permaculture

[Andrew Millison <amillison@gmail.com>]

Regarding Vlad, I've met him. He asked me to teach for him at one point. He
has organized courses in Eugene, at the site where I now teach a weekend
PDC. He was a nice enough guy in person.

There's been a steady stream of conflict and allegations surrounding him. I
know someone personally who has had a lawsuit alleging libel and slander
threatened by him, and I was contacted by a very upset student from his
program who wanted to spread their story in the Permaculture community.

I know many other successful teachers and organizers who don't have all
that energy around them, so i've elected to steer clear and not send people
his way. I'd personally be very hesitant about entering into agreements
with his organization.

I don't like to spread rumors or gossip, but I know that I share this
opinion with many people I work with in the PNW, because issues seem to
surface again and again. So just be aware that the situation is not very
"clean" , and there is a lot of preexisting baggage if you choose to work
with his organization.

Here's the message I received:

Hi.  I'm not sure if you're familiar with Vladislav Davidzon and his little
company Common Circle Education?  He hosts bike tours and permaculture
design courses, mostly in Oregon, I believe.

I took a PDC in August 2011 in Eugene.  I wasn't happy with the whole event
for many reasons.  I exchanged emails with Slav extensively post-course and
didn't get the results I was hoping for, so I posted a review on Yelp, as
did many of my classmates.  Most of my classmates were less than satisfied
with their experiences.

Last week Slav started legal proceedings against one of my classmates-
************.  I and three others have received emails stating that he will
sue us for libel if we do not take down our reviews and never post
another.Here's the Yelp link:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/common-circle-education-beaverton-5

The email he sent to me is there in my review.

I also have screenshots of two reviews that my classmates took down already.

I'm letting you know about this because I think that people in the
permaculture community should know what is happening here.  Please feel
free to tell anyone you think should know, ask me anything, or offer advice?


On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 2:38 PM, Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 4:42 PM, loren luyendyk <loren@sborganics.com
> >wrote:
>
> >
> > It looks like the campaign is going good, despite some obvious concerns
> > regarding the content/teacher/ethics.
> >
>
> There is little content and no ethics.
>
> >
> > Maybe there is something to learn from this?  Cooperation not
> > competition...?
>
>
> You make no effort to "cooperate" with people like that.
>
>
> > I agree with the concept personally, I think the more people are exposed
> > to PC the better.
>
>
> You are not going to be exposed to PC worth the time of day with that
> organization..
> He studied PC under Lawton who taught him the concept and methodology of
> "getting rich through PC".
> His offerings will consist of his getting richer and you wasting your time
> and money.
> In two words: Buyer Beware.
> I kicked him out of this list a long time ago.
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> subscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
> message archives:  https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture/
> Google message archive search:
> site: lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture [searchstring]
> Avant Geared  http://www.avantgeared.com
>



-- 
Andrew Millison
(541) 752-9118
www.beaverstatepermaculture.com