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Please pass it around...thanks!

Hello,

Communities magazine is now seeking articles for issue #153, “Permaculture.” The issue will be out in December 2011.

Please send your article idea to editor@ic.org by Friday, June 24, 2010, or sooner if possible.

Your final article must reach us by Friday, August 19, 2011.

1. Theme articles: Permaculture

possible questions to address (feel free to pick and choose or innovate):

Permaculture is a design system that seeks the harmonious, sustainable integration of people with the natural world. Its principles and practical applications encompass not only the development of enduring agricultural systems but all aspects of “permanent culture,” from shelter, energy, and water systems to economic and social institutions to human and ecological well-being. Does your group aspire to incorporate permaculture in your lives? If so, in what areas? And how?

Are you involved in permaculture education, or in teaching people about practices that are aligned with permaculture (even if you don’t use that specific term)? How does a community setting lend itself (or not) to teaching people about permaculture?

Does your community or group embody and demonstrate aspects of permaculture, even if you don’t offer formal courses?

What practical applications of permaculture have you or your group been able to enact?

Has “permaculture” proven problematic or challenging for you or your group? Do you find other systems more useful? What are the pitfalls of a permacultural approach?

In land management, food growing, or other areas, have permaculturalists in your community clashed with advocates of other approaches? For example, have you debated the merits of introduced nonnative plants in the landscape, forest gardening vs. production agriculture, sheet mulching vs. tractor tillage?

What social aspects of permaculture does your group embody?

Does your group have a high rate of turnover? If so, what are the implications for your permacultural aspirations? Can a shifting population achieve social or ecological sustainability?

Does permaculture align or conflict with your contemporary local culture? With indigenous traditions in your area? With “settler” traditions in your area? With your country’s broader culture? With global culture?

What are the challenges and reasons for hope in enacting permaculture in our own lives, in our communities, and in the wider world?

Please remember that we are looking for stories, personal experiences, and concrete examples in your answers—these are what will make your ideas and observations most “real” and relevant to readers.

[Please forward this email to anyone you think has a good story on this theme for Communities.]

2. We are also seeking articles about:

Creating community in your neighborhood;
Starting a new community;
Process and communication issues in community; and
Seeking community to join.

Suggested submission length is from 300 to 2500 words. We invite submissions ranging from short vignettes to extensively-developed articles, and also invite suggestions of recommended resources and article leads. We’re seeking articles written in a reader-friendly, popular-magazine style, rather than in an academic style. We ask contributors to share stories and experiences, not just ideas; write about challenges, not just successes; and describe specific situations that will help your story come alive for the reader. Before you start writing, please check http://communities.ic.org/submit.php or contact us for our full Writers’ Guidelines—and let us know your article idea so that we can give feedback on how it may fit into Communities. Contact Chris Roth at editor@ic.org.

If you don’t want to write an article but want to submit photos, please check http://communities.ic.org/submit.php or contact Yulia Zarubina at layout@ic.org for our Photo Guidelines.

I. What “Submitting an Article” Means. We will promise to read your article, but we may respectfully decline it and not publish it, or save it and publish it in a future issue. We also reserve the right to edit, shorten, or revise your article. Most of the time we contact authors about this ahead of time and get their comments, corrections, etc.

II. Getting Permission Ahead of Time. Please send the article only when you have permission from anyone you need it from, such as fellow community members. We endeavor to present a diversity of views on community, including controversial or critical views, in a respectful and cooperative manner. If your article may generate controversy or strong reactions, or if the group(s) would want the chance to review it, please share your draft with group members to get their input before sending it to us. (Please see our Writers’ Guidelines for additional details.)

III. Publication Rights. Once your article appears in Communities, we own first North American Publishing Rights. This means your article appears in Communities the first time it appears in North America. In addition to appearing in Communities, your article may also appear on our website or in future compilations. You retain all other rights to it. If you’d like to use it elsewhere, you can, and we would appreciate your using an attribution line saying, “This article first appeared in Communities: Life in Cooperative Culture, (date); for further information on Communities: communities.ic.org.”

IV. Photos. If we publish your article, we want to accompany it with compelling images that illustrate your subject. You know your subject best, so we are appealing to you for images. If others in your community or group like taking pictures, they might already have great images to go with your article. If you would like to submit an article but cannot supply photos, that’s fine; however, please give us plenty of advance notice so that if we use your article we can get an illustrator. Please check http://communities.ic.org/submit.php or email us for our full Photo Guidelines. We also appreciate an author photo to accompany your short (several-line) author bio.

Thanks for your contributions!

Chris Roth
Editor, Communities
editor@ic.org