Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Permaculture Ethics

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Permaculture Ethics
  • Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 17:58:21 -0400

On Sun, Aug 10, 2014 at 2:52 PM, Bob Waldrop <bob@bobwaldrop.net> wrote:

> Someone should print this email from Scott and deposit it in. . . the
> Permaculture Archives. Where are the Permaculture Archives?


If you mean the message archives for this list, they are here (copied from
my previous post to the list):
"Bob mentioned the need for an archive of important posts sent to this
list. All posts sent to this forum are automatically included in the list's
message archives and can be easily and effectively searched using this
system:"
Ibiblio PC list message archive search using Google's "site" command:
site: lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture [searchstring]
Put this in your browser's search window, not in the URL dialog box.
Ex.: site lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture napc
Here is the URL for the Google search results for that:
https://www.google.com/search?q=site+lists.ibiblio.org%2Fpipermail%2Fpermaculture+napc&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

If you mean a central library or repository of information about the
permaculture movement, then one needs to be created or
an existing website needs to be used. My previous post:
See: https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture/2014-August/045072.html
describes a way to create a permanent library of selected resources
extracted from the ibiblio PC list and from elsewhwre, i.e. things not
posted to the list and/or things posted to a PC list companion website, in
this case a Google+ page.

Well, I suppose
> that is yet another project that needs to be designed and done. With our
> elders getting more elderly, we probably should think about how we preserve
> the documents of our early history. And that includes doing oral histories
> with the permaculture elders. An oral history is a simply a conversation,
> that is recorded and transcribed for posterity, about the experience of a
> person's life.
>

Koreen posted:
"Bob,
I hear you on oral history - I've long felt the same way. We will be
interviewing those permaculture pioneers and veterans who are willing at
the convergence - we will have film equipment, they will all be there -
it's a great opportunity. Of course, that is nothing like really digging in
and filming each person for several hours - or several days - which is
really what needs to be done! But it is a start."
Koreen Brennan
www.growpermaculture.com
northamericanpermaculture.org

All those videos and podcasts could be archived in a Google+ page, free, no
hosting fees.

Come to think of it we need a Google+ page for the ibiblio Permaculture
list and a separate, permanent one for the NAPC.
If I may say, lose, extricate yourself from, Facebook, permanently; don't;
look back. Go for a real resource or a public presence for NAPC,
in addition to its website, Google+. You can have free hosting for
http://northamericanpermaculture.org/ at Google Sites plus have a shopping
cart and do sales,
i.e. of NAPC proceeding documentation, videos, workshop documentaries, etc.


> Eventually we would probably link up with a major library to establish a
> Permaculture Special Collections which would receive these artifacts and
> documents that tell our story.
>

Which library, properly endowed and supported?
My library, possibly Scott's and those of others will eventually need to
find a new and permanent home.
Where will that be. Marshall Chrostowski's extensive library on natural
agriculture and market farming and gardening are packed up in boxes to
reside in a storage unit
near where he lives in California (Wes, do you know him? He ran and was
most of the energy behind the community garden at Pacifica for a long time;
another Alan Chadwick).
He has been looking for a new home for his books for years. I suggested
Jeavons Bountiful Gardens but there may be other places that could receive
and appreciate them.

I will make this a separate post in the "scarcity" thread. Regarding
attendees preparing for the NAPC: The NAPC should have in one or more of
the meeting halls a laptop computer, a movie screen and a usb-enabled
projector to display media material on the laptop on th screen. Attendees
could, in addition to preparing notebooks with information resources,
wishlists, suggestions, project proposals, etc, the same in digital format
to include photos, drawings, blueprints, audio or podcasts, videos, etc.
and copy all of this onto one or more memory sticks (16 to 128 gig sticks)
or even a usb (or usb3) -powered external laptop hard drive. All who attend
and bring this material for presentation to the audience could ID tag all
their media and deposit it with the lecturer or facilitator with access to
the laptop and projector who could load the media into the system for
display and discussion. Concurrently the facilitator could initiate another
process where he maintains a whiteboard or open text document in a separate
window on the laptop that can be displayed at appropriate times, especially
during discussion, reflecting ongoing discussion.
Best yet if the system could include several laptops all with access to the
projector or a separate one even with a separate one side by side with the
other (by far the best option). The note taker with good typing skills
could be listening to audience feedback during discussion, typing it up in
documents and displaying it on screen. This is by far the best option, two
screens.


