Social permaculture (3m 58s)
Principle: To address the needs of everyone on your site
Permaculture, in general, focuses on the physical aspects of survival – the plants, the water, the structures, etc. Now, we’ll briefly talk about how our needs in the areas of education and healthcare can also be met using permaculture strategies. I’ll also say, these things aren’t normally included in a permaculture design course. These are my personal opinions about healthcare and education.
What is health?
Health is the state or quality of being free from illness or injury. Healthcare, then, is the practice of how to keep ourselves free from illness and injury.
Spectrum of health
Draw a line
This line… is our health. On the left side of the line, we are healthy and happy. On the right side, we are sick. Somewhere in the middle, is where our health changes from healthy to unhealthy. This line is where we say, I need treatment.
Healthcare, in a perspective of permaculture, is all about staying healthy. What can we do, everyday, to stay healthy and happy and avoid the costly decision of treatment.
Here is a list of eight different things we must keep in balance each day to stay healthy. I’ve found, whenever I feel ill, it’s usually because one of these eight things is out of balance. These are preventative healthcare strategies.
Are we sleeping enough? Each night we need between 6-8 hours of sleep. This number will range based on our age and other things.
Are we exercising enough? We should move or be active at least 10 minutes a day.
Are we eating enough healthy food? We need to eat a balanced diet.
Are we staying hygienic? Most health problems in underdeveloped communities arise from unsanitary living conditions. We need clean living, bathing and pooping environments.
Are we learning enough? Are we sharing enough? Each day we should learn something and produce something. We are capable, learning, productive beings. Each day we must exercise these abilities.
Are we spending enough time with other people? We should spend at least some time of the day each day socializing with people.
Are we spending enough time alone? Or with other people? Each day we should spend some time with friends and other people, and I think we should spend at least 10 minutes alone to reflect or do whatever we want to do.
If we can keep these thing in balance we can stay healthier longer.
What is education?
About 100 years ago in the United States, when the industrial era was in full swing, industry needed workers. Industry created high school. High school was originally a training program for people to get jobs. A few years later, there were too many people for the available jobs. Then people started going to 4-year universities. This created more educated employees, but again over time there were too many people for the job market. The university evolved into the Master’s degree and then the Ph. D. Now the education system is log jammed with more and more qualified people.
Meanwhile, industry is mechanising the workforce and working to reduce their need for employees. The overall pool of available jobs is decreasing while the number of qualified people is increasing.
Well why do we going into school in the first place? The current education system teaches us how to work for someone. An education system though should teach us how to survive and make a living for ourselves, as well as how to work together in a group as it does now.
I think a holistic education system would include a lot of information in a permaculture design course. Children and adults, both need to learn how to garden, and make compost and raise chickens and bees. These are the raw survival skills that are useful anywhere and address our needs, the actual needs, so we can leave the education system as competent farmers, gardeners, engineers, architects, designers who can function as independent machines of creativity, free to explore and contribute in whatever capacity they choose.
Okay, that’s all. Thanks for listening to these few points on social permaculture. And thank you for your time.