permaculture

[Bob Waldrop <bob@bobwaldrop.net>]

Sometimes things are so obvious we can't see them.  Permaculture design 
is applicable to everything, and that includes the international 
permaculture movement and its meetings.

Is there a written permaculture design for the international 
permaculture movement?

Sounds like there wasn't a permaculture design for this meeting. If 
there was, it seems like they ignored the need for "surge capacity".  
The best designed swale and berm system may be overwhelmed by a 
catastrophic rain event, which is why Dan Hemenway, who signed my 
permaculture certificate, drills in the need to "design for extremes" 
and avoid "averages".

I was in the convention and meeting business for years, and managed to 
go broke in it, so I have some sympathy for the organizers as any 
meeting that has to cope with a lot of last minute gate crashers is 
going to be a t best chaotic.  Since the convention and meeting business 
generally has very thin margins and is not well financed, there isn't 
much surge capacity, WHICH of course is why the organizers of the next 
international meeting should do an actual design for the event and 
publish that design in advance.  It could be part of the sales materials 
for the event.  I am exceedingly unlikely to undertake any international 
travel, but the one thing that might tempt me would be an international 
event that was the fruit of an actual permaculture design process.

The same is true for a North American convergence.  If people want 
something like this to happen, I suggest starting by doing a 
permaculture design for the proposed event. The more holistic the event, 
the more credible it would be.  E.g., we shouldn't just ignore that 
expenditure of fossil fuels inherent in travel for these events.  How do 
the organizers propose to resolve that issue?

I would help with this kind of design process, since I have experience 
in the "industry" and also have a special interest in permaculture 
design for invisible structures.

The wiki structure might work for something like this.

Where will the next international meeting be?

Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma City
http://www.ipermie.net  Permaculture your urban lifestyle & protect yourself 
from the four horsemen of the modern apocalypse: peak oil, climate instability, 
economic irrationality, and political criminality

On 12/23/2013 12:09 PM, Lawrence London wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 22, 2013 at 9:42 PM, A Sampson-Kelly <
> april@permaculturevisions.com> wrote:
>
> > IPC11 Musings
> >
> > I will not bore you with the sadness I felt at being in a political
> > environment in a political country nursing a naive hope that we could
> > find widespread solidarity and companionship.
> > I must point out, however, that the so called "gate crashers" to the
> > event were openly encouraged. Even on the opening day the web page still
> > stated clearly that people could just turn up and pay on the day.
> > [More fool me, as I had paid 4 months before for a tour that got cut by
> > a day and half and I was offered no refund.]
> I hope the conference organizers learned from that, next time around that
> 20-20 hindsight will be useful, to say the least.
>
>
> > We are a movement that should be maturing, mastering a degree of
> > organisation and structure, not one that is so easily derailed by chaos.
> > I absolutely agree, it felt like the Cubans were trying to herd cats.