>
> One of the issues for "historiography" in the modern era is our dependence
> upon electronic records. While cleaning out a closet, I came across a box
> of "floppy diskettes" -- both the larger 5" and the smaller ones that
> replaced them. And they are hmmm probably only 20 years or so old. All of
> that info is functionally lost to me asI don't have a machine to read them
> and they havne't really been stored well.
>
> I'm thinking of printing the archives of this discussion group on archive
> quality paper.
>

What a wnderful idea. Here is the URL
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture.


>
> Bob Waldrop, Okie City
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: permaculture [mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On
> Behalf
> Of Scott Pittman
> Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2014 10:39 AM
> To: 'permaculture'
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] Permaculture Ethics
>
> To further clarify, Geoff L. was asked to leave the Tyalgum permaculture
> site by Bill after other people there complained about Geoff's behavior.
>
> Geoff left and that was the end of PRI at the PC Institute site in Tyalgum.
>
> Scott
>
> "To change something build a new model that makes the existing model
> obsolete" Buckminster Fuller
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: permaculture [mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On
> Behalf
> Of Robyn Francis
> Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2014 12:07 AM
> To: permaculture
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] Permaculture Ethics
>
> I haven't read the full article yet on
>
> http://tcpermaculture.com/site/2013/05/15/the-third-ethic-its-time-to-identi
> fy-the-mutation/
> but a few paragraphs into it I found a significant error regarding
> permaculture history.
>
> Bill Mollison DID NOT create PRI, PRI was created in the late '90s by
> Lawton, Tomas Mack & co to take over a lease of Tagari Farm in northern NSW
> because Bill was moving back to Tasmania, together with his Permaculture
> Institute.
>
> Bill established The Permaculture Institute around 1979, and this institute
> still exists today (currently managed by Lisa Mollison), it never was and
> never should be confused with PRI which is a completely separate legal
> entity controlled by Geoff Lawton. NB when PRI was originally set up they
> used the Permaculture Institute's egg/snake logo extensively, very much
> giving the impression that The Permaculture Institute had 'recycled' itself
> as PRI. This has caused endless confusion in the minds of many permies, and
> time the history was set straight.
>
>
> just to make sure it's crystal clear, there are 2 very distinctly separate
> entities:
>
> The Permaculture Institute, establish by Bill Mollison circa 1979, which
> still exists under the management of his wife Lisa Mollison, based in
> Tasmania
>
> The Permaculture Research Institute, created by Geoff Lawton et al in the
> late 1990s , now apparently a Lawton pc franchise system with head office
> at
> Zaytuna Farm in Nthn NSW.
>
> Robyn
>
>
>
> On 10/08/2014, at 2:59 AM, Steve Hart wrote:
>
> > Yes Pete...great points of debate, but again we are widening the whole
> > issue here, IMO unnecessarily. I prefer to support Scotts assertion as
> well
> > as aspects of what JK alludes to. I like Scott was a first generation
> > student of 1980 and did not pay much attention to the ethical lecture
> > of
> BM
> > but do clearly recall "Share the Surplus" as Scott puts it. I
> > therefore reiterate that for that is the whole dynamic of how I
> > interpret and it
> fits
> > perfectly with the entire argument. I also see there is no point in
> > developing any other variation, but to bring such up in discussion of
> > further education throughout the PDC and all the applications we then
> > apply....Steve Hart
> >
> >
> > On 9 August 2014 17:06, <farmer1@gasperfarm.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Its hard to understand the third ethic when everyone has their own
> version
> >> of it and it inevitably gets used as a hammer for whatever their own
> >> political ideology is.
> >>
> >> The aspects of permanent agriculture seem to be fairly agreed upon
> >> but if permaculture aspires to be relevant to the larger society and
> >> to be about permanent culture it is going to have to involve all the
> >> aspects of culture including those two lightning rods politics and
> religion.
> >>
> >> Pete
> >>
> >>
> >>>
> >>> <
> >>
> http://www.permaculture.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Fellfoot_Drove_Sheep
> >>> fold_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_1155943.jpg> Fellfoot Drove
> >>> SheepfoldPermaculture Touchstone
> >>>
> >>> Permaculture ethics were presented in my first Permaculture Design
> Course
> >>> as
> >>> the touchstone of designing towards sustainability - whether as a
> >>> landscape designer, as an architect, urban planner, as a
> >>> farmer/gardener, as a teacher or activist, as an urban dweller
> >>> seeking to find balance and create an ecologically-sound life.
> >>>
> >>> I was amazed that I hadn't been presented with a statement of ethics
> >>> in any other discipline I had studied; I had known about the
> >>> Hippocratic oath taken by medical practitioners, but not for
