Waaay back in November, PAN Board Treasurer, Patty Love, spoke with Peter Bane about PAN’s role as a regional hub of Permaculture Institute of North America (PINA) and about developing collaborations between the organizations. “What? PINA? Regional Hub? Tell me more!,” you might be thinking.
Per PINA’s website, the history of that organization is: “In the early 1980’s, Bill Mollison asked several people to create an organization in order to foster permaculture in North America. They created PINA version 1.0, hosted an International Convergence in 1986 and launched the Permaculture Activist magazine (which, as Permaculture Design, is still going strong), but then disbanded for lack of staff and volunteers. In 2009, several long-time permaculture practitioners began working on a new organization, and in 2014 they launched the revitalized PINA as a network of largely autonomous regional membership organizations spanning the continent.”
PINA is a 501(c)(3) incorporated in Oregon as professional association of regional hubs working across North America and Hawaiʻi to:
- Elevate the status and impact of Permaculture by influencing public policy and private development to improve the quality of life for all
- Bring permaculture solutions to bear on the challenges of social justice, land regeneration, and climate cooling
- Promote permaculture pathways to professional development
- Grant diplomas
- Preserve the integrity and quality of the Permaculture Design Course
- Facilitate networking among permaculturists
In 2018, after many conversations between PINA Board members and PAN Board members and PAN Board Members with PAN members, the board voted for PAN to join PINA as a Regional Hub. This decision was made with care because the PAN Board has limited capacity to take on new initiatives. We want to do well at what we do rather than keep trying to do more and fumble. Also, we’ve heard the concerns from our members about the level of difficulty it takes to achieve a PINA diploma. Ultimately, we decided that our most empowered position it to be the regional hub, which also gives us input into PINA’s requirements, etc.
As a regional hub, PAN is playing a role in weaving the permaculturalists in our region into the national network. We are indeed proud that former PAN Board Members Jono Neiger, Lisa DePiano, and Jesse Labbe-Watson, along with long-time PAN member Claudia Joseph all hold PINA Diplomas.
In addition to the Northeast Permaculture Convergence being organized by many of PAN’s Board Members and some especially dedicated PAN Members, a Continental Convergence is being planned for August 20-23, 2020 in Colorado at Sunrise Ranch. Peter relayed that this event will be more like a summit rather than a collection of workshops and will focus on empowering communities to do regenerative projects and climate action. PINA will handle the outreach and funding and the Colorado Permaculture folks will handle the local organizing. (Stay tuned for more info…nothing on their website yet.)If you have questions about this collaboration or want to play an active role in it, please contact PAN’s Board Coordinator