Permaculture and PovertyFrom Povertyto
Permaculture
Rich Thwaits
Permaculture Design Consultant
Mosinee, WI 54455
Introductions
My Background
My Discovery of Permaculture
My Presentation Style – Dialogic
My Goal – To build a lifestyle that repairs
the earth, nurtures my soul, and supports
others.
Introductions Continued
What’s your connection to
poverty?
When do/did you feel the most
fully human?
Where We’re Going
Components of Poverty
What is Permaculture?
Our Evolutionary Foundations
A Homesteading Proposal
Initiating Change
Payne’s Definition of Poverty
Poverty is the extent to
which an individual does
without resources.
What Resources are Important?
Financial
Emotional
Mental Ability
Spiritual
Physical
What Resources are Important?
Support Systems
Positive Relationships/Role Models
Special Knowledge
Hidden Rules
Permaculture
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture is a system of design that focuses on how food, energy, housing, and water can tie together for maximum efficiency, with minimum work, to meet the needs of people.
Permaculture Permaculture “ties together” strategies that come from
throughout our past and present and from every corner
of the earth.
What makes it “Permaculture” is the intentional plan of
where and how these strategies work and meld
together.
The inspiration and guide for a permaculture plan
comes from observing nature’s patterns from the
simple to the complex.
The Forces of Nature
Permaculture mimics nature. We learn about
permaculture by watching and observing
nature. Permaculture works with the forces on
nature, not against.
What about Human Nature? This plan works
with the forces of human nature, not against.
What Does Permaculture
Look Like?
Ron Finley- Guerilla Gardener
https://youtu.be/EzZzZ_qpZ4w
Growing Power – A Model for Urban
Agriculture
https://youtu.be/vs7BG4lH3m4
Permaculture Videos
Novella Carpenter
https://youtu.be/8yYO4L2vegE
Cob and Straw home building in Wisconsin
https://youtu.be/FZS2ZEN2bTs
Energy – Compost Piles
Jean Pain- The Father of Compost Heat and Biogas
https://youtu.be/JHRvwNJRNag
Permaculture, Homesteading, and Compost Heating: Ben Falks
https://youtu.be/oF5iL-nUGMQ
What Can We Learn From…
When We Face A Crisis? (War, Tornados, Earthquakes, Mining Explosions)
The Depression of the 1930s
People in Third World Counties
Native American Observations by Benjamin Franklin
Early Humans
Lived in groups. Groups have advantages
with getting food, shelter, and defense.
They were able to be in a group if they
contributed to the group. Productivity was
essential. They needed the group and the
group needed them.
There was quality within the group. Skills would
evolve into leadership roles. Possessions were
minimal.
Masanobu Fukuoka
I think that the way animals live in the tropics,
stepping outside in the morning and evening to
see if there is something to eat, and taking a
long nap in the afternoon, must be a wonderful
life. For human beings, a life of such simplicity
would be possible if one worked to produce
directly his daily necessities. In such a life,
work is not work as people generally think of it,
but simply doing what needs to be done.
Benjamin Franklin When an Indian child has been brought up among us, taught
our language and habituated to our customs, yet if he goes to see his relations and makes one Indian Ramble with them, there is no perswading him ever to return. And that this is not natural [only to Indians], but as men, is plain from this, that when white persons of either sex have been taken prisoners young by the Indians, and lived awhile among them, tho' ransomed by their Friends, and treated with all imaginable tenderness to prevail with them to stay among the English, yet within a Short time they become disgusted with our manner of Life, and the care and pains that are necessary to support it, and take the first good Opportunity of escaping again into the Woods, from whence there is no reclaiming them.
Benjamin Franklin
The Care and Labour of providing for Artificial and
Fashionable Wants, the sight of so many rich wallowing
in Superfluous plenty, whereby so many are kept poor
and distressed for Want, the Insolence of Office . . . and
restraints of Custom, all contrive to disgust them
[Indians] with what we call civil Society.
--Benjamin Franklin, marginalia in Matthew Wheelock,
Reflections, Moral and Political on Great Britain and
Her Colonies, 1770
What did we learn from the
Depression of the 1930s?
