Subject: Mike Smith, Permaculture, Discussion Lists & Net Perma. Jour

From: " Mike Smith [email-masked] LISTENV - HICNET" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 09 Apr 1995 22:08:50 EDT

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Hi, this is a post I have sent to several lists.  Please excuse the
generality of the text.

My name is Mike Smith and I am the editor of several environment newsletters
in Australia (full list of other functions at end of this message).  The
purpose of this document is to introduce myself, ask a whole lot of questions
that I am desperate for answers on and find out if people are aware of the
Permaculture concept and if there is any interest in setting up a list for
this topic.  Permaculture is described below in more detail.

NOTE:  If you respond to this message please send it to <[email-masked]>
       instead of doing a "reply" to <[email-masked]> which is a
       seperate email address I use for subscribing to lists.  This way my
       "business" in-tray doesn't get swamped so I loose things I need to
       action.

I am new to the net, and I only have EMail access.  This makes it hard to find
out about discussion lists, so I don't know of any Permaculture lists that may
exist already, so:

Q1.  Does anybody know of any Permaculture lists.  If so please reply to
     <[email-masked]>

I am in the process of finding out about lists on topics that relate to
Permaculture which is a very wide field.  Instead of trying to give an
exhaustive list of subject areas, here are some fields I am interested in:

    The Environment          Ecology                   Sustainable Agriculture
    Community Building       Project Finance           Ongoing Projects
    Community Aid            Sustainability            Self-help
    Community Forestry       Bio-regionalism           LETS
    Organics                 Healthy Cities            Alternative Economics
    Enviro Ethics            Agric. History            Urban Planning
    Waste Management         Recycling                 Energy
    Enviro Education         Water Purification        Economic Regionalism
    Population Growth        Landscape Architec        Town Planning
    Enviro Investment        Food Production           Enviro Contamination
    Green Business           Legislative Inititives

If you can post this message on an appropriate forum or discussion list I will
be grateful.
__________________________
Permaculture - What is it?

The sad reality is that we are in danger of perishing from our own stupidity
and lack of personal responsibility to life.  If we become extinct because of
factors beyond our control, then we can at least die with pride in ourselves,
but to create a mess in which we perish by our own inaction makes nonsense of
our claims to consciousness and morality.

Permaculture, which was originally a contraction of permanent agriculture, has

now come to mean PERMAnent CULTURE.  It is difficult to define but is the
concious design of self-sustaining/low maintenance, agriculturally productive
ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural
ecosystems.  It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people
providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material
needs in an ecologically sustainable way.  The concept can be applied to a
balcony garden, an urban backyard, community gardens or broadacre farming.  It
is possible to "permaculture" a village, town, city, catchment or an entire
country.

The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against
nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than endless physical
effort; of looking at systems in all their functions, rather than asking only
one yield of them; and of allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions.

The permaculture movement has no rigid structure, but rather a strong sense
of shared work.  Everybody is free to act as an individual, to form a small
group, or to work within any other organisation.  We cooperate with many other
groups with diverse beliefs.  Our approach includes good practices from many
disciplines and systems, and offers them as an integrated whole.

The concept was first developed in 1974 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in
Tasmania, Australia.  There are now groups in over eighty countries connected
by an association based upon education, sharing information and providing
tangible assistance.  Many books have been published on this subject, ranging
in size and detail from the main text "Designer's Manual" (576 pages), to small
booklets.

Enlightened self-interest leads us to evolve ethics of sustainable and
sensible behaviour.  These then are the ethics expressed in permaculture.
Having evolved ethics, we can devise ways to apply them to our lives,
economies, gardens, land and nature.  This is what permaculture is about: the
mechanisms of mature ethical behaviour, or how to act to sustain the earth.

Q3.  Are people interested in a Net Permaculture Journal.  Something you can
     subscribe to or which might be sent out to existing lists on a regular
     basis?  Please reply to <[email-masked]>

I offered to start one up last year but committments made this impossible.  My
apologies to those who expressed interest.

Q4.  Would anybody be interested in colaborating on a project to produce a
     Network Permaculture Journal.  Perhaps by forming an international
     editorial group to work on it.  Please reply to <[email-masked]>

Regards

Mike D. Smith, Canberra, Australia.
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My hat collection:
Treasurer, Australian Centre for Environmentally Sustainable Systems - ACESS.
President, Permaculture ACT (Australian Capital Territiry, Canberra) - PACT.
Publisher, The Mulch, Monthly Journal of Permaculture ACT.
Co-ordinating Editor, Net Permaculture Journal (NPJ) - UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
E-mail Administrator, Health Insurance Commission, Australian Fed. Gov't.

You can contact me on:
   [email-masked] (INDIVIDUAL COMMUNICATION ONLY)
                     [email-masked] (FOR DISCUSSION LIST SUBS ONLY)
   X.400.............g=mike; s=smith; p=ausgovhic; a=ibmx400; c=au

   Snail Mail........Unit 10 / No 12 Blackett Cres, GREENWAY  ACT  2900, AUST
   Pager (24Hr)......+ 61 6 269 0425
   Voice (Work)......+ 61 6 203 6040 (sometimes goes through to pager)
   Voice (Home)......+ 61 6 296 2050
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'If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem' - Mollison
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