Yearly Archives: 2002

Red Hook Village Green Committee

November 5, 2002
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This community group is dedicated to beautifying and ensuring the ecological health of the Village of Red Hook. Mark S. Meritt and Jennifer Norris volunteer. From Fall 2002 through the end of 2004, Mark served as an officer of the group as well as its webmaster.

Visit the Red Hook Village Green Committee website.

Forestry Management Plan

One of Mark’s most significant achievements during his time as an officer was collaborating in the creation of a Forestry Management Plan for the Village of Red Hook. With Mark’s input, the plan ended up designed around some key systems principles. Learn more about and read the plan.

Hudson Valley Potluck

July 31, 2002
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In a potluck, everyone brings a little something different. The job of creating the experience is shared and so made easier on everyone. And because all sorts of things are brought to the table, everyone gets out more than they put in. It’s a win-win situation in which the whole, through diversity and connection, is more than the sum of its parts. Whether you’re talking about food or anything else, when unique individuals come together to give life to each other through community, you’ve got a potluck.

These are some of the key ideas we can use to make things better for ourselves, our communities and the world. Inspired by the work of Daniel Quinn and many others, Hudson Valley Potluck is group of people in the Hudson Valley region of New York State who come together to discuss these kinds of ideas and to help each other put them into practice. What can you offer the potluck, and what can the potluck offer you?

History

Mark S. Meritt co-founded this local Ishmael group for the Hudson Valley region in July 2002, creating a Yahoo Group to help coordinate it. In September 2004, Mark was appointed the organizer of the Poughkeepsie Daniel Quinn Meetup group. They became two faces of a single integrated group. In May 2005, Meetup decided to charge all groups a fee to maintain activity. Due to a general lack of activity within the group, it was not deemed worthwhile to pay fees to keep the Meetup group going. Since then, the Meetup group has had no organizer and has remained in limbo, while Hudson Valley Potluck remains nominally in tact.

The group’s goings on have included:

The Next Step: Collaborators

April 7, 2002
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First, the little online magazine I started last fall through my local ISP evolved in February into Sostenuto — The Systems-Thinking Magazine of Arts & Sciences, finding a more permanent home at Permaculture.net.

Now, I’m thrilled to announce that Sostenuto has taken its next significant step. After a five-month recruitment process, nine people joined me in early March to form a core group of collaborators who will create and maintain the full-fledged magazine that Sostenuto is becoming. Representing four countries and three continents, my new colleagues have varied backgrounds and a complementary set of interests and talents that should help turn the magazine into a place truly worth visiting on a regular basis. Visit our staff page to find out more about this dynamic and diverse group. As we clarify our roles and eventually add other staff members, we will keep this page updated as a place to find out about the people who make up the magazine.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that no new content has been posted for some time. Behind the scenes, we’re developing articles, planning how to organize the site and conceiving of completely new visual designs. In the end, we’ll have a functional and attractive site in which different voices cover a wide array of topics from a unique perspective.

Mark S. Meritt, Editor

Sostenuto Staff

April 7, 2002
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Chris Benjamin — Editor
Ajay Chheda — Editor
Howard Ditkoff — Editor
Shaun Hensher — Editor
Chris Lovell — Editor
Mark S. Meritt — Founder, Editor
Daniel Mossberg — Editor
Jamie Myxter — Editor
Malin Östman — Editor
Jonathan Walton — Editor

Chris Benjamin — Editor

Chris Benjamin (a.k.a. Benji) has been a writer since birth, a wax philosopher since puberty and a Community Consultant in the healthcare sector since February 2002. He grew up in East Coast Canada’s suburban badlands and emerged in 1997 with a Marketing Communications degree from Dalhousie University. For the next two years he found himself writing market analyses for would-be Thomas Edisons, learning about mad conservation science in St. Lucia, administrating environmentalism from afar, publicizing pollution problems through the multimedia and planning an expansion of the environmental health industry. He has a Masters degree in Environmental Communication from York University in Toronto. Late in 2000, he traveled to Indonesia to complete a public consultation about environmental information sharing. He has been published as an academic, freelancer and staff writer and edited many a newsletter, too.

