I don’t want to be a pain, but why don’t we see some of the work done by these people showcased on this site. That would be much more environmentally friendly than flying them all to Jordan to do this. It would also give them the publicity for the projects they do. If they do not have the technical capacity for this then funding for this would be of much more use than a holiday in Jordan. Alternatively, a video link should not be too difficult to organise and to have this featured on this site would also be great for all who follow the mostly good articles on this site. Also, I understood from the IPC emails that Roberto from Cuba was already funded and his only problem was attempting to obtain a visa to Jordan. Since it is Cuba’s turn to host the next IPC he is probably the most critical of these individuals.
Sergi it’s not as easy as calculating on paper the knowledge they would gain and knowledge they would gain, and share. There are too many variables. They could literally change the future of their part of the world for thousands of years to come for the price of one plane ticket. Sometimes you just have to guesstimate, and I trust Geoff, and PRI to do so.
I think that a ticket to Jordan will change the future is a little of an overstatement. If trust is an issue here StrongArmzz, could I ask as to precisely how much Geoff personally and also the PRI as a separate organisation are now contributing to this specific appeal? A video conference would provide us all with a window into what is occurring in these places and it is that information being placed in the public domain that will assist in changing them for the better. This actually applies to the whole IPC. Having it available on the web site would make a real difference.
Joni, Your becoming a bit of a serial pest in my view. In my post on the PRI website on the July 22, 2011 and quote “Impressive spiel. Looks like you have your work cut out for you on the property but is it not the case that you obtain much of your consulting work via Geoff Lawton as opposed to generating it yourself?”
I dont tend to bite back and waste energy, Because it’s comments like yours that gets attention to my article and give me and great people like David Spicer exposer to the great work in repairing landscape and creating human habitats to grow food. (So thanks for that) !!! Sorry to say, it wasn’t a job from Geoff & Nadia.
What I wanted to bring to everyones attention is your constant instance of making assumptions about Geoff giving me work or what part of the IPC10 is Geoff chipping in for.
Did one of us do wrong by you in the past?
And now this post by one of the worlds most generous Permaculturlists asking for help and your like a rat up the money pipe asking, and quote again “Could I ask as to precisely how much Geoff personally and also the PRI as a separate organisation are now contributing to this specific appeal?”
What exactly are you looking for, or what exactly are you trying to draw peoples attention to?
That fact that Geoff & Nadia spend $50,000.00 per year + keeping this website running, that as a gift to the world spent $70,000.00 + on the WPN social networking site.
Joni, I dont know you from a bar of soap. I’m not going to make assumptions but the proof in pudding. It would be great to see some of your hard work posted up on this FREE platform and tell the world how your making a difference, I would love to see that all this aside.
I’ve also found the reason why they spell assumption with the first 3 letters being a.s.s! It’s because once you make one (assumption), you end up looking like a bit of an ASS!
I have great respect for the work of Geoff & Nadia Lawton & Directors of the PRI and I just wish other could.
I thought Joni had a point actually especially on publication of the IPC by video conference and I kind of wonder at the overwrought response by Nick Huggins. The response to my original post was “trust them”. I gave up doing that a long time ago as did most of us I think. I have heard that Dave Spicer is just great and does great work and look forward to hearing more of him but I was not impressed with your design story a little while back Nick. Be great to get more stuff from Dave.
I apologise for comment but I understand PRI organisation has spend much money in keeping PRI website running. Is company website and this is same for wonderful WPN? Thank you PRI. I think Geoff not pay and only Director of PRI not man who pays money.
Joni – a couple of weeks ago I ordered some extra equipment that I need to organise live streaming of the IPC Conference. It’s currently held up in customs where I live, but I hope to receive it this week. This is being paid for by the PRI. The rest of the equipment I’ll be using for this is paid for out of my own pocket (camera, laptop, time volunteered, etc.).
The http://www.ipcon.org site has been built at the expense of the PRI (and a great deal of my own volunteered time) including the page all the sponsors are listed on, of course.
The IPC itself is being primarily supported by the PRI, which is not without a lot of financial risk (imagine organising a conference and convergence for hundreds of people, never really being sure how many will show up).
I need to check with Geoff (who is currently travelling out of reach), but I know the PRI has also directly sponsored the attendance of at least one person (from Africa).
