Examines the permaculture ethics from the perspective of systems of power. Permaculture practice needs nourishing economic, social and cultural ground in which to take root, yet much of our society today is a desert in that respect. We need to incorporate an understanding of power into our social permaculture pattern literacy if we’re to turn that desert into a flourishing garden of Earth care, people care and fair share.
In Episode 5 of the Social Permaculture Online Bootcamp, Ben Habib explores how we are nested in webs of relationships with each other and with all of life on Earth, through different intersecting ecological, social and economic systems. Ben also introduces social permaculture “sectors” as a pattern language to help us locate ourselves in relation to the different inter-connected systems that influence our lives.
In Episode 4 of the Social Permaculture Online Bootcamp, Ben Habib draws on the concept of permaculture “zones,” and specifically how they might be interpreted in a social permaculture context, to inventory our networks of interpersonal relationships. Ben also introduces a social permaculture patterning tool, inspired by the zoning concept, of levels of political organisation of increasing scale from the individual to the global.
In Episode 3 of the Social Permaculture Online Bootcamp, Ben Habib explores reclaiming more control over our subsistence through gift economies and the commons, as a compliment to food production. This video’s activity prompts participants to create a basic “gift circle” as an easily replicable model of community-level exchange to obtain some of the things we need, outside of money economy. The objective is not just to obtain more of what we need through networks of mutual aid, but also to lay the foundation of sharing and reciprocity needed for larger-scale alternative economic systems for the post-COVID19 recovery and post-carbon transition.
In Episode 2 of Social Permaculture Online Bootcamp, Ben Habib confronts the feeling of overwhelm that many are feeling in the COVID-19 moment. Ben looks to the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) framework for guidance, and specifically to a recent article “FACE COVID” published by renowned psychotherapist Russ Harris. Ben likes this model to help get grounded so that we can put one foot in front of the other and make the next decision.
In this first episode of the series, Ben Habib introduces the ‘Social Permaculture Online Bootcamp’. With an emphasis on transmutation, this series will explore issues, problems and anxieties associated with the COVID-19 crisis, and draw from insights from social permaculture and beyond to think about how we might respond.
In this presentation at APSA 2019, Ben offers a critical exploration of permaculture as a design methodology, system of ethics, community of practice, and social movement, which function as a vehicle for sustainability transitions and practice of a materialist politics. He also encourages academics of environmental politics to reflect on the appropriate balance of research, sustainability practice and environmental activism demanded by the urgent predicament of global climate and ecological crisis.
Earlier this month the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a sobering special report arguing that globally we a decade to complete greenhouse mitigation measures, to limit the global temperature […]
As part of my session on The Economy and Economic Regeneration Strategies in the permaculture design course at CERES Community Environment Park, we spend some time teasing out what an […]
In this workshop at the 14th Australasian Permaculture Convergence in Canberra (16th-19th April 2018), Lachlan McKenzie and Ben Habib, with a little help from Ian Lillington, introduced Permaculture CoLab. The Permaculture […]
On 19th April 2018 I conducted a workshop on my research project exploring permaculture as a transnational social movement at the 14th Australasian Permaculture Convergence, hosted at the Greenhills Centre […]
Thank you to Prof Tessa Morris-Suzuki for inviting me to act as a discussant in the Living Politics: Self-Help and Autonomous Action in East Asia and Beyond, hosted by the […]
On day eight of our CERES Global Sustainable Development, Permanent Culture and Un-learning tour to India, our group collaborated in a day of permaculture discussions and garden work with our friends at Shikshantar. In a co-creative process, the CERES Global group and members of the Shikshantar community learned about permaculture ethics and design principles, explored visions for the garden on the Shikshantar premises, and got our hands dirty working on innovations to bring the garden to life, building relationships and learning new things about ourselves and each other in the process. However, our yield from the day was not necessarily what we expected going in.
On day three of our CERES Global Sustainable Development, Permanent Culture and Un-learning tour to India, our guides from Shikshantar—Vishal, Manish and Nishtha—led us on a fascinating journey through the old city of Udaipur. The winding alleyways, bustling markets, colourful buildings and diverse people, are collectively woven together in a rich tapestry of stories and history. On foot is the best way to experience the richness of these stories and notice things you never would have time to see transiting via faster modes of transportation.
On 29th November 2017 Dr Benjamin Habib conducted a workshop on his research into permaculture as a transnational social movement at the 2017 International Permaculture Convergence, hosted at Polam Farm […]
Evangelina Moisi, Associate Features Editor for E-International Relations, interviews Dr Benjamin Habib about his work on environmental politics and North Korean affairs. See the original interview here at E-International Relations. […]
In this lecture in the “Global Environmental Politics in the 21st Century” lecture series, Dr Benjamin Habib explores two related sustainability transitions methodologies in agroecology and permaculture. The lecture defines […]
Cultivating a holistic environmental politics and regenerative sustainability practice is one of the great challenges of our time. Part of this cultivation prompts us to network with leaders in the practice of sustainability transitions and learn from on-the-ground projects that are doing this work. One of these projects is the Herb Whisperer farm, an hour north of Beijing in China, run by the “Herb Whisperer” himself, Thomas Avery Garran.
Over the weekend Australia lost one of its great pioneers in sustainable development with the passing of Bill Mollison, co-creator of permaculture with David Holmgren. Author, educator, academic, researcher and […]
“It seems ironic that, no matter how fleeting or for how long—inquiry starts with stopping in order to observe what is going on, to notice something that is happening, to […]
