[Pil-pc-oceania] What is a permaculturalist?

[pacific-edge]

Comment below...

On 1/7/07 7:56 AM, "Ian Lillington" <livpermaculture at internode.on.net>
wrote:

> Only a minor thing, but i prefer permaculturist to
> permaculturalist
> 
> Ian
> 
>> I had this question in a radio interview the other week.
>> I stumbled, and instead started talking about what
>> permaculture is.
>> 
>> Please give me feedback as to what you think about this
>> definition:
>> 
>> A permaculturalist is someone who supports permaculture
>> (the development of a sustainable culture) and works to
>> implement permaculture ethics and principles in their
>> daily life.

How about: Permaculture practitioners adopt sustainable living practices in
their lives and are active in their communities to improve them.
Permaculture offers a way for us to tackle the big issues like global
warming at the personal and household level. There are a lot of permaculture
people across Australia - we are making a difference and are happy to help
others in changing their lives for the better.

I suggest use of "sustainable" (above) because the word had broad currency.
The link with community is made, hinting that Permaculture has a few clues
as to social action. The link is made with a big issue - global warming - so
that might resonate with people concerned about it. "There are a lot of
permaculture people" suggests that Permaculture is not a minority fringe
concern. "happy to help others to change their lives for the better"
suggests an openess and a positive and inclusive disposition. The statement
has a positive, outgoing tone and avoids terms like 'save the... (whatever)"
and 'against... (something or other)', which could make it sound reactive
rather than proactive and outgoing. It is an open, 'doing' thing.

I avoided "permaculture ethics and principles" because people do not know of
these. Mention them when you think the interviewer has time and interest in
asking about them. This won't happen in a short interview.

In some of the communications strategies I have been involved in developing,
I get groups to identify a set of key messages that encapsulate, each
briefly in a single, short sentence, the main points they want to get
across during communications with the media, at presentations or in
discussions. These are then available to select from on the basis of what
the theme of the media encounter is.

Here's what they identify:

1) Main messages - Describe the main ideas you want to get across about your
organisation. Make sure you can back them up with examples or evidence.
Produce a brief statement around a limited number of main ideas.

For example: Permaculture is a system of design that we use to make our
lives more sustainable and to help others meet their needs.

'Permaculture Apollo Bay educates and acts for a positive future for the
region and its people'.

2) Short statement  - Produce a short statement about the aims, objectives
and activities of your organisation. Sum up what your organisation does or
intends to do in simple, comprehensible language. Use the short statement
when asked what the organisation does.

eg. ŒThe Food Fairness Alliance advocates and educates on food issues in the
Sydney region.¹    

or: Permaculture Apollo Bay is a self-help association of local people
taking action at the personal and household level on global issues and
working at the community level to improve Apollo Bay's natural, farming and
urban environments.

Message points (key messages) - These are brief and fact filled and are not
recited verbatim. They are used as a prompt by spokespeople talking to the
media or the public. This extract, for example:
*  the KGA focuses on nutritional health, food security and ecologically
sustainable methods of village agriculture and livelihoods
*  nutritional health and food security are prerequisites to any further
development a community may decide to take
* the year 2000 security crisis showed that village food security provides a
social Œsafety net¹ in times of crisis.

or: Permaculture Apollo Bay-
- educates people in food production, processing and cooking so as to build
a regionally secure food system and local food culture
- advises home owners on reducing energy use and energy expenditure in their
dwellings
- advises home gardeners on ways to reduce water use in their gardens
- promotes the use of local business and services to increase the viability
of the local economy
- seeks to maximise the use of local resources, skills and talent
- operates a 'worknet' to assist each other improve their homes and gardens
- meets regularly in each other's homes to share the conviviality of food,
conversation and good company.

AUDIENCE
The first thing to think about when speaking on radio, or in any media, is
who you are talking to... who is the audience... educated? uneducated? low
socioeconomic? affluent? urban? rural?

The radio station should have information about its audience profile or -
especially if it's community radio - about the audience profile of
particular programs. Ask about this when arranging the interview.

For instance, an ABC radio audience will differ to that of a community or
local commercial station; Triple J has a different audience to Radio
National. All are different to the audience for 2GB.

Knowing the audience, you can choose terms, vocal tone and concepts that
they would not find offputting. You could relate your ideas and examples to
their lives so that they have resonance.

Radio broadcasts were once-only affairs until the advent of podcasting - the
best thing to happen in radio since 1975. Podcasting makes radio permanent,
like video or print, rather then ephemeral. When the Sydney Food Fairness
Alliance did a series of ten interviews on 2SER FM recently, the station
gave the Alliance a disc of the audio files to place online as podcasts. The
ABC podcasts many of its programs, but if you're on a community station ask
them about obtaining a recording and getting copyright clearance to place it
on, let's say, the PIL website as downloadable sound files.

Just a couple ideas.

...Russ Garyson