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  • From: SArjuna@aol.com
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Permaculture population constraints?
  • Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 16:25:13 EDT

John Feeney has written a great article, "AGRICULTURE: The end of the
workd as we know it," found at:

www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/newzephyr/august-september2010/html/aug10-21.htm/.


He has also posted the following afterthought in his blog at: his blog at:
www.johnfeeney.net/blog/

"One point I'd like to have covered more thoroughly in the article is the
notion that a horticultural alternative such as large scale
permaculture-based food growing could simply replace agriculture. The text of
a footnote to
a previous blog post (see below) adds a worthwhile clarification:

On a large enough scale, even a major improvement such as permaculture
would seem to suffer from a similar problem of turning the land excessively
to
human consumption. As I understand it, however, it is structured to be
practiced on a scale small enough -- and with ethical constraints against
large
populations -- that it might prove sustainable under conditions of a much
smaller human population. This is not to suggest it as an "alternative" to
agriculture, without which humans did quite well for most of our history. As
an
approach to small-scale gardening -- something practiced by many
hunter-gatherers -- it makes great sense. Once we begin to depend, though, on
growing
food as our primary means of subsistence, upping the scale by altering large
tracts of habitat, taking control of our food supply by creating and storing
unnecessary surpluses, the problems start. (I am aware of nothing concrete,
by the way, built into the practice of permaculture which would prevent
population growth. I welcome information to the contrary.)
That said, there will surely be a transitional period, post-civilization,
when permaculture and related approaches to food production will be
essential to many of those shifting toward true sustinability, even prior to
a full
move into hunting and gathering."

I'd like to add a note of my own regards the photos that accompany the
article. The photo that looks like a strange quilt is an aerial view of
crop
fields that must be irrigated in order to produce. The circles and squares
are the crop areas covered by the watering systems. The photo of humans is
of people and their water toys so jammed together in the ocean that no
actual ocean is visible. I've seen a similar photo of humans blanketing a
beach.
How this kind of day at the beach can be enjoyed, I cannot imagine. Then
there is an aerial view of a strip mine.

Shivani Arjuna, WI, USA





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  • [permaculture] Permaculture population constraints?, SArjuna, 10/24/2010

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