permaculture

[Steve Hart <stevenlawrencehart@gmail.com>]

PERHAPS...This is time for yet another focus on a GREAT DESIGN
CHALLENGE...but we need some designers who know how to design a process
without preconceived notions or pre conceived formats. A long overdue
exercise to create a model of an organisation that responds to the
principles we talk about.

What does that mean ? How to create a dynamic entity which attracts people.
An organisation that generates everything including its own income. Is an
organisation that serves, an organisation that people want to be part of.
One that does not cost to belong to.

An organisation that has its own structure and is not a slave of any other.

As for leadership..the Permaculture world needs it. As PIL once was its now
time again.

Is there any designers turning up that would be capable of facilitating the
design exercise ?

PA could be several entities of all different layers. One layer needs a
business structure with serious business energy. It could be a structure
that has a Foundation, Cooperatives, Societies, Trusts, Partnerships.
Trading Cooperatives.

Food for thought....Steve Hart

On 23 February 2015 at 11:33, Linda Shewan <linda_shewan@yahoo.com.au>
wrote:

> I recently watched this TED talk by Ricardo Semler
> http://www.ted.com/talks/ricardo_semler_radical_wisdom_for_a_company_a_school_a_life.
> While perhaps not directly relatable to social movements I believe there
> are lessons for all structures in it. While I'm sure it does not mirror
> nature entirely it is a radical move from the traditional company structure
> and accepts the need for autonomy and self-determining nature of
> individuals, which in turn allows them to operate at their full potential.
> They also, critically in my view, allow intuition an active role in
> decision making. That trust is returned exponentially.
>
> And as a homeschooling family the school system he has created is almost
> exactly the one I have dreamt of, totally inspiring...
>
> Worth a watch ...
>
>
> Linda Shewan
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: permaculture [mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On
> Behalf Of Steve Hart
> Sent: Sunday, 22 February 2015 12:46 PM
> To: Reply to comment
> Cc: permaculture; APC12 Discussion Group
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] [APC12 Discussion Group] Good morning all from
> a mild, sunny Sydney the...
>
> Thanks Russ for igniting what hopefully will be a constructive and
> insightful discussion. I wonder if we can recognise another layer of
> analogies that may be more pertinent to Permaculture. Nature. After all one
> of Permaculture's greatest principles is "work with nature not against it".
> Suypported by "learn from nature". What leaders/leadership exists in
> nature ? What is the forms and characteristics or veins of leadership in
> nature.
> Is ruthlessness one such characteristic? Then if we also look at another
> of Permaculture's parallel support lineages that of indigenous cultures,
> what leadership characteristics do we inherit here ?
>
> As far as the leadership in Permaculture we as a culture or a gang or mob
> are a long way from recognising nature in this light. What is leadership to
> us " the family members of Permaculture ? " And, as you suggest Russ, time
> moves on, what is this question of the generations of Permaculture members.
> Being from the 1st generation I personally never looked at anyone s a
> leader. Mentors yes but not leaders. Perhaps that is my own personal
> psychie as well.
>
> If we were to ask what is a leader we may then construct this debate
> further. Is a leader of men (the species) one that shows honesty and
> integrity ? What else ? In Permaculture it perhaps could do with examples
> that are true and legitimate. Not like "The Greening of the Desert" and
> more similar failures.
>
> Another question is when do people wake up to their senseless tracking or
> need for leaders. I know much of the world's population of 8 billion are
> recognised to be members of the movement known as sheepocrscy and then
> known as sheeple. so perhaps our challenge is to move beyond this and
> develop Vandana Shiva's trajectory ? Its a long pathway.
>
> Steve Hart
>
> On 22 February 2015 at 14:19, Russ Grayson <
> notification+ot=4tyj6@facebookmail.com> wrote:
>
> >  Russ Grayson posted in APC12 Discussion Group
> > <https://www.facebook.com/n/?groups%2F1611473589073512%2Fpermalink%2F1
> > 633249616895909%2F&aref=295397192&medium=email&mid=b532bb3G2d347800G11
> > 9b6748G96Gf254&bcode=1.1424567958.AbkLwRtNN5_vZg-GuFE&n_m=stevenlawren
> > cehart%40gmail.com>
> > [image: Russ Grayson]
> > <https://www.facebook.com/n/?profile.php&id=1482535687&aref=295397192&;
> > medium=email&mid=b532bb3G2d347800G119b6748G96Gf254&bcode=1.1424567958.
