Some years ago, I was approached about becoming a mentor at the Nordic Permaculture Academy (NPA). We had a short conversation about the role. One aspect that stood out to me was the strong emphasis on sociocracy as a required framework. While I appreciate structured governance models, this raised some initial questions for me about flexibility and diversity of approaches.
The Slack conversation below began as routine GA planning. But it quickly unfolded into a full-scale conflict about the legitimacy of the association’s structure, the emotional toll of governance, and the competing worldviews between centralized legalism and lived sociocratic practice.
At the heart of the issue: What is “the association”? Who holds power? What makes governance valid — bylaws, or participation?
My energy dashboard in Home Assistant was empty after I upgraded its Docker container to the 2025.4.1. In the log files, which can be accessed via Settings -> System -> Log, I found a lot of problems. One specific:
Over the past years, I’ve been deeply involved in shaping permaculture education in Finland and beyond. I’ve served as chair of the Finnish Permaculture Association, acquired a Diploma in Permaculture Design 2021 and then taught PDCs.
This email exchange shows how valid concerns about process, conflict of interest, and accountability were dismissed or reframed as personal attacks.
I publish this to document what happens when a culture resists clarity — and how ethics like transparency and fair share are easily overridden in the name of “sociocratic process.”
This is not about attacking individuals. It’s about showing patterns that hinder progress and erode trust.
In 2022, I raised concerns about permaculture certification processes being shaped by people without the relevant qualifications — specifically, the Diploma paths being discussed by non-diploma holders at Suomen Permakulttuuri Yhdistys.
The thread below is from the assosication's Slack workspace. I’m sharing it to document the origins of a conflict that eventually led to my resignation from the Finnish Permaculture Association.
Some years back I came into possession of a Amazon Fire HD 8" 7th generation tablet. The thingy was more or less useless for me as during the time I got it, in 2020, there was no chance of loading an alternative firmware onto it. And who wants use a device with Fire OS on it other than a TV?