Sergi, I would also love to see all these people making reports we can publish here. This is perhaps the hardest part of my work, getting people to understand that doing stuff on the ground is only half the work. The other half is telling people about it. It’s the only way to inspire others to emulate that work, and it’s also the only way to get people behind what you’re doing – to support it with advice, labour, donations, tuition fees, etc. People are very slow to understand this very important point unfortunately.
As some of you may know, I’ve taken great pains to travel to different places to try to showcase work going on around the world. I’ve been trying to set an example to project leaders, to encourage them to make reports themselves. Many just don’t seem to be able, or somehow never find the time. There are also often technology issues with people having no internet, or virtually useless internet (dialup), and many people who have valuable permaculture skills, often don’t have any multimedia skills, or equipment, or both. This is a great loss for the permaculture community I believe, as all the good work that’s being done around the world should be a lantern – a beacon of hope, you could say – shining out to the rest of the world looking for direction.
In short, we don’t live in a perfect permaculture world, but we’re still battling away trying to create it.
Let’s not attack each other please. What’s the point?
I have not been travelling of late, as over the last year I’ve been really tied up with the development of http://www.permacultureglobal.com. I’d prefer not to be globe-trotting to cover projects that project leaders should be reporting on themselves, but if I can’t squeeze material out of the very best projects, then I will try to do it for them as I’m able.
Have you guys ever thought about hiring/sponsoring someone to go around the world and report back on projects for a year? All it would take would be the right person, a Round the World ticket, and funds for travel expenses to cover the people who aren’t able to show their projects to the world. It wouldn’t cost that much (should be easily doable on a $10,000-$12,000 budget for a year) and would result in a tremendous amount of helpful material, to be sent back for publishing in real time, more or less. I’m sure there are many who would jump at the opportunity to do this, there’s no reason you should have to do everything you’re doing now PLUS all that.
I always imagined the profits from such conferences were used to fund people with a genuine need to attend but without the capacity to pay.I did not realize that the conferences were just beefed up PDC courses with “extras”,I seem to remember way back when, when a portion of all attendees moneys were set aside for this purpose?.
Having seen the National project that Cuba developed and it’s high level of sophistication when dealing with Urban food system it would be a lousy shame if Roberto missed out on addressing the conference.What would be an even lousier shame would be if Cuba missed out on showcasing it’s system,after it has graciously bowed out before.
I was also under the impression that this event was hosted by PRI Jordan not PRI Australia so I don’t understand how PRI Australia should be burdened with the running costs?
I understand they are part of the PRI franchise but I also believed that PRI master plans were autonomous?
Nick you are obviously well acquainted with business models and I would put it to you that the web sites you refer to are part of a marketing strategy that supports the PRI franchise so would be considered by most as just another cost of doing business,rather than a charitable action.
Sylvia, I agree with you its a cost of doing business. OK, lets establish that the PRI is a NOT FOR PROFIT but from what I’m reading here and stop me if I’m wrong, that the PRI Aus and all the other PRI”S Jordan Included are these cash cows that money flows freely from like milk.
People in this world need to take a reality check. Profits from conferences you say Sylvia, the amount of time ( Free time) spent (Energy if were getting all Permaculture) by people like Geoff & Nadia and all involved in putting these great events together must be mind boggling.
Hundreds if not thousand of hours. If its anything like APC10 in Cairns Australia last year, put on and run like a professional outfit, Permaculture Cairns did it all for free! And bloody hell did they work. From sun up until sundown and we had the best time.
In my Urban Permaculture Landscape design course running at the PRI we talk a lot about business and what things cost. In one part of the course (Consultation) we start to break down what it will cost the client for a consultation. So we break down travel costs and I start by telling the students that I charge $0.81 per Km driven form my office to the clients & return and that some of my clients range from 100km to 1000km (This is Australia don’t forget, big distances. And before some painful person says, (because Permaculturalist’s are so predicable) “why doesn’t your client find someone local?” Because if there were more consultants out there I would’t have to travel!
