OM Valley Permaculture

Following the San Francisco Green Festival on Sunday, We found our way to the Lumiere Theater in the heart of San Fran for the Premier of the film “2012: Time for Change” (2012timeforchange.com). As the crowd shuffled in I found the excitement about the film palpable (at least from my perspective) as this was the first film that had not just big names on the bill like Sting, David Lynch (the film director),  and Barbara Marx Hubbard, but also very pivotal names in the Permaculture scene like Penny Livingston Stark (one of the early Permaculturalists still carrying the message forward in Cali), Paul Stamets (Planetary/ecological Mushroom Guru), Buckminster Fuller (of course archival footage) and the young Oscar Nominated Actress and recently Certified Permaculturalist, Ellen Page (star of the film “Juno”). This, I found very intriguing to say the least…. the synergy begins.

The Film follows Daniel Pinchbeck, the Author of the very popular book”2012: The Return of Quetzacoatl” that explores the potential happenings of 2012 through his journey of awakening. It follows him through psychedelic journeys that led him to awaken to the answers regarding the planets perils and the shift that is happening right now among us leading into and well after 2012. He makes the case for psychedelic awakening for the first portion of the film and then gets into the nitty gritty solutions like Permaculture, Design, Mycellium for healing toxins, and Hydrogen fuel break throughs just to name a few. Primarily it is learning to design with the planet in mind.

His Case for psychedelics is supported by many first hand testimonies from Sting, Tribal Elders & Shamans, Terrence McKenna and several others who have learned to use these sacred plants in Ceremonial settings for millenia. From Archival Footage Terence MeKenna makes the case that Psychedelics may be our only hope for the Human Species to wake up to its potential Blind Sided Ego Centric Demise. This could teach us to “sacrifice the Ego” for future generations of all forms life as psychedelics and their medicinal capability to cure that malady of seperateness can do.

Fortunately Daniel Begins to also delve into other spiritualities that are beginning to influence our Consciousness like Yoga and other Eastern Traditions to help us awaken to that oneness that exists all around us. He interviews the Film Director, David Lynch, about Transcendental Meditation, which leads into archival clips of the founder of TM, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Hosting Buckie Fuller in front of an Audience, talking about how conscious this western man is, because of his focus on making people’s lives better, Or as Maharishis says “Making people’s live’s…Fuller!” as the crowd breaks into laughter at his Pun.

This combined with a great interlude of surreal digital Cartoons (that permeate the film) lead us into the life of Buckminster Fuller, the mid 20th century evolutionarily oriented gentleman, who laid so many fabulous cases for for the logic of design to resolve the worlds problems. He uses design as the lynch pin to help us harmonize with the planet and ourselves. Buckie in fact laid many of the foundational natural Principles that would later go on to influence Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in their development of the Permaculture Principles.

It is this synergy that then leads us into the solutions that Permaculture and other concepts are bringing. As the description of the film indicates “Rather than breakdown and barberism, 2012 heralds the birth of a regenerative planetary culture where  collaboration replaces competition, where exploration of the psyche and spirit becomes the new cutting edge, replacing sterile materialism that has pushed our world to the brink.” This is the core of the film. That awakening to the synergy of man and nature using design, is the evolution that is occurring. This is the awakening that the planet is going through, one that diverts us from the potential disaster to one of a new birth of humanity on the planet.

It was this part that begins to get very inspirational (as it it wasn’t already yet….. but this is where the feet hit the ground). They had the long time Permaculturalist Penny Livingston Stark, the woman who coined the permaculture phrase ” We are Nature Working”  talk about this shift we are in the midst of as well as this returning we are a part of. They also had Ellen Page, (Starring actress and Oscar Nominee of the film “Juno” and recently Certified in Permaculturalist) talk about her journey into permaculture and finding solutions for the planet at this time. It was exceptionally motivating and exciting to see these concepts finally tapping into more “mainstream” media sources. Ultimately its inevitable if we are to survive on this planet .

The film winds out on very positive notes of solutions that are popping up all over the place in the face of this potential catastrophe. Solutions that utilize this harmonized way of thinking. Ways that will evolve us past this bottle neck in Planetary evolution, the return of the Human species to the planet to become what it has always been but has had slight amnesia…. a conscious co-creator.

After the film we had the great boon of a question and answer with Daniel,  Joao Amorim (the film maker), Paul Stamets (Mushroom Guru),  John Barlow (Lyricist for the Grateful Dead) and musicians Rob Garza (of Thievery Corporation) and Alex Theory. This was very inspirational as well hearing their thoughts about the movie, their visions and hopes for the future and seeing how we can bring this change to the world.

