Letters from Chile – a Little Historical Context
Aid Projects, Alternatives to Political Systems, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Consumerism, Demonstration Sites, Development & Property Trusts, Eco-Villages, Economics, Education Centers, Ethical Investment, Networking Sites, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh May 15, 2010
Editor’s Note: This is Part VIII of a series. If you haven’t already, be sure to catch Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI and Part VII.
Contemplating the past, present and future – and land redistribution – in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Chile.
All photos © copyright Craig Mackintosh
He stares back at us from the t-shirts of millions of youths worldwide. Che Guevara’s face has become one of the most recognisable counter-cultural and political symbols ever known. The history books tell us the man was famously sympathetic to the lot of the poor, and that his overriding passion was to fight against inequality, oppression, control. Che comes to my mind as I write this article from South America, because, in his rise to power, one of his driving ambitions, and which became one of his key responsibilities under Castro, was land redistribution – where he sought to break the stranglehold that was keeping the masses impoverished and robbing them of their potential. I bring this topic up, as, when I look at what’s happening in the world, and the radical changes needed to put us onto a sustainable path, the issue keeps coming back to my mind. These two words – land redistribution – strike fear into the hearts of the rich, and feelings of ambition and even violent revolution in those of the poor, yet, if we’re to stake a claim on the future, I feel we must, both rich and poor, come to terms with them.
Comments (0)Introducing the Southern Oregon Permaculture Institute (SOPI)
Commercial Farm Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centers, News — by Chuck Burr March 22, 2010
Southern Oregon now has its own permaculture institute, demonstration farm and more. After two years in development, the Southern Oregon Permaculture Institute (SOPI) nonprofit is now open for business. “Our first courses will be held this spring.”
SOPI provides a unique blend of permaculture education, new model demonstration and what we call Culturequake education. Our book, Culturequake: The Restoration Revolution and future courses describe how we got to where we are now, what the obvious impacts are and then how to design new community and economic models that blend what has worked well in the past with what we have today.
Comments (0)Permaculture Master Plan: Planting up the Global Garden
Aid Projects, Alternatives to Political Systems, Bio-regional Organizations, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Eco-Villages, Education Centers, Ethical Investment, Networking Sites, People Systems, Project Positions, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Andy Homer January 19, 2010
You’re trying to say that you can live in the modern way and continue to think in the traditional way. That’s not true. The way you live affects the way you think. – Danny Billie, Traditional Seminole
I’d like to recount here my impressions of the PRI, and how different it is from many other organizations. We (Tribal Networks) first came across them when looking for solutions to problems we found in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, where we were starting a project to bring in a school and an internet / community centre. Searching for "dry land permaculture" soon found Geoff’s "Greening the Desert" clip, and things progressed from there.
BK Farmyards – a Subversive Urban Farming Concept
Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Project Positions, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh November 21, 2009
Here’s a worrying trend – people growing food in back yards! Whatever next!?
Stacey Murphy is obviously an enemy of all that is good in our consumption-oriented world. Almost certainly a deceptively slippery character, she positively oozes with dangerously contagious enthusiasm in this clip about her Brooklyn based urban guerilla BK Farmyards network, who, like the Portland, Oregon YourBackyardFarmer people I wrote about last year, are growing food for urbanites right in customers’ own back yards.
NYC’s Cool New Backyard Farms: Growing More Than Just Produce from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.
Don’t let that smile and the gorgeous back yard greenery fool you. Let’s face it, this just plain doesn’t make sense. We, the human race, persistently tried backyard farming for thousands of years. We grew food right where we lived and laboured. It didn’t work, of course, and we headed into the bright new age of the ‘Green Revolution’ instead. How do I know it didn’t work? Well, it’s obvious. It’s because we’re not doing it any more – duh!
Comments (1)The ‘Sustainable (R)evolution’ Book Project
Aid Projects, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, DVDs/Books, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centers, News, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh May 6, 2009
Have you ever wished, when explaining to someone about permaculture, you had a visual, easily accessible book that demonstrated what it is all about, and what the world could look like if permaculture design systems became mainstream thinking?
We’ll – we’re making that book.
The Permaculture Research Institute is getting behind a project that would see the creation of a large format book that profiles, with creative writing and quality photographs, some of the many successful Permaculture projects underway around the world. The purpose of this page is to solicit your help with the same.
The final version is unlikely to look like this, but it gives you an idea….
Assistance/Consultations for Establishment of New Permaculture Projects
Aid Projects, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centers, Project Positions, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh April 21, 2009
Because of increasing interest and demand for help in setting up new Permaculture projects worldwide, we’ve just added a couple of new documents to the site that will help get your started thinking at a practical level, and that will help us to engage in meaningful conversation with you as you seek to establish your own project.
- Consultations: If you’re seeking a design consultation for your site, please complete our project questionnaire and email it to info (at) permaculture.org.au in the first instance. This is designed to gather information about potential projects before you make contact so that our initial conversations can be more situation specific.
- Timeline: You are also encouraged to read our timeline for project establishment as it will help focus your thought and energy on a practical, logical progression for establishment.
Although this post will slide down out of view – links to these documents can always be found via our Contact Us page. Also, these documents will likely get fleshed out more over time.
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