permaculture

[kran0072@umn.edu]

Hi everyone, I've recently joined and posted a few responses. Briefly: I 
live in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the US. Permaculture is great. I hope to 
one day participate in and subsist with a diverse biotic community. Lets 
hear it for the best possible future we can imagine!


Regarding the analogy discussion:

Transfer of energy and other resources is pervasive in nature. But in 
mutualist symbioses the exchange behavior is closer to an inter-human 
economy in that it is characterized by being well established, as purposive 
as any behavior (non-accidental), and bidirectional. In inter-human economy 
there is accidental transfer, oneway theft, etc., but it wouldn’t be what 
is without agreed upon exchange and more or less entrenched conventions.

Common mycorrhizal networks are the best analogues I can think of because 
they involve multiple individuals and species. More than a simple two-way 
exchange, these can involve many fungi and many plants linked together... 
and some are benefiting more than others, some may simply be losing out, 
and these balances among the members are not static. Like a human or any 
economy, this network is open, receiving its energy from outside the system 
as conventionally defined. Its materials may be well contained, but there 
is always some degree of material throughput. Of course, the analogy 
requires us to compare different humans and human groups to different 
species in the mycorrhizal network. A review of network theory should yield 
some additional insights, as it is applied to both common mycorrhizal 
networks as well as social, inter-human networks.

Andy KM


> Personally, I am interested in any models/metaphors that folks may be
> aware of that are analogues of "economic systems" that occur in 
> nature. This might include such behaviors as squirrels hoarding nuts,
> but I am really looking for energy exchange models that might be
> mirrored as we design permaculture "economies".
>
> Vint Lawrence