permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>]

By my count 4 of the people on the IPC keynote list are designers; having 
seen the results of the work of each of them, I’d say they are superb at it.

But, more importantly, why would we restrict the keynotes only to formal 
designers? Doing physical landscapes is the simplest part of permaculture. 
Getting those designs, and the ability to appreciate what permaculture is, 
integrated into the communities that envelop those designs, is much harder 
work, and without it, a good landscape design will be abandoned, torn up, or 
vandalized (A la Greening the Desert version 1). The invisible structures are 
the edge of permaculture that need the most work, and from the list of 
keynoters, that’s what IPC is (rightly) focused on.

Check out Pandora Thomas’s work. She’s one of the keynoters, and she’s doing 
transformative work on the social/urban side. We need more like her.

I’m reminded of Larry Santoyo’s saying, “we don’t DO permaculture. We USE 
permaculture in what we do." And what people do to create a regenerative, 
healthy culture is a lot more than landscape design. We need to get very far 
out of that small box.

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com

Coming in July: my new book on urban permaculture, The Permaculture City. 
Pre-order it at on-line booksellers or at 
http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/the_permaculture_city/



> On Jun 30, 2015, at 4:20 AM, Koreen Brennan <koreenbrennan@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I agree that we need to challenge ourselves out of the weed stage, to
> constantly strive to become better designers, and to consistently challenge
> our ideas. I welcome any push to do so.  I think it is essential for the
> movement to do so in fact.
> 
> But for me, stating that "No one giving keynotes at IPCUK is a decent
> designer" falls under the category of ad hominem attack. It is a
> generality, it offers no specifics as to what is wrong with any of these
> people's designs, or what specific criteria Steve is judging design ability
> on. I have my doubts that Steve has looked at many of these people's
> designs. It is difficult to respond to ad hominem attacks because there is
> no substance to them, it is a lazy way to "debate." Negative emotional
> responses are often a product of such an attack.
> 
> How can we increase our capacity as designers while demonstrating the
> permaculture ethic of people care? Are personal insults and sword rattling
> really the best way we can come up with to do this?  Can we apply the
> design principles to how we treat each other? And if not, I'd like to
> respectfully ask that we at least consider using specifics when accusing
> others of incompetence, as those accusations can then be specifically
> addressed or adjudicated. And the movement and our abilities as designers
> can actually be strengthened.
> 
> Best, Koreen
> 
> On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 7:55 PM, Jason Gerhardt <jasongerhardt@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Steve,
>> I think you're barking up the wrong tree with Darren, and at least several
>> other of the speakers listed on the programme, of which Darren wasn't one
>> that I noticed. Not that they need anyone to defend them. I missed this
>> whole conversation while teaching a phenomenal PDC with Scott overlooking
>> the glorious Rio Grande Rift.
>> 
>> I just looked at the IPC website. Geoff is on the top of the sponsors list.
>> I'm sure he paid for that, not that there's anything wrong with that. Are
>> you sure your problem isn't mostly with him though? His website is awfully,
>> um, how do you say...if you buy my films you too can learn to flip houses
>> and make a million...auto-cue melodic angel music...the savior has
>> come..and if you call right now, we'll send you TWO films for the price of
>> FREE! On the internet it's always 1am with no programming left somewhere.
>> 
>> My point being I would hate to see Darren thrown into the same lot.
>> 
>> Jason
>> 
>> --
>> 
>> 
>> www.realearthdesign.com
>> 
>> 720-496-9744
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> How to permaculture your urban lifestyle
> http://www.ipermie.net
> Avant Geared  https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared/
> https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> 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 --