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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Mainstreaming permaculture

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  • From: Fiona Campbell <pacedge@magna.com.au>
  • To: "Gaden@ziplip.com" <Gaden@ziplip.com>, permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Mainstreaming permaculture
  • Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 13:18:27 +1000

On Tuesday, July 15, 2003, at 03:41 AM, Gaden@ziplip.com wrote:
Excellent pioneer work is being done in Australia and New Zealand in establishing the credibility of permaculture education within mainstream accreditation practices.

True. We'll see how it goes.

In part, their rewards will be good placement within a growing industry.

I hope your optimism is correct. The fact is that there is no reliable indicator of trends in participation in permaculture as ether an industry or as an amateur practice in Australia. All there are are figures of for course enrollments held by individual teachers but never, to my knowledge, surveyed to build some picture of participation trends.

I have asked people about this and received disperate answers - some believe permaculture is growing, some say it is more or less stable, others say permaculture is shrinking. But your response depends upon whether you live immersed in some permaculture milieu or whether you are exposed for the most part to mainstream society; this can affect your perceptions. At best, all we can do is guesstimate.

My gut feeling is:

- that permaculture is stable or moderately growing at the level of the individual through access to Mollison's books in shops and libraries; at present I would guess it is stable

- as an industry earning income for teachers and others, my guess is that permaculture is less-used than previously.

My last statement is based on observations of permaculture over the past 20 years. I don't know how many 'Edible Landscapes' businesses I have seen come and go (at least three), for instance. I also believe that there are fewer teachers offering courses today than a decade ago. In part, this is as I have said before - that people working today as local government environmental and ESD (ecologically sustainable development) managers have been exposed to permaculture-like ideas in their tertiary studies and that permaculture training is not offering the right 'hook' to capture the imagination of youth (generalising, of course, and based on the obvservation of a friend).

good placement within a growing industry

My understanding of the proposed accredited courses is that they will offer qualifications in horticulure/ permaculture - PIL may correct me if I am wrong. This will work to place graduates in land management positions, however I know from my work as a community garden advocate that the people who have made real incursions into communities are not horticulturists but are community workers. It is contact with these people, plus my own work, that has led me to propose that permaculture is suitable as a community development strategy rather than as a form or horticulture.

My point is that community work is a more strategic position from which to introduce permaculture because it operates at the policy level whereas horticulture does not. It all depends upon your approach to permaculture of course. People with the horticulture/ permaculture qualification would implement the policies set up by community workers through design and teaching, but they would be working within parameters set by community workers. It has much to do with how professions divide up territory.

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.

I take your point but "a loving provincial work of folksy tales" cuts no ice in mainstream society; it just paints a picture of dreamers and nostalgics.

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.

Agree with your sentiments. I think the likelihood of moving into "corporate boardrooms" is nonexistent as permaculture offers nothing to corporations in an era driven by short-term profits and a focus on shareholder profitability.

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.

Nothing happens by itself. It has to be driven and be relevant to contemporary needs.

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.

This is a good example of permaculture in action.

Living Machines Inc. providing biotech wastewater treatment solutions for industries and townships.

These solutions are mainstream now. Kogarah Council, for instance, uses biofiltraion in a park in suburban Sydney.

...Russ Grayson





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