October 2008

Film release - Permaculture: A Quiet Revolution

Submitted by auto transfer on 7 October 2008 - 3:36pm

Permaculture: A Quiet Revolution by Vanessa Schultz


Film now available online

The video is finally available online at http://www.21paradigm.com/permaculture.php

In May 2007, the 8th International Permaculture Convergence (IPC8) www.ipc8.org was held in Brazil, bringing together visionary activists from around the world. New to Permaculture, Vanessa Schulz spent a month in Brazil attending the conference and later visiting four ground breaking Permaculture Centers, learning permaculture in settings both urban and rural, in the beautiful and varied landscape of Brazil. From the enormous metropolitan city of Sao Paulo, to the Cerrado (savannah) in central Brazil, to the heart of Amazonia, and finally the historic Bahia region, the story of Permaculture is told.

The film discusses mainstream media's failure to provide accurate news of the world's dire environmental predicament, and some of the strategies permaculturists propose, giving critical inspiration needed to turn our backs on what is failing us. Permaculture (PERMAnent CULTURE) is a design system based on ecological principles for creating sustainable human environments and is a whole systems approach suggesting positive solutions for a rapidly changing world.

Vanessa Schulz, originally from South Africa, began freelancing in the film industry in 1994 while attending Cape Town Film & Television School. After emigrating to the United States she began working for for NBC, Fox, National Geographic, and the Discovery Channel. She founded 21st Paradigm (www.21paradigm.com), an independent media company committed to airing subject matter difficult and often times ignored by main stream media. Her documentary Call of Freedom, a film about the re-introduction of wolves to Idaho in the 1990's, generating heated controversy, shows all the intensity of the passions that motivate all sides of the wolf issue. It garnered many awards including Best Documentary at the Female Eye Film Festival (2003), Merit for Conservation Advocacy award at the International Wildlife Film Festival (2003), and Official Selection, Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour (2004-5).

 

 

 

Ecominds fund launched

Submitted by auto transfer on 7 October 2008 - 3:25pm

Ecominds fund launched

Mind has announced the launch of Ecominds, an open grants programme being run as part of the Big Lottery Fund, Changing Spaces programme.

From the guidance: "The programme has £7.5 million to distribute to around 125 new and existing projects focusing on mental health and the environment around England over the next five years.

Projects must:

  • Have both a mental health and environmental perspective
  • Be submitted by an England based group and applied in England
  • Be thoroughly planned and relevant to the environment
  • Involve people with direct experience of mental distress
  • Encourage community access, collaboration, and improve the environment and environmental sustainability
  • Have a budget under £250,000
  • Be delivered within five years

Ecominds expects to hold approximately two funding rounds per year, however this may change depending on the number of applications received. The Changing Spaces Advice Line recommends applying as soon as possible if groups are looking for funding to start at the beginning of the next financial year.

For further information, including application packs, please visit the Ecominds website at http://www.mind.org.uk/ecominds

Alternatively, phone the Changing Spaces Advice Line (08453 671 671) to request an application pack. They are open
Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm.

 

 

Roundhouse Benefits From Policy 52

Submitted by auto transfer on 7 October 2008 - 2:34pm

ROUNDHOUSE BENEFITS FROM POLICY 52

The story of the Roundhouse (1) at Brithdir Mawr (2) has taken another turn.

Mark Fisher, 17 September 2008

Following the failure of the planning application last year, Tony Wrench withdrew his individual application, and instead a new application was made for a community development of eight roundhouses, with Tony’s included. The Times today reports that this application has been successful (3 - the P word is mentioned).

 

There are some good learning points in this story. I wrote last year to the Pembrokeshire National Park Authority (PNPA), which is the planning authority that turned the application down. My concern was with what appeared to me to have been a misuse both in spirit and intent of an ecological survey in a continuing effort to find a killer blow against the Roundhouse, condemned by enforcement for many years to demolition. It seemed to me that permaculturists would now have to get inside the minds of the conservation industry - their LBAPs, SAPs, HAPs, targets etc - as well as the planners, in navigating through the development process.

 

I had a long reply from the PNPA pointing me to Policy 52 of the Joint Unitary Development Plan for Pembrokeshire - Low Impact Development (LID) Making a Positive Contribution. This policy was adopted in 2006 and it lays out the framework in which applications for LIDs will be considered (4):

“Dealing with proposals under Policy 52 needs to be seen as a process because the Authorities won’t just be considering the buildings that will be used, but also the activities that will be carried out and whether they will achieve positive benefits”

 

While as permaculturists, we would buy into the achievement of positive benefits through our activiries, this was not entirely the criteria by which Tony’s application was turned down (it depends on what you consider is a benefit), and I doubt if it is a criteria that is used in any other type of development in the Park. Having said that, I would thoroughly recommend reading this policy, as it gives extensive detail on the contents of a management plan that has to be submitted along with the application.

 

The management plan is an excellent tool for the discipline that should be undergone in approaching such a development. The policy also gives a clue as to why the combined community application from Brithdir Mawr was successful:

“Both a planning application and related management plan must cover all development comprehensively, particularly where a proposal is for a large area of land or number of residents and activities. Piecemeal proposals will not be acceptable”

 

This is a good news story. Our thanks must go to all those who responded to the consultation on the Policy during 2005/06, and particularly to LAMMAS who met with the PNPA. It is unfortunate, though, that LAMMAS heard only days before Brithdir Mawr that their planning application for 9 eco-smallholdings and a community hub with community transport was turned down by Pembrokeshire County Council (5). LAMMAS submitted an impressive array of documents in support (6):

 

- Overall management plan

- Woodland Management Plan

- Traffic Management Plan

- Permaculture report

- Business Plan

- Community Hub Plan

- Welcome Point Plan

- Terrace Design

- Individual Plot Management Plans