Steven Lindsay

I searched thru the permies fora and didn't find any reference to this study.
With the European Parliament recently reaffirming the dire consequences of Climate Change on agriculture, solid evidence for the benefits of permaculture are important to demonstrate to direct taxpayer funds to proven solutions.
Agriculture is ridiculously subsidized in Europe (even though it only accounts for about 1% of economic output) but efforts to reduce or redirect funding meets very stiff opposition.
A study published in Nature provides solid evidence that Permaculture is better for agricultural land, and thus deserves to receive financial support (and hopefully redirect such funds Away from harmful practices).

Permaculture enhances carbon stocks, soil quality and biodiversity in Central Europe
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01405-8

It is pretty negative, and makes a lot of assumptions, the biggest being that the only way to live is "like us", or like it is here, now.
Many studies have demonstrated that indigenous communities thrived for millennia creating a net environmental Gain ie things were better Because of their existence than without it.
Not all indigenous communities though. Tim Flannery's The Future Eaters demonstrated how aboriginal Australians consumed resources in a way that eliminated mega fauna and radically transformed the flora leading to desertification and dependence on wildfire.
Not so Amazonian indigenous; their practices created a biom that absorbs much more carbon than is emitted, and a richer biodiversity than if they were not there. https://rainforestfoundation.org/scientific-evidence-points-to-indigenous-peoples-forest-management-as-key-to-climate-change-mitigation/
So I guess the answer is "it depends which/whose babies". I recall reading a USA baby consumes 7 times more resources than an Indonesian one. Probably infinitely more than an Amazonian one.
Perhaps if we all had Amazonian babies the world would improve. or if we Don't have western babies the world would be better off.
Or could we convert Western babies to Amazonian babies?
Who was it said "be the change you want to see in the world".
Even the capitalists are talking about "net zero", agriculturists about "regenerative practices"
Maybe we can turn this ship around?

yes indeed, that's what EVERYONE is doing! the trick being of course to get to the top of the pile. I'm thinking of things like youtube 'watchlists', collections of many short vids. Enthusiasts can binge watch and newbies might catch them browsing or pushed by algorithms.
There are agencies dedicated to sourcing talent for cameos, voiceovers etc. WOM or the '6 degrees' may be more effective in securing folk with a personal attachement to the issues that otherwise are difficult to contact ie Earth Alliance co-founder Leonardo DiCaprio, former US Vice President Al Gore, David Attemborough etc

regarding 'infecting 1million brains', current practice seems to be to chop campaigns up into thousands of small chunks and release them in an endless drip feed ie long informational video (cheap heat)  broken down into 20-30 sec, 1-2 minute & 5-10 minute segments, dribbled out regularly over several weeks, optimized for each time zone (of course this can all be scheduled in advance and pushed to several platforms simultaneously).
Have celebrities read aloud short sections of the book.
This can infect brains two ways; the small bits may entice folk to purchase the whole book/video, and by watching many of the short segments folk will accumulate many of the key ideas.
This could be a push toward a target date (earth day) or until all the information is delivered.
If privacy isn't a concern use all the available digital platforms, and remember there are many more billions of souls that use languages other than English. Many open-source projects use the process of translation as a gateway into new communities.

paul wheaton wrote:THINKY-BIT-140: While I feel like everything I do is earth day stuff, the most important thing I have is the better world book.  

THINKY-BIT-141: It does seem like earth day is the day where permaculture stuff will go 20 times further than a regular day.

THINKY-BIT-142: if 100 million people read my book, I think most global problems would be solved.

THINKY-BIT-143:  I doubt I could get even a million people to read my book this year, let alone earth day.  Maybe the focus should be 5000 for earth day?

THINKY-BIT-144:  I always thought that making a super sweet deal for 12 of the better world books would lead to exponential growth.  It didn't.

THINKY-BIT-145:  Our printed flyer turned out really cool.  I cannot help but think that getting that flyer into the hands of people will result in joyous good things!

THINKY-BIT-146:  I think the thread about a shy person giving away 12 books is good.  

THINKY-BIT-147:  maybe we should upgrade the 12 physical books thing to include a flyer for each book?  

THINKY-BIT-148:   The carbon footprint vid has the ebook available for free

Steve Smyth wrote:FWIW: I just spoke to Drew at the machine shop from the original post. He said that they are still making the parts for this.

He is sending me more info.

Thanks Steve.
Drew who?
Which machine shop?
Phone number and address would help.
Every time someone asks for specifics the line goes dead.

bootup

nice. Had a quick look.
comments;
- under heading So Much More, first words are "simple solar pump, spinning wheel..." but image is a picnic table- bit confusing
-Rocket Kiln image is elsewhere labeled Rocket Engine under Explore the Low Tech Laboratory 3D Plans- suggest using same term for same image
- caution against using dates ie 2022, 2012 in homepage, can make the info seem obsolete eg we're already at the end of 2023, even 2022 seems old Keep dates for details inside descriptions.

please provide a referral link.

TIA

thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback. The metrics on return vs effort are interesting.
I think you should not be shy about sending out too many emails. Sure, some people may get annoyed, but it's so easy to ignore/delete/unsubscribe an email.
If you're worried about turning off loyal subscribers perhaps target repeat promotions to those that haven't responded/clicked thru/ purchased etc
It's true that folks are inundated with emails these days, but from personal experience I know that even for things I want to do it might take several prompts; I don't resent it.
Regarding Videos/movies in general; these days I'm more including to want to read text/diagrams that watch a video, unless it's for entertainment or some specific instruction that benefits from video ie vehicle repair
Consequently I've avoided most of the videos of workshops/general information. I just don't have the time or patience, find it quicker to read a book/article (online or paper)

Keep up the good work.

Devaka Cooray wrote:

Steven Lindsay wrote:I followed the emailed link to the document page, clicked on the Buy button, connected to Coinbase and got stuck of the verification page "make sure this is a merchant you trust...".
Clicking/swiping, staring intently, swearing, nothing makes that page go away, no way to proceed and complete payment.
Or maybe I've already paid 18 times, who knows?

Did you try this on a mobile device or desktop?

mobile, android 11, vpn