Most recently, Benji hitched many rides right across Canada’s landmass, camped and farmed for seven months, learning how to maintain a sustainable food supply on a micro-scale.

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Ajay Chheda — Editor

Born in Bombay (now Mumbai, India) and raised in Houston (Texas, USA), Ajay Chheda, an Indian cowboy, is a melange of cross-cultural experiences.

For many years, his interests revolved around the aging-related process and the elucidation of the same from a biological perspective. Towards that end, one aspect of his formal education consists of a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Caltech and a Master of Science in Immunology and Molecular Oncology from New York University. Additionally, he has conducted doctoral level research in the field of DNA repair.

While pursuing his biological interests, Ajay (as well as many others) realized that the nature of conducting scientific research had changed drastically from expectations. More and more, traditional “business” practices had started to encroach into the scientific arena. Thus, Ajay decided to join the Deming Scholars Program at Fordham University for his Masters in Business Administration. Having never heard of Dr. W. Edwards Deming or his management philosophy, he was pleasantly surprised by the content of the program and at his own learnings. It was in this program
that Ajay was introduced to Daniel Quinn’s book Ishmael.

Ajay’s current interests derive from the intersection of evolutionary biology, genetics, organizational behavior, psychology, statistics, philosophy of cooperation and virtue, management theory, game theory, systems thinking and epistemology.

He currently resides in Jersey City, NJ (USA), with his wife, Jennifer, and works as a management consultant on the Deming System of Profound Knowledge and 14 Points for Management. Over the years, Ajay has worked or consulted with many firms and individuals such as Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, PricewaterhouseCoopers, TIS Worldwide and UVentures.

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Howard Ditkoff — Editor

Dr. Howard Ditkoff brings to Sostenuto a diverse background of skills and experience. Dr. Ditkoff received his B.A. in Psychology in 1995 from the University of Michigan, where he earned class honors and was a James B. Angell Scholar. He went on to earn his M.D. from Wayne State University in 2000, garnering departmental commendations in Psychiatry and Neurology. His years in college and medical school included experience doing Orthopaedic research and volunteer work at Mott Women’s and Childrens’ Hospital in Ann Arbor. In addition, he volunteered to serve the indigent population at the Cass Clinic in Detroit, as well as being involved in the Code Blue program, in which medical students speak to inner city youth about various health issues.

In addition to his background in medicine and psychology, Dr. Ditkoff has experience in the business and computer software worlds. As Co-Founder and Vice President of Business Development at Simplewire, Inc., he helped set up a global network among telecommunications carriers worldwide. In addition, he played key roles in business development, public relations, human resources and sales. Howard is now involved in a new project, The Linx Institute, which offers a student-centered, community-based educational option for high schoolers who wish to have more control over their educational process, while learning about various subjects in an interconnected fashion, rather than in a strict disciplinary methodology.

Howard’s other personal interests include guitar, music theory, basketball, philosophy and education of the gifted. He is also the founder of a 20- and 30-something special interest group for Southeast Michigan Mensa and of the Friends of Ishmael Society, an organization devoted to publicizing and coordinating readership of the work of Daniel Quinn, author of Ishmael.

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Shaun Hensher — Editor

Shaun is a graduate of Graphic Design at Cambrian College of Applied Arts and Technology in Sudbury, Ontario, where he now resides. He is the owner and senior designer of Brainfuse Design, a firm that places great importance on the ethical issues of the advertising and design world. He is a painter, sculptor and photographer. Raised in a small town in Northern Ontario, he has an inherent love of nature and a spiritual connection with the forest. He is also a strong advocate of social justice and is actively involved in activism and global justice groups.

Shaun was a founding member of H.E.M.P. North 2000, an activist group in Sudbury, Ontario, that worked to educate the public and politicians about the benefits of legalizing hemp as an agricultural crop (hemp has since been legalized in Canada). He was also the creator of the Hemp Ribbon Campaign, a campaign designed to raise awareness about hemp as a sustainable resource.

Shaun has always been a constant student and strong believer in personal evolution and is always looking for new challenges and new adventures.