Though most all were in poverty, small farmers
weathered the storm the best.
Having land was critical to coping. Land allowed even
city residents to have chickens, rabbits and large
gardens. Lawns were a drain on resources.
Food preservation skills were essential to surviving the
winter and spring.
Close knit groups and families did the best. (We didn’t
know we were poor).
My Proposal
Change from a money-dominated system to
a land and skill-based system.
Land is not just for a house, it becomes a
part of a functional, sustainable life.
Start a Homesteading System
Redesign low-income housing opportunities.
My Proposal
Change land use laws to minimize lawns and build productivity.
Homesteaders take a PDC class with other potential homesteaders. Make a plan for your homestead.
Team with Habitat for Humanity (or similar group) to build home. Incorporate plan elements.
My Proposal
The PDC class becomes your local support team to design and build together. Provide tools.
Learn about food preservation together.
Over time there would be a gradual shift from money-based dependency to a land and skill-based existence.
Homesteading There are thousands of local government owned
properties that need adoption. They are government owned because of unpaid taxes.
Use the principles that worked in the past to build a commitment to the land and build a new future.
Permaculture training would be a part of the application process.
Property ownership would transfer when commitments are fulfilled.
Build Community within
Communities
Permaculture Design Courses (PDCs) are a
good place to start.
Successful completion of a PDC requires the
development of a permaculture plan.
Commit to supporting each others’ plans. Build
a team. No one is alone.
Why It Could Work
Permaculture is a part of every level of
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
It supports a global climate need of
repairing the earth.
We’ve done this before. It’s what our
great grandparents did. It’s honoring their
contributions now.
Why I it Could Work
Permaculture is designed to make your life easier and better. It’s about learning new things.
It’s not a program for just a few. It has opportunities for everyone.
You can start as an individual or with others.
Why it Could Work Mental Health needs would lessen.
Physical Health would improve as activity is great for the body.
Family stress levels would go down.
It would lessen exposure to crisis. (Loss of Job, economic slowdown, health crisis)
Permaculture skills are yours always
What are the challenges?
Some money will always be needed.
It doesn’t support big business.
Many people will not need to do
traditional work and others could look at
that negatively.
It will empower the disenfranchised. That
may be threatening to some.
Initiating Change
“It’s not that we fear the
unknown. You cannot fear
what you do not know. It’s
loss of the known that we
fear.” Anthony de Mello
Please give me feedback
What do I have to think about that I didn’t
mention here?
What are the biggest roadblocks you see?
Who could support this and team with me?
Additional Permaculture
Videos
Overview of Permaculture
This is Geoff Lawton, a central figure in
Permaculture. (He’s British)
“Permacutuur Inroductie”
https://youtu.be/aiefhvKX4w4
Permaculture in Action
This video shows how people are rebuilding their neighborhoods in Detroit.
Detroit Urban Farming Documentary
https://youtu.be/-sgd6GqCCHg
Composting and Vermacomposting: A Celtic Viewpoint
https://youtu.be/XH-x3FOoQns
More Ron Finley Videos
Ron Finley: Gurilla Gardener in South Central LA
https://youtu.be/EzZzZ_qpZ4w
Ron Finley: Google Company Speech
https://youtu.be/pcyDe_nbEsc
Ron Finley at MAD4: Save Your Food, Save Your Life
https://youtu.be/oCMEuco1SZ0
Permaculture in Action
Will Allen is a Milwaukee resident who has been recognized around the world for his innovative urban farming.
Growing Power – A model for Urban Agriculture
https://youtu.be/vs7BG4IH3m4
Permaculture in Action
Will Allen is featured by Oprah. He’s a
Milwaukee urban farmer and creator of
Growing Power
Urban Farming Starting His Own
Revolution- Super Soul Sunday- Oprah
https://youtu.be/ILLLIcrmSDK
Building Cordwood Housing
This type of construction uses wood from
a nearby property. This is more common
than you might think.
https://youtu.be/-b5Adc8ur7E
Building Strawbale Housing
Hans van Dam “How to Build a Real
Straw Bale House”
https://youtu.be/Li3Qs_6H7ng