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Within minutes of arriving at the
convergence – an eco-camping site on the shores of Lake Batak (a
reservoir really) – I was greeted with “you're in a meeting in 10
minutes”. I quickly realised that this was going to be another busy
and intense permaculture convergence experience.
It already had been for more than a
week.
The European Permaculture Teachers Partnership – a project funded by the European Union's Life Long Learning
Programme had completed its final meeting, with fifty or so
participants helping to evaluate the project, put finishing touches
to the website and final report, and lay plans for the next stages of
the work, post funding. It had been a very busy and productive week
for those participants and understandably, there was an interest in
passing on some of the convergence facilitation to someone else.
Hence the meeting with me in 10 minutes...
So after some discussion, I was part of
the new convergence facilitator team, alongside Davie Philip, Peter
Cow and Ana Huertas. A decision had already been made use an 'Open
Space Technology' approach, which I have used a lot, so the main
issue was sorting logistics and formulating the central organising
question. A wonderful rich discussion ensued with people around the
table from countries across Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, the
Balkans, Germany, France, Ireland and more. Our final question was
“How can we design and co-create the permaculture (r)evolution?”
Quite a big question then.
To be honest, if we had said “How can
European Permaculture get to Mars by 2020?” many of the open space
sessions offered would have been the same. But that's fine. What we
got was a wonderful programme that was strategic, practical, local
and global. There were sessions on song and deep culture,
permaculture consultancy, the gift economy and international
research, and about another 70 sessions in just the first 2 days.
But before we go into the programme and
content of the EUPC, lets just have a quick look round. I almost
forgot to do so – I think I left the campsite once during my stay –
but lets not make that mistake again. Lake Batak is stunningly
beautiful. Its in the Rhodopian mountain range in southern Bulgaria.
Early homo sapiens passed through on their way out of Africa, and
quite a few hung around making cool stuff out of stones, so in terms
of human history, its truly ancient. Alongside the paleolithic and
neo-paleolithic people, Thracians, Romans, Greeks, Bulgars, Ottomans
and Russians all spent time here, leaving interesting remains,
traditions and a rich agricultural heritage, including a lot of grape
vines. The woodlands are lush with tall herbs and huge mushrooms. The
markets and roadsides are full of local produce (lots of global too),
the fruit and vegetables are truly delicious and the alcohol is
strong. There is still a thriving smallholder tradition, most people
have land, and many live in the city, and they are also recovering
from years of authoritarian rule and corruption. Its messy,
complicated and beautiful.
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Lake Batak (Gregor Scholtyssek)
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And then came the rain. Well actually
it had been raining for weeks already, which is very unusual, because
in Bulgaria it rains five times in the summer at the most. They had
had weeks of it, it was even cold. Lake Batak had swelled and some of
the campsite was underwater. Unusual weather, a changing climate. The
convergence was set up for warm weather and shade from the sun, not
torrential rain. It felt like the International Permaculture
Convergence in Cuba all over again. I was worried it might descend
into disorganised wet chaos. There was no large covered space for
everyone/ So, when after possibly one of the longest overnight spells
of torrential rain I can ever remember, it stopped, there was a
collective sigh of relief. Rumblings of thunder and distant lightning
were present for most of the event, but after the first night's rain,
it mostly just taunted us from afar. {Note to self: make sure IPC-UK
has a very large covered space for 1000 people... Oh we have –
good!}
Before the rain was humour. Mihail
Kossev co-organised the event with an incredible crew of friends,
family, and a Permaculture Design Course group that had been helping
for nearly six months. During the event a small german team, with
Jillian Hovey steering, managed to do a lot of on-site support. Many
people were busy behind the scenes, but front of house was Mihail.
Banjo in hand, hat on head, his smooth crooning and god jokes got us
a long way, and calls of “Free ice cream” helped boost numbers at
the opening circles too. With Todor on reception, Misha on people
care and Mihail on banjo, we had everything we needed for an
enjoyable and probably safe five day rollercoaster ride.
So after all the games and regional
networking, the hanging out at bars drinking fruit smoothies and very
strong rakia, the queues for delicious food and washing up, the
awkward “so where are you from” moments, swimming in Lake Bakal,
and listening to amazing music every night (including the Formidable
Vegetable Sound System, and three troupes of traditional Bulgarian
singers and dancers), what did nearly 280 people from 25 countries
actually do....?
Well, for me the big learnings,
achievements and moments were mainly focussed on the organisation and
networking side of things, so my report is biased to that. Many of
the workshops looked more at the practice of permaculture, and
connections to other initiatives. But for me the highlights were:
- Learning about an amazing gift economy experiment in Romania, run from the home of Dan and Adela – Casa de Cultura Permanenta (www.facebook.com/PermanentAcasa or http://permanentacasa.wordpress.com/). Its like 'instant cohousing'. A paradigm shift of sharing that seems to be taking hold in towns across Romania. They are answers to the question: what happens when we really share?
- ECOLISE was presented – a new european collaboration between Transition, the Global Eco-village Network, organisations tackling climate change, and permaculture. The Permaculture Association is already a member, and it looks like we will now be joined by many other permaculture organisations – a great result.
- The newly formed Serbian Association and the emerging Bulgarian Association got lots of advice and support and got a huge boost of energy, ideas and motivation for their task of supporting permaculture in their countries.
- The European Permaculture Council took a big step forwards, with new people getting involved and an agreement to link each national association to it so that it gets more support and achieves its new mission to: “...actively support the ethical and resilient Europe through nurturing an effective permaculture network with strong connections to wider society and the world.”
- Regional networks formed and made steps forward – a Danube alliance, a South East Europe network / Balkan collaboration, mediterranean clusters.... as well as many regional, project and personal links
- Researchers met and discussed the opportunities in Europe and how they could engage with the newly-formed Permaculture International Research Network. Lots of interest in linking outstanding projects in each country with local universities to build interest and knowledge, and turning our 'significant practical issues' into questions for young researchers.
- We discussed international permaculture's Next Big Step – the project to host an international discussion about how permaculture can develop into a truly effective international network – that will pull together thinking for discussion and design at the International Permaculture Convergence in the UK next September. Two really useful sessions were held and lots of great ideas and proposals emerged that will help to strengthen the project, and ensure it reaches more people.
Not everything was perfect. More
attention to workshop development by some contributors, a stronger
focus on attendees presenting their design work, and a larger space
for everyone to meet would have helped, as would the reminder to
bring ear plugs for light sleepers!
However, with mountains as backdrop,
lighting by lightning, to the sound of thunder and distant wild
horses, something wonderful emerged on the shores of Lake Batak. As
the closing circle slowly formed and appreciations were invited for
place, people, and organisers a growing realisation formed. With
every announcement of what had been achieved and each commitment to
action described, it dawned on me that the central question posed by
open space had been answered - “How can we design and co-create the
permaculture (r)evolution?” - in many different ways, each
contributing as best they can – its a distributed self-organising
effort. And to the question “Can we design and co-create the
permaculture (r)evolution?” the answer is simply yes, we are.
Permaculture solutions are emerging across Europe, slowly but surely,
gaining support, connecting with each other, and out to many
different other networks and groups. It has momentum and energy, and
we have nature on our side.
Andy Goldring
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| Closing circle (Hristo Valchev) |
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