[Pil-pc-oceania] Permaculture's response to global warming/peak oil - opportunities awaiting?

[pacific-edge]

Thanks, Tim, for your postings on this theme of how we, as Permaculture
advocates/educators/communicators, can best develop a leadership approach to
global warming/peak oil.
 
I think it¹s a timely conversation to have within the Permaculture milieu
because, as you say, climate change and peak oil are, combined, an
opportunity for the design system. They offer us a hook on which to hang
Permaculture solutions. How we hang those ideas would be a useful focus for
an online conversation. In this regard, Janet Millington has already told us
what she and her crew are doing on the Sunshine Coast and Robyn Francis what
her APT students are doing in Nimbin.


IS THIS CHANGE OR JUST THE ILLUSION OF IT?
With Janet's relocalisation groups, Robyn's APT students, Tim's actions,
Dick Copeman's work and my talking to people about relocalisation in this
city and in my column, is there a sea change happening in Permaculture in
regard to peak oil/global warming or is that to read too much into the
activities of a small group of geographically dispersed people? And that's
not to mention David Holmgren's stuff.

Interestingly, an email arrived in my inbox this morning from the editor of
a professional landscapers journal enquiring if I could write something on
the subject for his readership. He found my article on Online Opinion. Just
to show how media stories breed more media stories, 2UE phoned yesterday to
arrange my appearance of their radio phone-in after seeing that Sun Herald
article on community and home gardening last weekend that featured Jill
Finnane, the Randwick Organic Community Garden's Emma Daniel and myself.

I'm sure relocalisation will come up at next week's Australian City Farms &
Community Gardens Network national conference in Melbourne, especially on
the day devoted to food security, with Helena Norberg-Hodge being there -
long an advocate of relocalisation - and others.
 
> Perhaps though the focus has been on earth care for the first twenty five
years or so> 
 
I see the earthcare focus as coming from the social context of the time when
Permaculture was in its first iteration. Then, Landcare and environmentalism
focused on natural systems were themes in society, so it was natural that
the design system paid attention to these too. Some might recall
Permaculture attempts to find common ground with Landcare, the visit to
Australia of Alan Savory with his landuse planning system and David
Holmgren¹s work described in his book ŒTrees on the Treeless Plains¹ ­ all
examples of Permaculture¹s natural systems focus of the time which,
fortunately, continues.
 
>ŠI think this may be changing, but more than one commentator has noted the
recurring pattern of personal burnout and community disintegration that has
plagued some permaculture activity.<
 
Similar to other activist groups. An American campaigner some years ago said
that the most unsustainable of people are those promoting sustainability. In
part, I think what he was getting at was what Tim refers to above in his
comments on burnout. In another sense I got the impression he was having a
dig at environmentalists who do not do as they preach in their personal
lives.
 
Burnout is common among people who are in at the start of something. They do
much of the work and sometimes find it hard to let go and hand over. This
can lead to disagreement and even conflict with others who come in later and
may see the original person as dominating, and wanting things to run only in
the way that they see as right. It can crash community groups, especially
where there are others who prefer a more collegial (meaning the sharing of
responsibility and input among a group of colleagues) approach to management
­ in corporate jargon, a Œflatter¹ management structure.

This writing is stream of consciousness stuff, so I hope it is making sense
to anyone reading it...
 
In this regard, perhaps we, as Permaculture advocates, might spend a little
time studying the way that new ideas and practices move into society.
Malcolm Gladwell has an easy-to-read paperback that describes the different
but complementary roles of what used to be called Œsocial change agents¹ ­
mavens, communicators, salesmen. His book is called ŒThe Tipping Point¹ and
appreciating the roles he describes might prove useful to us in our
strategising.
 
In the book ŒThe Spider and the Starfish¹, authors Ori Brafman and Rod
Beckstrom describe the role of what they call Œcatalysts¹. Not a new concept
of course, but perhaps it is a way for Permaculture activists to think about
their role in promoting the design system by focusing it on things of
local/regional relevance (like climate change/peak oil?). In brief, the
catalyst stimulates interest in an idea, gets it going in cooperation with
others, then hands it over. That means accepting the possibility that the
idea may be reinterpreted by the people who come to own it and the
possibility that they may focus it on something else, of more immediate
import.
 
