I am on one of my separations from permaculture right now. Not that I have given up on the principals or methods, but the people are burning me out. In the last year I have seen one of the most noted teachers in field freely let religious hate be posted on his personal page unchecked and another continue his battle with native plant enthusiasts and those who's environmental concerns he doesn't agree with. Another notable permi had yet another tiff on one his Facebook groups and was handling it so poorly that I asked to be removed and blocked so that I would not leave the group for a second time and then come back later only to find that he is fighting with someone again. One of the local permies is branching out and has flooded many groups with her hunting hate rhetoric and one of the notable permies in my area has been creating a bad name by tackling folks on religious issues that he does not agree with.
Top it all off with a presidential election has been nastier than any in living memory and I am just worn out!
The things that are giving me hope are those that are focusing on leaning good gardening without worrying about the names attached to it. This is particularly true of the middle and high school students I am privileged to teach this semester. They have not shown me the accumulated pride and inflexibility that has become the standard in our current society.
Manana!
So weird. Plants are plants. People seem to be making special effort to be divisive lately.
ReplyDeleteI like permaculture, but it certainly does attract a dogmatic bunch. Everything in our society though seems to be very contentious. The ability of people of different beliefs to work together respectfully is almost nonexistent.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've seen a lot of that, too. One of the people with the most knowledge in the area also is so dogmatic, that I don't know if I can force myself to go to any more of their classes. Another is a bully, steamrolling anybody who does immediately help THEIR personal project.
ReplyDeleteI got into Permaculture because of its potential to bring real positive change regardless of dogma and politics. It's something I personally can do to improve my little part of the world. So it saddens me when others are extreme in their reasons for doing it. I just need to put my head down and garden some more.
Luckily there ARE some good people out there as well.