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  • From: Thomas Gorman <tom@honeychrome.com>
  • To: Kevin & Sarah <rattlesnakemountainfarm@yahoo.com>, permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Sustainability and Invisible Structures
  • Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 08:37:50 -0400

Kevin-
I had hoped that your posting on sustainability and invisible structures would've generated more discussion, as the things you bring up are essential to the future, but it seems like it fell flat for the most part. I suspect many, if not most permaculturists are engaged in living and trying to make progress in their own lives and sustainable endeavors and are left with little time or energy at the moment for some of the 'bigger picture' issues you bring up. It may not be such a bad thing, as the changes will come not from the top down (that's been tried and failed!), but from the bottom up as a result of small, individual efforts. But still, an awareness of the broader structures, invisible and otherwise, that we are constrained by is imperative.

In theory a CLT should be stable and sustainable- it has the 'ownership' and the voice of the community behind it. But sadly, in our increasingly diminished and undermined American democracy I fear this is an illusion. Possession is no longer 9/10ths of the law- instead, money and power is all of the law, as evidenced in the seizure and transfer of properties in CT from a community of individuals to a private enterprise with a proposal of 'growth' and 'jobs.' More distressing is the battle going on in Delaware County over the proposed powerline to provide additional energy to NYC- again, a private, for profit enterprise wants to buy and/or have the state seize land for their endeavor. The community has voted against it and has succeeded in blocking it to the state level. The business interests have bought federal support (growth, jobs.......national security!!), and now it goes to the courts to decide if the federal government can override and disregard the local and state will- it is expected that the courts will find for the business interests. I think that as energy sources become critical we're going to see more and more of this transfer of private and community holdings to business and corporate entities promising energy supply. "There's coal under your land, and we NEED it, so we're taking it- National Energy Security!" Essentially these rulings mean you can't sit on and sustain-ably manage a resource- unless you are fully extracting and exploiting it you don't have secure ownership rights. It's the same old legal concept/technique that was originally used to take land from the Native Americans- they we're not seen to be 'improving' the land, and so did not have rights to it. The foundation of property rights in America lies in the exploitation of property..... That fundamental tenet is now going 'global' and will be justified further by the pressures of population growth and energy 'needs.' It's pretty scary to think about.

But what can we do...? I think to some extent we need to accept impermanence and that our efforts just might end up bulldozed over, cut down, burned up... There is no way to permanently protect the land and the future within structures that are particularly designed with exploitation in mind. Under the current system a legal entity is really only valid if it is exploitative- land trusts are an attempt to subvert the designs of the whole structure within which they must exist, and so I fear are inherently unstable in the long term. Which isn't to say they shouldn't be used- we need to fight in whatever way we possibly can, from within and without. But again, at the same time we need to accept that it's all impermanent- and we may pour our lives and efforts into creating something both productive and sustainable only to have it taken away and destroyed. And we then move on and start over... And do it not just because we want to be productive and sustainable, but because fundamentally we know it is the RIGHT thing, even if it may ultimately fail to make a difference. The invisible structures we need to see change are not the legal ones, but the ethical ones- ultimately far more powerful than the legal ones, and we need to work to change those by example. If enough people truly believe that exploitation is simply wrong, the legal structure that mandates it loses it's power and meaning.

Anyway, that's my rant. I wish more people had chimed in on your post- but probably many have their heads down and hands in the dirt at the moment, which is part of setting that example! And I think you guys up at Rattlesnake are pushing it all farther along than many are able to, as yet. Keep everyone posted, as there will be many following the path you're now cutting.

Tom





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