I produced a four page briefing paper on the theme of how ideas move into
societies, which I can email as a pdf to anyone interested. It is basic,
describing the standard model of ideas diffusion for audiences unfamiliar
with it.
 
>Tim writes: ŒI think the success of the community garden network is because of
the 'community' part.¹
 
The Network ­ the Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network ­ can
perhaps best be seen as a type of federal organization. That is, decisions
are taken by state/regional teams within the ethos of the Network and the
Network comes together annually ­ as it will in Melbourne next week ­ to
discuss those things of common interest. The Network is very much a
collegiate structure in which much discussion happens online via the
Network¹s listserver.
 
The core of community gardening is community gardeners. The Network came
about because there was a need to share information nationally and to
strengthen the practice of community gardening in our municipalities. By
letting local government and other landholders know that community gardening
is regarded as a safe and socially beneficial practice elsewhere, many of
their fears about assisting a local garden start-up are allayed.

Interest continues. A community garden will likely start in Manly in the not
distant future and enquiries have recently come from two Southern Suburbs
councils. One group of council staff had a tour of the Randwick Organic
Community Garden yesterday and met people from the local government before
meeting other council staff at City of Sydney.
 
Permaculture has long had a presence in community gardening. Its approach to
design has been influential and community gardening has been a venue in
which, through participation rather than occasional visits to lecture,
Permaculture practitioners learn about the sometimes difficult task of
working with other people.
 
Permaculture gardening was described by Bill Mollison as organic gardening
plus design. That was some time ago, but what I think Bill was trying to do
was answer the question: How is Permaculture different to organic gardening?
And, given Permaculture¹s association with home gardening, it¹s a good
question.
 
The concept of Permaculture as design in community gardens- and elsewhere ­
goes beyond the layout of garden elements in the landscape, important that
is in setting the starting conditions from which the garden will evolve. As
a way of thinking about doing things ­ design, that is ­ Permaculture is
relevant to a garden¹s pest management, water harvesting and irrigation and
to the integration of people into the operation of the garden. This includes
how people, as elements in a community garden, interact, make decisions and
solve difficulties. It is about thinking of the community garden as a
complete system incorporating all that belongs in it, its inputs, processes
and outputs. I think this is what Bill meant when he first described
Permaculture as a system of integrated design, and what David Holmgren is
getting at, too.
 
The two practices ­ Permaculture design and organic gardening - are natural
allies. Where permaculturists have a training role in community gardening,
such as Dick Copeman at Northey Street City Farm in Brisbane and Emma Daniel
at Randwick Organic Community Garden in Eastern Sydney, they are in a
position in which they can assist people to develop the skills of both in an
integrated manner.

Would it be off the mark to say that community gardens are one of the main
venues in which Permaculture is being practiced?
 
>Tim writes: ŒI think some of us in permaculture could shift our focus or
enhance our activity with a strengthening of people care in developing work in
the area of community facilitation, especially at the local level.¹
 
Permaculture can maintain a presence within the community gardening milieu
at the planning/design/horticulture level. It can go a great deal further,
however, when Permaculturists ­ and here I refer to Tim¹s statement above ­
make the worthwhile effort to acquire skills in group decision making,
participatory processes, conflict solving and facilitation. A
well-facilitated group accomplishes far more in less time than a chaotic
group without process.
 
I admit to being influenced in this through my association with the Sydney
Food Fairness Alliance. Watching the health, nutrition and community
workers, local government, church and the small number of Permaculture
people discuss ideas and come to decisions has shown me that facilitation
and group processes are embedded in their working style and how easily this
makes working together.
 
If you live in Sydney and want to gain an insight into different approaches
to working with groups of people, there¹s the informal, monthly meetings of
the Sydney Facilitators¹ Network. Made up of professional, amateur and
trainee facilitators and those who want to learn more but may not yet
facilitate groups, it¹s pleasing to see a smattering of Permaculture faces,
mainly people already involved in working with groups through
non-Permaculture organizations.
 
>Tim writes: ŒThe APT Diploma, being essentially a project management/community
development qualification, if very well suited to training relocalization
advocates, activists and professionals.
 
