Without protagonism, nothing happens

 

Dear readers and permaculturists,

Welcome to the first issue of Perma, a scientific-popular journal designed to popularize permaculture!

We will present a brief roadmap of the development of Perma Journal up to this day, and then we will share some reflections on the importance we give to this initiative facing the ecological and civilizational challenges we experience in our time.

The construction of Perma Journal began in July 2017, when the 1^st Permaculture Design Course (PDC) for Academy was offered at Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) – a public and non-profitable institution located in Southern Brazil. This PDC was promoted by the Permaculture Study Group. At the same occasion, the Brazilian Network of Groups and Studies in Permaculture was also established. The Perma Journal’s structuring began at the end of 2018 at UFSC, but remained on hold during the next 4 years and, in 2022, the Journal was linked to Federal University of Pampa (Unipampa) infrastructure, where it was incorporated into that institution academic journal’s portal. After that, the first call for submissions were opened and a series of technical challenges appeared, causing the migration of the journal from the Unipampa infrastructure to a new one, self-managed by Brazilian Network of Groups and Studies in Permaculture hosted into UFSC servers.

Without the intention of following the conformities and requirements of a conventional scientific periodic, Perma Journal aims to integrate and unite ancient and academic knowledge and, in order to reach this, we are constantly adapting to communicate with audiences who practice different languages ​​and aspirations, always looking for the popularization of the Permaculture.

By not identifying with the standard of double-blind review process, Perma Journal operates its review workflow in a “horizontal”, open, interactive and circular way. The systematization and gauging of this process took considerable time for the editorial team, but we are creating a robust structure for our communication channel to increase resilience and will be an important and collaborative space for building and sharing permaculture knowledge.

The moment we launched the first flowering and harvested the first fruits of Perma Journal – in this silent spring (Carson, 1962) which is one of the hottest in the last decade – mainly in Brazil – we are immediately confronted with an undeniable truth: our species faces unprecedented existential challenges. The risk of collapse of natural systems, global warming, socio-environmental catastrophes and crimes, mass migrations, floods, climate refugees, they are all no longer distant headlines, and are now on our doorstep (Haraway, 2016; Rockström et al., 2009).

The heat of our territories and bodies echoes the warming of the Earth system, and the magnitude of the ecological and psychosomatic challenges of this scenario can drive many people to despair, known as eco-anxiety (Suzuki, 2023). On the other hand, instead of remaining inert and watching Mother Earth become ill, we can be inspired by the courage and proactive attitude of the original people who resist with its permacultures in the territories of Abya Yala¹ (Porto-Gonçalves, 2009).

From where we are writing – Brazil – the Afropindoramic² people (Dos Santos, 2015) teach us that, how to face these challenges, we need to appreciate and seek for inspiration on ancestral ways of life, based in love, in the recovery of knowledge and spiritual values ​​through alliances and emotional bonds, looking for autonomy that respects different life projects (Lawn, 2022; Two Saints, 2015; Escobar, 2015; Ferreira & Felicio, 2021; Kothari et al., 2022; MAYÁ, 2022; Mies & Shiva, 2021). Beyond the concern with miraculous technical and macropolitical solutions, we have to start changing from where we are and following the way we want to live seeking for reconnection with the Living Earth (Harding, 2013).

For us, permaculture presents itself as another way of reconnection with the Earth through systemic and community perspectives, of sustainable living on small and medium scales (Mollison & Holmgren, 1990), encouraging us to imagine and design new landscapes, change our practices, systems and our relationship with other living beings that cohabit the Earth in these times of ruin of capitalism (Tsing, 2019).

In Brazil, the confluence of experiences and learning developed after biointeractions of original and Afro-diasporic³ people (Dos Santos, 2015, Ferreira and Felício, 2021) reinforces the different ways of knowing and interacting with the world and, can teach us a lot about valuing diversity in the transition to a more sustainable project of life (Escobar, 2015; Kothari et al., 2022). Our commitment as permaculturists with permacultures of the present time must be to value the union between academic and ancestral knowledge, to recognize and/or create solutions that transcend the limitations of “top-down” approaches and isolated individual actions (Henderson, 2012; Henfrey & Ford, 2018). At this context, permaculture invites us to take part – individually and collectively – from wherever we are. Because the answers need to emerge from the ground of our territories, from different contexts and places at the same time.

In Brazil, the first PDC was offered more than 30 years ago, in parallel to ECO 92 (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development – Rio 92 – Earth Summit) by Bill Mollison. Since then, a “Brazilian permaculture” has been developed, originally designed to operate based on institutes created in each biome, aiming to adapt the concepts and systemic logics of permaculture in each of our bioclimatic contexts, also seeking to facilitate its dissemination throughout the national territory. The dissemination of this rich experience of knowledge construction – inside and outside academia – is the main objective of Perma Journal.

We encourage the publication of reflections and experiences of people who experience permaculture through theoretical and practical pathways, and with this we also wish to consolidate a platform dedicated to the collaborative construction and sharing of knowledge about permaculture and its intersections.

Following the advice of a Brazilian indigenous thinker Ailton Krenak and the inspiring quilombola⁴ leader Nêgo Bispo – who returned to the land while we were writing this text – we need to stop developing in the capitalist sense and start getting involved in the sense of Life!(Dos Santos, 2015; Krenak, 2020). This needs to be the “spirit of our time”!

Therefore, it is with great enthusiasm that we now offer you the first flowers and fruits of this project cultivated from the living and cognitive seeds of sustainability that we wish to see flourish!

We hope you get involved, enjoy, and spread the word!

Letícia, Arthur and Antonio

Review by Alexandre Nanni

 

REFERENCES

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Céspedes, D. C. (2022). Geapolítica del Vivir Bien (1^o ed). Vicepresidencia del Estado Plurinacional,. https://www.vicepresidencia.gob.bo/IMG/pdf/geapolitica_del_vivir_bien_dch-2.pdf

Dos Santos, A. B. (2015). Colonização, Quilombos, Modos e Significações (Vol. 1). INCTI/Universidade de Brasília.

Escobar, A. (2015). Territorios de diferencia: La ontología política de los “derechos al territorio”. Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente, 35. https://doi.org/10.5380/dma.v35i0.43540

Ferreira, J., & Felício, E. (2021). Por Terra e Território: Caminhos da Revolução dos Povos no Brasil. Teia dos Povos.

Haraway, D. (2016). Antropoceno, Capitaloceno, Plantationoceno, Chthuluceno: Fazendo parentes. ClimaCom – Vulnerabilidade (online). http://climacom.mudancasclimaticas.net.br/antropoceno-capitaloceno-plantationoceno-chthuluceno-fazendo-parentes/

Harding, S. (2013). Terra Viva: Ciência, Intuição E A Evolução De Gaia. Cultrix.

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Henfrey, T., & Ford, L. (2018). Permacultures of transformation: Steps to a cultural ecology of environmental action. Journal of Political Ecology, 25(1), Artigo 1. https://doi.org/10.2458/v25i1.22758

Kothari, A., Salleh, A., Escobar, A., Demaria, F., & Acosta, A. (2022). Pluriverso: Um dicionário do pós-desenvolvimento. Editora Elefante.

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Suzuki, S. (2023, abril 22). O que é “ecoansiedade”, angústia pelo planeta que atinge mais crianças e adolescentes. BBC NEWS – São Paulo. https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/articles/c84m3j2nx7po

Tsing, A. (2019). Viver nas ruínas: Paisagens multiespécies no antropoceno. IEB Mil Folhas.