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Chris Lovell — Editor

Chris is a writer, academic researcher, musician, bricoleur and opportunistic hunter-forager. He received a Bachelor of Science (Chemistry) from the University of Western Australia, a Bachelor of Science (ecology) and a Bachelor of Arts (anthropology) from the University of Queensland.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, he grew up in Perth, Western Australia, and now resides in Brisbane, Queensland. Never the specialist, he explores a broad range of interests spanning anthropology, archaeology, botany, ecology, evolutionary biology, ethology, mycology, chemistry, tourism, development, environmental science, funk, jazz, blues, rock, electronica, bricolage in furniture design and manufacture, bush tucker, hunting, foraging, and weapon design and construction.

Currently, Chris is completing an intensive study program for honors in anthropology at the University of Queensland investigating the cultural origins of domestication in Southwest Asia between 12,000 and 10,000BP and their biological consequences. He aims to illustrate how the choice to farm appeared culturally rational to those early farmers, but now appears otherwise, at least in terms of evolutionary/ecological theory. Chris aims to further his academic career by gaining doctoral candidature in 2003.

Alongside this intensive study program, Chris continues editing for Sostenuto, developing skills on guitar and Djembe drum, building furniture by bricolage, retrofitting his VW Combi, supplementing his income by minor employment and, of course, opportunistically foraging.

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Mark S. Meritt — Founder, Editor

Mark has served as an editor of Sostenuto since he founded it in September 2001. He has long pursued a profound interest in ecology and society. It led him to enroll at the City University of New York Graduate Center, where he received a masters degree (MA 2001) in Liberal Studies, concentrating in Bioethics, Science and Society and customizing his own curriculum in ecology and society. He is currently writing a book based on his thesis on sustainability, which won the Liberal Studies Annual Thesis Prize for best departmental thesis. Mark was also invited to attend a seminar with author Daniel Quinn in 1999, and in 2000 he delivered a paper related to his thesis at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association.

These pursuits, however, are, in the grand scheme, a relatively recent addition to Mark’s repertoire. Since childhood and continuing through this day, Mark has been deeply involved in the arts. While still in high school, Mark composed and co-wrote his first musical, Cupid’s Arrow, which he also directed and conducted. He was a Theatre Arts major at Cornell University (BA 1992, Phi Beta Kappa), where he studied directing with Pulitzer Prize nominee David Feldshuh, made several short films (see 1, 2) and won the department’s screenwriting competition for his short script, Bait and Switch. Mark has directed and composed for various academic and professional stage productions.

Having been represented by the Farber Literary Agency (NYC) and Susan Smith & Associates (Beverly Hills), Mark co-wrote the original screenplays Citizen Arcane, a.k.a. The Lion’s Share (a review selection at Francis Ford Coppola’s screenplay discovery web site), Stage Dad and Deadline; an original stage musical, The Right Circles; and a children’s book, Hugh Manatee. He also co-wrote a piece that was selected as one of six finalists for New Millennium Pictures’ 1996 screenwriter search.

During a four-year stint in New York City, he helped coordinate the 1996 Independent Feature Film Market, wrote coverage for Jersey Films and provided piano accompaniment for several cabarets and multiple spots on ABC’s Good Morning America, including a special Christmas segment with Rosie O’Donnell (also see 1, 2). Now living in upstate New York with his wife Jennifer Norris, Mark continues to pursue his work in dramatic writing, composing, songwriting and accompaniment, intending to dive into writing and directing independent films as soon as he finishes his book. Since early 1998, he has earned a living as a Marketing Analyst for Doctors Without Borders, the international humanitarian relief organization that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

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Daniel Mossberg — Editor

I am a student at Uppsala University, in Uppsala, Sweden, where I am studying Environmental and Development Studies. The course deals with a wide variety of themes and issues, like man’s relationship to nature, what is human nature? what is development? what is globalization? I am 25 years old.

I finished high school in the spring of 1996 and went on to do military service in the army, something every man has to do in Sweden. After three months, I was allowed to leave and do a civil service the following year. I returned home and lived with my mother, trying to write a collection a poems and figure out what to do with my life. In the summer of 1997 I travelled and participated in three volunteer camps. The first one was at a peace center up in the mountains outside of Dublin, Ireland, where we did some renovations and discussed the situation in Northern Ireland. Then I travelled to Reading, England, outside of London. There we also did some renovations at the community center and took part in community work. The last volunteer camp I did that summer was in Washington, D.C., where we worked at a soup kitchen and lived with the people working there. The work itself and especially the opportunity to meet people from other countries and the ones working for a difference was a great experience. It also opened my eyes to the reality of social work. I could for myself see what was working and what was not.