>ŒAs permaculturists there is definitely an opening to move into this area and
provide some leadership (and training) as post carbon transition/relocalization
starts to gain traction in the mainstream. But as you say, this time around it
may be much more effective for us to engage more with other organizations and in
the wider debate.¹
 
It¹s good to hear terms like Œcommunity development¹ and Œproject
management¹ being used in a Permaculture context. The first, I believe, is a
relevant framework for Permaculture in the emerging social conditions of the
new century because Permaculture is often about working with people to
improve some aspect of their lives. It can be an indirect avenue to
environmental improvement. The latter ­ project management - is a
methodology for getting things done, monitoring their progress and
evaluating them to harvest their learnings for future use. Both are very
pertinent to Permaculture as a meta-system through which to approach global
warming and peak oil and to build a transition culture that can provide
participatory leadership through the changes that could eventuate.
 
As Tim says, we can do this while working in other organizations, like,
perhaps, the regional climate action groups being established in our towns
and cities. This involves participation, not domination or Permaculture
evangalism. It involves putting up well-reasoned ideas from the Permaculture
tool kit for consideration.
 
As Tim states, Permaculture can provide leadership ­ Permaculture people,
that is ­ and an online conversation on how we might go about this could be
timely. Clearly, there will be no single template, rather, we will develop
ideas that can be adapted to region/locality/audience/partners.
 
I said above that I wonder if the time has come to develop a more-direct
conversation, first to explore peak oil/global warming and its opportunities
for Permaculture, then to talk about strategies to approach it and to
maintain a Permaculture presence around solutions to the issues.

...Russ Grayson
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dick Copeman" <dcopeman at powerup.com.au>
To: "timwinton" <timwinton at internode.on.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2007 9:43 PM
Subject: RE: [Pil-pc-oceania] Relocalisation article- lets discuss?
 
 
> G'day Tim and Russ,
>
> I agree that relocalisation should be, and already is, a major focus of
> permaculture activity. Thanks, Russ, for a clear exposition of an emerging
> trend.
>
> The sustainability message is too often perceived as being one of fear and
> negativity and a list of all the things people have to stop doing.
> Relocalisation, on the other hand, can emphasise the positive and the joy
> of
> discovering great people, food, heritage and nature in the local
> neighbourhood.
>
> The genius of permaculture is its equal focus on Care of the People and
> Care
> of the Earth. Community gardens, in particular, are well situated to
> develop
> and teach permaculture practice that integrates these two key ethics, and,
> indeed, the third ethic of Sharing Resources. Caring for ourselves through
> linking with our families, neighbours and friends in our local communities
> is a key permaculture strategy that creates a society that is more
> sustainable, ecologically as well as socially and economically.
>
> The recent dramatic increase in public awareness of global warming and
> greenhouse emissions and their link to water shortages is heartening.
> However there is not yet the same general recognition of the fact that
> food
> production and distribution is the biggest single contributor to
> greenhouse
> emissions. Building this recognition and promoting sustainable local food
> systems are key priorities for permaculture and other like-minded
> movements
> such as organic agriculture, slow food and anti-GE.
>
> Permaculture's great strength has been that we get out and try to practice
> what we preach. But as John Champagne and others have said on this list,
> we
> have been a bit insular when it comes to networking and getting involved
> in
> the broader policy debate. Perhaps we do need to work more closely with
> other groups in local Food Alliances. I was involved in this sort of work
> some years ago, during the Hawke Keating years, but a lot of it stopped
> after the advent of the Howard govt. I notice that a Food Fairness
> Alliance
> has resurfaced in Sydney, Russ, and would be interested to hear how it is
> going.
>
> Cheers
>
> Dick
>
> Dick Copeman
> 17 Lindon St, Dutton Park  4102
> Ph 07 3255 0731, Mob 0439 728 992, Fx 07 3411 5530
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pil-pc-oceania-bounces at lists.permacultureinternational.org
> [mailto:pil-pc-oceania-bounces at lists.permacultureinternational.org]On
> Behalf
> Of timwinton
> Sent: Thursday, 8 March 2007 9:10 AM
> To: pacific-edge; pil
> Subject: Re: [Pil-pc-oceania] Relocalisation article- lets discuss?
>
> Hi Russ,
>
> Very insightful article on a topic which resonates deeply with the
> permaculture ethos. My own thinking is that relocalization and
> community/bioregional post carbon transition strategies should become a
> major focus of permaculture activity. I think with the rise of the
> community
> garden network and various relocalization initiatives we are really
> starting
> to see the emergence of a whole new or renewed area of sustainability
> activism.
>
> The Permaforest Trust is changing direction to focus on community
> strategies
> for post carbon transition- more on that later. We are on the cusp of
> large
> scale mainstream adoption of sustainability as a cultural priority.
> Permaculture has the opportunity here to reinvent itself to some degree
> and
> become a major force in local transition initiatives.
>
> This will require a new thinking, to some degree, of how we apply
> permaculture in this emerging 'market'. I'm very interested in this
> development and would like to initiate a discussion on this list about
> what
> this may mean for permaculture in the immediate future and how
> permaculture
> can be applied effectively in this context.
>
> Regards,
>
> Tim
>
> --
> Tim Winton
> Permaforest Trust
> Lot 3 Hidden Valley Rd
> Barkers Vale, NSW
> Australia 2474
> phone +61 02 6689 7579
> fax +61 02 9225 9536
>
> www.permaforesttrust.org.au
>
> Offering Certificate 4 and Diploma
> in Accredited Permaculture Training
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "pacific-edge" <info at pacific-edge.info>
> To: "pil" <pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 8:47 PM
> Subject: [Pil-pc-oceania] Relocalisation article
>
>
>> An article of mine on relocalisation published in my Online Opinion
>> column:
>> http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5538
>>
>> ...Russ Grayson
>>
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Heinberg, in this theme.
 