Ok back to the $0.81. What are the business cost to run a car based on 12 months or 30,000km – Tyres, servicing every 10,000km, fuel, maintenance if something breaks, insurance, cleaning, washing (Thats time even if you do it) Tolls, car registration the list goes on!!!!!! Take all those cost divide them by an average of 30,000km and that how I got my $0.81 per km. I haven’t even got to my time charged yet!
Now lets look at running a business! Do people see what I mean? Have you ever ran your own business? Take your house hold cost and management and times it by 10! Then start to look at employing people…. I’m starting to sound like Alex Jones from Infowars.com. Ha
Our old friend Hiroko has left a great message above, please take time to read it. Lets start exercising our 2nd ethic of people care instead of people bashing!
This a great quote by Theodore Roosevelt:Man in the Arena. I think that a lot reading theis will relate to the critic in this quote!
One of the top three most requested quotes is that regarding the “man in the arena” or “not the critic”
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
PRI tries to help where it is requested if it can.
We are helping PRI Jordan as we help PRI USA, PRI Canada, PRI Turkey, PRI Greece or anyone asking for our help if we can. PRI Jordan has done a fantastic job organizing IPC 10 and returned everything back into increasing the potential of increasing the impact of the event, which is a very difficult task to achieve in a country with extremely limited resources and worst water scenario in the world.
Myself (Geoff Lawton) and Nadia (my wife) have donated everything they own to the permaculture movement. We continue to work as hard as we can in the best way we know how so we can continue donating everything back into the permaculture movement.
I am typing this in a small internet cafe in Tarim Yemen where we traveling with our baby daughter Latifa are volunteering our time to consult, design and hopefully initiate a major project, because it could have the potential of massive influence globally on 1 in 7 people.
I’ll try to respond to your comment, although I’m not sure why Cuba has been brought up in the conversation here. That’s a whole other IPC altogether. But, I do understand that Roberto is fully sponsored and will be attending the conference. Indeed, I’ve listed him as a speaker at the Conference:
Again, not sure what Cuba’s systems has to do with a post on soliciting donations for people to attend IPC10 in Jordan, so I’ll move on to your other comments.
I was also under the impression that this event was hosted by PRI Jordan not PRI Australia so I don’t understand how PRI Australia should be burdened with the running costs?
Yes, it’s being hosted by PRI Jordan, but it would have been difficult for PRI Jordan to host it without the support of PRI Australia. For example, they didn’t have the ability to create http://www.ipcon.org, and language issues are a problem for the many organisational aspects of getting the event organised and presented. PRI Jordan was only very recently able (after a lot of Jordanian bureaucracy) to be legally recognised as a Jordanian non-profit (hard work in the kingdom of Jordan), so until then we’ve had to support them with managing financial aspects as well.
We’re all pitching in to help. And it’s not just PRI Australia, but also PRI USA who are helping with organisational aspects of the event also. I don’t see this at all being a bad thing. It’s just simple cooperation.
I understand they are part of the PRI franchise but I also believed that PRI master plans were autonomous?
Whew, the word ‘franchise’ used in this context seems very much out of place. ‘Franchise’ speaks of competition and profit, which is a wholly inaccurate word to use about our work and intent.
Keep in mind, we are not government funded, yet we seek to help establish/develop/support and promote projects (PRI or otherwise) all over the world. We even promote people and projects offering courses and internships that are in our own backyard and neighbourhood. Just a few of a great many examples are below (and click on our ‘Events, Resources and News/Courses and Workshops category on our sidebar to see dozens and dozens more):
We put these posts up, and many more like them, and gladly, and the people getting this exposure on our site pay nothing for it. Why would we do this if were only working in our own interests, with a profit-oriented mindset? (i.e. ‘franchise’). Where in business do you see companies supporting and promoting what they regard as their ‘competition’? We do it because we don’t regard them as competition. We believe that EVERYONE in the world needs to know about, and begin practising, permaculture in the best way they can right where they are. We do it simply because we want to survive! If you take the population of our current western culture, and work out the ratio of practising permaculturists against the rest of the public, you’ll see that permaculturists make up such an insignificant minority that it’s quite depressing (to be honest). A small percentage of permacuturists will not effect the changes that need to occur. The PRI recognise this, and is seeking to help drive permaculture principles/concepts into mainstream media and into the mind of mainstream public. To do this we need to work in a concerted cooperative manner — presenting a strong, cooperative united front to the world. If we are to put permaculture design into our ‘evangelism’, then we’ll see that having everyone working in their own corner, separate from everyone else, is an enormous waste of time and resources (energy). People doing this keep reinventing the wheel, trying to develop a following, trying to create a myriad obscure websites, etc. In the natural world mycelium fungus connects elements in a forest via a massive (said to be the largest living organism in the world) underground network, transporting and sharing minerals and nutrients between plants and microorganisms over a vast area. If we’re to succeed in transforming society (and in time!), I think we need to work together far more than we have.
