Re: ecovillage and sustainability

>
> >i don't care myself to much about permaculture i don't think there is
> >enough of the  shift in attitude that will be required to stop the
process
> >of denaturation we impose  to ourselves .
> >I am way more inspired by the philosophy practiced by Masanobu Fukuoka
where
> >it is primary  to stop interfering with natural processes from the start
or
> >to be bound to restablish them once disturbed ( i refer here to the no
> >cultivation , or no pruning principles ).

When asked what Permaculture is I say " Permaculture is a design system for
human sustainability based on patterns found in Nature."

a basic principal of permaculture is to study, study and then study some
more the "natural process" then base your design in that.
The single most valuable thing my permaculture training has taught me is
systems thinking, the ability to see the patterns and the flows of energy in
any given system and to see how the individual elements effect the whole.
Instead of thinking a+be=c, think how does a and b relate to c.
So permaculture "thinking" can be applied to any system.........Agriculture,
community development, health care, economics, education.

Another very important  issue is that what ever design system is used, it
must address the issues each site contains. It must be site specific. What
works on the southern tip of South Africa will not work on an island off the
coast of North America. What works in the Mexican culture, will not work in
Russia.

We need to be open to all ideas and not get caught up ideologies that create
power struggles.
Liz


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