How do permaculture principles apply to social issues facing intentional communities?
When I moved to an ecovillage, I was excited about the amazing learning opportunities before me. I rolled up my sleeves to immerse myself in experiencing permaculture: food-growing, house-building, water systems, energy systems, and the like. And yes, I learned a whole lot about all of those—often through blood, sweat and even some tears. But what I found in my 12 years living in intentional community is that the deepest learning, and the far deeper experiencing, actually came to me in the social realm. I learned that living in intense social connection with others of my species takes energy, knowledge, focus and practice. I found that it is ever-challenging — much, much more so, I’d venture to say, than growing kale, or using a composting toilet, or making mud plaster!
Intentional Communities, Incubators for Cultural Shifts
Intentional communities, in my perspective, can be great experiments in shifting human culture. They are “Zones of Autonomy” as Adam Brock, author of “Change Here Now: Permaculture Solutions for Personal and Community Transformation” calls them.
“Before they can spread to society at large, beneficial ways of living may need to be incubated in a space that is socially, legally, or geographically separate.”
Intentional communities, then, can be like greenhouses in the spring, incubating tender growing ideas.
Communities that I have known have put great thought into their covenants, their governance structures, their decision-making processes, and their conflict resolution techniques. Yet many communities struggle with the challenges of group decision-making, policy monitoring, and resulting interpersonal conflict. Quite frankly, I found it rather exhausting!
Introducing: Social Permaculture
What if we stepped back and looked at the bigger, broader picture of human relationships within these Zones of Autonomy? What if we looked at patterns in our social landscapes and applied permaculture principles—that work so well for land-based design—to social design? What if we designed new social systems that intentionally nourish beneficial ways of living as human beings? And what if we created, with great care, nourishing human social systems that could be spread to society at large?
As someone who spent many years in community, I dream about these ideas and feel excitement around the possibilities growing at the edges of the permaculture and communities movements.
About the Author: SHaron Bagatell
Sharon Bagatell has been studying and practicing permaculture for the past 20 years in both temperate and tropical climates. Building on her extensive background as an environmental educator, she received a design certificate while living at Earthaven Ecovillage, a teaching certificate through Midwest Permaculture, an advanced design certificate in Designing for Climate Resilience through Oregon State University, and a Home Horticulture Certification also through Oregon State.
Sharon lived at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage for 10 years where she and her partner built a timber-frame straw-bale home with a gardenable roof. Natural building is in her bones, and she has been one of the teachers of the Natural Building Workshops at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.
Sharon currently lives in Durham, North Carolina, and is passionately involved in citizen advocacy on climate change. She is the author of a permaculture curriculum for children and a step-by-step permaculture manual for low-literacy Malawian farmers.
Cover photo by Julius Jansson on Unsplash