> > AbkLwRtNN5_vZg-GuFE&n_m=stevenlawrencehart%40gmail.com>Russ
> > Grayson
> > <https://www.facebook.com/n/?profile.php&id=1482535687&aref=295397192&;
> > medium=email&mid=b532bb3G2d347800G119b6748G96Gf254&bcode=1.1424567958.
> > AbkLwRtNN5_vZg-GuFE&n_m=stevenlawrencehart%40gmail.com>
> > 22 February 14:19
> > Good morning all from a mild, sunny Sydney the close to the coast.
> >
> > I understand John Champagne was interested in having a public
> > conversation on this Facebook on something to come up at APC12—the
> > role and leadership of Permaculture Australia. I couldn't find it, so
> > append my contribution here. What follows was produced in response to
> > email postings and refers to them…
> >
> > Thanks John Champagne for starting this important conversation. It
> > would be interesting to learn more behind your comment "the culture
> > within permaculture at the moment".
> >
> > THE TWO LEADERSHIPS
> > I've never thought of Bill's leadership through permaculture's
> > formative years and either 'good' or 'bad'. For me, it was a de facto
> > leadership that appended to someone who started permaculture, who had
> > done most thinking on it and who had articulated that in books. In
> > those days before globalised digital communications, the production of
> > a book afforded you a leadership status in much the same way that it
> brings you the perception of 'expert'
> > in the eyes of old media.
> >
> > The comment that Geoff L is perceived internationally as the
> > Australian 'leader' of permaculture I put down to a couple things:
> > • his—or should I say PRIs?—high profile that is deliberately fostered
> > through his digital media • his work overseas as a consultant in
> > permaculture design and the turning of that into material reported via
> > video or otherwise on his website • the regular flow of new material
> > on the PRI website • having a website forum with an active
> > participation.
> >
> > You see most of these are online things. That's because, compared to
> > 20 years ago (about half permaculture's lifetime) online is where
> > people find you and connect with you. It is the first point of contact
> > and, so, it is one of the most important operations of an organisation.
> >
> > Geoff and his organisation have an active online presence and this
> > ensures not only its discovery by people searching for things
> > permaculture but, importantly, repeat visits. Thus, he and PRI become
> > perceived as the leadership of permaculture in Australia.
> >
> > Adding to this phenomena are perceptions coming from Geoff being
> > appointed by Bill to take over the operations of the Permaculture
> > Institute. This was a lineage rather than a democratic move.
> >
> > COMMUNICATION THE ESSENTIAL NEED
> > Permaculture has in the past placed much emphasis on 'doing', which
> > usually meant doing something locally. Now, all development sooner or
> > later becomes local, so doing something where you live or where you
> > work remains important. But it is no longer sufficient and the
> > 'doing'—usually followed with the words "something practical"—and it
> > has been used as a divider separating it to work online, sometimes
> > with a tone of moral superiority, as if planting a small, isolated
> > garden was somehow more important than the global permaculture
> conversation.
> >
> > But local initiatives often remain local and this makes that approach
> > out of synch because we live in a global society (as evidence,
> > consider how permaculture educators travel internationally to jobs and
> > convergences, and how they do so regionally, within national borders).
> >
> > To add value to the local we need to globalise it, and this is the
> > role of communication. Authentic communication that is, not a
> > leadership atop the pyramid telling members what to do or just about
> what they have done.
> > Reporting back is important but on only one function in organisational
> > communications. As Matthew Ingram of Gigaom put it: " ...interacting
> > with a community of readers — the people formerly known as the
> > audience — isn’t just a luxury in today’s environment, it’s a
> > necessity". Just substitute "members" and "permaculture practitioners
> genrally" for "readers".
> >
> > And this is what Geoff seems to have done, to some extent at least.
> >
> > NOW IS DIFFERENT
> > Today, now, is different to the time when permaculture started.
> > Societies have changed as have economies both national and global,
> > technologies, scientific insights, access to knowledge and
> > communications, the nature of conflict, personal outlooks, working
> > life, government. Bill's book, 'Permaculture—A Designers' Manual', was
> > published 26 years ago for the world of then. The question that then
