A Podcast and Article by Jan Spencer
Good news. Jan Spencer, Northwest permaculture advocate, has a 12,000 word article in the current issue of Permaculture Design Magazine, a Permaculture Activist Magazine dating back decades.
Jan was asked to write an article about transportation. The feature article, with graphics and fotos, includes a point by point critique of cars based on permaculture’s 12 principles. Not surprisingly, cars fail convincingly on each principle. The article explains how cars and suburbia are essentially, work projects promoted by the government and business interests to feed the over-consumption, socially engineered consumer culture and growth based economy.
Jan compares the urban footprint of Atlanta, Georgia with Barcelona, Spain. The two urban areas have similar populations but Atlanta takes up almost 25 times the space of Barcelona because it is designed for cars and suburbia. Jan also describes his 24 year suburban permaculture project in Eugene as an example of what suburbia can become in a paradigm shift scenario and how transforming suburbia could create many thousands of jobs and produce many other benefits.
The article touches on many points from Jan’s ongoing book in the making, “A Primer For Paradigm Shift” such as prioritizing our time and money. Jan also will have a new audio production on the air in late May/early June with Spirit In Action Radio. You can find the 51 minute podcast here. The topic is taking paradigm shift ideas and actions to a wider audience. Jan suggests putting capitalism into a truth and reconciliation process. Jan provides a thoughtful blueprint of what that might look like.
Consider subscribing to Permaculture Design Magazine. You can find more about A Primer For Paradigm Shift at www.suburbanpermaculture.org or search on line, “Jan Spencer, paradigm shift”