Permaculture, politics, and pragmatism
May. 9th, 2022 03:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenstormOne of the reasons I originally liked permaculture is that it's a deeply pragmatic approach. It says: look at what's going on, think about it, and then fit a system to it that seems like it has a high likelihood of working for your goals and for your environment. It offers some guidelines for how to do that.
I've been watching a permaculture channel on youtube called Parkrose Permaculture. The author of the channel was talking about saving the environment from a permaculture perspective. She said, think of it from a harm reduction and a good, better, best sort of system. She gave some examples along these lines: recycling is good, consuming less is better, advocating for right-to-repair and circular economies is best. Eating some organic is good, eating local is better, advocating for changing the food system is best. Her point was that doing something is better than doing nothing, that doing more is also great.
What she didn't explicitly say, but what I've been thinking about a lot, is that some of the left-leaning folks I'm involved with have a tendency to eat their young. It's easier to be upset at someone in the "good" category if you're in the "better" category; I think folks often tend to ignore the proactive part of the "best" category that she gave examples of, which is systemic change. I don't really want to be involved in these groups; I feel they've gone astray.
But anyhow, I feel like this approach to politics generally is a permaculturally sound one. Folks are more likely to step up when they're supported in what they're doing. As they learn more they can do more. And really we all should be advocating for systems that make it easy for everyone to do better things.
I'm pretty sure I had more to say about this when I started, but my mind is blanking and I have a meeting to get to. More later, I guess.
I've been watching a permaculture channel on youtube called Parkrose Permaculture. The author of the channel was talking about saving the environment from a permaculture perspective. She said, think of it from a harm reduction and a good, better, best sort of system. She gave some examples along these lines: recycling is good, consuming less is better, advocating for right-to-repair and circular economies is best. Eating some organic is good, eating local is better, advocating for changing the food system is best. Her point was that doing something is better than doing nothing, that doing more is also great.
What she didn't explicitly say, but what I've been thinking about a lot, is that some of the left-leaning folks I'm involved with have a tendency to eat their young. It's easier to be upset at someone in the "good" category if you're in the "better" category; I think folks often tend to ignore the proactive part of the "best" category that she gave examples of, which is systemic change. I don't really want to be involved in these groups; I feel they've gone astray.
But anyhow, I feel like this approach to politics generally is a permaculturally sound one. Folks are more likely to step up when they're supported in what they're doing. As they learn more they can do more. And really we all should be advocating for systems that make it easy for everyone to do better things.
I'm pretty sure I had more to say about this when I started, but my mind is blanking and I have a meeting to get to. More later, I guess.