> > follows is, if the world has changed, then has permaculture changed
> > sufficiently to be capable of addressing contemporary needs… is it still
> relevant?
> >
> > This is a big question which we obviously can't answer here. But the
> > corollary are questions about leadership in permaculture that John has
> > started. What is the best form of leadership for the world on now and
> > not that of yesterday?
> >
> > Some years ago I thought about this and wrote those thoughts down in a
> > paper:
> > http://pacific-edge.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Permaculture-struc
> > ture.pdf
> > <http://l.facebook.com/l/pAQGFnO12/pacific-edge.info/wp-content/upload
> > s/2009/07/Permaculture-structure.pdf>
> >
> > Recently, I've been doing a MOOC (massive open online course) entitled
> > Decision Making in a Complex and Uncertain World and, earlier, another
> > entitled Planetary Boundaries and Human Opportunity, through the
> > University of Stockholm's resilience centre. Both of these address
> > leadership and both point out how old leadership models are
> > insufficient in today's global environment. They emphasise the need to
> > understand events through systems theory and to understand how the world
> works as networks.
> >
> > Is this something relevant to developing leadership in PA?
> >
> > Which brings me to yesterday…
> >
> > HOW TO BUILD A SOCIAL MOVEMENT
> > Yesterday, I participated in an invitation-only conversation with
> > Indian food sovereignty educator and advocate, Vandana Shiva. There
> > were around 50 people there and they had been invited by the
> > organisers because of their roles in the national and the regional fair
> food movement.
> >
> > I asked Vandana about developing a social movement from the disparate
> > fair food organisations and players. You might see the analogy with
> > permaculture here—small, disparate groups, geographically distributed,
> > focused on particular things.
> >
> > Here's Vandana's response to my question, summarised:
> > • the time of old fashioned, pyramid-shaped organisations with a
> > leadership sitting at the top (that forgets it is supported by the
> > bottom layer of members and participants) is gone • biodiversity is
> > the model for viable contemporary organisations; that is, they are
> > self-organising and self-managing and are structured not as pyramids
> > of decision making and power but as networks • there are multiple
> > organisational entities, there is no, single 'leader'
> > organisation; rather, there are organisations that act like
> > overlapping circles in which the areas of overlap are also areas of
> > cooperation; the analogy for internal organisational structure is that
> > of self-managing, task-focused teams that cooperate in moving towards
> > organisational goals • she made a further analogy by referring to
> > multicellular lifeforms—there is no 'master cell' directing or
> > controlling things, she emphasised; cells self-organise into
> > functional clusters (ie. there is no central leadership in doing
> > this); would an organisation adopting this as a structure be copying and
> replicating nature?
> > • today's alternative-to-the-old-model for organisations is that of
> > the network and the self-organisation we find in nature.
> >
> > Can we draw analogies for what Permaculture Australia would become
> > from Vandana's ideas? Is biodiversity with its self-organisation and
> > network structure relevant? What about her comment about lack of a
> > central 'master cell' role?
> >
> > View Post on Facebook
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>
>
>
> --
> Kia ora
>
> [image: Picture]
> *Steve Hart*
> *Ecology Architect*
> Designer, Teacher, Builder of Ecologically Sustainable Resilient
> Environments
> Skype: stevenlawrencehart
> Phone: +64 220 75 62 11
> Permaculture Global Design:
> www.permacultureglobaldesign.org
> The Permaculture College of Europe.
> www.permaculturecollege.eu
> GAPPS The Global Alliance for Permaculture Partnerships and Solutions.
> www.permaculturepartnerships.com
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> Permaculture: -- portal to an expanding global network of landtech
> pioneers practicing and teaching permaculture
> while designing ecological, biointensive land use systems with integrated
> elements for synergy, sustainability, regeneration and enhanced
> nature-compatible
> human habitat --




-- 
Kia ora

[image: Picture]
*Steve Hart*
*Ecology Architect*
Designer, Teacher, Builder of Ecologically Sustainable Resilient
Environments
Skype: stevenlawrencehart
Phone: +64 220 75 62 11
Permaculture Global Design:
www.permacultureglobaldesign.org
The Permaculture College of Europe.
www.permaculturecollege.eu
GAPPS The Global Alliance for Permaculture Partnerships and Solutions.
www.permaculturepartnerships.com