July 2007
Issue No. 402
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Edible Earth
In search of bright ideas, David Ransom begins by learning some very basic lessons about how to design a more sustainable, permanent culture.

The ethical heart of permaculture
Maddy Harland outlines the principles that make it beat.

The problem is the solution
How the prospect of penury forced David Ransom to discover that there’s more than money to be saved both at work and at his new home on a Dutch barge.

Tasmanian roots
The two Australians, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, set the ball rolling – Russ Grayson and Steve Payne tell their story.

No-dig for victory
A fresh forest of networks is blooming in the inner cities of Bristol and London, where David Ransom tries to keep pace with Peak Oil as well.

Barns to beacons
A co-operative of ‘peasants’ in rural Dorset and a remarkable woman in the Brecon Beacons set some inspiring examples.

10 DIY Permaculture Ideas
From living roofs and forest gardens to animal tractors and chicken greenhouses.

Global common sense
A brief tour around the permacultural world – North America, Nepal, Cuba, India, Palestine, Zimbabwe.

Permanent culture
Had David Ransom known, he might well have taken the same path much sooner.

Action
Contacts, books, websites.

News, views, and & voices

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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR

‘Oh no! Not gardening!’ It was too much for one of my colleagues. I'd just decided, in blissful ignorance, to pick up ‘permaculture’ from the list of topics the co-operative chose at our annual meeting last year. Curiosity got the better of me.

A few weeks later, a small group of friends gathered in the café of the Hornbeam Centre in Walthamstow, east London. I needed to talk to people who actually knew something about permaculture. Several of them had been involved in the struggle for global justice: a doctor who spent 10 years in Brazil; an activist who went to World Social Forum in Mumbai. There, she told me, she'd been on a panel about water privatization – and a fellow panellist from India had asked her what was happening in Britain. A good question, she felt. Eventually she and some of the others, by different routes, decided that their next step should be to tackle their own backyard.

I'd come to much the same sort of conclusion myself, after leaving Chile not long before the military coup in 1973. And it came to me now: instead of flying off to the Amazon or Africa, I'd spare the air miles and write about permaculture in Britain. It's been a strange experience, illuminated by one of the most radiant early-spring seasons I can ever remember, but confused by the discovery that I am in many ways more ignorant about my own backyard than I am about the Amazon. An innocent at home, you might say, exploring a good deal more than ‘gardening’. Even so, I never found anyone with a good word to say for slugs.

David Ransom for the
New Internationalist Co-operative
davidr@newint.org

Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe

The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.

Raised Voices video:

Atossa Soltani from Brazil on the Climate Change

Desmond Desai from South Africa on Corporate Power

Iranian women speak out

3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.

Raised Voices audio:

Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power

Vinayan from India on agriculture