permaculture

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network <lakinroe@silcom.com>]

Dear People

After months and months of work, we're now launching a new system - 
the Worldwide Permaculture Network (WPN) - which will enable 
permaculturists everywhere to:

- Put themselves on a clickable map, where people (permaculturists 
and non-permaculturists) can see at a glance the scope of the spread 
of permaculture worldwide
- Showcase their work as individuals, and the work of any projects 
they are administrating
- Be searchable according to many variables (climate zone, project 
type, and more)
- Network with other permaculturists everywhere
- Advertise their consultancy services
- Advertise their courses (for educational projects)
- Share knowledge, experiences, challenges, successes, and inspiration
- Help inspire non-permaculturists with the potential for positive, 
systemic change that permaculture design systems can bring
- And more...

Background:

I conjured the idea of this database more than two and a half years 
ago, and with the support of PRI Australia we've been trying to 
squirrel away finances to build it ever since. Whilst saving our 
pennies, I've had a static HTML project listing up in the interim, 
but it was always a cumbersome way to display and promote projects of 
course and over the last several months as I've been working on this 
database, I've had to neglect that section entirely.

With this new system you can create your own user profile, and, if 
applicable, advertise your status as a consultant and/or aid worker. 
You can add your project(s), of whatever type, be it an urban 
residential project, or an African or Californian aid project, a 
Sydney or Delhi suburbs commercial project or something not even land 
based - like an economic project (LETS, or similar), or a political 
activist project, and more. Educational projects get to list their 
courses.

By adding a profile (People and Projects), you get added to an 
interactive world map! You can browse projects by their summary cards 
and filter by climate zone or project type - or just by clicking on 
the pins on the map. You can find 'People' by different criteria also 
- climate zone, consultants, aid workers, teachers, etc.

You get your own blog with your profile, and if you're sharing 
interesting and valuable updates to your blog you'll find other users 
clicking to 'follow' you so they can easily monitor your updates via 
their 'dashboard' - where you arrive after logging in.  The best 
updates will be 'featured', thus attracting more followers and 
potentially supporters of your work (including attracting more 
students, and/or consultancy customers, etc.).

A Plea

Despite being created by the PRI, these features are available to 
anyone who wishes to make use of them.

Because of my work over the last five years, studying world issues 
and writing about them, I am acutely aware of the 
more-than-precarious situation we are in as a race. I have created 
the WPN as a tool to help fast-track the take-up of permaculture 
design concepts to help ameliorate our predicament as rapidly as 
possible. The WPN system has enormous potential if we make use of it 
in the way designed - i.e. using it to share information, resources, 
inspiration and encouragement. In addition, the WPN can, if it 
receives community-funded support for the costs involved, continue 
its development to tailor/improve it to meet the needs of users. At 
present we at the PRI have diverted funds to create this system from 
our own urgent need to expand and improve facilities for students and 
from other projects that needed it, but we've done so in the belief 
that the WPN has such a potential, and that time is so short, that if 
we didn't go ahead and initiate such a much-needed project, then as 
economies continue to collapse we might never see such a system 
getting created at all.

It would be great if we can all build on our common shared vision, 
and I offer up this system as a tool to help accomplish this. Your 
feedback and support to improve will be welcome, and acted upon as we 
have time and means to do so.

The time is now!

As architect of this system, I warmly invite you to go to 
<http://www.permacultureglobal.com>www.permacultureglobal.com , and 
sign up. After signing up, please ensure you complete your personal 
profile and pretty it up as a good example for subsequent users to 
emulate. Then, add your project if you have one (it might be your own 
residential yard, or a project involving many more people, like a 
permaculture local group, or other, etc.), also ensuring to maintain 
a high standard of textual content, formatting and a good sprinkling 
of nice images, etc., so we can ensure people investigating 
permaculture for the first time are wowed with what they find in the 
system.

Permaculturists - this is our time! Let's stop considering 
permaculture as an 'alternative lifestyle' and accept the fact that 
there really is *no alternative*. As far as our place in history, 
it's permaculture or bust. We need to come out of our closets, and 
recognise that it's the time to share and nurture, to build 
community, share seeds and designs, share enthusiasm and wisdom, and 
practical knowhow. The WPN will facilitate this like no other system 
available today. I have laboured in the hope that you will make best 
use of this system.

Thank you everybody for all that you do in the world.

Sincerely

Craig

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Mackintosh
Editor/Photojournalist/IT Manager
Permaculture Research Institute
craig@permaculture.org.au
www.permaculture.org.au
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~