Zone Zero: Permaculture Starts with Yourself

Permaculture is more than another approach to ecological design; it is a personal transformation. When you practice permaculture, a door opens in your brain and visions of a truly thriving, sustainable society come pouring through. When we reach the point at which we are willing to unlock that door, the first thing we need to do is find the key, and the best place to look is deep inside ourselves, in the hidden corners of our minds, where our most cherished ethics and intentions lie.

Zone and sector analysis is one of the primary tools used in permaculture to generate whole system designs. Zone zero includes how we think, feel, and communicate. It includes personal choices such as where we work, how we travel, what we buy, and how we raise our children. The concept of a whole system design integrates all aspects of a society: People, wildlife, land, transportation, food, education, etcetera. Organizing zone zero is the first step in a whole system design: The designer must literally reek of permaculture in order to succeed at creating one.

Let us go back to the definition of permaculture: Permaculture is a design system for sustainable living, with particular emphasis on the relationships between the needs, elements, and participants within that system. These relationships include our intra and interpersonal relationships as well as the flow between the nonhuman elements in our lives. A permaculture design is not a linear system; rather, it is a spiral of thoughts, activities, and participants, working together in constant evolution. In every natural spiral, the most peaceful place is in the center. At the center of a permaculture design is the designer, and this, too, should be the most peaceful place in the spiral.

Zone zero refers to our personal ethics, mental and physical health, and especially, our relationships with others. Let’s look at each of these aspects in turn:

Ethics

As discussed in the previous chapter, permaculture asks us to embrace the ethics of caring for the Earth, caring for the people, and reinvesting in those ends. Once we have made the ethical choice to take responsibility for our own existence and for that of our children, the next step is to make the personal commitments that go along with those ethics. For example, one cannot embrace an ethic of Earth care while dumping toxic materials into the ocean, nor can one embrace an ethic of caring for others while engaging in abusive behavior. It is up to each individual to examine where they are now against where they would like to be, and to formulate a plan of action.

Health

It is impossible to be a well balanced, contributing member of a thriving society without first paying careful attention to our own mental and physical health. Some people were born with naturally healthy, strong bodies that enable them to do most any form of physical work, while others must to deal with handicaps and disabilities that prohibit certain types of activities. Some people are naturally happy, intelligent, and good at communicating, while others struggle with abuse cycles and/or mental illness. Most of us are somewhere in the middle, and must eat well, learn to treat others respectfully, and get plenty of exercise to be mentally and physically healthy. We recognize that mental and physical health is intrinsically linked, and that every creature is a product of its environment. In general, the elements of a healthy mind and body are:  Nutrition, exercise, access to healthcare and emotional support, freedom from oppression, and ample opportunities for rest and relaxation.

One of the best ways to cover all of these bases is to garden. Gardening is good exercise and provides healthy food, both of which are important for developing a healthy body. In addition, gardening helps us to reconnect with nature, and is an excellent form of mental therapy; working with the plants has a calming effect, and leads to valuable insights about how to deal with internal, emotional conflicts. If you are dealing with an extremely difficult or abusive situation, which threatens your physical and/or mental well being, it is a good idea to seek help from a trained therapist. Most of us suffer from some level of post-traumatic stress syndrome, just from growing up in the less than nurturing society that is modern America. Whatever your current situation is, taking a proactive step toward improving yourself is always empowering. Self-care is essential to survival, and if we are not well fed, well rested, and well-balanced, chances are we will not be well organized to contribute to society.

Relationships

Studies show that the maximum number of people that can rationally organize is three. Two people can come to a mutual decision even more quickly, and just one works even better, especially if it is yourself. You know what they say, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

However, some projects are impossible to do alone. For example, moving a piano: There may be ways to move a piano alone, given that the individual has access to the appropriate equipment. Then some would argue that the person is not in fact doing anything alone, but with the help of a machine. The easiest thing for the person with the desire to move the piano is to find other people and convince them to help. This principle applies to many types of projects, and is part if the reason why it is so difficult, and likely impossible, to create a sustainable life alone.

I see community involvement as an essential piece of the sustainability puzzle. We cannot save the planet or our species by ourselves. We must work together. One person is just not enough to grow the food, take care of the house, mend the clothes, chop the wood, and all of the other tasks in even the simplest home site. Beyond the home, the need for community becomes even more apparent: Chefs need someone to feed, builders someone to build for, children someone to mother them, and learners need teachers. Because becoming a lifelong learner is one of our primary tools for survival, finding teachers becomes one. Being part of a community means having better access to resources and information. By becoming intentional participants in a community, we open ourselves up to unlimited possibilities. By letting go of our individualistic aspirations and embracing the needs of the whole, we become simultaneously stronger, more essential, and more successful. Participating in community helps to give our lives more meaning, and helps others find meaning through us.

What does it mean to be part of a community, and how we can best work with others to improve our collective situation? The first step is to define what we mean by community. The definition of community is elusive. Some people who share no more than geographical vicinity may consider themselves a community; others who participate in an Internet mailing list feel part of a community, while still others restrict their definition to include only the intentional group within which they choose to work or socialize. The definitions and boundaries of community can be based on geography, politics, creative interests, gender, or culture, and are as numerous and varied as individuals on the planet. It is up to each of us to define the boundaries of our community, and to choose how many different communities to work with.

