Permaculture has become a bit of a buzz word in today's increasingly aware population, but few who hear the words really grasp the full potential.
Most folks who hear the word immediately assume that it must revolve around agriculture. This is understandable as the initial coining of the term by co-founders David Holmgren & Bill Mollison was a fusion of the words permanent and agriculture. Later, the meaning broadened to represent a permanent culture, not just in agriculture. Although much of the work being done today does revolve around food production, there is a much greater and significantly broader application that remains to be leveraged.
(source)
Applying permaculture ethics and principles in a broad social setting has the potential to radically alter the structure of society.
Blockchain technologies and, more specifically social media platforms that use the block chain like steemit, have an amazing opportunity, and are poised to make major ripples in the world. Using their technology we can collaborate and collectivize the effort to create a more permanent culture.
A permanent culture is not stagnant, but ever evolving and by nature sustainable. By maintaining flexibility and focusing on decentralized and autonomous human activities, there is a fantastic opportunity we have in a globally connected society. In comparison to today's centralized, rigid and exploitive model, benefiting the few and enslaving the masses, it sounds pretty appealing.
(source)
Even if you're never going to take part in food, medicine, fuel or fiber production, you still have an opportunity to incorporate permaculture ethics and principle to your life.
Holmgren and Mollison developed and encapsulated permaculture as a model for ecological design in 1978. At the core, it is grounded by a trio of ethics and guided by a dozen principles. Without going into all the details of the potentials for application, I would like focus on the ethics and how steemit users can ally and take advantage of this ingenious framework to make the world a better, more caring and healthier place.
The trifecta of ethics
Earth Care
Earth care is paramount to our survival, D'uh! It's the core of what sustains and supports us. There's the obvious (or not so obvious to us "moderns") aspects of nurturing healthy soils, keeping water clean and maintaining high air quality. It could also be seen as the ecosystem or environment that we exist in. The "home" that supports us. In a social network like steemit we as users are essentially creating the digital world we live in. The block chain technologies are offering an exciting potential to create a more sustainable world through decentralized currency and information sharing.
As users of the steemit blockchain, we are the guiding forces behind the culture we are creating. It is we who determine if it's polluted with careless or useless content or brimming with abundantly positive and useful content. Steemit is our chance to create a more abundant, diverse and sustainable world though sharing information, resources and control.
Care of People
People are paramount to a functioning culture! People are valuable and important and unique. We are meant not to be numbers in a system. The current hegemony lifts a few (mostly rich white men) to the top and leaves all others to fend for themselves. What I love about steemit it that users are able to participate, interact and engage. It's creating a culture of conversation. Being open to all, I feel it is creating a world where positivity is rewarded. Already we have connected with so many wonderful folks through steemit and are finding the experience culturally enriching.
Another exciting opportunity is being compensated for participation and content creation. If you produce something of value and worth, you are paid for this which encourages and supports the user to continue. This is revolutionary! My partner and I live in a rural setting where employment options are low. We are treating steemit like a part time job and are very hopeful in the potential for income generation it offers. This is turn leads to a higher quality of life as we are not selling our most productive hours, weeks, months and years for a paycheck. It is allowing us to do what we love, share about it and be paid for it. We hope more permaculturists will join the platform and share their valuable findings.
Fair Share
Inequality has been the tone of industrial culture for ages. Unequal power distribution, access to land, education, housing and medical attention are some of the ways we are not giving everyone their piece of the pie. The financial system is rigged to make money off your money, and the banks greatly benefit form the debt that is incurred to buy things that are not needed. Yikes!
A decentralized crypto currency like steem is opening up huge doorways to distribute wealth. For one, the potential for P2P exchanges could make huge waves as currency does not need to go through an exchange which takes a cut off the top. Secondly, the platform itself offers opportunities to give to others, be it though gifting, contest giveaways or delegation. Thirdly, it opens up the potential for everyone to generate income using the platform, no matter the socioeconomic background, location or history.
The reality that with so few whales and so many minnows there are issues involved with unequal distribution. These power dynamics are real, yet I've seen many folks addressing it through posts and actions. The scales are tipped every time a whale delegates, or even upvotes a minnow, but there's still a long way to go to true equality. Still it is WAY more just than the current model of wage slavery.
Steemit can leverage the permaculture ethics to create a healthier, equitable and empowered world
There is soooooo much more potential for steemit to use permaculture to effect social and ecological change. This article doesn't even touch on all the ecological projects that could be funded by steemit users, education and empowerment shared or connections forged online that lead to on the ground project manifestation. The sky is the limit!