Then I began my first semester of university studies. I studied Peace Studies: Conflict Resolution at the Gothenburg University for one semester. I then moved to Uppsala and studied one semester of Art History which was one of the best courses I have studied so far. I travelled again during the summer and did another volunteer camp in New York City at a shelter for the homeless. We painted some rooms and helped out at the soup kitchen. But the most important work we did was that we were there and lived, worked and had fun with the people living there.

In the fall of 1998, I did the three months of civil service I had to do and it proved to be a far more positive experience than I had expected it to be. We got basic training in dealing with major disasters, putting out fires, rescuing people and working in a team. In the spring, I studied one semester of Social Psychology and went on the road again in the summer. Some old friends and I started out from Boston and travelled all around the United States and Canada. Overall it was a great experience.

If the spring had been a tough one on the personal level, the fall of 1999 was the turning point. Things started to work out and I studied Philosophy for a year, specializing in Ethics and Evironmental Ethics. Once again I went on the road with some friends and travelled in Europe and the United States and Canada. In the fall of 2000 and the spring of 2001, I studied Cultural Anthropology which in some ways was very good, but unfortunatly the teachers were not that good.

Then came last summer, 2001. I travelled with some other friends throughout the United States and Canada. We did a lot of camping and it was one the best travelling I have done so far. Last fall, 2001, I studied USA-Studies, which included American History, Politics, Mass Media and Literature. A great course in every way.

I also founded and worked with a cultural project for change, organized in the tribal form — www.rummet-snurrar.org.

As with the things I am doing right now, I hope to in the future become even more independent in thought, heart, lifestyle, basically in every aspect of my life from the Taker society. In that way I also hope to be a living inspiriation with others that will be bring about the fundamental change needed.

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Jamie Myxter — Editor

Jamie grew up in a rural river valley East of Seattle, and his early experiences living and working on dairy and horse farms have left him with an affinity for quiet, open areas that aren’t crowded with people.

Professionally, Jamie works as a consultant in the technical publications industry. He manages a variety of software documentation projects, from small, one-man operations to teams of a dozen members working on various deliverables. He is passionate about language and communication, teaching, and seeking new ways to make a living that are in accord with his values. Jamie took a B.A. in English from Western Washington University and an M.S. in Technical Communication from the University of Washington.

Personally, Jamie enjoys getting back to the wide open spaces he grew up in. Getting to these spaces now involves a longer drive; the quiet river valley he grew up in is now a suburb of Microsoft Corporation and other high-tech companies. He enjoys camping and fishing in Eastern Washington with his two dogs, Roger and Annie.

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Malin Östman — Editor

After getting her high school diploma in 1998, and after spending a year in Paris, Malin Östman went on to study at Uppsala Swedish University where she still is attending classes today.

Her years in Uppsala have been spent on subjects like; Practical Philosophy (1999-00), Cultural Antropology (2000-01) and American Studies (2001). For the moment she is taking classes in Environmental and Develpoment Studies, which is a course with a lot of hours spent on discussions and alternative guest speakers.

Through the years, Malin has also developed a great interest in traveling. Among other experiences abroad, she has traveled in the U.S from coast to coast a couple of times, she has spent a month working with different things in Namibia and a year with minor employments in Paris, France.

Although these were both fascinating experiences, Malin’s favorite destination is the Swedish mountains, or “Fjäll”. They hold a very special place in her heart. There, in those mountains, Malin finds room to breathe and think, room for the body and mind. Although the “wilderness” of the mountains often has been deprived of “it’s own rights,” in some places in the Swedish “Fjäll” you can still hear the singing owls or the ravens speak.

Besides her interest and experiences with the “outdoors,” Malin has also always had a great interest in the arts, especially painting and drawing. She has had some minor exhibitions in her home town of Sundsvall, and she has also worked with the Uppsala short film festival as a volunteer in 2000. In her work, Malin tries to promote free art that balances the anger and joy of all things. Her intentions are to awake anger and joy in the beholder, as well as in her self.

