Permaculture in New Zealand

Unfortunately I could not make it to this years Hui but nonetheless was voted onto the PiNZ Executive, so it was suggested that I share a bit about myself and my vision for Permaculture in New Zealand here in the Blog pages. So here goes.

I did my PDC back in about 96 with Bill Mollison at Tagari Farm in
Northern New South Wales but had done my first introductory course in
1993. In between the two I graduated from a Bachelor of Applied
Science Social Ecology, which came from the same grounding and
paradigm as Permaculture theory.

I have recently done David Holmgren’s Advanced PDC at Rainbow Valley
Farm and Haikai Tane’s Terraquaculture course in Twizel.

Our family moved from Australia to NZ about 5 years ago and set up
what was to be our dream permaculture property. 60 acres in the Far
North. Unfortunately we had to give up our property as we had we felt
our location was not the best for raising our young children. We faced
many issues outside of our control such as neighbours aerial spraying,
and other neighbours using our land for illicit means. We were
eventually raided by the police for a small dope crop a neighbour had
been cultivating. Enough was enough so we are now in Titirangi on the
outskirts of Auckland working to permacult our suburban block. We also
have a small 5 acre property in Warkworth which we hope to develop
over time and move onto once our children leave school.

Over my  time in the Far North I helped establish the Far North
Permaculture, and Kaitiaia Transition town groups and was employed as
the Co-ordinator for  the Far North Environment Centre. I am currently
working as a Community Engagement Facilitator for  Project Twin -
Sustainable Ranui Swanson.

MY VISION FOR PERMACULTURE
I am a bit of a big sysyems thinker and would like to see Permaculture take a more mainstream approach. I
strongly feel there is too much of an “alternative” nature to
Permaculture. “Us versus them”.  “Community versus corporate”. “Grass
roots versus the State”. “Self sufficiency versus mainstream
dependence”. This approach I think tends to see permaculture operate
as a sub culture and therefore on the on the fringe of mainstream even
though permaculture has a great deal to offer the wider society.

In fact I believe it is the integrated systems design approach that
permaculture offers that is the only logical way to achieve a secure
and sustainable future.

So for me I would like to see Permaculture in New Zealand stand up
proudly, shed its fringe image and step up to the mark of designing
regenerative integrated systems that help engage all of NZ to function
in an ecologically sound way. We should look beyond the classic self
sufficiency model of permaculture and turn our design abilities to how
we collectively function as a nation……..Because as systems thinkers we
are needed.

Our rivers are constantly polluted from nutrient leaching, we are
totally dependant on foreign fertilizer and fuel. Our financial
institutions are basically subsidiaries of foreign nationals. There
are huge opportunities  in energy, farming, carbon sequestration and a
myriad of other problems that we as permaculturists could be turning
our heads to, linking with those in the community,  industry,
government, academic  and the corporate sectors and  turning those
problems into solutions that could set this country on a steady path.

I am a big believer in fractual theory. That is creating whole systems
that are self resilient and mimic the patterns of nature, where the
macro level reflects the micro and vice versa.

Therefore I think PiNZ, to a degree, should operate as a think tank
that essentially works on designing the world we want, looking at the
wider national system, down to the bioregional and  right down to the
local to find ways to integrate potential regenerative strategies
together.  From that think tank we could be developing strategic
projects that we could then identify collaborative partners within
other sectors to develop projects at the local, regional and finally
national levels.

From a personal perspective I think energy is a good example of
turning a problem into a solution. There are many examples of
localized energy projects occurring throughout the world that are not
only building local energy resilience but helping to lift local
economy. Check out http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/21/renewableenergy.alt...
for one example.  For more see Greg Pahl’s book  the “Citizen Powered
Energy Handbook” http://www.gregpahl.com/

Most examples are based around community scale renewable electricity
generation but in my opinion local biofuel has huge potential to also
reinvigorate local economy and the local agricultural sector. Imagine
small lifestyle properties utilizing permaculture design to capture
some of the $14billion+ New Zealanders spend on oil annually.

As we move into energy decline liquid energy becomes a significant internal market
we could take advantage of. By utilizing good permaculture design we
could move beyond the “food to fuel” debate because at the moment so
much land, particularly under lifestyle properties produce virtually
nothing as the dollar incentives are almost non existent to the small
time grower.  At the wider level our agriculture sector produces very
little other than meat ,milk and methane. All of that low yielding
land could be yielding vastly more than it currently does in the form
of integrated food and fuel crops. However, it is only polycultural
permaculture design that has the potential achieve that.

 But the design needs to go further than just landscape and look at
the structural ways our communities operate to achieve such a goal.
For example by developing local energy cooperatives, we could possibly
be designing the incentive there for the small sized grower to be
cropping their land and the larger farms to be turning polluting
nutrient into a valuable commodity. If done correctly there is the
possibility of quietly redesigning one sector of our unsustainable
society so that  the energy dollars earned go back into the local
economy rather than to overseas multinationals, while at the same time
reducing the environmental impacts of our current farming systems.

 If done organically and using many of the broadacre techniques
overseas permaculturists like Darren Doherty are using, we could also
be sequestering vast amounts of atmospheric carbon back into the soil
through the development of composts and humus.

There is also the potential to work collaboratively with the corporate
and farming sectors to develop such a market.  The players are already
there and as energy decline starts to squeeze them they will be
looking for answers and opportunities.

But none of that will happen unless the production and distribution
systems are designed and modeled by those that understand an
integrated system approach  and the need for bioregional planning
first.

Its here that I see umbrella organizations like PiNZ working to make
such systemic potential s a reality.

Energy is just one example, finance is another and of course food
production another. There are so many. We need to be approaching the
problems that we face, turning them into opportunities and integrating
them to achieve a robust, resilient and regenerative system. Our time
calls for people with vision. I believe we as Permaculturists hold the
keys to that vision. If we develop those visions now, when the time
comes, it will be more likely that they will be implemented by the
mainstream.

 If there is no one out there with detailed strategy for
sustainability, when the mainstream does wake up to the fact that business
can not operate as usual, we face a dire future. Design is essential.

I guess that’s enough from me, other than to say I fully agree with
Regan that we need to work to polish our “Brand” to make it as
appealing and relevant to all sectors so that our designs and work are
not just teken seriously but sought after.

Cheers
Richard Lee