I think I mentioned before that I believe David wants to move towards a
broader, more mainstream audience for his messages - not just peak oil but
landuse, planning etc - without abandoning the Permaculture milieu. This
would be a good move. My guess is that he wants to communicate more
intensively and directly with local government, however - and here I'm
judging from his public addresses - he would benefit by adapting his
messages so that they are more understandable to that audience.
 
 
 
> For me it is 
> a natural step for permaculture to make that step up with him. David put
> permaculture in the title to his book, but it is obvious that he needn't
> have. It could just as easily have been packaged as a type of sustainability
> pattern language, which is how I view it. If he did that then I probably
> wouldn't bother trying to take my own approach to permaculture in that
> direction. I would have just moved on and called what I am doing something
> else.
> 
> Also, Accredited Permaculture Training, especially at the diploma level, is
> beautifully configured to support the creation of permaculturists as post
> carbon community strategy and development professionals. It is essentially a
> project management based, community development qualification. There is a
> huge opportunity here to take permaculture to a new level by drafting in
> behind David as he picks up speed surfing the downside of the industrial
> wave.
> 
> This all seems very natural to me and while there may be resistance by some,
> there is no need to change anything about permaculture as it stands. All the
> historical work and approaches can remain and continue on the same as ever.
> It is just a little evolutionary step that transcends but also includes all
> that has gone before.
> 
> The real challenge will be to go there and remain true to our ethics, our
> roots and what it means to practice permaculture while creating a
> professional stream within the discipline.
> 
> So, yes I think permaculture should seize the moment. It should do this by
> refashioning itself through a focus on people care via community
> development. The first twenty five years the focus, it must be said, was on
> earth care. We paid lip service to people care but personal burnout and
> community dysfunction where major problems. We have learned a great deal
> through what I think of as a lop sided approach to sustainability practice.
> One of the biggest things I think we have learned is that nothing can be
> sustainable without sustainable communities backing it up. I think the rise
> of the community garden movement is a manifestation of this realization.
> And, I think that the success of this movement is in large part due to the
> attention to the 'community' part of community gardens. Interestingly
> permaculture has been used in community gardens as a major tool, but has not
> been the main strategy used or identified with community gardens and city
> farms.
> 
> I actually think we need to take it one step further and recognize that
> healthy communities are made up of healthy people. People care has to be
> extended, not just theoretically- but through application, to care of self.
> This must include body, mind and spirit. These are and have been important
> aspects of successful human cultures and it is unlikely these major domains
> can be ignored in meeting the sustainability challenges of our own time.
> 
> This inclusion and balancing of Self, Culture and Nature is what I term
> 'integral permaculture' and I will write something on this subject shortly.
> (I have had conversations with permaculturists around the world using the
> same terms to describe pretty much exactly the same ideas- I think this
> approach is emerging as a natural development in many fields)
> 
> For now though, I think you are right in identifying local climate and
> energy groups as new markets for permaculture. At least they are if we can
> work out that common language. This will be the interesting part. Can
> permaculture as a broad movement adapt and evolve with sustainability as a
> shifting target?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Tim