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  • From: deston denniston <cobbuilder@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] right livelihood advice request (Tripp Tibbetts)
  • Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:15:57 -0800 (PST)

Tripp, I did real estate development for 3 years after graduating with a
BA/BS in ecology and design

I worked for a company that did exclusively urban infill renovations of
dilapidated buildings. They weren't LEED remodels, but we did our best.

I left as I was not satisfied that i was doing the most possible according to
my convictions, not really any sense that i was part of a damnable march of
so-called progress. anyhow, i think I get your dilemma - and I also sense, If
I read you right, that you know the answer to your question. the good thing
about this down turned market is that it is slowing development at the same
time (non enforceable) environmental regulations are tightening.

You may have an opportunity to mole away, but i suspect from your letter that
your vision of right livelihood is challenged by that. still, as the old
indentured peasants adage goes "beans before morals".

I sucked up and bough a bit of land with my savings and surpassed my college
education with permaculture- in the 5 weeks of my PDC, a practicum skillshare
and  teachers certificate I saw the entire 8 years of my college work from
civil engineering to community ecology studies to environmental politics and
ethics flash before my eyes. there wasnt any new information, but as you all
may have experienced, there were many revelations about how to use the
information I already possessed, and this amazing global community to share
and witness in it.

and now I'm moving back into real estate development.
(http://www.abundancepermaculture.com/papers12.html) The time is ripe. Farms
everywhere are crying out under the weight of regulation about the 50% or
more decline in real earnings that have gone on in the last 30 years, farmers
are compressed- and in compression is potential energy- by land use law on
one side and production demands on the other. aand the truth is that people
arent going to stop eating. we need farms, and the question is now HOW
farming needs to change- its WHEN will it comprehensively make that change.
as a permie, you know what changes are need in your region. the potential
energy in the compression of farmers is vast. If you find a way to tap it,
you'll do well. of course, you also need 'some' money. I wont lecture self
righteously on tightening your belt, you might livein an a refridgerator box
for all I know, and permies tend to be frugal, so ill excesise absolute faith
that
youve done all you can. after I bought my small plot of 16 acres I lived in
a old pig barn for three years. I thought I'd have income but didnt, so the
site development I imagined is just now starting 7 years later- the site
systems are getting dialed in enough to feed me and interns with a small
excess to market out. I went 4 years with no income to work the place, just
me and my shovel scavenging nursurey seconds from dumpsters, etc.

do what is hard today and tomorrow youll find things are easier, huh?

heres what I did: I started presnting at schools on the basic tale of two
eggs. kids get it immediately, and they tell thier folks, and some of those
folks are policy people, some are farmers, others have various roles in the
food system, all of the eat.

from the school presentation it went to presenting to county staff, to a full
blown non acredited 72 hour course and a deed signing for a 80 acre
sustainable farming demo that county commissioners have repeatedly said "this
will be largely defined by permaculture systems thinking for the benefit of
our local food systems" all this from showing up for kids.

Im not on that project anymore, and while the income isnt great (Ive
underpriced my services to as low as $5/hour, but I own my land and dont have
kids, so I can afford that) I am picking up contracts now and farmers are
asking for services from my LLC. The state university is considering the PDC
cirriculum as a part of the extension service continuing ED courses (the owrk
of many PC pro's regionally, including moles, has created this), and we have
started about 50 acres of perrenial poly crop demos across the western side
of washington state.

Youll have to decide if your need for immediate income demands the job, but I
suspect your vision is larger than being a mole in that capacity, no matter
how usefull such a role would be. I know many moles and they do great work.
But your indecision speaks to a vision that is bigger than the capacity you
are considering. weigh your need for income carefully, and if you can trudge
a bit more and stay in circle with all of us, I suspect your vision will lead
you to greater effect than this position can offer. and that your needs will
get met. Im not a psychic, but I do know we can actually live well on little
more than a few hundred square feet of productive soil and a good
rainfly....especially in the sub tropics (though I understand you hit the mid
20's f. in FL recently! better add a nice sleeping bag to that list ;)

keep the faith: honor your inner fire and life vision

Deston

Peace,



Deston Denniston, M.S., C.P.I.