Nick you are obviously well acquainted with business models and I would put it to you that the web sites you refer to are part of a marketing strategy that supports the PRI franchise so would be considered by most as just another cost of doing business,rather than a charitable action.
We are indeed trying to ‘market’ permaculture. All permaculturists should be. We are trying to get it noticed, and get people involved. Again, splintered efforts will never achieve this. That’s why I was desperate to create http://www.permacultureglobal.com, and I’m thankful Geoff and other PRI people were able to see where I was coming from when I proposed its creation and offered to help facilitate it. With it we can finally begin to see who is doing what, and where, and we can begin to cooperate, learn from and inspire each other, and leverage each other’s efforts. Is there another system out there that can help us to network in this way? I am personally disappointed to see what has literally been thousands of hours on my part (mostly unpaid) just shrugged off as ‘a cost of doing business, rather than a charitable action’. I think this is really not a very considered or considerate comment at all. There are no adverts on the WPN, and all members are able to advertise their courses via their profile updates, etc., PRI or otherwise. You can search the system for ‘educational’ projects in your area, and you can search for ‘teachers’ in your area. People can promote themselves and their work, and we (the PRI and its students) have made it possible with our time, money and effort. We have also extended invitations to other permaculture educational institutions to invest in the WPN’s further development, so it can be tailored to their needs also (again, rather than reinventing the wheel and watering down each other’s efforts).
I think Nick’s quote is very valid here. Throughout history, whenever someone seeks to do something of value, there are always others ready to read bad motivations into it, even despite all the evidence. It’s a sad failing of the human character that we have a natural tendency to do this. I would only ask that we consider these things carefully, as if we pull down good work, instead of cooperating to build it up, this society-run-amuck will only continue its acceleration towards the precipice. We really are running out of time. If you see better ways of working, we’re all ears. In the meantime we’ll keep doing the best we can, and although permaculture takeup is never going to be as fast as we’d like, we do feel some degree of satisfaction that we are making progress.
I’m hoping IPC10 will be a great opportunity for people to discuss how we can all work together better to leverage our efforts even more successfully, and your help in getting more of these sponsorship requests filled would be appreciated (getting back to the topic of this post).
gday all I’d like to say I have know geoff for 11 years now since the old days of tagari farm where I really started my permaculture journey with geoff and he inspired me to stay on at tagari as a volunteer for a year
and nothing to me in those 11 years hase changed, he still inspirers people to lead the charge against this crazy world to bring some sense to it
give him some credit he deserves it, he’s done a hell of alot for the movement and continues to give
thanks geoffery,and thanks pri for this great webb site that we can all use and benfit from
Reading this makes me want to mention that I’ve a potentially-game-changing idea for a project (which I’d need funding for and/or shared ownership/support in) that would also in part function towards permaculture publicity, uptake, support, resilience and transportation, etcetera, worldwide.
In permaculture fashion, its ostensibly-singular aspect could nevertheless be applicable to a multitude of functions and in various ways…
I have a bit of a writeup on it that could be presented as an article-cum-proposal hereon and/or at my spot at Permaculture Global. I’ll try to get it posted sometime within the next week.
Idea: A Permaculture Wooden Seaworthy Boat/Boatbuilding Place/School/Dock.
Looking at Jordan, for example, I see that it, too, has access to a sea and is not landlocked.
Craig, Geoff, et al.: We may do well to especially seriously consider this one, such as for example, when the net might go down, and/or when we get more blackouts, and/or when the planes/petro-boats/etc. get too expensive. We may owe it to our very survival as a movement at the very least.
All those interested please feel free to contact me at Permaculture Global.
