permaculture

[ChildrensPeaceGuild <childrenspeaceguild@yahoo.com>]

While Toby has already succinctly debunked these points, I would like to 
point out that #2 overpopulationisamyth was funded by a pro-life, neo-con 
institute with ties to PNAC (Project for a New American Century).
 
To spare you having to sit through the video, here are a few highlights:

 
From: Oystein Tandberg <oystein_tandberg@yahoo.no>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org> 
Sent: Thursday, May 3, 2012 3:03 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Maintaining the standards of permaculture - 
important issues

:-) Thank you, Toby, for your kind reply - you produce NO arguments though, 
so here are some links, so you can read up:-)  

1. Destructive man made climate change - 
http://www.globalwarminghysteria.com/ten-myths-of-global-warming/

2. Overpopulation - http://overpopulationisamyth.com/

3. Viruses - http://www.virusmyth.org/  

4. Pasteur - http://www.whale.to/a/lost_history_of_medicine.html 

best regards
Øystein 




--- Den tor 2012-05-03 skrev Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>:

> Fra: Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
> Emne: Re: [permaculture] Maintaining the standards of permaculture - 
> important issues
> Til: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Dato: Torsdag 3. mai 2012 13.37
> On May 3, 2012, at 2:18 AM, Oystein
> Tandberg wrote:
> 
> > I don't want to make this a long e-mail; so I'll just
> jump to the conclusions: 
> > 
> Sure, I'll fall for it. Anyone who reads my stuff knows I
> love ideas that overturn the conventional wisdom. And I've
> looked at all the evidence for these statements before, in
> detail, because I am naturally sympathetic to revisionism.
> They are each nonsense.
> 
> > 1. Humans are not in charge of the climate (so the
> permaculture response 
> 
> While it is literally true that no one is in charge of the
> climate, those words are a soundbite straight from
> corporate-funded think tanks. Not being a climate scientist,
> I must rely on experts here, and I tend to side with 99% of
> the world's climate scientists rather than a handful of
> oil-company mouthpieces making zombie statements that will
> not die when disproved. Follow the money: the
> anti-climate-change propagandists work for the carbon
> industry.
> 
> > 2. Exponential human growth (overpopulation) is a myth.
> 
> 
> The human population is doubling at decreasing intervals.
> That is, by definition, exponential growth, so this
> statement is mathematically ignorant. As for it being a
> problem, population growth is now being sustained by fossil
> fuel-based food. Maybe we'll find something else as oil runs
> out, but we are already seeing huge declines in food yields
> from overuse of soils (I did population genetics work for a
> while; I recognize the signs of overpopulation.) Maybe
> having one species use 40% of the Earth's annual production
> is sustainable, but if population doubles again, so does
> that number. Anyone who doesn't think human impact is a
> problem should start drinking from the nearest river, and
> see how long you live. I suggest a great video called
> "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy" as a good look at what
> population growth means.
> http://www.albartlett.org/presentations/arithmetic_population_energy_video1.html
> 
> These last two are way off topic, but they are fun for me.
> 
> > 3. Viruses, as infectious microorganisms, is a myth. 
> 
> Now we're in my field. I did immunology and genetics
> research for 15 years. I have used viruses to cause
> infections in otherwise healthy organisms. Their entire
> genetic machinery is designed to infect; their genes have
> been independently used to cause infections, and to do
> everything needed to infect healthy organisms. They are
> little miracles, cleverly designed to cause infection
> because it they cannot reproduce without infecting a host;
> it's their raison d'etre. Also, it's difficult to explain
> how a killed virus can confer immunity against a live virus,
> even in very unhealthy people, without viruses being a cause
> of infection. 
> 
> > 4. Pasteur was wrong - an infection is always a
> secondary illness; infections arise after tissue has been
> damaged, by malnutrition or intoxication. (PR: enrich the
> blood for good health, like you would enrich the soil for
> good growth)
> 
> People who say this have not read Pasteur. He was not
> "wrong." He knew that otherwise healthy organisms throw off
> infections much faster than sick ones. And I'd be careful
> with statements that include the word "always."
> 
> I suggest getting into the best shape possible and then
> letting an Ebola-sick monkey spray blood on you, or stay in
> a room dusted with with hanta-virus mouse turds. It may
> change your mind about viruses.
> 
> These arguments take advantage of the fact that most people
> have not been taught to do critical thought, and get sucked
> in by fallacious bits of sophistry that match their politics
> and temperament, since they don't have the mental tools to
> properly evaluate them. As Dick Cheney reportedly said, "you
> can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are
> the ones we're looking for." Like I say, I love to upset the
> conventional wisdom, but promoting these dead-wrong, zombie
> arguments can do real harm to real people.
> 
> Now back to the important stuff.
> 
> Toby
> http://patternliteracy.com
> 
> 
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“Early humans spent a good deal of time hungry, cold, and without shelter” 
and faced a “hard life of meeting our basic needs.”
 
