Social Permaculture - Decentralizing power for care-of-self and one-another
Affirmation... What a vital word. We all need balance and gratitude for who we are as well as what we have accomplished. We're not talking ego, just understanding and realizing how far you have come and the work you've put in. Have you actualized change? Have you started change within yourself. There must be time for celebrating this. Smile! Smile at one another. Smile in your soul, because you make things happen.
I'm not the most urban person, I was raised in the country outside of a small coal mining town, but I have a passion for folks who are underserved. I like to work in the city for different reasons. I'm willing to be more than some man who builds a haven for himself in the middle of nowhere. It is a harsh world for most.
I felt that way when I was a juvenile social worker. I felt that way as a nutrition specialist. I felt that way teaching mindfulness, I felt that way working with dialysis patients, and it's been a part of my permaculture story that I would not change.
Oddly enough, my purpose within permaculture was found in med-school, when I got an Integrative Medicine degree at Arizona State. Learning in-depth about the history of non-western medicine and the history of our food from cultures all around the world really opened my eyes to a permaculture life.
In Healthcare, I worked for non profits, in clinics, with homeless folks, with schizophrenic folks, the addicted, the abused, the terminally ill, inmates, etc. We all need a hand, and it is true some of us have it a little easier. A rising tide should lift all vessels. What I believe holds folks down is not their inability to "pick themselves up by their bootstraps". Of course I believe that you must BE and DO if you want to HAVE. In the same breathe, I fully understand the systems of the world are backwards, and the cards are stacked against our fellow human being. They can't lift this grand paino alone anymore than I can. It is my sincere belief that permaculture can do more to heal the world than modern medicine.
Many positives spring forth from urban life and from a pluralist society. However, as it stands, most of our fellow human beings are not given the time, education, or resources they truly need to thrive in a world built only for profit. In fact, most of humanity, just like our natural world, is not treated with nuanced compassion and care. We divide, instead of displaying gratitude for one another. We stick to what is best for ourselves, believe the media lies, and then discard the rest of society as "not like us". As much as cities can drive culture and art, they can also put folks into situations where only the mob rules and not all voices are heard. If you were a George Carlin fan like me, you'll understand why I think community is vital, I also believe vast corporations, organizations, and mob mentality are not any solution. Cities can bring about scenarios where costs of living are extreme, and there are not many affordable as well as healthy choices for folks to feed their families. We call it a food desert. How does this still exist in the year 2024? Do people really not know what we in the scientific field of permaculture know? Are we still dividing and empowering corporations instead of people, because we'd rather profit off the fish than teach a man to fish. Niches and neighborhoods in cities are a perfect opportunity for community based permaculture.
Leave the bureaucrats out of it, get together with your neighbors, your church, your schools, and local businesses. Take one another by the hand and say, "let's do this together". I have seen third world tribes living in villages that have some of the strongest communities, living simply with one another, sharing, and treating eachother better than any modern city.
Change is needed, I would ask "all of us", to stop fighting, stop silencing, and start looking out for one another. We all have universal needs. The bearded country boy with a German last name has the same needs as the immigrant with nothing but their clothes who just arrived to Philadelphia. This is beyond race or politics... My beard and skin tone do not tell you I'm half Garcia, or that some of my family still lives on a very poor island south of Spain without most modern amenities, or that much of my family came from Northeast Africa, then Cyprus and Turkey, then Tyrol, then Spain before they they immigrated to America. Yes in 2024 folks just see your last name, your gender, and skin tone, and assume a political stance. A client in the city, a retired school teacher no less, once told me that they would think I looked like "A White Supremacist" if they didn't know my gentle heart and how I live my life. That's not permaculture. I took immense offense. I believe in working through things with eachother, but that's a tough one to swallow. That's not the activism we should be seeking. Even when you practice permaculture for a living, you still end up seeing that our current modes of activism often look more like a divisive fight against our fellow human being.
Permaculture is people care. We have people systems that don't judge on anything other than character and trust. Rather than point fingers, we empower, educate, and actualize. We allow a voice for all. We even have design concepts to help you move on from trauma. My goal had been to work for everyone from the start, the rich and the poor the same. I have grown a lot over the years as a designer, and in many other areas of my life. Folks supported me and allowed me to do that. Our business model is as an intentional mission that works on a sliding pay scale and focuses on how we can help one another. I have noticed this with many in the permaculture business world. I really love that my mentors are world renowned, but also generous of spirit.
In our years as a small design/install business, we've been able to do a surprising amount of work for single mothers who want to raise their children differently, for school teachers, for lower to middle class families, for people who care about the ecology and want to make changes on their land, and for forever preserved farms that want to provide an example of what a regenerative future looks like. I've always known it would happen, but one day for certain, I sort of just decided the Healthcare system, politics, and conformity in general did not work for me. I found my home in permaculture. I found my "WHY" in my own child’s future and in the future of all life. What’s even better is that I found out "HOW".
This isn’t an advertisement. We need to work together to decentralize power, and return to nature centered lives. Self reliance and independence in small local communities allows the wild to thrive. Globalism has destroyed almost every wild thing left. We really are living in a mass extinction event. If you feel we are fractured, know you are not alone. Know there is empathy and space being held for you when you are ready to move beyond the chains of the empire. The time for regeneration was yesterday, but today I'm asking you again to pick up the sword of truth, the sword of mother nature, and join in the fight for "all" of creation.
Peace, Love, and Permaculture,
Tyler