I don’t want to be a pain, but why don’t we see some of the work done by these people showcased on this site. That would be much more environmentally friendly than flying them all to Jordan to do this. It would also give them the publicity for the projects they do. If they do not have the technical capacity for this then funding for this would be of much more use than a holiday in Jordan. Alternatively, a video link should not be too difficult to organise and to have this featured on this site would also be great for all who follow the mostly good articles on this site. Also, I understood from the IPC emails that Roberto from Cuba was already funded and his only problem was attempting to obtain a visa to Jordan. Since it is Cuba’s turn to host the next IPC he is probably the most critical of these individuals.
Cool. Money sent…
Sergi it’s not as easy as calculating on paper the knowledge they would gain and knowledge they would gain, and share. There are too many variables. They could literally change the future of their part of the world for thousands of years to come for the price of one plane ticket. Sometimes you just have to guesstimate, and I trust Geoff, and PRI to do so.
I think that a ticket to Jordan will change the future is a little of an overstatement. If trust is an issue here StrongArmzz, could I ask as to precisely how much Geoff personally and also the PRI as a separate organisation are now contributing to this specific appeal? A video conference would provide us all with a window into what is occurring in these places and it is that information being placed in the public domain that will assist in changing them for the better. This actually applies to the whole IPC. Having it available on the web site would make a real difference.
Joni, Your becoming a bit of a serial pest in my view. In my post on the PRI website on the July 22, 2011 and quote “Impressive spiel. Looks like you have your work cut out for you on the property but is it not the case that you obtain much of your consulting work via Geoff Lawton as opposed to generating it yourself?”
I dont tend to bite back and waste energy, Because it’s comments like yours that gets attention to my article and give me and great people like David Spicer exposer to the great work in repairing landscape and creating human habitats to grow food. (So thanks for that) !!! Sorry to say, it wasn’t a job from Geoff & Nadia.
What I wanted to bring to everyones attention is your constant instance of making assumptions about Geoff giving me work or what part of the IPC10 is Geoff chipping in for.
Did one of us do wrong by you in the past?
And now this post by one of the worlds most generous Permaculturlists asking for help and your like a rat up the money pipe asking, and quote again “Could I ask as to precisely how much Geoff personally and also the PRI as a separate organisation are now contributing to this specific appeal?”
What exactly are you looking for, or what exactly are you trying to draw peoples attention to?
That fact that Geoff & Nadia spend $50,000.00 per year + keeping this website running, that as a gift to the world spent $70,000.00 + on the WPN social networking site.
Joni, I dont know you from a bar of soap. I’m not going to make assumptions but the proof in pudding. It would be great to see some of your hard work posted up on this FREE platform and tell the world how your making a difference, I would love to see that all this aside.
I’ve also found the reason why they spell assumption with the first 3 letters being a.s.s! It’s because once you make one (assumption), you end up looking like a bit of an ASS!
I have great respect for the work of Geoff & Nadia Lawton & Directors of the PRI and I just wish other could.
I thought Joni had a point actually especially on publication of the IPC by video conference and I kind of wonder at the overwrought response by Nick Huggins. The response to my original post was “trust them”. I gave up doing that a long time ago as did most of us I think. I have heard that Dave Spicer is just great and does great work and look forward to hearing more of him but I was not impressed with your design story a little while back Nick. Be great to get more stuff from Dave.
I apologise for comment but I understand PRI organisation has spend much money in keeping PRI website running. Is company website and this is same for wonderful WPN? Thank you PRI. I think Geoff not pay and only Director of PRI not man who pays money.
Joni – a couple of weeks ago I ordered some extra equipment that I need to organise live streaming of the IPC Conference. It’s currently held up in customs where I live, but I hope to receive it this week. This is being paid for by the PRI. The rest of the equipment I’ll be using for this is paid for out of my own pocket (camera, laptop, time volunteered, etc.).
The http://www.ipcon.org site has been built at the expense of the PRI (and a great deal of my own volunteered time) including the page all the sponsors are listed on, of course.
The IPC itself is being primarily supported by the PRI, which is not without a lot of financial risk (imagine organising a conference and convergence for hundreds of people, never really being sure how many will show up).
I need to check with Geoff (who is currently travelling out of reach), but I know the PRI has also directly sponsored the attendance of at least one person (from Africa).
