Emergent Earthworks: A Permaculture Portal
Hello,
Permaculture grows in acclaim, just as populations become polarized. I'm noticing a lot of shift in how and where the overlap happens among cultures of permaculture, organic farmers, homesteaders, social justice activists, architects and energy efficiency afficiandados (efficienados?). The shift seems to be one of simultaneously more acceptance in the "mainstream" yet also a dilution of what I would call the core of permaculture: Ethics, Principles, Cooperative Action. This dilution seems to be happening via folks not really understanding the holistic design principles and viewing permaculture as a sort of "grab-bag" of tricks, that can be manipulated to support, essentially business as usual.
One of the fundamental teachings of permaculture is that "business as usual" is what has gotten both the ecological climate and human society into the problems we face today. My personal take on this is that, more specifically, competitive exploitation of natural resources as a global arc has been allowed to hide behind any number of systems.
The modern world has exploited and left behind Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Indigenous Lifeways, Deep Nature Connection, and in many ways cut us off from our own Basic Nature; all to it's own detriment.
I have a lot of thoughts on this topic, however, today I'm just writing a short blurb/plug to let people know about my new website as I'm working on it.
It is called Emergent Earthworks, and essentially outlines my views on holistic ecology, herbalism, energy work and activism. And lets folks know what projects I'm working on, and how to get in touch!
Here is a little teaser from one of the pages:
"Permaculture is . . . an ecologically informed set of practices and design principles that work to grow quality relationships between humans and the natural world.
Relationships exist on many scales; from atomic, molecular and chemical reactions to living beings, communications, climatic conditions, geologic processes and energetic transformations.
Why is it important?
A quality relationship provides for the regeneration of itself and the conditions it came from, as well as working to increase the resilience of the relationships around it.
In this case, the term resilience refers to . . ."
Diving right in! Please head over to
https://emergentearthworks.wordpress.com/
to read more and please let me know what you think!
And for all you permaculture design-minded folks, I'll leave us with a design challenge:
How can sub communities within steemit restructure value (ie upvotes, steempower, resteems, etc.) to come from a place of the Fair Share ethic?
In resilience,
Nori
We live in a culture that wants immediate results and overnight solutions, but that's not how it works. I think Steemit can be another tool for learning, growing, spreading knowledge, but ultimately nature is the ultimate material foundation, and the way things are headed on a planetary and social scale, who knows how long we can count on any of our technological contrivances. Energy work is a good strategy for personal resilience and transformation in the face of uncertainty.
@dreambridge, that Nature is the foundation, so important to remember. And to reorient ourselves back to. Could you elaborate on the last comment? About Energy work being a good strategy. Thanks for commenting!
Life can be extremely difficult and confusing. People believe that technology opens us up to new horizons, frees us from drudgery, extends our lives. What I see is more complex and less optimistic. While there have been short term advances, markedly for those in wealthier nations, we have become increasingly untethered from reality, in the sense that we are both destroying the natural world and are also so isolated from it that many can't grasp or even believe what is happening. I believe the result of the unconscious pursuits of power and material prosperity that has divorced us from the natural world is leading toward catastrophe. While I feel it will be important to do what we can to steer things in a better direction, I believe that we will reach points where we are overwhelmed by the situation at hand. Connecting to the subtle energies of the universe and spiritual realms as an ongoing and developing practice I believe can give us strength in these time. I don't put much stock in the idea of "ascension" or some new golden age, although I would certainly welcome it. Instead I see the practice as being a means to anchor us in a deeply destabilizing world that has abandoned the spirits of nature to chase ghosts written in stock market tickers and code.
I just love permaculture! We are permaculture teachers- my husband's website is called www.permaculture2012.co.za