[Peakoil] David Holmgren reflects on the 2020 summit

Sun Apr 13 10:15:54 UTC 2008

I agree, Jenny. It's sad to see the number of people carefully drafting  
and redrafting their submissions to the summit when almost all the  
participants will be going there to push their own barrows, not pick up  
new ideas themselves. 1,000 people are heading off there to talk - how  
many are going to listen?

The agenda is pro-growth, more of the same, incremental improvements -  
in the face of biophysical reality.

About the only possible good thing that might come out of it is a  
mechanism for continuing the process in as open a way as possible for  
years to come.

Of course, holding the summit is almost an admission that MPs are not  
listening and are not likely to improve over the life of this  
parliament.
--------------------------------------------
Keith Thomas
www.evfit.com
--------------------------------------------
On 13/04/2008, at 5:37 PM, Jenny Goldie wrote:

It is good to read David Holmgren's views. Whoever designed the terms of
reference for the 2020 Summit clearly didn't have a clue. Just as they  
have
left out Peak Oil, so too they are only considering how to manage  
population
growth rather than curtail it, something very necessary in light of  
climate
change and Peak Oil.

Jenny

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Pollard" <alex-po at trevbus.org>
To: <peakoil at act-peakoil.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2008 11:05 AM
Subject: [Peakoil] David Holmgren reflects on the 2020 summit

> Permaculture co-founder David Holmgren reflecting on the 2020 summit.
>
> ------------- Forwarded message follows -------------
>
>
> A note from David Holmgren re 20/20
>
> Subject: [Pil-pc-oceania] 2020 Reflections
> To: pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org
> Message-ID: <p06240805c4260e1bf73a@[192.168.1.101]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Following APC9 there has been much discussion on the listserve about
> the divergent opportunities for permaculture activism in Australia
> including comments about the absence of permaculture from the Rudd
> government's 2020 forum. I did (briefly) consider applying to join
> the 2020 forum but was so disgusted with the way the questions were
> framed (ie assuming continued economic growth, increasing
> technological complexity etc were inevitable for Australia and the
> world) that I decided that I wouldn't be bothering to apply although
> I can remember thinking I might be convinced if invited (maybe  this
> is an elitist perspective that doesn't help maximise power and
> influence but it is one that I use to help filter and limit the
> escalating demands to something that is personally sustainable.)  My
> scepticism was reinforced by Michael Lardelli's opinion piece about
> the absence of Peak Oil from the agenda (reported on Energy Bulletin
> http://www.energybulletin.net/42630.html ). All the more so that all
> 10 members of Association for the Study of Peak Oil that applied to
> be at the forum were rejected. As far as I know there is no leading
> permaculture teacher, designer or activist is at the forum either.
> Finally any discussion of Peak Oil as a "problem", or Permaculture as
> a "solution" would be forced down into the "getto" of the
> Sustainability and Climate Change subject  when Peak Oil (like
> Climate Change) is central to framing the agenda within which all of
> the other questions must be addressed and the second is relevant to
> designing adaptive strategies in relation to all the questions.
>
> In comparing the absence of ASPO and Permaculture,
> ASPO http://www.aspo-australia.org.au/
>  is a relatively new organisation that has focused a lot on media and
> public policy (ie predominantly top down information and change) The
> number and quality of submissions to the Senate inquiry into Future
> Fuel Security in Australia is an example of ASPO's action. It has
> contributed to the fact that all Australian politician cannot deny
> knowing about the evidence for imminent peak oil and the absence of
> any serious planning. On the other hand ASPO is a small organisation
> with not much influence or history. Maybe it could easily be ignored
> by the 2020 gate keepers.
>
> Permaculture is a concept that predates the other sustainability
> concepts, is a national and international movement, with tens if not
> hundreds of thousands of practictioners, teachers, designers and
> activists on all continents. As a subset of the environment movement
> it is unusual in being almost completely solution oriented but not
> focused with mainstream corporate or householder sustainability.
> Apart from Permaculture and related networks, most radical grass
> roots environmental activism, is oppositional, trying to stop the
> world we don't wont rather than create the world we do want. On the
> other hand, imagining the perspective of the 2020 gatekeepers,
> permaculture lacks a coherent voice or a focus on public policy. Even
> allowing for these limitations, its amazing that permaculture's 30
> year track record as a positive future focused movement, with a brand
> identity in Australia that makes it almost a household word, that its
> not represented at 2020. Perhaps that reflects the baggage and
> negatives that some people associate with permaculture and our own
> assumption that we are not part of mainstream society and therefore
> would not bother to be part of it.
>
> Just some thoughts without any particular agenda about what "we"
> should do other than to say that I feel the new energy behind PIL
> that emerged at APC9 suggests the possibility of an organisation
> emerging  that could speak in some sort of representative way at the
> national level through position papers, policies and media releases
> that speak the language of government. It seem odd to me that I came
> away with more confidence about these possibilities when APC9, for
> all its fantastic aspects (many thanks to all those involved), did
> not appear to produce any concrete outcomes, even when and where the
> next event would be.
>
> Leaving aside the big picture perspective for the personal; I was
> dobbed in for the local Ballarat 2020 forum in the group considering
> Australia's Future In The World. I went along out of curiosity and
> was surprised that there were no hard line security or defense
> perspectives and lots of justice and sustainability perspectives as
> well as voluntary simplicity and personal change attitudes on these
> issues. My energy descent future scenarios (see
> http://www.futurescenarios.org/) were received with interest within
> the group. I came away wondering whether this "Labour Party" event
> had attracted a very limited slice of Australian society or whether
> the mainstream media just refuse to reflect the concerns,
> perspectives and understandings of Australians that conflict with
> consensus reality generated from the top via corporations, media and
> government. Probably a bit of both.
>
> David Holmgren
>
>
>
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