Sergi, I would also love to see all these people making reports we can publish here. This is perhaps the hardest part of my work, getting people to understand that doing stuff on the ground is only half the work. The other half is telling people about it. It’s the only way to inspire others to emulate that work, and it’s also the only way to get people behind what you’re doing – to support it with advice, labour, donations, tuition fees, etc. People are very slow to understand this very important point unfortunately.
As some of you may know, I’ve taken great pains to travel to different places to try to showcase work going on around the world. I’ve been trying to set an example to project leaders, to encourage them to make reports themselves. Many just don’t seem to be able, or somehow never find the time. There are also often technology issues with people having no internet, or virtually useless internet (dialup), and many people who have valuable permaculture skills, often don’t have any multimedia skills, or equipment, or both. This is a great loss for the permaculture community I believe, as all the good work that’s being done around the world should be a lantern – a beacon of hope, you could say – shining out to the rest of the world looking for direction.
In short, we don’t live in a perfect permaculture world, but we’re still battling away trying to create it.
Let’s not attack each other please. What’s the point?
I have not been travelling of late, as over the last year I’ve been really tied up with the development of http://www.permacultureglobal.com. I’d prefer not to be globe-trotting to cover projects that project leaders should be reporting on themselves, but if I can’t squeeze material out of the very best projects, then I will try to do it for them as I’m able.
Craig,
Have you guys ever thought about hiring/sponsoring someone to go around the world and report back on projects for a year? All it would take would be the right person, a Round the World ticket, and funds for travel expenses to cover the people who aren’t able to show their projects to the world. It wouldn’t cost that much (should be easily doable on a $10,000-$12,000 budget for a year) and would result in a tremendous amount of helpful material, to be sent back for publishing in real time, more or less. I’m sure there are many who would jump at the opportunity to do this, there’s no reason you should have to do everything you’re doing now PLUS all that.
I always imagined the profits from such conferences were used to fund people with a genuine need to attend but without the capacity to pay.I did not realize that the conferences were just beefed up PDC courses with “extras”,I seem to remember way back when, when a portion of all attendees moneys were set aside for this purpose?.
Having seen the National project that Cuba developed and it’s high level of sophistication when dealing with Urban food system it would be a lousy shame if Roberto missed out on addressing the conference.What would be an even lousier shame would be if Cuba missed out on showcasing it’s system,after it has graciously bowed out before.
I was also under the impression that this event was hosted by PRI Jordan not PRI Australia so I don’t understand how PRI Australia should be burdened with the running costs?
I understand they are part of the PRI franchise but I also believed that PRI master plans were autonomous?
Nick you are obviously well acquainted with business models and I would put it to you that the web sites you refer to are part of a marketing strategy that supports the PRI franchise so would be considered by most as just another cost of doing business,rather than a charitable action.
Sylvia, I agree with you its a cost of doing business. OK, lets establish that the PRI is a NOT FOR PROFIT but from what I’m reading here and stop me if I’m wrong, that the PRI Aus and all the other PRI”S Jordan Included are these cash cows that money flows freely from like milk.
People in this world need to take a reality check. Profits from conferences you say Sylvia, the amount of time ( Free time) spent (Energy if were getting all Permaculture) by people like Geoff & Nadia and all involved in putting these great events together must be mind boggling.
Hundreds if not thousand of hours. If its anything like APC10 in Cairns Australia last year, put on and run like a professional outfit, Permaculture Cairns did it all for free! And bloody hell did they work. From sun up until sundown and we had the best time.
In my Urban Permaculture Landscape design course running at the PRI we talk a lot about business and what things cost. In one part of the course (Consultation) we start to break down what it will cost the client for a consultation. So we break down travel costs and I start by telling the students that I charge $0.81 per Km driven form my office to the clients & return and that some of my clients range from 100km to 1000km (This is Australia don’t forget, big distances. And before some painful person says, (because Permaculturalist’s are so predicable) “why doesn’t your client find someone local?” Because if there were more consultants out there I would’t have to travel!