Steward, Abundance Permaculture Consulting

www.abundancepermaculture.com

(360) 673-2124



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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Permaculture.TV free video cooperative <permaculturecoop@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 4:08 AM
Subject: Permaculture TV - Open-source Hydrogen Cars - Riversimple
To: permaculturecoop@gmail.com


Permaculture TV - Open-source Hydrogen Cars -
Riversimple<http://permaculture.tv>

<http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/permaculture/EHmn>
------------------------------

- Open-source Hydrogen Cars - Riversimple <#1265211f6b74e910_1>
- Extreme Permaculture with Steve Cran in Uganda <#1265211f6b74e910_2>
- Nouvelle Vie Haiti - Viva Haiti Permaculture <#1265211f6b74e910_3>
- Tour of Permaculture College Australia - Robyn
Francis<#1265211f6b74e910_4>

Open-source Hydrogen Cars -
Riversimple<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/permaculture/EHmn/~3/tJeNfREemHE/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 04:37 AM PST

Riversimple’s network electric car is a hydrogen fuel cell powered car, with
unique technologies that enable it to run on a 6kW fuel cell, with a fuel
consumption equivalent to 300 miles per gallon and greenhouse gas emissions
at 30g per km, well-to-wheel - less than a third of that from the most
efficient petrol-engine cars currently available.

[image: Riversimple]

But what is extraordinary about Riversimple <http://www.riversimple.com/>is
that their business model is trying to move away from the current auto
industry practice that has left us with the inefficient, one-size-fits-all
car.

The first departure from the conventional business plan is that the designs
of the car will be released under an open source licence. This allows people
to freely build on ideas and designs, speeding up innovation and enabling
technologies to be quickly improved, meeting the needs of people rather than
markets.

‘There is such a yawning gap between the environmental performance of cars
and what is sustainable, that I don’t believe a purely competitive world can
ever get us there,’ says Hugo Spowers, the brains behind Riversimple.

‘[open source] really does produce this constant and very rapid drive toward
absolute excellence, which I think is needed in the current circumstances. I
have precious little faith in regulation ever pushing us in that direction.’

Shared learning

To aid the development of the open source hardware community, Riversimple
has set up the 40 Fires Foundation, an open-source hardware group that
anyone can join to share expertise and develop technologies.

Before any official launch, the foundation has already registered over 300
people with expertise in various areas, showing the huge potential for an
open-source technology community.

And this potential can be far reaching:

‘Open source allows [developing] countries to build their own technological
capacity without having to be liable for any cash fees to the first world,’
says Spowers. The foundation can also take briefs from other countries,
adapting technologies as required.

Source: The Ecologist, UK
<http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/401026/the_opensource_hydrogen_car_set_to_change_the_industry.html>

Extreme Permaculture with Steve Cran in
Uganda<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/permaculture/EHmn/~3/-j2-o7bcYeY/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 04:19 AM PST

Hello everyone. This is my first blog from Uganda. Im here to set up a
community sustainability project in the north of Uganda near the Sudan
border. Its a hot spot sometimes with cows guns and dust. These people have
been aid dependent for 40 years.

[image: steve cran]

Getting to Uganda from Australia was a mission. It took me 40 hours of
travel. I arrived at Kampala airport late at night and finally got to a
hotel looking like a zombie. The next day I met my boss and went over my
mission. I have been given a heap of lattitude to make this work.

Day 2 Im taken to downtown Kampala to the roof top of a tall building in a
meeting with some UN dudes. I can see these huge birds, some kind of crane,
gliding all over the city like they own it. Kampala looks like a nice city
from up there but I can see slums poking out of the cracks.

The Ugandan people are friendly and polite with me and each other. Im given
a vehicle and a driver to get to Karamoja , 8 hours drive north. Bags in the
vehicle, wave goodbye to the police guards at the gate and off we go. Once
we leave the city the driver puts his foot down. I check my seatbelt. We are
speeding along potholed tarmack through villages at 130 kph, just missing
people, cows, chickens and parked vehicles. The drivers accent is so strong
I think he is speaking in another language. He puts a cd of local music
making the drive seem like a weird movie. This country feels familiar even
though Ive never been to Africa.

