permaculture

[Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>]

Michael Kramer is on to something very important.  It seems that the 
permaculture movement is suffering from the old matter/spirit split and it is 
hindering the movement from applying permaculture design to social systems.  
There seems to be an assumption that humuns are somehow separate from the 
rest of Nature.  Therefore, it is possible to apply systems theory/ecological 
principles to physical, land-based or even energy-based designs, but not to 
the relationships between people or their social systems.  But humun systems 
are part of Nature and obey the same laws.
 
I once saw a surprisingly useful presentation by Darren Huckle of Santa Cruz 
on permaculture principles as applied to spirituality.  If you can apply 
permaculture to spirituality, you can definitely apply it to economic 
systems, group dynamics, political systems, and all the rest.  Permaculture 
teachers say permaculture is about design and not techniques, but students 
are not getting it.  Maybe if we had a course without reference to trees, 
water, and earth (I profess to wince at the thought), people would finally 
get it.  The essence of permaculture is about relationships, not objects.  
Many urban people have trouble apply permaculture to their lives because they 
don't have much access to trees, water, or soil.  What we need is a 
permaculture revolution.
 
Let's do it!
 
Rain


                
---------------------------------
Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday! 
 Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web