00331 Appropriate Scale
There is an appropriate scale to every human activity and it is the scale of personal responsibility. — Andrew Kern
On a more personal level, I think that much frustration in life comes from living at an inappropriate scale. Minimalism is gaining attention because minimalists say “Scale down!” while the rest of our culture is saying “Scale up!” Minimalists provide a valuable counterweight, but they can be a bit extreme. As Milton Glaser pointed out, less isn’t more, just enough is more. Instead of simply scaling up or down, we should find an appropriate scale. — John Cook
We define Appropriate Scale as an element, system, action, or technology appropriate to a situation in its complete context. It is often easier to get at the definition by thinking of examples:
Not appropriate scale:
- Building a nuclear reactor to provide electricity to a house.
- Using a bulldozer to build a raised garden bed.
Appropriate scale:
- Installing a wind generator and PV cells to provide electricity to a house.
- Using a hoe and shovel to build a raised garden bed.
- Using a bulldozer to build a dam for a lake.
In any situation, there are seven layers of infrastructure present that can provide technology, resources, services, and work that constitute, safety, shelter, and supply. They are:
- Personal
- Household
- Neighborhood/Village
- Town/City
- Region
- Nation
- World
The closer the infrastructure, tool, or resource is to the person, the more robust and resilient it is, and the more control can be exercised over it by the individual households.
The further away — higher up — the infrastructure, the more brittle and less resilient the tech/resource, and less control can be exercised over it by the individual or household.
Our design goal is to provide what we need — supply, safety, and shelter — at the most appropriate scale for each function.
We don’t want to design any nuclear power plants to provide energy for our apartment building.
One of the psychological quirks of modern life is a certain tendency toward the grandiose when we think about changing our lives. This is a subtle way the system has trained us so that we constantly set ourselves up for failure. We don’t think in a scale appropriate to our abilities and lifestyle. Instead, we come up with something that is virtually impossible for our situation. When we fail, that little demon sitting on our shoulder whispers in our ear, “See, I told you so, you can’t do this. Sit back, continue to consume and excrete, just like the television teaches you. Forget all that permaculture nonsense.”
Your designs should be of an appropriate scale for your life. When you begin to work with others in your community on designs that will make your community better, you work at a scale appropriate for the context.
Appropriate scale is essential for good permaculture design.