Ok back to the $0.81. What are the business cost to run a car based on 12 months or 30,000km – Tyres, servicing every 10,000km, fuel, maintenance if something breaks, insurance, cleaning, washing (Thats time even if you do it) Tolls, car registration the list goes on!!!!!! Take all those cost divide them by an average of 30,000km and that how I got my $0.81 per km. I haven’t even got to my time charged yet!
Now lets look at running a business! Do people see what I mean? Have you ever ran your own business? Take your house hold cost and management and times it by 10! Then start to look at employing people…. I’m starting to sound like Alex Jones from Infowars.com. Ha
Our old friend Hiroko has left a great message above, please take time to read it. Lets start exercising our 2nd ethic of people care instead of people bashing!
This a great quote by Theodore Roosevelt:Man in the Arena. I think that a lot reading theis will relate to the critic in this quote!
One of the top three most requested quotes is that regarding the “man in the arena” or “not the critic”
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
PRI tries to help where it is requested if it can.
We are helping PRI Jordan as we help PRI USA, PRI Canada, PRI Turkey, PRI Greece or anyone asking for our help if we can. PRI Jordan has done a fantastic job organizing IPC 10 and returned everything back into increasing the potential of increasing the impact of the event, which is a very difficult task to achieve in a country with extremely limited resources and worst water scenario in the world.
Myself (Geoff Lawton) and Nadia (my wife) have donated everything they own to the permaculture movement. We continue to work as hard as we can in the best way we know how so we can continue donating everything back into the permaculture movement.
I am typing this in a small internet cafe in Tarim Yemen where we traveling with our baby daughter Latifa are volunteering our time to consult, design and hopefully initiate a major project, because it could have the potential of massive influence globally on 1 in 7 people.
Sylvia
I’ll try to respond to your comment, although I’m not sure why Cuba has been brought up in the conversation here. That’s a whole other IPC altogether. But, I do understand that Roberto is fully sponsored and will be attending the conference. Indeed, I’ve listed him as a speaker at the Conference:
https://ipcon.org/index.php/conference-timetable
Again, not sure what Cuba’s systems has to do with a post on soliciting donations for people to attend IPC10 in Jordan, so I’ll move on to your other comments.
Yes, it’s being hosted by PRI Jordan, but it would have been difficult for PRI Jordan to host it without the support of PRI Australia. For example, they didn’t have the ability to create http://www.ipcon.org, and language issues are a problem for the many organisational aspects of getting the event organised and presented. PRI Jordan was only very recently able (after a lot of Jordanian bureaucracy) to be legally recognised as a Jordanian non-profit (hard work in the kingdom of Jordan), so until then we’ve had to support them with managing financial aspects as well.
We’re all pitching in to help. And it’s not just PRI Australia, but also PRI USA who are helping with organisational aspects of the event also. I don’t see this at all being a bad thing. It’s just simple cooperation.
Whew, the word ‘franchise’ used in this context seems very much out of place. ‘Franchise’ speaks of competition and profit, which is a wholly inaccurate word to use about our work and intent.
Keep in mind, we are not government funded, yet we seek to help establish/develop/support and promote projects (PRI or otherwise) all over the world. We even promote people and projects offering courses and internships that are in our own backyard and neighbourhood. Just a few of a great many examples are below (and click on our ‘Events, Resources and News/Courses and Workshops category on our sidebar to see dozens and dozens more):
https://www.permaculturenews.org/2011/07/28/why-have-permaculture-design-courses-for-women/ (just a few kilometres away)
https://www.permaculturenews.org/2011/06/09/milkwood-farm-spring-2011-internships-applications-are-open/
https://www.permaculturenews.org/2011/06/22/mulloon-creek-internship-program/
We put these posts up, and many more like them, and gladly, and the people getting this exposure on our site pay nothing for it. Why would we do this if were only working in our own interests, with a profit-oriented mindset? (i.e. ‘franchise’). Where in business do you see companies supporting and promoting what they regard as their ‘competition’? We do it because we don’t regard them as competition. We believe that EVERYONE in the world needs to know about, and begin practising, permaculture in the best way they can right where they are. We do it simply because we want to survive! If you take the population of our current western culture, and work out the ratio of practising permaculturists against the rest of the public, you’ll see that permaculturists make up such an insignificant minority that it’s quite depressing (to be honest). A small percentage of permacuturists will not effect the changes that need to occur. The PRI recognise this, and is seeking to help drive permaculture principles/concepts into mainstream media and into the mind of mainstream public. To do this we need to work in a concerted cooperative manner — presenting a strong, cooperative united front to the world. If we are to put permaculture design into our ‘evangelism’, then we’ll see that having everyone working in their own corner, separate from everyone else, is an enormous waste of time and resources (energy). People doing this keep reinventing the wheel, trying to develop a following, trying to create a myriad obscure websites, etc. In the natural world mycelium fungus connects elements in a forest via a massive (said to be the largest living organism in the world) underground network, transporting and sharing minerals and nutrients between plants and microorganisms over a vast area. If we’re to succeed in transforming society (and in time!), I think we need to work together far more than we have.
