[Chapter_Fourteen] more on justice & permaculture

[Rachel A. Buddeberg]

Again, i want to share some more of my thinking around a question i raised in that long email i sent and with that reenergize our discussion a bit more. 

I asked: How can we make sure that everybody can participate?  Are we preventing some people from participating? If so, how? Can we overcome those obstacles? 

I was thinking about Hayes Valley Farm as an example. Let me preface this by saying that i think it's wonderful that the Farm exists and i am grateful of and admire the people who are putting a lot of work into the Farm.  I am not raising these questions as criticism but just as some of the things we might want to consider if we want to utilize the Farm to grow more than food but also justice.  If volunteer hours are during a weekday when people work, aren't we excluding people?  What about single mothers who don't want to bring their child(ren) along or even those who would want to - is there child care?  Do people really sign up for PDCs if they cannot afford to pay anything?  How do we actually come across to others - maybe people are turned off by the way we talk?  By the verbosity of my writing?  

I am not looking for specific answers to these questions but rather would like to use them to ask more generally: Are these questions the type of questions we would want to ask ourselves as people who are interested in permaculture?  Are they part of our commitment to permaculture? 

I am looking forward to your thoughts! 

Rachel