[Chapter_Fourteen] Permaculture and Justice

Thu Jan 20 13:23:02 PST 2011

I agree with Larry. While permaculture practices can certainly have many beneficial impacts on society, I think it is a mistake to focus on permaculture primarily as a means to achieve justice, or as a social justice movement. In fact, such a focus could potentially be a distraction from the hard, slow work of advancing justice in the political arena. 

I also take a slight and polite exception to Rachel's claim that "traditional political philosophy" and "ivory tower" philosophy defines justice as only related to material goods. That's simply a misreading of political philosophy as I know it. But the, this is academic nitpicking on my part, and I definitely endorse her list of great philosophers such as Rawls, Sen, Nussbaum, etc.

Jason

On Jan 20, 2011, at 1:01 PM, chapter_fourteen-beforebefore.net-request at lists.beforebefore.net wrote:

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>  1. Re: Permaculture and Justice (Larry Korn)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:31:21 -0800
> From: Larry Korn <ldkorn at gmail.com>
> To: "Chapter Fourteen: Where abundant food and human cultures
>   intersect"    <chapter_fourteen-beforebefore.net at lists.beforebefore.net>
> Subject: Re: [Chapter_Fourteen] Permaculture and Justice
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>   <AANLkTimh-sFm1wJWHuBfgYJF-AuhrapNZhy6CXMa-QtF at mail.gmail.com>
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> Hello all,
> 
> Thank you, Rachel for this posting.  It's true that by practicing
> permaculture many of the problems leading to social injustice will wither.
> I'm not sure that permaculture is the venue to directly address these
> issues.  That's just my personal opinion. I would love to hear what others
> think about this.
> 
> ~Larry
> 
> On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 11:16 AM, Rachel A. Buddeberg <rachel at rabe.org>wrote:
> 
>> I discovered permaculture last summer.  It made total sense to me.  We need
>> to move away from our growth-oriented, self-destructive way of living.  We
>> need to rethink the way we live.  To me, permaculture is all about
>> redesigning our culture.  To me, that means everything - the way we live,
>> the way we interact, the way we eat, etc.  As i was reading more, though, i
>> noticed a pattern: Most people focused on how to grow our food.  Other
>> aspects - raised in Chapter 14 - were often ignored, or sidelined.  And that
>> didn't seem to bother anybody.  Was there nobody wondering out loud if we
>> need to ask some more questions while we learn how to grow our own food?
>> So, let me start wondering out loud: Does permaculture create a just
>> society?  How can we ensure that it does?
>> 
>> I am troubled by the absence, within the permaculture movement, of actively
>> addressing current injustices.  If we repair intersections within the
>> current neighborhoods, we do not address the fact that our neighborhoods are
>> segregated.  If we grow food in our backyards, we ignore that not everybody
>> has backyards, nor the time to work in the backyard because they have to
>> work 3 jobs to earn enough to even live somewhere.  And then i am troubled
>> by Holmgren's gender balance suggestion (in Principles & Pathways, p.
>> 267-9).  I thought we had overcome "separate but complementary culture"
>> (274).  More importantly, though, his view of the male-female dichotomy does
>> not recognize that men and women are not as different as many claim.
>> 
>> Justice, of course, is a very broad, often rather vague term.  To me, a
>> just society is one where everyone matters, where everyone is supported by
>> society to reach their potential, where all voices are heard even if we
>> don't like what they say (or how they say it).  I am adding a more formal
>> way of approaching it below.  The questions i am pondering somehow reflect
>> that definition? (Or those definitions?)
>> 
>> So, the questions i am asking us are:
>>      ? How can we ensure that permaculture addresses all aspects of
>> justice?
>>              ? How can we use permaculture principles to ensure just
>> distribution of resources in a world where almost everything is distributed
>> unjustly?
>>              ? How can we recognize everybody impacted by our work?
>>              ? How can we utilize everybody's skills and remove obstacles
>> from our paths that prevent us from living to our fullest potential?
>>              ? How can we make sure that everybody can participate?  Are
>> we preventing some people from participating? If so, how? Can we overcome
>> those obstacles?
>>      ? Are there any stories we can share that illustrate how
>> permaculture addresses these aspects or how it doesn't?
>>      ? Could - or even should - permaculture address all this?  Maybe it
>> is enough to grow our food differently, after all agriculture had huge
>> impacts on the way we live, so maybe by changing this one thing everything
>> else will follow?
>> 
>> I would love it if we could discuss some or all of these questions.  Also,
>> if you know of or are involved in permaculture projects that do incorporate
>> fights for justice, please let me know!  I'd love to learn how they do this?
>> 
>> Looking forward to a lively discussion!
>> 
>> Rachel
>> 
>> 
>> And if you're really interested in the academic background, read on:
>> Traditionally, political philosophers defined justice as the just
>> distribution of material goods.  Although that definition is still
>> surprisingly prevalent in philosophy, those philosophers who go beyond the
>> ivory tower have noticed that social justice movements define justice much
>> more broadly.  There's David Schlosberg, for example, who has looked at the
>> environmental justice movement and argued that it defines justice more
>> broadly, including adding aspects of recognition, capabilities, and
>> participation.  And then Iris Marion Young specifically credits social
>> movements for helping her see the need to develop a broader definition.
>> 
>> Let me clarify each aspect of justice a bit using environmental issues
>> (primary philosophers are listed in parentheses):
>>      ? Distribution means that all bear an equal burden of environmental
>> pollution and get equal benefits of natural resources. (John Rawls)
>>      ? Recognition means that people are recognized:  Native Americans
>> might have a different relationship to land or water than the predominant
>> White-European view.  Recognition respects this. We might need to honor
>> recognition by giving oppressed groups special participation rights. (Iris
>> Young; Nancy Fraser)
>>      ? Capabilities transform the stuff we get into fulfilling lives.  If
>> the soil where we live is polluted, no matter how much money is thrown into
>> the schools in that area, kids won't be able to develop to their fullest
>> potential. (Amartya Sen; Martha Nussbaum)
>>      ? Participation means that everybody can participate, that we ensure
>> that barriers to participation are removed, and that disadvantaged/oppressed
>> groups have particular rights. For example, the folks living downstream
>> might need veto rights on any decisions made by the people living upstream.
>> (Iris Marion Young)
>> 
>> 
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