I could do a great design for Monsanto, and reduce their energy
footprint, have them develop new GMO strains in the greenest labs on
earth, and put hugelkultur GMO-corn guilds on every farm they
control. But even though the methods, the approach, and the cool
synergies might be straight out of Mollison, Holzer, or Holmgren,
it's the ethics that would stop me or any ethical permaculturist from
doing it. It would never be permaculture, because Monsanto is
bankrupting people, poisoning the planet, and concentrating their
surplus. That design fails on the most important, basic level, that
of ethics. Only someone for whom the ethics were irrelevant could
call that permaculture. That's why they matter.
The methods of permaculture are not the point; that's not what makes
it permaculture. What makes it permaculture is how you use the
methods--both as a way of creating beneficial connections, and in a
way that is consistent with the ethics. Otherwise, permaculture is
reduced to one more collection of cool techniques that can be used to
gut the planet and its people.
Toby http://patternliteracy.com
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