The further out we get the more lush the land looks.I see lots of small
scale farming. Casava, banana, beans, goats, pigs…pretty basic subsistence
farming. People are all well dressed. Women are loaded with baskets and
jerry cans on their heads. We speed on. The country gets drier. The towns
are filthy with rubbish, dust and vehicle exaust. Everybodys still smiling.
We stop at dark and I crash in a hotel for tourists. The phone rings at
midnight. The reception guy asks me something and I cant understand his
accent. Finally I realize he is asking if I need a wake up call. GRRRR! I
just get back to sleep when there’s a knock on the door. I open the door to
a tall Man with a big smile, “water suh?” He’s holding up a water bottle. I
thank him and close the door, unplug the phone and bury my head in a pillow.
Its 1 am.

Next day we’re speeding again through the scrubby bush. The land is drying
out and the road is turning into a 4×4 adventure. Along the sides of the
road in the middle of nowhere are women and men in their sunday best or so
it seems. Colourfully dressed carrying all kinds of stuff on their heads.
They wave and give us big happy smiles. It dawns on me that I really like
these people. The kids are lots of fun and they run along the side of the
vehicle yelling “mazoonga!” which means white man in a non racist way.


View Larger
Map<http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&q=Abim+uganda&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Abim,+Wiawer,+Kotido,+Uganda&t=h&ll=0.878872,33.574219&spn=58.758587,105.46875&z=3&source=embed>

Finally I take over driving as the driver is nodding off. Tricky driving as
the holes in the track are hungry and threaten to swallow the ute. Finally
we get to Hq at Abim <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abim,_Uganda>. I meet the
staff and unload my gear at the “hotel” which is a room that comes with 2
jerry cans of water per day. Its hot here at Abim but Ive had worse. Small
scrubby mountains crowd around the edges of this frontier town. I check out
the towns wells and their hand pumps. Theres women lined up at each one.
They tell me the water is good and it hasnt yet dried up in 15 years. These
women are paid to get water for the NGOs and buisnesses and carry the jerry
cans on their heads. They must have tough necks!

Im here now in the safe zone. Im planning my first demo garden which I’ll
start on today. Ive got tools seeds and sacks. I’ll pay the local kids to
bring in sacks of animal manure. Im showing the local people by paying to
children that manure is valuable. I dont pay too much or the adults will
want to do it. That may cause them to lose face if they are seen collecting
shit! Kids dont care and they may be the only breadwinners in the family.
They are funny dudes. They sneak up beside me and in a quiet voice say “how
are you?” When I answer they giggle and just stand there looking at me with
their wide smiles. I’m gonna have some fun with these guys!

Well thats it for now. I gotta get digging,
Cheers, Steve

Nouvelle Vie Haiti - Viva Haiti
Permaculture<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/permaculture/EHmn/~3/H5nF7iJ-N2E/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 03:44 AM PST

*Subject: Nouvelle Vie Haiti - Responding to the Haitian earthquake*

[image: viva-haiti]

Dear friends and colleagues,

Many thanks for all your expressions of concern and support regarding the
situation in Haiti, I know we all share a concern for what can be done in
order to contribute to an effective response and long-term abundance and
real security for the immediately affected and wider population of Haiti. I
spent a month with Shenaqua in Haiti last summer working with the
Internation Association for Human Values, and teaching two permaculture
courses there.

*Our feedback thus far from Haiti is that all our graduates are safe in
terms of immediate earthquake impacts. *

We are working on a medium term program to support our local graduates in
carrying out trauma counseling using tried and tested approaches championed
by IAHV, as well as longer-term, permaculture-based strategies to help
promote local food, and water security, safe housing etc. A general program
description follows below:

*Nouvelle Vie *Haiti**, an ongoing project of the *International Association
of Human Values* (*IAHV*- www.iahv.org http://www.iahv.org/ ). IAHV is an
international humanitarian and educational NGO that aims to revive human
values that transcend religious, ethnic and cultural differences. IAHV along
with its sister organization, The Art of Living
Foundation<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_Living_Foundation>,
has conducted effective trauma relief programs addressing the psychosocial
needs of disaster victim in numerous post-conflict and natural disaster
situations around the world, including the 2008 hurricanes in Haiti, the
Sichuan earthquake in 2008 the South Asian tsunami in 2004, the Kosovo
conflict, and many others, and have served many thousands of individuals
through these efforts.

