PAN’s Work
What Does PAN Do? 4C’s!
PAN exists to grow and strengthen the network and support the effectiveness of all the local permaculture nodes (individuals, organizations, businesses, farms, etc.) across our region. We are focused on the 4C’s of Connectivity, Communications, Convening and Capacity-Building toward that purpose.
1-CONNECTIVITY – Who else is doing permaculture in your area? How do you find them? What learning resources and peer-to-peer connections are available? PAN will continue to grow connectivity tools to help you find what you need, connect to resources and people, and ultimately accelerate your ability to move along your permaculture path, whatever it may be. Connectivity might be online, at one of our regional gatherings and convergences or by connecting you directly to the resource or professional you need. Connectivity also means cross-pollinating with other affinity networks and movements! More of that on the docket soon!
2-COMMUNICATIONS – PAN’s website now features a directory of regional courses (more than 20 this year!) and a directory of demonstration sites and job/intern opportunities coming soon. We will be stepping up our social media presence, blog posts and newsletters in order to keep you posted on cutting-edge permaculture work in our region and around the globe.
3-CONVENING – Summer Convergences return in 2017 (perhaps in a more festival-style format!). This fall we are convening a professional development retreat for permaculture teachers. In February we gather with other local organizers and activists to share ideas and updates about the year ahead. We are available to spread the word on sub-regional gatherings and local convergences as well. One of the most powerful assets to our regional network is that we are operating at a scale that allows us to connect face-to-face for true connectivity and relationship-building.
4-CAPACITY-BUILDING – Fiscal sponsorship is one of the ways PAN can help your local project build capacity. Are you looking for grant money or tax deductible donations to fund your activities? As members of the Permaculture Association of the Northeast, you can use our nonprofit status to acquire those funds for your project. For more details on fiscal sponsorship click here: http://northeastpermaculture.org/fiscal-sponsorship/ And we hope that through connectivity, communications and convenings…we also achieve a level of capacity-building and skill-sharing that is just hard to get otherwise.
PAN’s History
PAN-supported summer convergences draw hundreds of people annually.
The Northeast Permaculture Network is a decentralized body of people — farmers, teachers, designers, organizers, authors, researchers, extension agents and other permaculture enthusiasts — who in a diversity of ways are working toward advancing permaculture design principles and ethics as a new cultural paradigm. We apply and integrate permaculture-aligned skills and principles at home, in our communities, towns and cities; in our businesses, livelihoods and relationships.
PAN exists to support the people in the Northeast Permaculture Network. Starting in January 2005, permaculture activists throughout the Northeast have been meeting and actively creating a network for mutually supporting each other and advancing permaculture solutions among the wider public in our region. They sought to identify existing resources and create beneficial relationships among them; to envision and design ways to share experiences, information, and resources; to identify and meet each other’s needs.
At ongoing organizing meetings, which employ Open Space Technology and facilitated discussions, six themes consistently emerge as regionally-relevant goals and priorities:
1. Increase connection among people practicing, teaching, or otherwise involved in permaculture in the Northeast.
2. Support, create, and inform the public and each other of permaculture demonstration projects.
3. Spread “bio and brain matter”! That is, establish plant and seed banks or databases to share plant knowledge and genetics. Develop resources so that we know “who has what where” and “who needs what.” Develop a system for barter, for collaboration on breeding and improving appropriate varieties for the region, and for advancing awareness and knowledge about under-acknowledged multifunction plants.
4. Support and advance permaculture and forest gardening through research, scientific trials, and case studies.
5. Develop and organize regional conferences and events.
6. Reach out to the broader sustainability movement, marginalized groups, and a “mainstream” audience, to share and further develop permaculture knowledge and skills.
Over the years, an annual summer gathering or ‘Summer Convergence’ has emerged as a tradition; a variety of regional-scale online resources have been developed, including a listserv, wiki, NING and blog; the Apios Institute was formed to support research, design, and practice of regenerative perennial agriculture for our region/climate.
PAN is incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit organization.
SOLIDARITY STATEMENT
The Permaculture Association of the Northeast recognizes that much of permaculture practice is rooted in Traditional Indigenous Knowledge. We honor these foundational contributions and are committed to fostering a more just and inclusive movement. As part of our mission, we work to create safe, welcoming spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and all members of our diverse communities, while respecting and uplifting all living systems.
Guided by the core permaculture ethics—Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share—we cultivate an anti-racist society that ensures dignity, equity, and opportunity for all. We believe that growing food in a holistic, life-affirming way can nourish not just individuals, but entire communities and ecosystems.
Caring for people begins with recognizing that all living beings are interconnected and interdependent, as nature intended. None of us are free until all of us are free. This understanding calls us to confront the systems that perpetuate injustice and suffering. Extending care and compassion to our incarcerated and missing relatives is essential to healing the generational trauma disproportionately experienced by people of color. True people care requires working to dismantle these systems and the ideology that sustains them.
To care for the Earth is to reckon with the wounds of the past, commit to the path of healing and regeneration, and to honor all who have tended her—across generations past, present, and future. The Earth is a living, breathing system of systems that requires compassionate listening to prevent further pollution and remediate the current ecological destruction. While the Earth will eventually find it’s equilibrium, we must radically shift our way of life in order to build sustainable ways to stay in harmony with the planet for generations to come.
Finally, Fair Share means recognizing the abundance that surrounds us—and sharing it. Nature provides all that we need and more, and without her natural resources, we would certainly be extinct. Fair Share also means recognizing the limits of these resources and honoring the fact that we do only have one planet for all creatures to inhabit. Only by distributing resources equitably can we co-create a dignified and thriving existence for all.
For the past 20 years, PAN has centered inclusivity in our organizational culture. Since our founding values statement in 2005, we have always advocated – and will continue advocating – for a vision of permaculture built upon social justice and liberatory values. We expect that members of our organization share these values. We welcome those from Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities, those with diverse class backgrounds, and any who occupy marginal positions in our society, to join us in building a new world from the ashes of the old. Without this acknowledgement, the permaculture community could only replicate the harms that led to its own inception.
Thank you for joining us on this journey and we look forward to growing together!