This tired old Hobbesian adage (a variant on his view that life before 
civilization was “nasty, brutish, and short”) has been disproven by 
anthropologists (Marshall Sahlins, Richard Lee, Pierre Clastres, et al.) 

Also, according to the video, demographers (such as Julian Simon who believed 
finite resources can be converted to infinite wealth) claim: "As our numbers 
have grown, so has our average standard of living.”
 
And just how exactly do they measure the standard of living? "Per capita 
income, amount of calories consumed, and average height."
In other words, by using the measurements favored by Western industrial 
civilization.
>From lflj@bellsouth.net  Fri May  4 05:43:30 2012
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Subject: [permaculture] Interesting post on various marketing methods for
        farmers and gardeners.
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-------- Original Message --------
From:   KAKerby@aol.com
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
Ruminations - essays on the farming life at frogchorusfarm.com/weblog.html

What is a CSA?

Community Supported Agriculture is a term which is used by farmers and
consumers both, to describe an alternative to the current conventional
practice of buying and selling via brokers and other middle-men.The term
comes from an approach to marketing where the farmer forges a direct
relationship with a group of local customers, such that the community
has immediate access to food and the farmer has immediate access to
customers.While CSAs can vary on some details, they usually feature most
if not all of the following criteria:

1)a one-on-one relationship between farmer and consumer, where both
parties get to know each other, and each other’s concerns and goals
for food production, quality and access.

2)A subscription arrangement of some kind, such that the consumer knows
in advance what variety and amount of products he or she will receive,
and the farmer knows in advance what to grow, and how much of it,
throughout the year.

3)A payment arrangement such that the consumer either pays in advance at
a discount, or agrees to pay a certain amount per week.These rates are
often cheaper than the consumer would pay for the same quality of
product at a grocery store or farmers market, and both approaches give
the farmer some guarantee of weekly and/or seasonal income.

4)An opportunity or expectation for the consumer to come to the farm to
see first-hand how things are grown and raised.These visits might be to
pick up weekly boxes of produce, or for regular work parties, or for
member days to celebrate events such as planting and harvesting.

5)A formal or informal guarantee that the products will be the freshest
possible.Most CSAs work on a weekly delivery or pickup schedule, and as
a result most of the produce sold will have been harvested within a few
days of that schedule.This does not apply to all products, because some
products (such as honey, cheeses, and meats) are either harvested
infrequently throughout the year, or need to age prior to sale, or have
longer shelf-lives which allow for sales distributed throughout the year.

6)Many CSA farms are managed in sustainable, natural, and/or organic
ways.The personal relationships forged between CSA growers and buyers
works to encourage all parties to discuss concerns, goals and
priorities, for various food safety issues.Some CSAs will actively
include consumers in the farm’s day to day decision-making process.

One fundamental feature of many CSAs is the concept of shared risk.By
having pre-paid subscriptions for each year’s produce, the farmer and
customers all share the risk for crop failures.A corollary to that
feature is diversification - most CSA farms will offer a wide variety of
products so that if one crop fails, others are still available.This
philosophy seems very simple but it forms the core of the CSA concept.By
diversifying into lesser- known products, farmers can better tailor
their plantings and products to match their particular farm’s
micro-climates.They also can offer products which would either be so
fragile, or aren’t in great enough demand, that there are no
conventional outlets.Consumers in turn gain a much greater awareness of
the threats to any given farm’s yearly production of foods, and their
subscriptions help ensure the farm’s continued survival even in the
face of crop failure.Yet those customers thereby also receive products
at reasonable cost, which they would never be able to find in
conventional markets at any price.This diversification is one of the
features applauded by both farmer and buyer, as one of the features
which sets CSAs apart from all other farm product marketing options.

