permaculture

[rmhoward@omninet.net.au]

On 15 Oct 2003 at 22:15, John Schinnerer wrote:

>> > Why are we so slow to get this?
> 
> Partly the same reason, I reckon, that there is (still) rubbish along
> all our roadsides, gum and cigarette butts on every street and
> sidewalk, mattresses and old TVs and refrigerators and dead cars in
> the cricks and hollers and backroad turnouts and neglected urban lots.
> 
> It's not about "the politicians," and it's not about technology.
> 

Interestingly though, in Australia, there has been a veritable sea change in 
attitude 
about roadside rubbish ovr the last 30 years. Partly attributable to a 
charismatic non-
politician/social activis, Ian McKiernan, and partly attributable to the 
"politics of the 
possible". True some parts of Australia are cleaner than other parts. But for 
anybody 
over 50, the change has been remarkable. 

I think that the 'clean up australia' revolution happened because it was a 
safety valve 
for environmental issues and because it was individually empowering. Cleaning 
up the 
beaches or parks is not an uncommon preoccupation of people experiencing 
manias or 
pychotic episodes.

Undoubtedly though, the early impact of green politics in Australia during 
the eighties 
was the driving force behind this change.


Bob





> IMO that was one of Fuller's blind spots - he, too, seemed to believe
> that our technology could somehow save us from ourselves.
> 
> 
> John Schinnerer - MA, Whole Systems Design
> ------------------------------------------
> - Eco-Living -
> Cultural & Ecological Designing
> People - Place - Learning - Integration
> john@eco-living.net
> http://eco-living.net
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