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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Thoughts on PDCs

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  • From: Lee Flier <leeflier@comcast.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Thoughts on PDCs
  • Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:55:15 -0500

Interesting thread, again. I'd say that probably how much someone would benefit from a PDC depends entirely on the individual student and teacher! I have no doubt there are some poor teachers out there, who really don't stick to the curriculum and include a lot of fluff that isn't necessarily relevant, or have their own agenda as to what permaculture "should" be which may or may not be helpful. Not to say that permaculture shouldn't continue to evolve in its specifics, but IMO the PDC is meant to install general concepts which can then be applied to specific things; it usually does teach some specifics as examples, but the primary consideration should be in communicating the paradigms and stressing that they can be applied to any endeavor in any field.

I also have no doubt there are some people, especially at this stage of the game, who've learned enough from online discussions and reference materials, books and perhaps shorter courses or permaculture gatherings, that what they'd gain from an actual PDC is fairly minimal and may not teach them anything they don't already know.

I feel fortunate that I was able to take a PDC straight from the horse's mouth, that is from Bill Mollison, and it was co-taught by Scott Pittman who was also amazing. I will say that at the time, even though I had been gardening organically for a long time, was enamored of the forest garden concept, had been studying anthropology and sociology and ecology, had a keen interest in ecovillages, intentional communities, and alternative energy, had done volunteer aid work... and even though I am by and large a pattern based thinker... and even though I already had an excellent weekend permaculture workshop under my belt... even given all of that, the full PDC was a mind blowing and life changing experience for me.

I'll also say that the level of BS was very minimal because Bill and Scott kept things on track and did not mince any words. If people brought up any kind of New Age stuff or anything otherwise not based in reality (and some certainly tried...LOL), they were called out on it.

I'll also second what a couple of people said in that the point was well driven home that permaculture isn't just about gardening or farming. Its principles could be applied to any field of work and sometimes that isn't emphasized enough. I think that a garden is a great place to start, because a garden based in permaculture principles demonstrates the ways that natural systems will work for you if you work with them instead of against them. But natural patterns can just as easily be found in any other area of endeavor, and once you understand that they're there and can look for them, you can find them.

So I would say if you want to do a PDC, it's well worth it but you should just be very careful choosing a teacher. Find some other people who've taken the course from them and don't just ask whether they liked the experience, but specfic questions about what activities the class did, etc. It's like anything else, you gotta shop around.




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