. I doubt it. Permaculture 
has a depth within to fulfill the needs of people from Turntable Falls to 
Toronto. Permaculture has long been a loving provincial work of folksy tales 
of sustainability. A blush of Eden, a taste of Utopia, pomegranates and 
passion....

We all believe in the efficacy of permaculture to be, at least in part, the 
answer to a wide range of personal, regional and world issues. To deliver on 
that imbedded promise, it must move out of the forests and into the marbled 
hallways of academia and corporate boardrooms. If permaculture is the 
powerful agent of change and restoration that we feel it to be, it will 
happen anyway, with or without guiding hands. 

Economic imperatives of business will plunder any source for marketable 
products that may turn a profit. Strip it of its binding cloths of ethics and 
cultural values, wrap it up in plastic and styrofoam, and sell it for the 
highest price the market will bear. Buy some political prowess, legislate and 
regulate to disempower potential market competitors. Remove the small players 
and monopolise control into the hands of the few. Market rules, people pay.

If the ethical and social justice foundations of permaculture are to remain 
strong and intact, then the motivation and initiative for growth and 
development must come from among the faithful. Those brave resolute souls 
that step forward against the possible censure of comrades within a perceived 
classless collegiate. To not lead is to falter into the indefensible chaos of 
the herd. To abrogate the individual responsibility for each to be agents of 
change. In joining with the process of development, each can play a part in 
influencing the directions and progress of those changes. 

Crossovers must be found which both satisfy the needs and demands of 
mainstream society while still preserving the social integrity of 
permaculture ethics. Good working models of such crossovers already exist. 
The fine work of Cameron Little's team at the Ecoliving Centre in Sydney in 
retrofitting suburban homes. Living Machines Inc. providing biotech 
wastewater treatment solutions for industries and townships. And ofcourse 
now, the design of nationally (Australia) accredited permaculture courses 
ready for delivery through a wide range of traditional and conventional 
modalities.

Other permaculture related interests are already at risk of being lost to 
corporate control. The developing art of phytoremediation? Patenting of 
genetic materials from plants, animals and humans. Arguable the organic 
farming industry may already be lost to an overbearance of regulating 
corporations. As the list of endangered species grows each day, so to does 
the list of endangered sustainable microtech industries.

Good crossovers preserve the integrity of the source while successfully 
positioning affordable marketable products. In Australia, ethnobotanist, 
Peter Hardwick is working with aboriginal custodians to develop commercially 
viable 'Bush Foods' enterprises. Such enterprises seek to utilise traditional 
skills and knowledge. Not by exploitation but by collaboration, empowering 
(and enriching) the custodians of such knowledge. The presence of the 
traditional owners promotes ecological and spiritual integrity. Business and 
marketing skills promotes commercial viability.

We must embrace and encourage the entrepreneurial initiatives of those 
willing to take the risks. If we truly believe we can make reparations for 
past over-exploitation and environmental abuses. If we are sincere about 
fostering the ethics of permaculture to a much wider global audience. If we 
are bold enough to assert that within permaculture lie the tools for future 
sustainability of our planet. Then we must actively persue all opportunities 
for easing the assimilation of permaculture principles and design tools into 
our mainstream cultures.

Gaiden