permaculture

["J. Kolenovsky" <garden@hal-pc.org>]

You are right about the food issue. It's a given and taken for granted.
Everybody eats and will be fed (except a small indigent portion 1%?)

The "what can I possibly do" attitude possibly worries me. For those
dwellers who don't opt for vertical, localized living quarters, I''m
afraid the cob/straw/roof overhand/stilts "green" home could be
exploited by profiteer developers and the real root meaning of thay way
of living would be lost. WE know its one way to go but will they when
they see the Jones' go it also? Maybe its good even if they have no clue
because the dwellings and live styles would make sense and be more
sustainable?

I might have gotten off track when I started posting few days back.
Something I am sorta big on is the creation, use and re-capture of
energy and all that fits into our lives (use) as we slowly progress down
time's road to what lies ahead. Will we be creative with creation, use
and re-capture of energy? Will we modify or change manufacturing and
production procedures using energy. Will our energy process be based on
growth and ability to sustain us? Will all this be efficient?

Maybe "Global Warming" should be changed to "Global Lifestyles".

J

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 09:47:37 -0400
From: tom <tom@honeychrome.com>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] GLOBAL WARMING:- A different 'take' on it
To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <33E366F1-1DD7-4A4D-BB87-B53A15C42921@honeychrome.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed


I've also tried to use permaculture as a wedge into the consciousness  
of, shall we say 'the ignorant,' generally with little success,  
except in cases where whomever I am talking to already has an  
interest or experience in gardening.  In the occasions that a  
gardener isn't already aware of permaculture they take to the ideas  
readily.  Without an already existing interest or experience in  
horticulture or agriculture it all comes off as meaningless to most  
people- 'food' comes in colorful packages from the 'store' and the  
chain apparently ends there.  I figured something as fundamental as  
food could be used as a means of getting through to just about  
anyone, but it seems that industrial Ag and the food industry have  
done such a thorough job decoupling the reality of food from most  
people's lives.  What I have found to get the most response from  
people, and often serving as the first 'domino' so to speak, is  
natural building.  I guess the 'primitive' desire to build one's own  
home is somehow more compelling than that to raise one's own food  
(maybe because it is perceived as more materialistic or fun), but  
start talking about cob and strawbale, etc., supplement with some  
photos and cite the affordability and DIY aspects (not to mention the  
sustainability and 'beyond-green' qualities) and people show real  
interest.  Get them excited about that and they are on the path to  
permaculture and a deeper understanding of our world and the issues  
we're facing.  Part of it I think is that the notion that one could  
build one's own house, without special tools or particular expertise,  
is amazingly empowering, even if one never ends up actually doing  
it.  It comes as a great positive to counterbalance the fatigue,  
aversion and fear of sacrifice and overwhelming sense of 'what can I  
possibly do?' so many people feel in the face of global warming,  
environmental degradation, etc.

Tom



------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 10:00:45 -0400
From: Travis Miller <wyrdbrew@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] GLOBAL WARMING:- A different 'take' on it
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <FAF88E16-04B3-4906-993A-86B5920EED40@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed

I recently read a paper on a theory that anthropogenic warming  
actually started thousands of years ago.  The gist of the paper is  
that anomalous quantities of CH2 and CO2 have been  dated to the  
early part of the holocene period.  The methane increases are along  
the same timeline as the increased use in domesticated ungulates and  
the CO2 increases are on the same timeline as deforestation by humans  
for use as farmland.  The hypothesis is that the domestication of  
animals and clearing of land got the global warming ball rolling and  
extended the cyclical warm period between glaciation and that we'd be  
well into an ice age if it wasn't for human activity.  Essentially,  
agriculture created global warming and industrialization made it more  
severe.  I'm not a climate scientist but the data and the basic  
premise seemed to make sense.

Here is a link to the paper on Stanford's website.

http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/Publications/PDF_Papers/ 
Ruddiman2003.pdf

This may have some bearing on discussion of how Permaculture can and  
should be used as part of a mitigation response to climate change.

Travis

"It is never to late to be what you might have been."
- George Eliot




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End of permaculture Digest, Vol 51, Issue 20
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