Subject: [permaculture] Democratic solutions to Permacultures conflicts?
Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:44:34 -0400
Hi folks,
I am wondering about the ongoing issues of certification standards,
professionalization, protocols, etc., and have a simple question that
i hope that those folks out there that have strong opinions will
respond seriously to.
Scott, do you have any comments about this?:
Are there not possible democratic solutions that resolve these open
questions, and do so in a way that does not further divide us all, or
place people in turf battles, or cause any of the other internal
problems that seem to plague the 'movement'?
For instance, why cannot a US national (apologies for those fortunate
enough to reside outside of the evil empire) membership organization
deal with these issues?
It is simple enough to set up a 5013c as a membership organization,
and then this organization can collect dues from every PDC grad that
wants to be involved, and then these members will direct the
organization thru an elected board- just like virtually every other
membership organization in the country.
If there is a needs for some written standards or another, the board
of directors can empower a working group of members to draft some
proposals to get voted on at the annual meeting. There are plenty of
examples of this like all the local organic certification standards
that were hammered out by local farmers membership organizations back
in the day (before they were naive enough to hand it over to the
feds.)
Anyway, this all seems simple enough it is a wonder that it hasn't
happened already....?
Is it because there is a lack of trust in democratic process and
organization in Permaculture circles? Are the individualistic trends
just too entrenched? (this is a serious question)
Personally, I tend to trust and follow a democratic process much more
than i follow any doctrine handed down from above, and i suspect many
other folks are like me.
While i would be likely to follow and support any guidelines agreed
upon in an open democratic way, in an organization that i have input
into, i am am pretty unlikely to care much about any "protocols"
handed down from the self-appointed presidents of the various private
permaculture institutes, notwithstanding their wisdom, experience,
etc. (no offense meant here to anyone in particular, this is a
statement about my own feelings about process, about community, and
about the deeper needs of a healthy sustainable society- so again, it
is not! an attack on any particular personalities)
As the NE region, that i am a part of, continues to grow and mature
as a community, i am hoping this is something that we will consider
seriously at some point, as we have some of the same needs regionally
that might be well met by a regional membership organization like
this.
peas,
Kevin Skvorak
Regeneration CSA
High Falls NY
[permaculture] Democratic solutions to Permacultures conflicts?,
kevin s, 07/28/2007