IAHV’s Nouvelle Vie *Haiti* <http://us.yesplus.org/nouvelle-vie-haiti> has
over the past two years conducted youth leadership, sustainable agriculture,
and entrepreneurship training, impacting 350 young adults from 5 regions of
Haiti: Cap Haitien, Mirebalais, Hinche, Carrefour and Les Cayes.

The earthquake in Haiti has now devastated the country and our youth leaders
on the ground in Haiti. We are preparing to undertake a new mission to
Haiti. Our objectives are to provide immediate trauma relief to the affected
population and aid workers, and to mobilize young adults of Haiti by
establishing the Nouvelle Vie Youth Corps, a body of 50 Haitian youth
committed to serving their country for 2 years.

*The Youth Corps will receive the training and support necessary to take
leadership roles in serving the Haitian people, developing powerful skills
in trauma relief, food and water security, and appropriate technology and
construction*. Nouvelle Vie will provide training and financial, material,
and programmatic support to the Corps.

In the coming weeks we will send teams of IAHV trauma relief workers to
assemble and organize our existing youth leaders, recruit additional youth
leaders, and deliver trauma relief programs. Through participation in
organizing and delivering these programs, we will train our Youth Corps to
deliver trauma relief services, and to become fully certified teachers of
The Art Of Living Foundation’s stress-reduction and self-development
programs.

Youth Corps members will also receive on-ground training in implementation
of small-scale home and community gardens, design and construction of
rainwater catchment and sanitation systems (composting toilets), and
appropriate building design and construction.

Basic training will be conducted at the Youth Corps headquarters by training
leaders who are expert in the area of sustainable design and permaculture,
with extensive experience in developing world urban and peri-urban design.
While basic trainingis taking place, Corps members and training leaders will
developprojects to install garden, sanitation, water, and building systems
tosupport IDP settlements, households, communities, and organizations.

One of the components of our strategy is the translation of the IDEP
Permaculture Resource Manual into French/Haitian Creole in oder to provide
accessible local tools to those who will be rebuilding their communities. We
expect to support this process with permaculture related trainings and
workshops.

For any of you wishing to be involved in this effort, through donation,
direct involvement or for consideration as part of the team, I recommend
that you keep up with the program via the IAHV website (www.iahv.org ), or
through direct contact with Joshua Tosteson <jlt94@post.harvard.edu>

You can access IDEP’s English permaculture and community disaster management
reources as free downloads from the IDEP site, they have been developed
following extensive community rebuilding experiences in East Timor and Aceh,
Indonesia: http://www.idepfoundation.org/idep_downloads.html#b
For those of you wanting more detailed and technically oriented reports and
updates on Haiti, I recommend the site:
www.reliefweb.org<http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm>

Lastly, the Haiti earthquake serves to remind us of the importance of
disaster preparedness for all of us so that we can be effective in response
when disaster strikes. I have 8 pages of disaster preparedness notes for
download at my nascent website: www.ajventure.com
They are currently being posted, should be up by Jan 21, otherwise - check
back soon!

Best wishes,

Andrew Jones
www.ajventure.com

Tour of Permaculture College Australia - Robyn
Francis<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/permaculture/EHmn/~3/L8Unl5GPu9U/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 20 Jan 2010 03:46 PM PST

A brief tour of Djanbung Gardens Permaculture Education Centre, home
of Permaculture
College Australia <http://permaculture.com.au> in Nimbin, NSW Australia.
Executive Director Robyn Francis, walks us through this beautiful land which
she transformed through permaculture design, working with nature - rather
than against it, from a barren cow pasture into a mix of tropical food
forest, cold-temperate orchard, vegetable gardens, chook yard, and more.
Visit permaculture.com.au for more information about this amazing place.
http://permaculture.com.au

Video: Jack Heimsoth
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