permaculture

[Thomas Gorman <tom@honeychrome.com>]

The hunter/gatherer vs. agriculture and/or pastoral culture aspect of  
the current discussion is an interesting one.  I just read a book  
called Changes in the Land by William Cronon, published in the early  
80's if I recall correctly.  It focuses specifically on the New  
England area, and the ecological changes wrought on the landscape by  
the arriving colonists (and the attitudes toward property, wealth,  
land, etc.), but he also talks a lot about the way the Native  
Americans of the region lived on the land prior to the arrival of  
Europeans.  My understanding of his analysis of Native American  
practices puts them somewhere between a hunter/gatherer culture and  
an agrarian culture.  By all accounts the Native Americans did 'tread  
lightly' on the landscape as compared to Europeans, but they did in  
fact have profound effects on it too, implementing practices that  
maximized 'edges' etc., planting guilds, etc.  Anyway, it's a  
fascinating read I think for anyone interested in the land and how we  
live on it, but in particular for any of us who know or live in the  
North East.
Tom