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  • From: "Scott Pittman" <scott@permaculture.org>
  • To: "'permaculture'" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Why Bother With Permaculture? An essay by TedTrainer
  • Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:51:42 -0700





Scott Pittman

Director

Permaculture Institute

www.permaculture.org

-----Original Message-----
From: oliver smith callis [mailto:oliversmithcallis@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 9:49 AM
To: permaculture



--snip--

Scott, I imagine you have encountered similar issues in the west of the US

as well, what is your perspective on how we can effectively approach US

water law, and an urban sprawl/growth economy with design? I am just

beginning to learn about how interrelated they are with local politics, as

well the history of the whole convoluted mess. I just learned that the

foundation for water law in the west was laid down by the Mormon settlers

that settled much of it - some of whom were my ancestors - so I hope that my

understanding of their history and of permaculture can help to

undo/re-design what they started.



thanks,

Oliver



Boy! Does this resonate! In New Mexico water laws are very complex and at
best muddy. Officially the state owns all the water and citizen's water
rights are subject to state seizure. On top of this I live in a valley with
four Native American pueblos, all of whom have declared "indigenous" water
rights - which mean they own all the water rights. The people in my
community have been engaged in the longest running law suit (Aamodt suit) in
the federal courts over Pueblo water rights, historic Hispanic water rights,
guaranteed by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and Anglo rights. Because
the water has traditionally been used for agriculture there is considerable
tension over the Pueblos opening 36 hole golf courses all over the place
using water to give the illusion of Ireland in the desert.



Many of us find ourselves in the unenviable position of being politically
incorrect when pointing out there are better uses for water than golf,
tourist hotels, and gambling casinos. To many the Native Americans are just
enjoying "payback" for all the suffering and indignities they have suffered
in the past. While acknowledging that they were brutalized and are still
suffering from the effects of conquest and colonization I still think that
there are better uses for water than they are practicing.



What do we do? I think we have to take back the commons, water being a
critical part of that territory. It is extremely difficult when all of our
social and economic fabric is wrapped around the commodification of
everything. I just heard a report from an analyst of venture capital funds
that the hottest two areas for speculative money has been in green energy
startups and homeland security spinoffs. They have pretty much stayed even
until this year in amount of capital invested. This year the green side has
garnered 4.0 billion dollars while homeland security ventures jumped ahead
to 6.2 billion dollars. This means that a lot of investors are betting on
the disasters of climate change to foster a boom in personal security, arms,
mercenary armies, and on and on. I bring this up to emphasize what we are
up against (the commodification of disaster??!!).



I deal with all of this at my community level; I've long since given up on
directly confronting the federal or state machine. Mostly I feel that I am
pouring a lot of energy into maintaining the status quo while at the same
time revealing the lies and corruption as loudly as I can without,
hopefully, being seen as a party pooper or nut. I am also trying hard to
work with my students, professionals, and others to vision an alternative
future. I don't think that we have come up with any real solutions yet. At
the heart of this is how to engage and enroll our communities in a more just
and sane lifestyle.



As I look at alternative currencies, barter systems like LETS, and co-op
movements like Mondragon they all seem to be partial answers but for some
reason none of them seems to generate enough participation to provide all
the needed products and services even in a small community. So rereading
Marx, Engels, Kropotkin, and other economic visionaries seems part of my
search but the more I read and experience the more I am convinced that we
have to come up with a whole new idea. I am convinced that there is a good
design solution out there somewhere hovering on the edges of our collective
consciousness.



So the complicated part is expanding our imagination, in the near term I
work on the regional water plan for the community. I am trying to find
young farmers who will partner with our aging population of farmers who have
land, water, equipment, and most importantly knowledge but are physically
unable to work the land any more. There is an amazing lack of
agriculturalists in our region, which is primarily the result of corporate
agriculture's pricing small farmers out of the market. The pressure is
enormous on these small farmers to sell to developers who will strip the
water off of the farm and put up trailer houses (mobile homes to those who
live in them) or cheap frame houses that leak energy through every joint.



We have been successful in forcing the county and city to impose severe
water restrictions on new construction as well as forcing large developers
to treat and reuse all waste water on site. It is a small victory but a
victory none the less. Our hope is that through the trickle up theory that
the State and ultimately the Fed will take notice and use our local
ordinances to guide their legislation.



Conversations like this and new list serves are springing up all over the
world and our evolving collective knowledge is critical to our future. This
list sharpens my thinking and keeps me honest which is a great service and
that doesn't even touch on the incredible data, and problem solving that is
evidenced here week after week.

Thanks Lawrence!!



Sorry if this is a little rambling but that is my mood today, my mind is all
over the map, and hopeful...



Scott





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