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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] County and global level permaculture design -got any?

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  • From: Andrew McSwain <aeromax.way@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] County and global level permaculture design -got any?
  • Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:12:34 -0200

Very interesting discussion here. Who`da`thunk that Circus Life could be
analyzed to find better ways for us to work together to implement
Permaculture on a wider field than our homes and immediate living spaces.

I have an idea that I think fits with the subject matter. Up until now I
have still not yet had the time to implement it. Nonetheless I think some of
you may find some value in it. I`ll point out now, incase you fail to
realize it, that the model uses the permaculture principle that the quantity
of uses for each element in the environment should be maximized.

The idea: a community group or organization that uses permaculture solutions
for the landscaping needs of businesses, government agencies (interstate
medians, parks, etc), and some residences that have lots of grass.

Cool Feature #1: Cut grass with cattle and use the manure as compost to be
sold or used. (A guy in NYC is already doing this)
Cool Feature #2: Replace the ugly shrubs commonly being used now and replace
them with fruit-bearing or food-producing plants. Sell the produce.
Cool Feature #3: Have non-profit status; receive grants donations and
volunteer labor; work with young people, at-risk youth, the mentally
handicapped, the mentally ill, and the drug/alchohol addicted.

Competitive Edge:
A:Low-Input Costs: volunteer labor, no fuel or mechanical upkeep expenses
B:Multipe Cash Streams:
* On one side you have a landscaping company, but on the otherside you
have a Dairy/Cattle/Wool Business that gets paid to graze on other people`s
land as a "Landscaping Company"
* Shovel the manure into the back of a pickup and take it to your "Compost
Processing Site" and sell the organic compost.
* You radically reduce labor costs and recieve grants and donations by
being a community service organization that provides therapeutic and
educational services for all demographic groups in the community.
* You receive the food rights to the plants being grown on
the premises and sell the produce.

Kinda cool eh? The extended model I just layed out has not yet been executed
to my knowledge. If you want something more concrete, something that has
been done already, check around the web for the guy that uses sheep to cut
grass in parks and large lawns. I await your comments and criticisms.=D

Andrew McSwain

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 8:09 AM, Steve Read <steveread@free.fr> wrote:

> hi Nicollas,
>
> Interesting that you mention the Circus model, we have Circus neighbours
> and they are great friends and I have worked with them getting shows
> together, yes they are like an extended kin'ing, they all know each other
> and will help each other out even when they maybe don't like each other very
> much. There is also a very good 'grapevine' where news of 'maverick' groups
> or untrustworthy people is spread around also of course lots of good stuff.
>
> They live for the "show" and the amount of effort they put in seems at
> times barely to be paid back from the money that they earn. This reminds me
> very much of me and Permaculture! A design, a PDC or conference is what I
> love to do, the "show", that maybe, hopefully, helped people a little,
> changed the energy a little. The same with the Circus shows I have done with
> my friends, at the end 250 people (if the Big Top is full) have had a good
> time, seen something a bit different, and at the end if the show has gone
> well, the applause erupts from their hearts. I should point out that this is
> 'modern circus'! ie not whipping caged animals around the place and stuff
> like that.
>
> It is something that I have mentioned before, that Permaculture seems to
> touch people in a way that is normally only seen in the various 'Ways' that
> exist. It is a sort of 'secular' Way, when we added in 'consensus' and
> 'non-violent communication' to the syllabus here in France this became even
> more evident.
>
> All of these things and as you mention, the 'tribal' models + the Desigers
> Manual are very useful to us I think when we look at local and
> trans-national organisation. Most important though also IMO is the mindset
> that develops in those who get seriously into PmC, solutions orientated,
> that 'there is no problem only solution'. I find that we instinctively tend
> to find a 'middle way' between the various dichotomies that so often crop
> up.
>
> The Principle of responsability that Mollison expounded is a great example
> of this, its application is confronted imo by one or two dilemas:-
> People generally, through education, history, confusion, exclusion and
> mental laziness often prefer a "them" who govern, who can be blamed rather
> than accepting responsability for themselves,. Yet we are often very good at
> organising things at a local level.
> The many conspiracy theories on the subject seem to reveal to what extent
> many of us feel that there is a ruling élite tied into the banks etc and
> that there is no other real solution other than tearing it all down.Yet we
> are maybe a bit concerned about doing this as we also recognise that there
> is a certain form of stability and that many people are not being killed in
> wars and quite a few of us have something to eat.
> We do and don't trust each other and there is still maybe much fear that
> someone is going to take away what we have.
> A lot of us like how things are at the moment, with all the 'stuff' we can
> buy, many of us think it will stay like that.
>
> If we were to apply the Principle at the 2 levels of transnational/national
> and local, PmC+ seems to contain everything that is needed to deal with
> these dilemas. Using initiatives like transition towns etc and extending
> them to organise ourselves effectively at local levels and there to install
> the systems we know that will create abundance. Develop mirrors of the webs
> of interdependancies we see in natural systems between these local areas to
> develop trust and creativity. Through PDC's, workshops, designs and
> examples, show to what extent we can individually liberate ourselves from
> current mindsets, giving away the tools that will help people become
> creative and pro-active.
>
> At the same time PmC designers working together to develop a way to softly
> dismantle the existing centralised systems. Working also maybe to reduce any
> reactivity of these systems to any perceived menace.
>
> And like the Circus people have some fun and a few celebrations!!
>
> Steve
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--
Andrew Edwin McSwain
055(11)6785-1176 (São Paulo)
01(501)681-0439 (United States)




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