Zone 5: Global / Meta-context
I see a world encompassed in moss, leaf litter, bark and debris. Blueberries ripening on their branches, leaping to the ground only to sprout after the cold season's gone by. Oysters, bollets and chanterelles sprout next to vernal pools, shrimp-like crustaceans whizzing from one end to the next in the cool, ethereal waters. The human squats next to the pool, seeing her reflection, wondering, "How did that shrimp get on land?"
When we, as human animals, use our evolutionary tools to redesign the ecosystems that once were, we will have completed a full circle. The Taoists believe it, Christians believe it, Native American tribes believe it. There perhaps was once an abundance on this Earth that humans destroyed with our egos and our dissatisfaction. By observing the natural forces that eternally influence our lives, we can create a harmony using the wisdom (not knowledge) that we harness. We could create ecosystems that mimic the Nature we see know but with a surpassing abundance, such as a food forest. Perhaps the world was once this way.
I see laws and governing forces impose superficial band-aids to people's problems. Health care, for example, wouldn't be such a highly debated issue if healthy food was made available to the less fortunate (monetarily speaking). I want to design a system that is fair to all, exclusive to none, unlike the health care system we have today in America.
I am limited to do so by my experience and the patterning I've developed since childhood. Believing that I "cannot" is drastically more potent than
Un/Learning Commentary
This project abstract was difficult for just that reason--it's too abstract. For my other projects, there are bountiful examples and clear steps to be made. I am daunted as anyone--I cannot see bird's-eye perspective of the world all at once, only snapshots of specific patches. This is proof that we need to involve many designers and then handstitch these patches into a quilt.
believing that I can and will. I must recognize that I am already succeeding in altering the meta-context through my thoughts and my actions, though it may not have influence to the degree I would like. I have already stepped through the door to positive redesign.
Again, I see a fractal growth of consciousness each time I teach about interconnectedness and dependence on our natural environment. I see shining hope when the Permaculture principles strike a chord and reawakens the child-eyes in adults. Common sense is infectious.
I have this idea that Permaculture will be taught in schools; and beyond that, it will be school. No history, no mathematics, no science, no language; but all simultaneously, showing the interrelations and complexities and endless facets, like a diamond in the light. Then, as these children grow older, they become doctors who incorporate traditional, herbal and Western medicine; they become politicians who recognize circumstance over the writ; they become bankers who see money as nothing more than a medium for helping others help others help others.
A specific dream of mine is to create Permaculture schools in foreign bioregions that use anthropologists to incorporate indigenous wisdom, natural builders to create healthy learning environments, and teachers to teach locals ways to remain self-reliant.
Meanwhile, my home country is continually influencing the world to become Westernized. With greedy hands playing for global monopoly, I feel it is my duty to work first with the culture in which I am
A more tangible step...
Currently, I am fundraising for Sadhana Forest Haiti. I have designed the Mobile Reforestation Truck for which we are fundraising. If we get the $200,000 the project will require, I have been invited to be the general contractor and work for two years as a teacher aboard the truck. I am also organizing fundraising events for the director to speak about his reforestation projects in India, Kenya and Haiti. Find his site here.
Sadhana Forest Haiti Mobile Reforestation Truck
...to provide a mobile educational facility and nursery that implements and demonstrates long-term solutions for Haiti's food scarcity, ecological deterioration, and economic instability.
Reforestation truck
most familiar with. I am staying in America to help redirect those who, I believe, are misguided (corporations, governments, the ecologically insensitive...).
In this project, I need support--a collaboration of thousands of different individuals each with their own areas of influence and skill. I personally need to find my niche. I am a natural leader, mediator and teacher, but work more practically when directed by another. Where could I fit in, stimulate, assist in a guild of transitory action? I will continue to observe myself in group scenarios.
I am going to start teaching at Pay It Forward Farm. When my degree with Gaia is finished and my term as selectwoman (potentially) is through, I will teach in the local school systems. Teaching by example and in formal settings, I will discover what excites and moves others, discover what different individuals respond to and where their strengths could effectively be applied to a positive transition. I will hold open the door for others the way it was opened for me.
So far, I am on the right path to this goal. It will not be shortly achieved, nor achieved within my lifetime (as Sophie Viandier); but as a butterfly wing batting the still air of China may cause gales on Mount Washington, I feel my passion for making my vision a reality will create a gale over time when accumulated with others' efforts before and after me.