Permaculture and Native American tradition

Spirit, The Seventh Fire, if you missed it during the first national tour was a rare chance to be reunited with a Native American culture. The multimedia show scored by Peter Buffett tells the story of a modern everyman suddenly confronted with his Native American heritage.

The show began its tour to coincide with the opening of the Smithonian's new National Museum of the American Indian and was an instant sensation. Picture. Although on hiatus, Spirit has an active web site and plans a new tour in the near future.

The heritage of Native America is a rich history of diversity and union, common ancestry and nations of people as different from one another as the Inuit and the Inca. The Native people of the Americas lived close to the land and, like agrarian/hunter societies everywhere learned to rely on nature and more than that, cultivate their natural surrounding in order to provide food, shelter, and energy in a way that was sustainable or all species, plant or animal.

Permaculture is the word used to describe this tradition of sustainable production, a system, which examines ways to work with nature rather than against it and, with practice, evolve beneficially, environmentally sound solutions.

We found a few web sites with more information on permaculture and an interesting field study coming in July, which you may want to explore. It's The Nunoya Nuntal Reality Trip International Workshop, the application deadline is June 1.

• ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
• The Permaculture Institute
• Honor the Earth

by Dr. Nancy Swift
ABN