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Social Permaculture:a praxis of radical interconnectedness
posted by kyrasbw http://www.ecospace.cc/culture/social-permaculture.htm
The praxis(practice and theory combined) of Permaculture brings with it a fundamental awareness that each element within a system effects, and thus potentially supports, every other element. It follows that to change any element in a system will have an effect on the other elements,resulting in a change in the entire system. What do these principles look like when applied to human social structures? How would our interpersonal relationships be transformed if we were constantly aware of our effect on others and on our environment? Social permaculture is both a budding and fruitful look to changing society from our roots up.
Recently I’ve been having many a conversation revolving around isolation, particularly to do with mental health. Speaking from a north american perspective, when you look at the way our society is structured it is clear that the majority of people lead lives that are thoroughly disconnected from their environments and from themselves. We are encouraged and cajoled into believing that over-consumption is our only form of solace, our only source for healing and happiness.Shock valued media breeds fear of our neighbours both immediate and global. Drugs of both legal and illegal varieties serve as sedatives to those who “can’t handle things”. From birth we are bombarded with the messages of a self-destructive and unsustainable culture. It’s a wonder we haven’t all sunken into self-absorbed holes and forgotten anything outside existed, to say nothing of the added ostricization of people labeled “insane” by an insane system.
Yet we haven’t! And what drives many of us is the intention and determination to address what some would frame as a simple state of affairs, “just the way things are,” as a tangible and urgent problem! Through all my processes of being by turns hopeful, at others utterly frustrated with attempts at social change I have gained an intense awareness of the need for new ways of relating to each other. Of course this isn’t a new idea- bell hooks,patch adams and Thich Nhat Hanh, to name only a favourite few, have been addressing human relationships as a political issue for decades. Yet the importance of viewing our daily interactions as elemental to social change cannot be stressed enough! The language is there, why aren’t we using it?
What permaculture lends is physical examples of the way systems work. Putting together a permaculture garden system you can clearly see how each element affects the others. If I plant a fruit tree here, in a few years its going to completely shade this area which is now my only full sun spot. Not my desired outcome. Now translate that to your social lives. By refusing to address my resentment towards a co-worker I am building a tense environment unnecessarily and perpetuating a culture of avoidance and non-communication. When I observe and frame my personal choices in the context of my desire to create a certain type of society, I make different choices.
Part of this work can involve breaking out of the safe and known, venturing into situations of conflict and disagreement to “see what you can see”, so to speak. While safe spaces are undeniably essential, insularity needs to be avoided for radical communities to have a wide effect. In permaculture, “edges” are considered the most dynamic areas as they are often the most ripe for transformation. Where are your edges? Where can you create new ones? Where else can this idea of Social Permaculture be applied in your life?