Subject: domestic animals and environment imbalance

From: "April Sampson-Kelly" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 1998 17:51:53 +1000

seeing I am usually of just one mind, I am pretty confident I only have one
emotion about my grass at any one time - [this is a little Joke - so don't take offence in any way.]
the point is - I have some kikuyu grass willing to roll over and die - it
has very willing replacements and
all goes well,
then on another slope I have WWIII with it, because the climate is ideal for
it above all else.
In both cases there is no emotional response,  I have tried to do nothing,
to not fight back
and - I lost, unless I eat the kikuyu I too will be skin and bone.
so I try to work around the problem as you suggested in a way,
I change the balance, and sit back and observe.
even by doing nothing we are in fact altering our future.
When I stood in 'National Parks of England' last year I could see
my own homeland in little under 200 years IF I DID NOTHING.
we have to risk making small mistakes, be armed with observation  and
humility
and we may find ourselves in the middle of a very good outcome.
two months ago I had a stray cat move in, every little element in the system
responded
bit by bit it was taking over, prepared to have kittens and a life of
domination,
I realised I was becoming part of its plan by not protecting the existing
animals.
It had to go, fortunately my boys could see the wisdom in its surrender to
the RSPCA.
they had been keen enough to observe its impact.
A weed to me has always been a plant or animal that does not respect
diversity,
Each animal (cat, dog, insect) has to measured by its actions.

I have noticed that there is active campaigns to de-sex dogs belonging to
our outback families,
I think this great and should be encouraged.  One dog may not be a threat
but One whole hungry litter
would be.  Cat licences are also becoming compulsory here.
April

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April Sampson-Kelly ADPA,BCA,MCA,GradSci,PDC
LC Permaculture Visions
leaders in permaculture learning by correspondence
[email-masked]
[email-masked]
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~askpv
GOOD PLANETS ARE HARD TO FIND
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-----Original Message-----
From: Rene and Lorraine van Raders <[email-masked]>
To: PIJ <[email-masked]>
Cc: pc discussion group <[email-masked]>
Date: Sunday, 8 March 1998 20:41
Subject: Letters to the Editor, PIJ

>Dear PIJ
>Re Cats and Dogs
>I would like to share a thought provoking experience.  Last year Lorraine
>and I taught a PC Design course in Sri Lanka.   The "stray" dogs were one
>of the first things we noticed (a major obstacle on our 3 hour night
>journey from the airport).
>
>Dogs were everywhere, scratching through the rubbish, often no more than
>skin and bone.   My immediate response was that this was awful, and a
>problem to be addressed.   I don't pretend to have come to a complete
>understanding of this situation but I did obtain some new insights on
>discussing it with some thinking buddhist friends.   They were against the
>government control program, stating that killing the dogs was not part of
>their culture.  Then they explained that the dogs were merely
>manifestations of the disturbed environment.  There were so many dogs, to
>redress an imbalance in the environment (loss of forest and natural
>predators / scavengers, lack of recycling systems).  Reducing dog numbers
>was just attacking the symptom... something we avoid in pc, right!?
>
>So I would have to agree with Philippa Howells (letters issue 66), that an
>attack on dogs, cats or grass can be energy wasting exercise without
>addressing underlying issues and attitudes.  Dogs, cats and grass are all
>species that have their place in natural and man-made systems.
>
>I'm convinced that in our western culture the imbalance isn't so much an
>unused waste resource (Sri Lankan scavenging animals), but an emotional
>space that wants filling.   Pets respond with love (cupboard love, but it
>still feels great); the rotweiller sure gives protection and a few macho
>points.   The beautiful lawn wins the respect of our peers (unless you've
>got pc friends - then you get rid of your lawn as fast as possible).
>
>It seems to me that our environmental problems are largely psychological in
>nature.  Now that's a real design challenge.
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>Rene van Raders
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