To: Kevin & Sarah <rattlesnakemountainfarm@yahoo.com>, permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [permaculture] Sustainability and Invisible Structures
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 08:37:50 -0400
Kevin-
I had hoped that your posting on sustainability and invisible
structures would've generated more discussion, as the things you
bring up are essential to the future, but it seems like it fell flat
for the most part. I suspect many, if not most permaculturists are
engaged in living and trying to make progress in their own lives and
sustainable endeavors and are left with little time or energy at the
moment for some of the 'bigger picture' issues you bring up. It may
not be such a bad thing, as the changes will come not from the top
down (that's been tried and failed!), but from the bottom up as a
result of small, individual efforts. But still, an awareness of the
broader structures, invisible and otherwise, that we are constrained
by is imperative.
In theory a CLT should be stable and sustainable- it has the
'ownership' and the voice of the community behind it. But sadly, in
our increasingly diminished and undermined American democracy I fear
this is an illusion. Possession is no longer 9/10ths of the law-
instead, money and power is all of the law, as evidenced in the
seizure and transfer of properties in CT from a community of
individuals to a private enterprise with a proposal of 'growth' and
'jobs.' More distressing is the battle going on in Delaware County
over the proposed powerline to provide additional energy to NYC-
again, a private, for profit enterprise wants to buy and/or have the
state seize land for their endeavor. The community has voted against
it and has succeeded in blocking it to the state level. The business
interests have bought federal support (growth, jobs.......national
security!!), and now it goes to the courts to decide if the federal
government can override and disregard the local and state will- it is
expected that the courts will find for the business interests. I
think that as energy sources become critical we're going to see more
and more of this transfer of private and community holdings to
business and corporate entities promising energy supply. "There's
coal under your land, and we NEED it, so we're taking it- National
Energy Security!" Essentially these rulings mean you can't sit on
and sustain-ably manage a resource- unless you are fully extracting
and exploiting it you don't have secure ownership rights. It's the
same old legal concept/technique that was originally used to take
land from the Native Americans- they we're not seen to be 'improving'
the land, and so did not have rights to it. The foundation of
property rights in America lies in the exploitation of property.....
That fundamental tenet is now going 'global' and will be justified
further by the pressures of population growth and energy 'needs.'
It's pretty scary to think about.
But what can we do...? I think to some extent we need to accept
impermanence and that our efforts just might end up bulldozed over,
cut down, burned up... There is no way to permanently protect the
land and the future within structures that are particularly designed
with exploitation in mind. Under the current system a legal entity
is really only valid if it is exploitative- land trusts are an
attempt to subvert the designs of the whole structure within which
they must exist, and so I fear are inherently unstable in the long
term. Which isn't to say they shouldn't be used- we need to fight in
whatever way we possibly can, from within and without. But again, at
the same time we need to accept that it's all impermanent- and we may
pour our lives and efforts into creating something both productive
and sustainable only to have it taken away and destroyed. And we
then move on and start over... And do it not just because we want to
be productive and sustainable, but because fundamentally we know it
is the RIGHT thing, even if it may ultimately fail to make a
difference. The invisible structures we need to see change are not
the legal ones, but the ethical ones- ultimately far more powerful
than the legal ones, and we need to work to change those by example.
If enough people truly believe that exploitation is simply wrong, the
legal structure that mandates it loses it's power and meaning.
Anyway, that's my rant. I wish more people had chimed in on your
post- but probably many have their heads down and hands in the dirt
at the moment, which is part of setting that example! And I think
you guys up at Rattlesnake are pushing it all farther along than many
are able to, as yet. Keep everyone posted, as there will be many
following the path you're now cutting.
Tom
[permaculture] Sustainability and Invisible Structures,
Thomas Gorman, 07/12/2006