permaculture

[Udan Farm <udanfarm@yahoo.com>]

re common circle-at least their curriculum LOOKS like a PDC. The place in 
Costa Rica it looked like..something NOT permaculture!


Their phone and address are indeed on the AD on the Berkley page-I missed it 
several times though. 
If you look at the Eugene expedition-the prices were cut in HALF (probably 
because no one signed up!) 


I see you all whittled it down to Vladislav…Weird reactions though.
I did find on their meetup " The course will be taught by our permaculture 
instructor, Gavin Raders"


Which lead me to "Announcing an urban permaculture course taught by Planting 
Justice and Backyard Food Project co-founder, Gavin Raders, at the brand 
newCommon Circle Education campus called the Berkeley Sustainability 
Institute."
Which leads us to http://plantingjustice.org/about-us/our-mission

Why would he say they don't publicize instructors??????


When Vlad. said "We do not require 'legitimacy' in order to do our work; so 
when someone addresses me in the way you did, I tend to be far less willing 
to volunteer information. "
THAT TOTALLY DOES make me questions his certification.
This is obviously a very different and "mainstream" take on Permaculture, and 
unfortunately I guess we will be seeing more of these...





>From udanfarm@yahoo.com  Wed Dec 16 09:56:47 2009
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I guess this is a good wakeup call for everyone who has a website promoting 
their permaculture skills to post their references, and PDC info, teachers, 
training etc.
I have some specific questions, because my husband and I are just starting to 
student teach, and learn...Aren't the diploma program and course note 
approval programs at Tagari on HOLD until they find another person to do that 
job?Is there someone giving diplomas here in the US now?If there isn't, 
should there be? (Another topic for that National Conference!)
What is the BEST way for someone in the US today to become as certified, 
approved, and diploma'd as possible?
Because what ever it is, we want to pursue it. Keeping the integrity of the 
PDC is very important to us. The Southeast is chomping at the bit for 
courses, and we are organizing them as fast as we can.We have two certified 
and seasoned teachers (Chuck Marsh and Patricia Allison) training us and 
lead-teaching the courses, Wayne Weiseman is also coming down hopefully, to 
do a course in September...
So what are everyone's suggestions on how Bob and I should proceed to be the 
best teachers and course organizers possible?
I just think the best way for those of us who are serious about spreading the 
word of Permaculture ensure that strange, secretive "main stream" folks don't 
get much business is to know our stuff and have accreditation and have 
integrity...and be totally transparent about all of it.
thoughts?



>From scott@permaculture.org  Wed Dec 16 10:15:12 2009
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Subject: Re: [permaculture] Common Circle Education
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Thanks for your reply Gavin, it seems that there are no flies on you when it
comes to pc activities.  I appreciate that you seem well qualified to do
what you do and that you continue to increase your skills.

If Vlad had just written a letter saying that he didn't have a teacher list
for this year or that his teachers were all pdc certified I would have been
satisfied but still wonder.  My original letter was a straight forward
inquiry about the teachers the response was not informative or helpful.

The letter you wrote certainly seems to qualify you as a teacher of a weekly
class, but by your own admission you don't seem to know much else about the
institution to which you lend your name and credibility.  So at the end of
the day I know that Common Circle has one teacher who has taken a pdc and
teaches one day a week.

Thank you,

Scott Pittman
Director
Permaculture Institute
www.permaculture.org

-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Gavin Raders
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 4:49 AM
To: permaculture
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Common Circle Education

Hi Scott, Lawrence and permies worldwide,
     I've never formally introduced myself to this list, but I think many of
you would be interested in what I do in my community.  And since this is
being so hotly discussed, I feel the need to disclose what I do.
Warning...turned into a long email!

A quick background on my permaculture experience:  I was finally able to
take my pdc with Geoff Lawton, Penny Livingston Stark, and Brock Dolman at
the Regenerative Design Institute in Summer 2007...rocked my world, changed
my life. I was privileged to move into RDI as a farm intern a couple months
later where I studied and practiced permaculture daily with my mind, body
and spirit for 7 months...slept in the natural buildings I helped build,
grew my food, managed our animal systems, learned, grew, and taught in
community with other practitioners.  I then decided to move back to Oakland,
CA on a mission to help make permaculture, edible landscaping, and other
more "elite"environmental services (rainwater harvesting, greywater, etc..)
affordable and accessible to the low-income people with whom I live with who
structurally do not have access to affordable healthy food, dignified jobs,
nor expensive permaculture courses in the first place.

So my partner and I started an edible landscaping company called the
Backyard Food Project that not only served clients who paid full-cost for
our services, but we also used our skills and backgrounds as community
organizers to fundraise in our community for low-income clients (schools,
community groups, and residents) who could not pay for materials nor our
labor.  I designed and implemented nearly 40 urban permaculture gardens this
way in a year and a half, and our services were so highly in demand that we
only needed to put out one craigslist ad to start, with nearly all our
subsequent clients coming from word-of-mouth. All the while, we started
working with low-income schools and youth groups in Oakland, bringing
permaculture techniques and strategies through growing food and transforming
space with these youth.  I started a rooftop nursery/garden that supplied
nearly all our annual vegetable/herb starts for our projects, and it served
as a training site for the youth we work with giving them inspiration and a
tangible example of ecological entrepreneurship. My chickens, worms,
shitakes, and rooftop garden give me food and joy everyday.