> >>> professions that deal with the health of the land, of our
> >>> communities or our cities and ecosystems. Since
> that
> >>> time I have realized how critical ethics are in my permaculture
> >>> design work and my teaching of permaculture. Ethics guide my work
> >>> and my daily activities.
> >>>
> >>> The three ethics of permaculture are:
> >>>
> >>> 1.Care of the Earth, 2. Care of people, and 3. Set limits to
> >>> consumption and reproduction, and redistribute surplus to the
> >>> benefit of the Earth and people.
> >>>
> >>> At first reading, this seems a simple guide, but, like all things
> >>> permaculture, a little reflection leads us into a morass of
> >>> implications and decisions to be made.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Care of the Earth
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> How does one care for the Earth when we have such an elementary
> >>> level of understanding of the Earth's processes? Care of the Earth
> >>> has an implication that we are knowledgeable enough to become the
> >>> caretakers of the planetary processes. We, humans, are just
> >>> learning the basics of the foundational knowledge of life processes!
> >>> What mankind has exhibited in the last 10,000 years is an incredible
> >>> ability to lay waste to the Earth
> with
> >>> little to no care for it!
> >>>
> >>> The first ethic sets a very high bar for those of us aspiring to
> >>> teach about and work with nature-inspired design, striving to
> >>> achieve resiliency
> that
> >>> we
> >>> observe in truly natural systems.
> >>>
> >>> The second and third ethic are, really, a reiteration of the first
> >>> one, but with more specificity.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Care of People
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Care of People is also a very grand aspiration especially within our
> >>> culture of individualism, and narcissistic tendencies. The
> >>> evolution of the Western society into a class system of the "haves"
> >>> and the "have-nots" is a sad testament to a lack of care for the
> >>> "have-nots". This is not just an economic divide but a social
> >>> justice issue encompassing health care, housing, meaningful work,
> >>> education, justice, equality between genders (not just male and
> >>> female), racial equality, and the pursuit of happiness.
> >>>
> >>> I find caring for people particularly challenging since we have been
> >>> so wounded by a culture that judges one's worth by the possessions
> >>> one
> owns,
> >>> and by one's conformity with cultural norms of beauty, education,
> >>> income and behavior. Living in a culture that is primarily in
> >>> corporate hands does not allow us to truly explore our humanity or
> >>> to express it, particularly as it pertains to care of others. To a
> >>> sociopath this humanistic attitude is the ultimate failure in the
> >>> scrabble to the top echelons of the social
> order.
> >>>
> >>> Anyone who has seriously thought about the implications of
> >>> permaculture soon realizes that herein lie all the answers to the
> >>> dysfunction of our
> >> society
> >>> and yet we continually default to the destructive behavior we have
> >>> been indoctrinated into by an educational system that's primary
> >>> purpose is to engender an attitude of obsequious servitude to the
> corporate bosses.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Set Limits to Consumption and Population
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> The third ethic is a troubling one to me, not because it is
> >>> unnecessary but because it is so little understood. The third ethic
> >>> does not want to
> fit
> >>> into a comfortable sound bite, it is wordy and long and that has
> inspired
> >>> many generations of permaculture teachers to morph it into
> >>> something simpler, easier to digest.
> >>>
> >>> I often hear that the third ethic is: "a return of all excess to the
> care
> >>> of
> >>> the earth and people". Somewhere along the line "set limits to
> >>> consumption and reproduction" was dropped from the lexicon. I think
> >>> this may have been because of the political climate surrounding
> >>> birth control and the holy rite of consumption.
> >>>
> >>> To be fair, the third ethic is so unwieldy and it does not trip off
> >>> the tongue as poetically as the first two ethics.
> >>>
> >>> It would be great to have one of the pioneers of permaculture shine
> >>> some light on the history of this critical ethic.
> >>>
> >>> More recently the third ethic has further devolved into "fair share"
> >> which
> >>> is a far cry from the original intent of this ethic. Fair is an
> >> ambiguous
> >>> word that changes with the user, what is fair for me may be totally
> >> unfair
> >>> for you. What is the gold standard of "fair"? I am certain that
> >>> this misstatement of the third ethic derived from that constant
> >>> quest for the "sound bite" that sounds good but, sadly, conveys very
> >>> little
> >> information.
> >>>
> >>> I am much more concerned with the meaning conveyed by the third
> >>> ethic
> >> than
> >>> the meter or prosody of the words. It is critically important that
> >>> we state the permaculture ethics in non-compromised form so there is
> >>> no doubt in their meaning or necessity.
> >>>
