permaculture

["John Schinnerer" <john@eco-living.net>]

Aloha,

> I do not want my children to live in a capitalist economic system.
> ...You can't repair New Jersey because it works the way it was
> designed to. We need a New New Jersey, not repairs for the "flaws".

Hear, hear.

Look at definitions of some of these systems.  What is their focus?  What
are they "about?"  What is it that they deem important?  Some definitions
(all pulled from Webster, so I can't pick and choose various ones to suit
my biases... ;-):

Capitalism - ": an economic system characterized by private or corporate
ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private
decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that
are determined mainly by competition in a free market"

Communism - "1 a : a theory advocating elimination of private property b :
a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as
needed"

Socialism - "1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating
collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of
production and distribution of goods"

Facism - "1: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the
Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that
stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial
leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression
of opposition"

They are all focused on material goods, money and power.  None of them are
focused on people, let alone people as active elements of healthy
ecosystems or anything like that.

None of them, *by definiton*, focus on or prioritize people care, earth
care or distribution of surplus (socialism and communism perhaps do the
latter, in *theory* if not in practice).

Plus, they are mostly used as rhetorical buzzwords; actual applications
vary wildly and may bear little resemblance to definitions.  Stalin's
'communism' looks a lot more like 'facism', China is a "people's republic"
dictatorship, etc.

> I think our species ultimately needs another social system, one that
> doesn't boot sheep farmers off the land.

Yep.

> My fear is that "professional" will always be taken to mean "professional
> of the current society" which leaves me wondering, how and when, without
> running to the fringes, when does the Permaculture movement organize a
> different society? Seriously!

Yep - same basic question.  I'd like to hear from the professionalization
advocates as to what their design is for Permaculture as a profession.  Do
you plan to follow existing patterns, or create new ones that perhaps
invite other 'professionals' to change their patterns as well, or some of
both?

In other words, do you plan to just get into the existing "professional"
system, or design a new one?



John Schinnerer, MA
-------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
People - Place - Learning - Integration
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net