In permaculture, community includes nonhuman life forms as well as humans, and community development usually takes place within a semi-defined geographical region. One of the key elements to permaculture is bioregionalism, in which all of the beings within a certain region work together to promote the health and longevity of that region, without degrading the health and longevity of another region. So, permaculture communities tend to be bioregional communities, with many interconnected sub-communities, such as artists, educators, builders, parents, or neighborhoods.

Community groups can share workloads, resources, and information with each other, and with other communities. Living and working together in community is a natural instinct of humans and many other animals, such as wolves, chickens, and elk. Most people love spending time with their friends and families; for many, community and companionship are in fact essential to our mental health. Interacting with other humans is one of the primary ways in which we get to know each other and ourselves, yet many humans spend the majority of their time sitting in a cubicle, staring into an electronic box, and only interact with others during leisure hours or much chagrined office meetings.

Some people prefer to work alone. And it seems true that the smaller the group, the more efficiently the job is done. However, if you cannot accomplish your goals without help, or if you just want to make some new friends, then doing a project with other people can be a truly rewarding and educational experience. It can also be a very painful and frustrating experience, depending on how well the group is able to get along. Some groups have a mystical connection with one another, and agree on every step of the process. In my experience, this is extremely rare. Other groups are just the wrong mix of personalities; these groups quickly erupt into dysfunctional chaos, and nothing ever gets accomplished. This is also relatively rare. Most groups are somewhere in between, and the more the members of those groups can learn about functional group process, the more likely they will be able to achieve their goals.

The core of permaculture is relationships, whether with ourselves, other humans, the land, or between elements in a system. A successful permaculture depends entirely upon the success of the relationships within. If you want to improve your system, improve the relationships. As individuals, the best way to ensure the health of our relationships, and to contribute to a peaceful society, is to be peaceful people. This means monitoring our own behavior. Personal growth is an ongoing process, and if we put even a small amount of energy into enhancing our own ways of being, we greatly improve our ability to communicate and work with others.

Learning to communicate in a nonviolent, egalitarian manner is a learned skill, and, unfortunately, not usually taught in school. So it is up to each individual to learn to interact with others in a way that embraces diversity, promotes sharing, and encourages personal growth. Few of us are experts at this, but the point is to try. Spend a little time asking yourself questions about your communication skills. What are your strong points? What needs to improve? What baggage are you bringing with you from your past? In what ways were your early examples of interpersonal communication dysfunctional? How are your personal attachments getting in the way of your leadership skills and your ability to fully participate in your community? Identify these issues and resolve them. It is okay to be damaged from your past; most of us are. Nevertheless, it is also okay, and sometimes essential, to change.

Someone once said to me, great minds have great flaws[i]. Often people whom we have a great professional respect for engage in rude or downright abusive behavior, yet they are either unaware or in denial, and this not only detracts from their own opportunities, it limits the potential of the whole project. Many people go their entire lives without learning how to communicate with others in a way that is peaceful, respectful, and mutually rewarding. I went the first thirty years of my life thinking that to carry on a conversation meant to talk as loud and as fast as you can, and interrupt as often as possible. For some of us, that’s the way we had to be to get a word in edgewise at the dinner table. In the decade that I have worked in activist communities, I have been to hundreds of meetings, workshops, and conference panels, and at nearly every one, there was at least one person who would continually interrupt, tell long irrelevant stories, make sexist comments, or otherwise cross the boundaries of the other people in the room. Sometimes that person was me, and I was eventually forced, by my own desire for community, to change. The point is, if you really do want to contribute to a healthy, sustainable community, do not be that person![ii] Remember the old saying, you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. If you really want to be heard, wait your turn and present your case in a way that is reasonable, realistic, and easy to support.

Beyond personal growth, there are several key strategies to organizing within a group or community[iii]. In America, our primary examples of group decision-making are hierarchy and democracy. Hierarchy is when one person or a small group of people makes decisions that affect the entire group. This is quick and effective in emergencies, but tends to undermine the potential of the group if used too frequently or without agreement. Democracy is generally defined by a majority rule, and any leader or decision that receives more than half of the vote wins. Well, what about the other half? Often those who are consistently outvoted feel powerless and disenfranchised. Sometimes these people will just leave the group, taking their ideas and resources with them. Other times people will continue to work with the group but will be bitter and less invested in the outcome.

In activist groups and permaculture projects, the most common form of group process is consensus, or collective decision-making. Consensus is based on an agreement to reach agreement by the whole group on every decision. All passing votes must be unanimous, and any single person block a decision, if they feel it will inhibit or detract from the goals or integrity of the group. Consensus embraces the principle of cooperation, meaning tolerance to others’ mistakes and willingness to learn from our own. This is the most egalitarian form of group process, and the most time consuming. To cut back on the time involved in achieving consensus, some groups choose to vary the format in one or more of the following ways:

• Consensus minus one: This method requires two votes for a block. This helps to ensure that one person does not railroad the group into doing things their way.
  
