permaculture

[Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>]

Hi Toby,
   
  Could you please define what you mean by horticultural society?  The 
sociology textbook I read in the early 90's did not characterize any cultures 
in the Americas as agricultural.  The closest thing was "advanced 
horticultural society."  As I recall, the definition hinged on the use of the 
plow, which never occured in the Americas due to the lack of domesticated 
animals suitable for pulling one.  Many cultures in the Americas seemed just 
as sophisticated and screwed up as early agricultural societies in Eurasia, 
such as in Egypt and Southeast Asia, particularly the Maya.  The Maya, of 
course, deforested and eroded the land they depended on without using a plow, 
so it seems you are referring to what this book called "simple horticultural 
societies."  Many, or most, of these cultures practice swidden, or slash and 
burn, which can be sustainable and even promote biological diversity if the 
population density is low enough.  However, it seems that we are a long, long 
way away
 from getting the humun population down to that level, and it would probably 
require giving up all or most of the modern electronics and other industrial 
goods which most of us cherish (such as solar photovoltaics, plastic pipe, 
pumps, telephones, etc).  A society with such as low population density 
probably could not support the kind of economy required to produce such 
things.  Are you just describing the kind of farming that you think we should 
be doing, or the entire culture?  Is it possible to separate the two?  Is it 
possible to produce enough food with horticulture to support the people 
producing other things?  I am really interested in the answers to these 
questions.  What do you think?
   
  Rain

 
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