We are indeed trying to ‘market’ permaculture. All permaculturists should be. We are trying to get it noticed, and get people involved. Again, splintered efforts will never achieve this. That’s why I was desperate to create http://www.permacultureglobal.com, and I’m thankful Geoff and other PRI people were able to see where I was coming from when I proposed its creation and offered to help facilitate it. With it we can finally begin to see who is doing what, and where, and we can begin to cooperate, learn from and inspire each other, and leverage each other’s efforts. Is there another system out there that can help us to network in this way? I am personally disappointed to see what has literally been thousands of hours on my part (mostly unpaid) just shrugged off as ‘a cost of doing business, rather than a charitable action’. I think this is really not a very considered or considerate comment at all. There are no adverts on the WPN, and all members are able to advertise their courses via their profile updates, etc., PRI or otherwise. You can search the system for ‘educational’ projects in your area, and you can search for ‘teachers’ in your area. People can promote themselves and their work, and we (the PRI and its students) have made it possible with our time, money and effort. We have also extended invitations to other permaculture educational institutions to invest in the WPN’s further development, so it can be tailored to their needs also (again, rather than reinventing the wheel and watering down each other’s efforts).
I think Nick’s quote is very valid here. Throughout history, whenever someone seeks to do something of value, there are always others ready to read bad motivations into it, even despite all the evidence. It’s a sad failing of the human character that we have a natural tendency to do this. I would only ask that we consider these things carefully, as if we pull down good work, instead of cooperating to build it up, this society-run-amuck will only continue its acceleration towards the precipice. We really are running out of time. If you see better ways of working, we’re all ears. In the meantime we’ll keep doing the best we can, and although permaculture takeup is never going to be as fast as we’d like, we do feel some degree of satisfaction that we are making progress.
I’m hoping IPC10 will be a great opportunity for people to discuss how we can all work together better to leverage our efforts even more successfully, and your help in getting more of these sponsorship requests filled would be appreciated (getting back to the topic of this post).
Thanks to all who have donated.
gday all I’d like to say I have know geoff for 11 years now since the old days of tagari farm where I really started my permaculture journey with geoff and he inspired me to stay on at tagari as a volunteer for a year
and nothing to me in those 11 years hase changed, he still inspirers people to lead the charge against this crazy world to bring some sense to it
give him some credit he deserves it, he’s done a hell of alot for the movement and continues to give
thanks geoffery,and thanks pri for this great webb site that we can all use and benfit from
lets just support each other
Reading this makes me want to mention that I’ve a potentially-game-changing idea for a project (which I’d need funding for and/or shared ownership/support in) that would also in part function towards permaculture publicity, uptake, support, resilience and transportation, etcetera, worldwide.
In permaculture fashion, its ostensibly-singular aspect could nevertheless be applicable to a multitude of functions and in various ways…
I have a bit of a writeup on it that could be presented as an article-cum-proposal hereon and/or at my spot at Permaculture Global. I’ll try to get it posted sometime within the next week.
Idea: A Permaculture Wooden Seaworthy Boat/Boatbuilding Place/School/Dock.
Looking at Jordan, for example, I see that it, too, has access to a sea and is not landlocked.
Craig, Geoff, et al.: We may do well to especially seriously consider this one, such as for example, when the net might go down, and/or when we get more blackouts, and/or when the planes/petro-boats/etc. get too expensive. We may owe it to our very survival as a movement at the very least.
All those interested please feel free to contact me at Permaculture Global.