  
• Directly affected consensus: Only those directly affected by a decision or who will be participating in the work involved have voting power over that aspect of the project. This helps to avoid long hypothetical discussions, but requires good communication to define who is and is not “directly affected.”
  
  
• Blocker must propose: Requires that the person(s) who block a decision must offer a compromise to the group. This prevents dead ends in the process, and keeps new ideas flowing.
  
  

Consensus process does not mean there is no leadership, only that no person has decision making power over any other. In fact, every person in a consensus group should be encouraged to use their leadership skills to help ensure the fairness and effectiveness of each decision.

Consensus meetings usually have a facilitator, someone who mediates the flow of the meeting and helps others to define their roles within the project. The role of facilitator is to encourage egalitarian participation, prevent interruptions, and try to keep the group on topic, but not to direct the meeting toward their own agenda. A general rule is that the facilitator speaks the least, so if the group is discussing something about which you are especially attached, it is a good idea to let someone else facilitate. This role usually rotates, so that every member of a working group has an opportunity to facilitate.

Consensus process can be long, painful, and exhausting, but it is one of the only proven ways to include the whole group in a decision. Often it is best to make the larger, most important decisions by consensus, within the whole group, then to break out into smaller subgroups when it is time to get the work done. In his permaculture Designer’s Manual, Bill Mollison presents an excellent way to structure working groups, called the Troika method[iv]. Mollison describes Troika as follows:

“In every group, there is work to do. This work needs to be set out clearly, as jobs or tasks. Tasks fall into two categories: Those which are creative, productive, or constructive, hence pleasing, and those which are basically maintenance (domestic, office, and garden work). Of the first category, we seek volunteers to take up the tasks, and if they come forward, we ALLOT that task to them, agreeing on a timetable and stages of completion. Of the second category, we ROSTER people to do the work, usually laying out a worksheet and a (usually monthly or weekly) roster.

Wherever no volunteers appear for any task, then the group as a whole contributes to a tithe to pay for the task to be carried out by a contractor (as in many trade tasks); thus all work gets done one way or another.

An essential strategy for rapid and flexible action is to limit the number of people responsible for any one area of action or task. Some ideal number is between one and three individuals, who manage independently, but who may work on a general plan and schedule to fit in with others. Completion dates are set and notified to all people, and some form of support, diary, or plan is made public or minuted.”

This method is extremely effective at accomplishing goals, and works well for most types of projects, most of the time. However, Troika does not take into account the inevitable personality conflicts interpersonal strain that can result from working with a group. Of course, individuals can just choose to avoid each other, but this does not do much for building stronger communities or encouraging personal growth. Every group is a relationship, whether there are two people or two hundred. And like any other relationship, working groups require attention, sincerity, and sometimes, hard work to stay healthy and functional.

When we find ourselves in a situation where we feel uncomfortable, alienated, or abused, the first thing to do is step back and ask ourselves whether we can change our own behavior to avert the negative emotions. It is much easier to change ourselves than to change others, so ask yourself, “What can I learn here?” or “What exactly is the behavior that is causing this emotion?” Once you have gotten to the heart of the issue in yourself, if there is still a problem to be resolved, try using this useful clearing technique[v]

First, ask the person to join you for a clearing session. Sometimes it is appropriate to engage a neutral, third party to mediate, but this is often not necessary. Next, take turns expressing your commitment to the relationship, your desire to be relaxed and easy to work with, and your love for the person and for the Earth. Ground yourselves in your basis of unity. Now calmly describe your feelings and identify the specific incident(s) that triggered the emotions. Take responsibility for your own feelings but identify what you need to feel safe, respected, and valued. Pay attention to your body language and try to be peaceful and open. Let it all pour out until you feel spent and relieved. Then it is their turn. Ask them to share their own emotions, to react to your words, and to explain their actions. Do not interrupt, just listen carefully and wait until they, too, are spent. Sometimes you will need to go back and forth in this fashion until everything is out in the open. Each person should make requests and agreements that will help to avoid the same problems in the future.

Clearing can also be done in a large group, by going around and listening to each individual, writing requests on a large board, and asking the group to go through each request and decline, accept, or compromise. I have used this process to resolve several very tense, very dysfunctional situations, and have found that even just a few minutes of intentional, open conversation can make a huge improvement in a relationship. It is usually worth it to spend time resolving conflict, rather than letting the project or relationship fall apart. Sometimes, however, people will cross the line from dysfunction or discomfort to downright abuse. As an individual and in groups, it is important to set healthy boundaries and to define what constitutes abusive and oppressive behaviors. Sometimes an intervention is needed, or a person will be asked to seek professional counseling before returning to the group. In any situation, try to find the solution within the problem, and never be afraid to ask for help from the community.

As we work together to build a more peaceful, more sustainable society, it is important that we develop ways to communicate with each other that encourage honesty, participation, and mutual aid. Never yell at or physically attack another person. Remember the tenth principle in permaculture: Attitude is everything. When we can achieve harmony within our relationships with others, we will be that much closer to achieving harmony with all of nature.