Malin has been learning and developing alternative ways of living along with her friend and partner Daniel. This includes work with “Buy Nothing Day,” the web-page www.rummet-snurrar.org, some smaller exhibitions, anti-commercial campaigns and now also the exciting work of Sostenuto.

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Jonathan Walton — Editor

Jonathan Walton is currently an East Asian Studies major at Oberlin College and can usually be found living in Raleigh (NC), Oberlin (OH) or Beijing (China).

Jonathan is perpetually preoccupied, pondering religion, philosophy, education and information structuring, as well as the creative power of the mind and the responsibility of the individual. He aspires to be a postmodern Renaissance Man.

Jonathan’s internet life is coordinated through his website, Godmachine.org, which also serves as an online portfolio of his work.

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New Home, New Title, New Feature

February 1, 2002
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It’s been slow-going, but our culture is too obsessed with instant gratification anyway, right? Moving leisurely but moving nonetheless, this little venture is making some progress toward the goal of becoming a genuine magazine. Today, two developments are particularly notable — our new name and address.

First, the new location. We’ve now found a home

at Permaculture.net through the graces of its author and editor, Greg Peterson. Permaculture is one of the most crucial applications of systems-thinking today and a concept that’s been at the heart of this magazine since its inception — which could hardly be more evident given its original name, permaCulture. While we’re interested in systems-thinking beyond its direct application to the sustainability of human cultures, any other applications must inevitably come around to have something to do with sustainability, no matter how unintuitive the connection may seem, since every earthbound system is connected to every other one. For these reasons, we’re absolutely thrilled to be associated with a site with which we have so much in common.

At the same time, given the magazine’s intention to use the systems perspective as broadly as possible, not to mention the desire to distinguish it from its host website, it seemed worthwhile to adopt a new name. Thus, what was launched on September 14, 2001, as permaCulture has now been dubbed Sostenuto, a name with many appropriate connotations. We hope you’ll visit the Why “Sostenuto“ page to learn about them.

There is also a third new feature of the magazine, and you’re looking it. We’ve established sost., a column from the editors of Sostenuto. This is the standard abbreviation for the musical term from which this magazine gets its name. In addition to its economy (through abbreviation) and its humility (through lowercasing), we like that it has to do directly with the essence of this magazine. The line between opinion and fact is a blurry one — this is true with systems-thinking in general and especially so of the writing here in Sostenuto. We hope that adopting this name for our regular column will underscore both this fact (as opposed to opinion!) and the unique nature of the magazine’s content.

Further developments on the horizon for the next few months include additional staffing and contributors as well as site redesign and reorganization. We hope you’ll come back regularly as we add more features hopefully worth seeing.

The Editors

Why “Sostenuto“

February 1, 2002
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Sostenuto is an Italian word meaning “sustained.” It is used in music in two ways. In general, it simply suggests a sustaining of duration, somtimes implying a slowing in tempo. It is also the name of the center pedal of some modern pianos. Unlike the damper pedal, which sustains any notes played as long as the pedal is down, the sostenuto pedal lets ring only the notes being held at the very moment it is pressed.

The obvious connotation is sustainability. The pedal’s central position hints at this as well, implying balance, equilibrium. Beyond the basic idea, though, it suggests that sustainability will involve life at a somewhat slower pace than the one we’ve been unhealthily pursuing. The fact that the sostenuto pedal is not a standard feature of pianos — that, indeed, many pianos have no central pedal at all — alludes to the present rarity of ideas about sustainability and balance in our society. (Of course, we’re not recommending that music never be played quickly any
more than we’re asking piano manufacturers to universally adopt the sostenuto pedal — this is just a metaphor!) Less arcane than the pedal rarity but more subtle than the core idea of sustainability is the notion that we must actively do something to achieve sustainability. It won’t happen on its own — we have to press the pedal. At the same time, once pressed, the notes last a long time with no additional effort — pursue a different cultural vision, and a long future for humanity will be child’s play. This is one of the key lessons of systems-thinking — little changes can yield big results.

