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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Bioregional Governance-Strategies-US.FL.PinellasCounty

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  • From: Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Bioregional Governance-Strategies-US.FL.PinellasCounty
  • Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:01:41 -0700


My question to the group is: Has anyone worked with developing effective
organizational tools sets to move a specific bioregion in a sustainable
direction? Has anyone had experience with actually defining the
bioregional boundaries in a specific location?

In the Puget Sound, planning mandated under the Endangered Species Act has required multiple local jurisdictions to develop meta-governmental organizations to plan and implement species recovery planning. While the ability of those plans to affect the underlying causes of salmon decline are easy to question, they are focused on major river watersheds, and could arguably be the nascent framework of bioregional governance. Salmon recovery planers both issues of land use, habitat management, and water management. Now there is some interest in Puget Sounds as a whole. The issues that are causing the systematic deterioration of our estuary are better defined by groups of watersheds that drain to a shared basin of our inland sea. In both cases a particular issue that has been able to create a tax-based revenue source creates a shared constituency. I'd suggest that the basis for constituency matters more than the boundary -- the boundary can either serve or undermine the purpose. The constituency urge is born of the 'godhead' of the people, not a designer... just as a permaculture designer captures the structures and processes of places, but does not create them.

In terms of organizational tool sets, I think there is a boundary between constituency politics and advocacy politics... with advocacy you cause trouble, with constituencies you regain control over power. The most powerful interest groups gain power by adopting a constituency... property rights groups speak for the defensive private homeowner. Gun manufacturers speak for the fearful constitutional advocate. etc. Constituency self-determination is the noble and elusive goal.

When you say organizational tool sets do you mean tool sets for for people manipulating organizations, tool sets for people who are in organizations, or tool sets through which organizations consciously manipulate themselves, or tool set for people that want to create organizations?

Paul Cereghino






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