Food Hub
A food hub is a relatively new concept in the food access arena.  A hub
is any formal or informal method, either physical or electronic, which
allows farmers to connect with buyers.  Many food hubs are being
arranged by nonprofit groups and local agencies, to make those local and
regional connections easier.  One unique aspect of many food hubs is the
participation of buyer agencies which farmers might not otherwise have
access to, such as schools, hospitals, restaurants, prisons and other
business or government buyer entities.  The food hub may be as simple as
an email list or website where growers and buyers can post what they
have available and/or what they need.  It can be as involved as a weekly
marketplace attended by multiple buyers and vendors, or a seasonal
conference where buyers and/or farmers attend workshops learning about
the practices, opportunities and challenges faced by each party, as well
as government regulations and/or programs which impact those transactions.


Farmers Market
A farmers’ market has once again become a relatively common event in
countless neighborhoods across the country.  But some consumers are
still not sure what will and will not be available at such markets.
Grocery stores are also opening their own “farmers market” sections
which can confuse the situation even further.  While any given farmer’s
market will be a unique entity, most well-respected  farmers markets
share most of the following criteria:
1)  The market features a weekly gathering of multiple vendors at the
same time and place each week.  Most markets operate during the growing
season, but some run all year.  A few areas are experimenting with
dedicated “winter markets” to supplement growing season markets.
2)  Many markets stipulate that each vendor grow or make all or at least
a majority of their products.  Very few markets openly invite resellers,
but some markets are less diligent about checking for resellers than
others.  Those markets which have established themselves as among “the
best of the best” regionally and nationally are very strict in regards
to ensuring their vendors actually grow or make everything they sell.
3)  Many farmers markets feature more than one vendor selling any given
type of product - produce, meats, wines, honey, eggs, etc - but most
markets will put a cap on how many vendors can sell any given type of
product.  This balance helps provide variety while also ensuring that
shoppers have a choice for any given product.
4)  Many markets will also set informal minimum pricing standards, such
that one vendor cannot come in with a glut of product, and undersell
other vendors with the same product.
5)  Many vendors selling at market will harvest their produce mere hours
prior to market, to help ensure absolute freshness.  Other products,
such as meats, cheeses, honey and canned products, will have been
harvested, formed, and/or bottled some weeks prior, depending on the
product.
6)  Market vendor booths may be manned either by the farmer, or a
farmer’s employee.  While many farmers feel compelled to man the booth
to ensure that customers have access to the actual grower, not all
farmers can cover the booth and their daily farming activities at the
same time.  So some farmers will hire staff specifically to man the
market booth.  If an employee is manning the booth, that employee often
has a fair amount of knowledge about the operation of the farm in question.


Food Delivery Service
Food delivery services can be a part of many different types of food
businesses.  Such a delivery service can be a courtesy service offered
by individual farms, a core attribute of a food cooperative or food hub,
or a profit-making service offered by regular grocery stores, butchers,
bakeriers or creameries.  There is enough variety amongst delivery
services around the country that no hard-and-fast rules or principles
can be used to describe them.


Food Cooperatives, buying clubs and Distributors
Food buying clubs, food cooperatives and food distributorships are three
more buying options, but with a great deal of variety between them.  A
buying club can be a single individual or entity working as a liaison
between farmers and buyers, with the goal of improving access and/or
holding costs down by buying in bulk.  The organizer often works as a
volunteer, not keeping any portion of a transaction.  Food cooperatives
may be profit or non-profit associations between buyers and/or growers,
again for the purpose of either improving access to products or markets,
and/or holding prices down by buying in bulk.  Non-profit co-ops will
keep a portion of each sale, and fold that back into the cooperative to
expand the co-op’s offerings or hold prices down.  Or, the co-op may be
a for-profit business, but profits would be split amongst members in the
form of dividends.  Distributorships are harder to define, but are more
typically a for-profit operation where the organizing individual or
entity keeps a certain percentage of each transaction, simply for the
goal of making profit.  All of these buying options feature a certain
amount of separation between the farmer and the buyer, such that the
former and latter may never actually meet or even be aware of each
other’s identity.  In that sense, many cooperatives, buying clubs and
distributorships are little more than wholesalers.