The Backyard Food Project has since emerged into something much larger than
myself personally, namely, Planting Justice (www.plantingjustice.org).  This
is a nonprofit organization I have organized with my partner and 21 other
community members as our board of directors, with a mission to grow healthy
food and healthy jobs simultaneously.  We continue to work with low-income
schools and urban residents, as well as inmates at San Quentin State Prison,
where we teach an urban permaculture course with a focus on job training
skills (landscaping, irrigation) and personal empowerment (from the visceral
experience of growing food for themselves and transforming the ugly prison
yard, to gardening as a facilitation for meditation and emotional
processing).

More than practicing and teaching permaculture as it relates to homescale
and community food production, nutrient recycling, energy optimization, etc,
I have also built Planting Justice using permaculture principles and
design.  This is something that is an ongoing process, and is a high
expression of permaculture's true power for structural change as it relates
to economics, community organizing, etc. I'm starting to write about this
process now, and I'm happy to share from my experience and near-term vision.
An example includes our focus on many diverse, yet inter-related income
streams that stack functions to support one another, enabling us to fund our
not-for-profit projects ourselves, without an over-reliance on foundation
support to pursue our mission.

I've found a creative and self-sustaining way to practice permaculture over
these past two and a half years, but I give Planting Justice nearly all of
my free time and have not yet applied for the applied permaculture diploma.
I do have plenty of documented experience to get one should the time come!
And in addition to my PDC with Geoff, Brock, and Penny, I've also been
fortunate to take broadscale permaculture/keyline workshops with Darren
Dougherty, greywater workshops with Art Ludwig, coyote mentorship and bird
language with John Young, natural building workshops with Marisha
Farnsworth, regenerative design classes at Merritt College with Nik
Bertulis, and more.

Packing more on top of a full plate, I also now teach a weekly urban
permaculture course at Common Circle Education.  These classes are on
Wednesday evenings, and cost $10/class.  We do not teach the 72 hour
curriculum or give PDC certificates, but we do cover important, relevant
strategies for renters and home owners to grow food, recycle water,
nutrients, and energy, and regenerate small urban landscapes by building
intensive biodiversity using permaculture.  Common Circle opened up only two
months ago or so, and I don't think they have their teachers set for the 2
week pdc in spring, although I've heard well-known names may be co-teaching
or splitting up the days. Thats probably why Vladislav did not answer you,
in addition to what he probably perceived as a harsh accusatory tone.

The weekly urban perm course is the only involvement I have there...I'm not,
as of now, teaching any part of the 2 week PDC, I didn't even know until
reading this thread the $2200 cost that is advertised.  I only know that
yes, there is an actual school now in Berkeley teaching permaculture along
with yoga and nonviolent communication, I teach there, and my students have
left each class with enthusiasm, inspiration, and techniques they can use
right away...for $10.  That is good work.

I understand the need for quality control, and I am thankful for that.  But
you should also not be rushing too blindly into judgement, bordering on a
bit of self-righteousness policing, as if anyone here knows every single
person who is practicing and teaching permaculture well and in line with its
ethics and curriculum, or if you are indeed the sole qualified certifier.
And if there is someone here who portends to know us all, well then, good to
meet ya!

check out our projects at www.plantingjustice.org and please wish us luck
and success in our mission, as I hope its the same as yours.

peace and bedtime,
gavin raders
co-founder of Planting Justice

On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 9:19 PM, Scott Pittman
<scott@permaculture.org>wrote:

> Here is the latest response and I doubt that I will get any more.  Just
the
> paranoia is enough to make me really wonder about this organization.
>
>
>
> Anyone live in Berkeley to see if a physical school really exists??
>
>
>
> Scott Pittman
>
> Director
>
> Permaculture Institute
>
> www.permaculture.org
>
>
>
> Vladislav Response
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
> ____________________________________________
>
>
>
>
>
> Hey Scott,
>
>
>
> We do not require 'legitimacy' in order to do our work; so when someone
> addresses me in the way you did, I tend to be far less willing to
volunteer
> information.
>
>
>
> I also tend to steer clear of the politics of this movement; any
> information
> we provide tends to open us to attack rather than really benefit us in any
> meaningful way.
>
>
>
> I further deeply value my relationships with the instructors who work for
> me
> and generally do not see any reason to provide their information.  Our
> instructors are actually some of the most well-known folks in this
> movement,
> like for example Larry Korn and many others.
>
>
>
> Our mission is to take permaculture mainstream -- plain and simple.  We
> reach a very different audience of people than most schools out there;
and
> since most of our clients have little idea of who the people behind this
> movement are, posting instructor's names serves little practical purpose
> whatsoever.
>
>
>
> If you're seeking to attack us, don't bother -- you won't get far.  If you
> want to collaborate creatively and really find ways to take this movement
> mainstream my door is wide open.   We're working for the *very* same goals
> at the end of the day.
>
>
>
> With gratitude,
>
>
>
>
>
> Vladislav
>
>
>
> --
>
> Vladislav Davidzon
>
> Common Circle Education
>
> www.commoncircle.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
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