permaculture

[Patrick McKown <identi1956@yahoo.com>]

"The question for those in the US who are into permaculture, is "why is 
it that permaculture has such a small cult following in the US rather 
than having broad attention and appeal?".  

I suspect because the educational system, does not support it by much 
research and because there
are not vast economic dependancies associated with it, in the minds of policy 
makers who basically
follow the will of those who have the most money at any given time who want 
to apply it for
special favors and these are people who are operating on short term goals 
characteristic of a
business, which has limited resources and has to address material returns of 
investors, rather
than address the investments of the natural world or the well fair of non 
investors in their
neighborhoods. They are forced by their charters to be 'pirates'.
 If your a researcher in academia and your trying to get tenure or you work 
in a government lab
and you are trying to advance pure science your not going to get much 
consideration for setting
down roots unless you are also a politician who will sway with the winds of 
current policies. If
you tell the truth rather than bend it here and there to make it fit you 
might find yourself
working as a carpenter or getting moved every so many years from one lab to 
another.

Also maybe because it is something that enhances the importance of individual 
thought as an
unstable element in the equation of economic futures. As producers they may 
not agree with given
'policies' that 'give less options' for choices. With less options the 
predictability of the
outcome can be banked on. If it can be banked on then it can be invested in 
and dividends can be
rendered. The uncertainties of business are being minimized by causing the 
customers to behave in
a way to allow for a significant return beyond expenditures. 


Or is the kind of abstract 
thinking required for permaculture only accessible and valued by a 
segment of the population  (in the same way there is only a smattering 
of 'scientists' who actually do 'science') combined with the obvious 
reality that people into permaculture appear to be inheritly cranky 
antidisestablishmentarianists?"


I have to agree with the 'smattering' in science. There is a lot of useable 
information out there
and there is probably a lot not so useable information resulting from 
scientific investigation.
But you just never know when something important has been discovered. It 
could be buried in some
book or periodical. I don't think much of the actual works of science are 
being applied by the
people doing it. Unless they are funded. As long as people can access these 
pools of information
and talk about them freely there is a greater chance that information 
supporting 'permaculture'
may be found popping up like weeds here and there, especially with more 
software becoming
available through data mining. Intellectual property rights could be a 
barrier to this, especially
in academia where even the janitors ideas are potentially owned by their 
employer. There was a
time less than a few decades ago when you could contact primary researchers 
and gab about the work
and network ideas around. Now it is less possible. The environment is more 
secretive, suspicious
and in educational institutions this really could be their death nell as 
places of enlightenment. 

It is not uncommon to human history. Free thinking has never been default in 
human societies.
There has always been a high price for it.


'Cranky' I have seen this on lists that focused on difficult subjects and I 
have wondered about
this too. I suspect that there is some stress being experienced, maybe more 
than is healthy and
possibly we are seeing some behavioral expressions associated with the 
stress, that takes itself
on a person's physical well being. If your not perceived by those pulling the 
strings in society
as acceptable your going to be swimming up stream a lot.  All this extra 
exercise can cause low
blood sugar. You can get cranky.

Permaculture is a frontier and that is why you don't find lots of people out 
there. It is not what
has been going on the last 10,000 in agriculture either nor the last 50 
years. 

Your talking about literally splicing human economic systems into nature in 
such as way as to not
alter much nature itself, but use the means of nature to support and enhance 
your production
systems. That is the gold in permaculture. It can be applied to any human 
industry. Some will be
visible and others will have to be invisible to the ecosystem. 

New solar systems are being discovered every year. New planets of all varied 
sizes and
environments, someday maybe we will see evidence of another civilization and 
if it has just
'dinosaurs' or some far advanced civilization the two might resemble each 
other from a distance,
enough for us to discover the difference, only by showing up. But if they 
look like us, we can
assume they  are having similar challenges and are still in process of 
development. 

Pat McKown




       
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