[Pil-pc-oceania] Who is going to IPC8?

[ds at holmgren.com.au]

As some people may be aware, we (myself and Su Dennett) are planning 
to be at <http://www.ipc8.org/entrypage.php>IPC8 in Brazil during May 
as part of 5 months of teaching and public speaking in Latin America.

Who else on this list is planning or considering attending?

I think it is important that there is some planning and communication 
between those attending from Australia. At IPC7 there were very few 
Australians and they needed to communicate the scope of permaculture 
activism and organisation in Australia to the rest of the 
participants.  The fact that this fell to individuals who at least 
had some overlapping network relationships and understanding of some 
substantial aspects of permaculture in Australia was more due to 
chance than planning.


Given that IPC8  appears to be a larger event and in a country with a 
long and diverse history of permaculture activism (I understand there 
are 11 PC Institutes in Brazil), I believe it is important for those 
present to represent this as effectively as possible.

The long history and depth of penetration of permaculture activism 
into mainstream society in Australia (compared to any other country) 
leads many people from other countries to expect permaculture in 
Australia to be more organised than it is. I don't think this means 
that we need to claim that a self selected set of individuals can 
speak on behalf of the permaculture movement in Australia but  maybe 
we should be aiming at a comprehensive coverage of what is going on 
in Australia.

At IPC7 I was acutely aware of how the permaculture movement suffers 
from a lack of shared history.  Perhaps this was highlighted for me 
by the fact only three of those at IPC7 were at IPC1 in 1984 at 
Pappinbarra in northern NSW (Bill, myself and Colin Endean) and that 
I have not attended any of the intervening international gatherings.

This lack of shared history is an important issue because we fail to 
celebrate successes and learn from mistakes because the best and 
worst examples are invisible to most. This is one of the themes in 
Russ Grayson's 
<http://home.iprimus.com.au/russ000/journalism/reports/permaculture/pc1_1970s.html>Permaculture 
Papers which I found a great contribution to the necessary task of 
documenting this history in Australia (even though he points out it 
is only his personal memoir, rather than a comprehensive history)

Given the diversity and differences within the permaculture movement 
in Australia I think it is essential that those attending IPC8 are as 
clear as possible about the issues and themes of permaculture action 
in Australia, including the conflicts so that others can learn from 
those experiences.

Our understanding of what will happen in Brazil is limited. The 
program of the convergence has yet to decided upon (or at least made 
public) and the whole issue of whether it will be a conventional 
program or keynote speakers, workshops and  presentations or a more 
flexible format using "Open Space Technology" is still be considered 
by those with input to the organisation.

We have recently been added to an email list of people that were an 
international support group to Ali Sharif in Brazil who is primarily 
responsible for the event. Pat Dare and Sally Ramsden are the only 
other Australians who appear to have been on the list.

Robyn Francis and Bill Mollison are the Australians listed on the 
preliminary program (on the IPC8 website) for the public conference 
focusing on Green Economics though I understand Bill may not be able 
to attend for health reasons.
David
-- 
David Holmgren & Su Dennett
Holmgren Design Services
Ph   + 61 3 53483636
Email     info at holmgren.com.au
Website  http://www.holmgren.com.au

Melliodora (Hepburn Permaculture Gardens)
16 Fourteenth St,
Hepburn
Victoria
Australia. 3461.
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