#Seed003: Community and Economics
A three-part series on designing healthy, resilient, and regenerative communities
This is the second publication from our three-part series on designing healthy, resilient, and regenerative communities. In this series, I explore permaculture principles in light of community design and facilitation. If you haven’t done so yet, I invite you to read the first installment #Seed002: Why People Need Soil.
Designing regenerative communities requires a paradigm shift. Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, we have been employing an industrial paradigm to our design practices, from organizations, businesses, and religious institutions to community initiatives. Success in this paradigm has been primarily measured by material production.
However, through by applying permaculture design principles, we can view organizations of people as ecosystems. As community designers, our task is not to build something from nothing but to observe, maintain, and adjust conditions to nurture human growth.
In this second installment of our series on designing healthy, resilient, and regenerative communities, we will explore two permaculture design principles that underpin community capacity development and establish a framework for human-centered economics on a small scale.
Use and value renewable resources and services
In his influential work, Small is Beautiful, E.F. Schumacher remarked “that the industrial system, with all its intellectual sophistication, consumes the very basis on which it has been erected. […] It lives on irreplaceable capital which it cheerfully treats as income.” He highlighted three categories of such capital: fossil fuels, the tolerance margins of nature, and the human substance. To comprehend how we should utilize and appreciate renewable resources and services, we need to delve into the concept of “goods.” This exploration will enable us to assess if we are truly valuing and using renewable goods.
Schumacher points out that goods form the “main subject matter of economics.” However, economists have rarely endeavored to determine whether goods are man-made or God-given or whether they are freely reproducible or not. Schumacher suggests a classification scheme:
Goods exist in two categories: primary and secondary. Secondary goods, such as a chair, depend on primary goods, like lumber. Primary goods can further be classified as non-renewable and renewable, with varying degrees of renewability. For instance, a tree, though renewable, requires a decade or two to regenerate. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, take millions of years, making them non-renewable. Secondary goods can be categorized into manufactures and services. Manufactures are exchangeable man-made goods, while services are generally perceived as labor. This economic framework is crucial for understanding how communities can effectively use and value renewable resources and services.
Permaculture design principles encourage the use of renewable resources and services. If we start exploiting non-renewable goods for energy, we end up with a net loss. However, if we employ renewable goods, our wealth becomes regenerative. For instance, if we nurture the soil properly, we generate revenue from our produce without depleting the soil. Conversely, monocultures and cash crops deplete soils, thus reducing the renewability of our goods.
This principle applies to community design as well. Education builds capacity. Capacity generates income. Income is then reinvested into community. This is a regenerative process that enhances a community's resilience and self-sufficiency.
However, we need to broaden our perspective of income beyond financial capital when considering renewable resources and services in the context of the community. Income encompasses more than just money! Therefore, in community design, I consider eight forms of capital:
Experiential
Spiritual
Social
Cultural
Intellectual
Material
Living
Financial
This expanded view of capital allows community designers to identify their net-capital gains (income) and losses (liabilities). For instance, a community might want to assess its cultural capital by taking into account its cultural consumption patterns. A community facilitator could conduct a workshop to ascertain the types of music, movies, and literature that people consume. We can then evaluate how a community might produce or facilitate the production of relevant cultural capital for its members. Does the community organize art festivals, offer art workshops and trainings, and showcase its talents? The answers to these questions help us understand the gains (production) and losses (consumption) of cultural capital. We can replicate this process for all the other forms of capital mentioned above.
Produce no waste
Creating accountability mechanisms for all forms of capital is critical at this juncture. Regenerative communities should have systems in place to reinvest capital surplus back into the community, ensuring no waste is produced. Consider the process of harvesting produce, preparing and cooking it, then replenishing the soil with vital nutrients through composting. The same principle can be applied to community design.
We often perceive frugality as the ability to be thrifty and cut costs. However, the word "frugal" stems from the Latin "frux," meaning fruit. Therefore, frugality could be interpreted as using things to their fullest extent— the entire fruit, the whole crop, the complete proceeds.
There's a story of the Prophet Muhammad, may the light of God continue to nourish his soul, where he noticed one of his disciples wastefully using water while washing himself. When the Prophet questioned this wastefulness, the disciple asked, "Is there wastefulness with water in washing?" The Prophet replied, "Yes, even if you were on the banks of a flowing river."
It's crucial to establish mechanisms at the community scale that promote frugality and deter wastefulness of resources and services. One such mechanism is the reinvestment of surplus capital. For instance, creating employment opportunities for the youth is a perfect example of reinvesting capital. It provides goods and services to the community while offering training and experience for the youth. This experience then aids the young employees in kickstarting their careers. They might later volunteer their time and skills and donate to support community projects. Eventually, these youths become the community's inheritors. This whole process creates a closed-loop system ensuring that no forms of capital are wasted. As community designers, we can intentionally create these mechanisms, considering where surplus can be invested most effectively.
Regenerative community design requires a paradigm shift. Applying permaculture design principles can provide a framework for community design. I’d love to hear about your process in community design and how you may apply a new understanding of community investment and capital.
For our third and final instalment in this series, we’ll be exploring the final six permaculture design principles. We’ll be looking at how the seeds we sow today will be enjoyed by those who come tomorrow. Make sure to subscribe!
Drawing Inspiration
Every week, I share books, podcasts, films, and other resources that will support your journey as a community facilitator and builder.
Books
For years, I’ve heard the name Ivan Illich. It is a name that has stayed with me throughout my intellectual journey, even as I explored different currents of thoughts. Lately, I’ve been researching small-scale and economics and ideas around degrowth, I came across the fabulous short book: Beyond Economics and Ecology: the Radical Thought of Ivan Illich edited by Sajay Samuel. This book is a collection of four essays by Ivan Illich and serves as an accessibile introduction to his thought. Illich is unorthodox is every sense of the world. He can resonate with anyone: traditionalist or progressives, socialist or conservative, left or right. In this selection of essays, Illich provides new ways of understanding economics and ecology. The editor, Sajay Samuel, does service to Illich by giving us an easy-to-read and beautiful book.