> However, I would amend this statement to "Many of us
> practice this but we do not call it permaculture because "permaculture"
> is a copyrighted term, and those of us who are unwilling to shell out
> $750 for a certification course would be violating the law if we claimed
> to be doing permaculture."
As I understand it the only restriction on the use of the word is that
you can't claim to be *teaching* permaculture without having taken the
certification course. You can still talk about it, believe in it,
practice it, and tell people you are practicing it.
> Also, "sustainable agriculture" is a very general term. It is nearly
> meaningless these days,
> "Agroecology" originally meant something very
> similar to "permaculture", when Miguel Altieri first coined the term, but
> it too has been coopted by the mainstream. Again it can mean the
So perhaps restricting the use of the word "permaculture" is actually a
good idea, to prevent its meaning from being diluted down to zero, as
has happened with these other words.
David Flanagan