Overall it was a very inspirational evening and synchronistic as well, given the strong focus on Permaculture, an idea that is long over due in our dis-harmonized world

After flying into San Fran last week to help my girl friend move to Cincinnati I stumbled across a brochure for the San Francisco Green Festival.  Much to my joy it just so happened to be taking place the day I picked up the brochure. I also stumbled across a flyer for the premier of the film “2012: Time for Change” by Daniel Pinchbeck and starring interviews with Sting, David Lynch, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Paul Stamets and many other movers & shakers in Evolutionary Scene. This Premier was going to host a Q & A after the showing with the Film Makers Daniel Pinchbeck, Joao Amorim, as well as Paul Stamets (the Mushroom Guru of the planet and major Evolutionary), John Barlow (Grateful Dead Lyricist), and several others. Little did I know I would be stumbling into such major pivotal green events in my travels, since I tend to dedicate so much time these days to the local and demonstration….. course the spirit had a grander plan!

To begin, Saturday’s list of events included Hunter Lovins, (a wonderful consultant and visionary at the top of the Green Heap, working with the largest organizations in the world, whether corporate or Governmental), Amy Goodman (Host of the radical News show “Democracy Now”), Starhawk (a Fringe Permaculturalist pushing the boundary’s on many fronts including earth spirituality). Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts I missed these speakers. However We did make it in time to catch Barbara Marx Hubbard, a visionary and freedom thinker that is well known in many progressive circles. Her talk was, well, more self reflective about the budding human evolution occurring on the planet and about where it is going in the next several years. I found her talk insightful, yet not very useful for getting this green evolution onto the ground. After that We found ourselves at a talk by Paul Stamets, which was inspirational, directional and fruitful in terms of where we need to go and how we need to proceed along that path (how could it not be with a sub title of “How Mushrooms can save the World”, which is a pretty radical statement by any main stream standards, but the bottom line is that it is true! I’ve heard his talk before and have had several friends who were students and devotees of his work, as it is so evolutionary in its thinking and results, how could one not want to follow and learn from such a great visionary. I find this type of thinking and energy so common in Permaculture circles its no wonder when one comes across this stuff one cannot help but get inspired and motivated to join the scene and evolve out minds. It is a Sea Course Change for Humanity. Paul took us on the wonderment of how foundational Fungus is to all life on the planet, how it can solve so many of our pollution problems, how it evolves very quickly to solve problems like breaking down newly encountered pollution and turning it into food. In Short, Mycelium is Like the Neuro-network of the planet, evolving, networking, and supporting all of this natural beauty on this planet. After his inspirational talk and finding a new convert in my girl friend, we wondered around the convention floor to see the many varied and diverse exhibitors that numbered over 200. They were selling everything under the sky, from clothes, to food, to green building, to art. Much to my dismay Permaculture had a relatively dismal representation, although we at OM Valley Permaculture hope to shift that as it is so fundamental to helping people see through the green washing, and most importantly help us learn how to live on this planet for the next millenium. Many of these exhibitors miss this larger picture and thus I question their viability over the 20, 100, or 1000 years. These are the ones that will be the fad, that will come and go when peoples whimsy’s evolve and shift.  Coming from a Automobile/product design background, I’m very familiar with this cycle, one that must be broken if we are to be successful species on this planet.

Sunday brought several more fruits, of which some were useful and others, well, not so. I’ll share the high points in respect to your time. We unfortunately showed a little too late to catch Paul Stamets talk on Cultivating Mushrooms (fortunately there are books as well my Colleague Romain Picasso, a current resident of Cincy and student of Paul’s can help on that front), so we spent the afternoon wandering through many booths, observing, learning and evolving, catching some talks here and there that we meandered in to. The highlight for the Green Festival on Sunday was a Tribute to the recently passed Howard Zinn (Author of “A Peoples History of the United States” and professor). This Tribute included Actor Danny Glover, Writer Alice Walker (the Color Purple), a film maker who has made a film on Howard and a few others. It was very insightful and inspiritional as well. Although, I still must express my disappointment  with the lack awareness of permaculture and the fruits it can bring to this planet, Overall it was very inspirational yet…. missing the necessary foundation for the evolution that the green scene needs, that of inspiration, Vision and action that can be taken on the individual level. That of a Sea Course Change for Humanity. One of Evolving from Net Consumers of the planets bank account of soil and resources to one of Net Producers of the planets Resources…. as simple as that.