Beyond these specifics, though, the word is, of course, evocative of music — a pursuit so ultimately artificial and beautiful, so utterly artistic and scientific. Indeed, if music can harmonize these ideas which often seem to many to be opposed, it can certainly also stand for the harmony that can exist between people and the rest of nature — or among all of the elements of any system at all.

How’s that for reading into something!? Well, so be it. The systems-thinking approach is about discovering more than meets the eye, about finding the fundamental relationships between simple things and their complex implications. In all the ways outlined here, Sostenuto seems the perfect name for this venture.

The Sostenuto Perspective

February 1, 2002
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Sostenuto hopes to bring a systems-thinking approach to every aspect of culture. By its nature, this approach keeps an open mind, acknowledging that it can never know everything about anything. At
the same time, inherent in this approach is the ability to arrive at insights and knowledge not always possible through other methods. The Sostenuto perspective is characterized by this duality — the constant search but also the satisfaction that comes from actually finding things along the way.

As long as our global culture seems on the whole to be ignorant of the systems perspective, Sostenuto will spend time revealing the ways in which this ignorance perpetuates itself and creates social ills. Even when good things are happening, though, the systems perspective will continue to illuminate. Toward all these ends, what follows are some planks in the Sostenuto platform, a platform that will evolve along with Sostenuto and the rest of the world.

  • Everything bigger than the fundamental building blocks of matter is a system — including the universe itself. Everything smaller than the universe itself is a part of a system — including the fundamental building blocks of matter. In other words, for all practical purposes, everything is both a system in itself and a part of any number of larger systems. Everything affects everything else on multiple levels.
  • In a system, the line between fact and opinion is often blurry. The better the system as a whole works or the more a thought explains reality, the closer you probably are to fact. The closer you get to fact (as long as you’re willing to accept and act on your findings), the more reality is explained by your thoughts and the better the system will work. Beyond this, there’s not much need to quibble about absolute fact.
  • In a system, what works best for one part is what must also work best for the other parts. Whenever this doesn’t happen, the system crashes. Whenever we think otherwise, we need to either acknowledge that we’re not thinking clearly or get out of the system, because we’re never going to find our place in it. Sometimes, the second choice is viable. Most of the time, the first will serve us better.
  • Much of the time people ask a question and pose an either/or answer, the answer is actually both. For example, everything evolves as a result of both whatever is in its own history (heredity, “nature”) as well as whatever circumstances it finds (environment, “nurture”).
  • Much of the time people ask a question and pose an either/or answer, the answer is actually neither. For example, neither liberals nor conservatives will ever make everybody happy or ever be able to make everything anywhere work out well. This doesn’t mean that people — even systems thinkers — can’t be liberals or conservatives. It just means that one person’s sacred cow is another person’s hamburger, and the only way to get everybody on your side is to wipe out everybody who’s not, and that’s just not going to cut it as a solution to anything.
  • The single biggest lesson humanity needs to learn puts together much of what’s above. We often seem to think we have a choice between saving the world or saving ourselves. We think it’s environment or jobs, nature or people. In reality, while the world certainly would get along fine without us, there’s absolutely no reason that we can’t get along famously well. We did it for hundreds of thousands of years, and we can do it again. Once we realize that people and the rest of nature are not opposed to each other but instead can actually thrive off each other, everything will begin to fall into place.
  • The more we can use these ideas to look at anything and everything, the better off we’ll be, and doing precisely this is Sostenuto‘s reason for being. We will attempt at all times to be as factual as possible, but we do not pretend that we are either objective scientists or (supposedly) objective news reporters. In part, it is our unique perspective — and the unique perspectives of each of our contributors — that will make our content worthwhile.

Sostenuto Origins

February 1, 2002
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This statement about the origins of Sostenuto: The Systems-Thinking Magazine of Arts & Sciences was originally written when the magazine was known as permaCulture and updated upon the transition to Sostenuto.

Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution brought the greatest technological advances and burgeonings of wealth and power in the history of humanity. Along with these came the biggest disasters. Some tried to paint these phenomena as the beginning of something fundamentally new in human history. Others, though, saw them as mere extensions of trends that had been going on for centuries, even millennia.

