Hello.
So today we're talking about permaculture,
alternative economics, and capitalism.
I believe that permaculture
by definition is anticapitalist.
And in the short video,
I'm going to explain why.
So when we talk about capitalism,
we think first thing is this big picture,
Wal-Mart, and everybody's working
for the man and everyone's
paying all their money in taxes.
And all you get in return is just
a bunch of junk and a bunch of debt.
And you take that to your grave.
So this is what capitalism sort
of looks like on the ground.
And it's very easy to put a label on that.
But then when we get into talking about
alternative economics, then right away,
the first thing that you will encounter
are these eight forms of capital of oh,
it's not just about money.
There's lots of different ways to accrue
capital and lots of different ways
to feel wealthy, to become wealthy
through your work with the land,
through your work with the community,
create social capital
and spiritual capital.
And you accrue biological capital.
You surround yourself with plants,
et cetera, et cetera.
But rarely does the conversation
go beyond that.
So I just want to challenge
the notion of capital at all.
And this idea that we need to get things
and we need to have things and to own
things and assert that permaculture,
that if we're serious about creating
a sustainable community,
if we're serious about integrating
with nature and being regenerative
with our projects and regenerative
with our actions, then
that work, by definition,
is anticapitalist.
So we talk about eight kinds of capital
which connect to eight kinds of currency
complexing to eight types of natural
resources, which make up the core source
of the energy of what we're getting.
It all came from somewhere, even if we're
talking about alternative currencies.
It's still capitalism.
So social capital, material capital,
financial capital, living capital,
intellectual capital,
experiential capital, spiritual
capital and cultural capital.
Now, two of these things are very
different than the rest in that material
and financial capital are somehow,
for some reason, valued higher.
And people who have more material
and financial capital are granted access
to fancier houses, better health care,
better education and so on.
And these two forms of capital also
happen to be the two that you run out of
if you give away too much.
So, they don't regenerate.
These are non regenerative
forms of capital.
Now, the rest of these
the more you give, the more you get.
So if we're talking about connections
and we're talking about elements and ideas
and actions and intentions and stories
and songs and rituals,
you don't run out of those.
If you're sharing those with your
community, they just keep
making more and more and more.
And these are regenerative.
So what we're doing for the most part
in mainstream culture is we're taking all
of these regenerative energies
and we're translating and mutating
everything into these two
non regenerative energies.
And then we're turning
that into cash money, basically.
And real estate property,
and we're using that to then buy
all of these other types of experiences,
social experiences, living,
living experiences, education,
intellectual connection,
spiritual experiences.
And so, so much has lost massive amounts
of energy are being
lost in the conversion.
And we're literally wasting our time.
And the Earth is dying while we're at it.
This is the pattern
that we need to disrupt. If we're to change our relationship
with the planet on which we live.
So with capitalism,
accruing wealth is all about taking these
natural resources,
turning them into nonmaterial currencies
and then translating that into buildings
and money and land and real property.
So now if we're talking about
anti-capitalism, then we're looking
at the opposite of the pyramid.
So instead of taking natural resources,
we are regenerating natural resources.
And instead of tapping into the community
and trying to turn that into money,
we're giving, freely giving
resources to the community and making
sure that people have what they need.
And we're also taking care of ourselves
and prioritizing
things like personal relationships
and education and things that get
marginalized in a capitalist culture.
And then as we go further down
into the most anti-capitalist part
of the pyramid, then we move all the way
into things like decolonization,
giving the land back to native people,
degrowth, depaving, taking buildings down,
returning cities to wilderness
and even voluntary human extinction.
And/or just issuing fecundity and focusing
on perpetuating non-human
species rather than
only ourselves.
So it's important to remember
that if we're talking about permaculture
and we're truly serious
about being regenerative.
We have to emphasize non-human species
as much as we're emphasizing ourselves.
So if you look closely,
even this work that we're calling
regenerative from here up,
a lot of it's about humans.
And so we need to be honest about
that in our design work, and we need to
make sure that we're striking a balance.
And so how does this tie back
into alternative economies?
It has to do with the way we look
at the world and the way we the way we
establish whether or not
something is a commodity.
Now, what does this have
to do with permaculture?
Let me show you.
So if you look in closer,
what do we have here?
We have
Earthcare.
Permaculture ethic number one.
This is what we see here.
We're taking care of the earth
and we're generating natural resources.
OK.
And now let's look at the second tier.
What do we have here?
People care. See it? Taking care of each
other, taking care of ourselves.
So people care is really important.
And this is our second ethic.
And it just lines right up
with these anti-capitalist ideals.
And now what does that leave?
The third ethics.
That pesky third ethic, I would assert,
as I have before, that the third ethic is
about taking care of non-human species.
It's about paying it forward
for future generations.
But not just for future
generations of ourselves.
And that's where we get to the most
anti-capitalist part of it.
So if we look at this and we remember
the permaculture is about
three ethics and not just one.
Then we see that permaculture
is by definition
anti-capitalist.
OK.
So in summary, let me just wrap
up what I'm trying to say here.
So if capitalism
is about taking these core resources,
converting them to currency,
converting that currency to capital,
trickling that down into material
and financial capital
and that's leading to total destruction.
Then anti-capitalism perhaps,
and permaculture,
by extension,
would have the exact opposite pattern.
So that means we would start
with the destruction,
we would start with the waste.
We would find resources.
We would slowly start to convert that back
into capital,
which we turn back into currency,
which return back into natural resources.
So if we collect money from the capitalist
culture, we turn it into other types
of capital and create
opportunities for others.
And we plant trees and we save seeds.
And we take these amazing actions
that don't benefit us financially.
They do benefit other species then perhaps
we can shift this toxic culture
that capitalism has become.
So there you go.
That's my theory.
And I welcome comments,
critique, and feedback.
I look forward to seeing you,
come find us on Facebook.
It's facebook.com/groups/freepermaculture,
and also just come to freepermaculture.com where there's lots
of resources for you.
Talk to you soon.
