Permaculture: A way of redesigning your life
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There is no need to fear the future. What is important, is re-designing your life by gaining permaculture skills and tools. You may shift the culture and apply these skills and tools before future becomes the present.
Did you panic because you may not have had enough water and electricity when we had 103 F, which was hottest day in the last 30 years? A three-hour power outage caused lots of small businesses to shut down on July 31st. The Vashon Island Fire and Rescue at the Ober Park on the 30th held a community ‘cool-off’. It was great thinking, as Vashon is quite community-oriented island. Then immediately after that, raising water and electricity prices has become a hot topic.
According to climate scientists, we are just at the beginning of global warming and peak oil. We may face more unpleasant days in the coming years. There may be more water and electricity shortages. I was saying to my son the other day, we might plant something, which can be harvested to extract oil for use in our vehicles instead of pine trees around our house.
We, all human beings, are facing not only environmental problems but also humanitarian issues. We have become isolated and alienated from nature in the years since the industrial revolution. Co-creator of perm culture, David Holmgreen, puts it this way: “ Embedded within that, was an idea that industrial society as it was designed had no future, that we had to redesign the culture we inherited from the industrial era.” We have been observing/hearing how future generations may keep themselves (or their parents) in small boxes like TVs in the front seats of their cars. Machines serve the oil and food. So people can travel hundred miles away without observing nature or without interacting each other.
The reality we face indicates that we need to rethink and redesign our lives. The issues are complex, but the solutions are simple with permaculture. First we need to re-localize our needs due to peak oil and climate change.
Permaculture means ‘permanent agriculture’ but also implicit was the idea of permanent culture, which creates a life changing culture. The twoco-originators from Australia, Bill Morison and David Holmgren brought an evolving concept and the principles and the ethics to us.
Permaculture ethics are Earth Care, People Care and Equal Share . Permaculture principles are broadly defined from human habitat to economy. We can find out what works in a desert or in a rain forest habitat.
The principles teach us how to redesign our lives in a holistic way. Observing and mimicking nature provides us abundance and stability. To me community building and connection at the neighborhood level are important dimensions.
Permaculture principles are rooted in ancient cultures. You can still see how people of India harvest and plant. Or I can see in my home country, Turkey, many Shamanic cultures that are still alive. For example we celebrate spring for a week in May. I enjoy telling stories about what my childhood toys were, or how I enjoyed planting and harvesting collectively. That made me a strong believer in community building.
Permaculture principles can be implemented from your backyard food sustainability to a school community, which is self sustaining during a power shortage or water shortages. Or from a sustainable business environment to a refugee camp retrofit.
The nature of permaculture itself should be local. The size of the operating systems should be on a human scale. In this way, people can control their own lives at a neighborhood level. Not through out of touch centrally controlled systems or corporations.
In summary, there is no need to fear the future. What is important, is re-designing your life by gaining permaculture skills and tools. You may shift the culture and apply these skills and tools before future becomes the present.
Being a part of the collective I am honored to share my permaculture view for Vashon and beyond within the social context. For more information, contact me at koruora@gmail.com or check out the SEEDS web site, http://www.socialecologyvashon.org/
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* Emet Degirmenci is a new Vashon Island resident who teaches about perm culture and offers variety of workshops through her web site http://www.koruora.com.