Along with the good and the bad and the various points of view on them, people from diverse fields of study began to make advances that would, when combined, allow us to understand our society’s mainspring, the root of all its key dynamics — not some prime mover of societies in general but something specific going on in our own culture. From ecology to economics, biology to physics, and onward to mathematics, anthropology, sociology, psychology, demography, systematics and more, so many fields were involved that it wasn’t even clear that some of the findings from each were, in fact, pieces of a single puzzle. The various fields have not, of course, learned all they can possibly know, but they have produced enough knowledge to allow us to put the big puzzle together — and some people have made it their business to do just that.

Through systems thinking, everything is seen as a system — an interlocking set of factors that all influence each other. In viewing things in this way, light can be shed on seemingly unsolvable problems. Applying this approach to the study of our civilization, some have come to truly understand how our society has an inherent bent toward self-destruction, why the extreme lows cannot be separated from the extreme highs — and that there are alternatives. And that those alternatives don’t even require someone to understand this body of integrated knowledge in order to participate.

Mark S. Meritt was introduced to this complex of ideas in the early 1990s, and he soon decided to become one of the people who connect the dots — one of the systems thinkers. Whether through non-fiction writing, artistic ventures or otherwise, he hoped to contribute to this body of important knowledge — and to help others understand it.

When the disasters of September 11, 2001, occurred, Mark understood, like the others involved in connecting the dots, that, shocking as they were, they were just the latest additions in a long line of civilization’s ills. He knew that all too many people had never been equipped to grasp this, thinking instead that the disasters were truly unprecedented and had somehow hurtled the world into genuinely new territory — and that rededicating ourselves to civilization would somehow get us out of our mess instead of just digging us in deeper. He saw that people wanted to use the attacks as a learning experience, as an opportunity to steer society toward something better, but he knew that they would only be able to do so if they understood how the dots connect.

Begin connecting the dots, and it becomes clear that our culture’s self-destructiveness is just that – our culture’s self-destructiveness. It is a trait possessed by our culture. It is a trait that can be possessed by other cultures. But it is not something inherent to culture itself. The complex nature of this self-destructiveness touches every facet of our culture. Eliminate it, adopt a new cultural vision — one that is sustainable rather than self-destructive, one that makes good things happen as a matter of course instead of spending so much effort trying in vain to stop from happening all the bad things that are inevitable in a culture structured in a certain way — and every facet of that new culture will also be impacted.

Mark knew the time had come to create something he’d been pondering for a few years — a platform from which to present ideas on how the systems perspective can illuminate all aspects of our culture, from mundane things like the meaning of movies to enormous issues such as the threat of terrorism. In doing so, it would simultaneously be an example of the kind of publication that would be commonplace in a new, systems-oriented culture even as it helped to bring that new culture about. On September 14, 2001, Mark launched permaCulture, a fledgling attempt to produce such a publication.

The term permaculture was coined by Bill Mollison in 1972 to describe an approach to agriculture which neither depletes land nor requires constant human input. Modeled on non-human systems, it hopes to achieve sustainable food production for people while simultaneously serving as a healthy and integral part of an ecosystem. It goes beyond organic agriculture, not only eliminating the need for chemicals but minimizing the need for any human work at all, with even self-fertilization designed in right from the start. In some quarters, permaculture has taken on the broader meaning of designing sustainable human communities.

permaCulture was adopted as the magazine’s name to indicate more than a desire for sustainability. First, like the permacultural approach to food production, striving for overall sustainability does not have to involve the incredible hard work that so many people think it does. Understand the system, change the design on which our culture is founded, and sustainability should take care of itself. Second, given the profound relationship between sustainability and culture itself, we can look at almost any facet of culture to find something to help us create a sustainable, “permanent” one.

On February 1, 2002, the magazine was relaunched on the Permaculture.net website as Sostenuto. The concepts of permaculture, in terms of either agriculture or whole societies, flow directly from a systems perspective. Given the magazine’s intention to use the systems perspective as broadly as possible, though, not to mention the desire to distinguish it from its host website, it seemed worthwhile to adopt the new name, which is appropriate in many ways.

Sostenuto will evolve constantly as a source of broad ideas on a new vision for the world, dealing with topics as diverse as business, entertainment, science and technology, products, cultural trends and life’s milestones.

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