I am a Green Prepper. This means I am using permaculture and localism to prep for a decline process. Localism and individual resilience strategies are more secure than the alternative found in the traditional status quo. I add to this the Green element and that is the spiritual dimension of embracing the planet and its web of life. The planet is abrupt change from the human Anthropocene and the web of life is in succession from a complex ecosystem pushed into destructive change by human overshoot.
Permaculture is a hybridization of the old ways with the best practices and things of the modern world. A Green Prepper takes this hybridization further by the use of triage with is basically prioritization. Triage out those modern elements that do not contribute to the success of permaculture and localism. The difficult side of Green Prepping of permaculture and localism is the economics of it. In our capitalistic culture with the narrative of affluence, profit and competition is the name of the game. This flies in the face of permaculture strategies that will struggle to compete against industrial agriculture, store bought food, big box store offered things. Permaculture is more than just raising food it is a way of life. It is an ascending level of skills and activities that also has a spiritual element of enlightenment.
In my Green Prepping the localism of declining in place is embraced to mirror the planets and the web of life’s destructive change. This means embracing decline with decline. It means following the way of life the planet is taking. This is a different path of the status quo of growth and increasing affluence. I find the most important part of Green Prepping is what I call REAL Green. This is the key element of Green Prepping of permaculture and localism. It is the behavior of Realism or being realistic. REAL Green says our world is in a decline process with limits ending growth except the growth of the negative side effects of destructive change. REAL Green says embrace decline but do it realistically in a hybrid way similar to permaculture that embraces the old ways with new knowledge and modern products.
REAL Green says use the status quo world of profit and competition to leave it. This means in a surreal way you will have to live the status quo of profit using the proceeds to leave it into permaculture and localism. This will mean you still work for money to pay the bills but you choose permaculture as your passion. Triage out status quo hobbies and the leisure and embrace permaculture and localism in a Green Prepping way. You will have to adapt to your people and place relatively because they may not be onboard with permaculture and localism. They may not feel the need to prep for a decline process. They may discount collpase possibilities as nutter. They may like the consumerism and leisure of the status quo. You are trapped in this so adapt it instead of trying to leave it.
Where you live may not be permaculture oriented or localized based. Most places today are delocalized by globalism. You adapt what you can and accept the trap of the status quo. The status quo is carbon trapped in path dependencies. You are trapped in this status quo. Embrace being trapped and look instead to the life boats of change and the hospices of acceptance of decline that is a type of death. Do not look for a refuge of transcendence but instead outfit your self for a journey to more resilience and sustainability in the rough seas of the status quo. Do this relatively with the understanding there is no transcendence but instead transformation.
In REAL Green the significant element is behavioral that will result in physical change to your local of people and place. Tech follows behavior not the other way around. Green Prepping is understanding that low carbon capture is a lower scale activity. Scale is the issue with modern humans and the reason we are more at risk than ever before of catastrophic shocks. Delocalization has made all people less secure by dispersing risk that cannot be quantified. Many may be richer but the wealth is not resilient and sustainable. Embrace a lower scale of place and people but also things. This means embrace a behavior of poverty with dignity. Recognize affluence is the problem. Find spiritual wealth from the building up of your local of people and place but realize this will make you less competitive and will require harder work with less consumer things that traditionally are the rewards of hard work in the status quo.
This is about adapted behavior flowing through to alternative strategies of living. Permaculture is more than growing food it is also about converting the production of low carbon capture in permaculture skills. This means community of people and skills and the pinnacle of permaculture success. Some may be good at animal husbandry or carpentry. Build resilient structures or sell permaculture things that are best practices and material applied to the old ways of smaller scale and less material affluence. Build community locally in low carbon capture and the planet will support you because this is the way of life.
“How Permaculture can Build Resilience and Meet Basic Needs During a Pandemic”
How Permaculture can Build Resilience and Meet Basic Needs During a Pandemic
“Permaculture — a fusion of indigenous knowledge with modern science and technology — offers ways for people to meet their essential needs for food, water, sanitation and other non-material needs, with autonomy and harmony with nature. Its core ethical principles are: Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share. More importantly, it is a tool that anybody can make use of to be more resilient and to help overcome the critical challenges we are facing today.”
REAL Green Adaptation 