07041 Constant, Persistent, and Resilient Communities

And the real name of our connection to this everywhere different and differently named earth is “work.” We are connected by work even to the places where we don’t work, for all places are connected; it is clear by now that we cannot exempt one place from our ruin of another. The name of our proper connection to the earth is “good work,” for good work involves much giving of honor. It honors the source of its materials; it honors the place where it is done; it honors the art by which it is done; it honors the thing that it makes and the user of the made thing. Good work is always modestly scaled, for it cannot ignore either the nature of individual places or the differences between places, and it always involves a sort of religious humility, for not everything is known. Good work can be defined only in particularity, for it must be defined a little differently for every one of the places and every one of the workers on the earth.

The name of our present society’s connection to the earth is “bad work” — work that is only generally and crudely defined, that enacts a dependence that is ill understood, that enacts no affection and gives no honor. Every one of us is to some extent guilty of this bad work. This guilt does not mean that we must indulge in a lot of breast-beating and confession; it means only that there is much good work to be done by every one of us and that we must begin to do it. — Wendell Berry

First a quick review:

• Constancy: the ability of a system to sustain and support itself.
• Persistence: the ability of a system to defend itself from attacks and damage.
• Resilience: the ability of a system to recover after attacks and damage.

A constant, persistent, and resilient community is like a forest. Multiple elements support every important function. Everything is part of a whole. Many beneficial connections unite the community in all of its diversity. It has persistence — it can defend itself from damage — and constancy — it supports itself going forward into the future.

Solutions grow from place. We rarely do anything for only one reason. We do what is necessary. We design and act on a scale appropriate to the circumstances. The community promotes bio-diversity. It takes advantage of the edge effect. Everyone understands that everything, including doing nothing, has consequence(s).

Energy follows patterns set for it and everything works both ways. The community and its households have energy storages appropriate for their needs. All seek a harmony between giving and receiving. They make the least change for the greatest effect. They design from patterns to details. Everything cycles. The community prefers biological solutions. They probe problems to find solutions. The perfect never becomes the enemy of the good.

People understand first things first and second things second and third things third. The system enables all to participate in their own lives. Thinking and designing outside of the box is the order of the day. No one is afraid of manual labor.

Everything in the community incorporates personal, household, and community responsibility.

They leave no one behind for the wolves to devour. The community cares for people, cares for the planet, and has a care for the future. Cooperation is more important than competition. They do not seek good ends with immoral means.

In other words, this is a community where people incorporate permaculture design and thinking into their everyday activities. There are structures and systems that support good decisions and that make it easy to live lightly upon the land. While we may be a long way from this destination our journey begins with one simple step, followed by another, and another and so on and so forth in accordance with the journey you design in the permaculture design for your good life.