> >>> The ethics of permaculture are the core; around that core everything
> else
> >>> -
> >>> permaculture methods, approaches, design concepts, practical
> applications
> >>> -
> >>> converge. If all our decisions are seen through the lens of the
> >>> three permaculture ethics we will not stray far from our best
> intentions.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> "To change something build a new model that makes the existing model
> >>> obsolete" Buckminster Fuller
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> permaculture mailing list
> >>> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> >>> subscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info|make a donation toward
> >>> list
> >>> maintenance:
> >>> 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]
> >>> Permaculture Institute USA http://permaculture.org How to
> >>> permaculture your urban lifestyle http://www.ipermie.net Avant
> >>> Geared http://www.avantgeared.com
> >>> https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> >>> Permaculture: -- portal to an expanding global network of landtech
> >>> pioneers -- who are designing ecological land use systems with
> integrated
> >>> elements for synergy, sustainability, regeneration and enhanced
> >>> nature-compatible human habitat
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> permaculture mailing list
> >> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> >> subscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info|make a donation toward
> >> list
> >> maintenance:
> >> 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]
> >> Permaculture Institute USA http://permaculture.org How to
> >> permaculture your urban lifestyle http://www.ipermie.net Avant Geared
> >> http://www.avantgeared.com https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> >> Permaculture: -- portal to an expanding global network of landtech
> >> pioneers -- who are designing ecological land use systems with
> >> integrated elements for synergy, sustainability, regeneration and
> >> enhanced nature-compatible human habitat
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Kia ora
> >
> > [image: Picture]
> > *Steve Hart*
> > Ecology Architect
> > skype: stevenlawrencehart
> > _______________________________________________
> > permaculture mailing list
> > permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> > subscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info|make a donation toward
> > list
> maintenance:
> > 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]
> > Permaculture Institute USA http://permaculture.org How to permaculture
> > your urban lifestyle http://www.ipermie.net Avant Geared
> > http://www.avantgeared.com https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> > Permaculture: -- portal to an expanding global network of landtech
> pioneers -- who are designing ecological land use systems with integrated
> elements for synergy, sustainability, regeneration and enhanced
> nature-compatible human habitat
>
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> subscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info|make a donation toward list
> maintenance:
> 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] Permaculture
> Institute USA http://permaculture.org How to permaculture your urban
> lifestyle http://www.ipermie.net Avant Geared http://www.avantgeared.com
> https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> Permaculture: -- portal to an expanding global network of landtech pioneers
> -- who are designing ecological land use systems with integrated elements
> for synergy, sustainability, regeneration and enhanced nature-compatible
> human habitat
>
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> subscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info|make a donation toward list
> maintenance:
> 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] Permaculture
> Institute USA http://permaculture.org How to permaculture your urban
> lifestyle http://www.ipermie.net Avant Geared http://www.avantgeared.com
> https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> Permaculture: -- portal to an expanding global network of landtech pioneers
> -- who are designing ecological land use systems with integrated elements
> for synergy, sustainability, regeneration and enhanced nature-compatible
> human habitat
>
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> subscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info|make a donation toward list
> maintenance:
> 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]
> Permaculture Institute USA http://permaculture.org
> How to permaculture your urban lifestyle
> http://www.ipermie.net
> Avant Geared http://www.avantgeared.com
> https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> Permaculture: -- portal to an expanding global network of landtech
> pioneers -- who are designing ecological land use systems with integrated
> elements for synergy, sustainability, regeneration and enhanced
> nature-compatible human habitat
>



--
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
http://www.avantgeared.com
https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
Skype: lawrence.f.london




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page