Learn how to live harmoniously
By John Benson
Living green is good for the planet but what if there’s even a better way of life that is attainable. Currently there’s a movement around the globe involving the development of sustainable living and farming modeled after natural ecosystems. It’s called permaculture and it’s the rally cry of Northeast Ohio non-profit group The Green Triangle. No, the group isn’t trying to bring the perm back into style.
Over the past few years the outfit has been hosting the Northeast Ohio 2012 Permaculture Design Certification Course, which highlights applications of permaculture to urban systems with particular attention to student-driven learning. Leading the courses are Peter Bane, Mark Cohen, and Josh Beniston, three of the most well-known and respected permaculturists in North America.
Cool Cleveland talked to Green Triangle President and Director Nick Swetye about the group’s six-week course taking place Sat 9/8 through Sun 11/4 at the Family Ministry Center at Blessed Sacrament in Cleveland.
Cool Cleveland: First of all, in your words, what is permaculture and why are you interested in it?
Nick Swetye: Permaculture is design science. What we do is take nature’s patterns and inspirations for creating, I guess, ecological designs for both our individual selves and for our communities. It’s really looking to nature’s patterns that produce no waste. That’s my usual opener. If we’re going to create any kind of a future for our society, we need to learn from these patterns and replicate the best of them.
OK, so what does the course in permaculture detail?
This course is going to look at the history of permaculture going back about 40 years. It’s going to look at all of the different tools that permaculturists as scientists, as business people, as farmers, as urban designers have used in order to create more sustainable cities. That involves techniques for growing organically, restoring disturbed sites, brownfield things and improving more efficient uses of water, electricity, [and] growing all of our own food. How do we create not just sustainable cities but resilient cities that can handle trauma and conflict?
Are there examples around the world where permaculture has proven successful?
It’s been used all over to green the desert in the Middle East. It’s been used to repair damage from Saddam Hussein’s emptying of the marshes in Iraq. And in the United States right now, one of the most interesting things going on is in the west end of the Great Plains we’re starting to see some use of permaculture techniques. Specifically a technique called bioswales on large broad scale applications out in the central plains to capture water on the landscape and keep it in the landscape so we don’t have to irrigate crops. It’s great because we’re in the middle of a drought and those farms that are using [permaculture] – I was able to see them in person a couple of weeks ago – their fields are green. Everybody else is whited out and totally hit by the sun in this drought.
Those examples are on a global perspective. Who would be taking the permaculture classes from a local point of view?
Certainly we’re hoping people from the inner city communities who want to transform their lives. It has a real economic side to it, not just restoration of ecological systems that are damaged. It’s looking at how do we make a profit? How do we start a small farm, a small business? How we do use some of these ideas of no waste and create livelihood for ourselves. We’d also love to see urban designers, scientists, especially those involved in the sustainability movement – building managers, educators, city leaders, council people.
Just to be clear, is permaculture a theory? We all know these ideas can be viewed as controversial. Just look at global warming.
No, even though I do begin the conversation with sort of a theoretical. That permaculture includes this tool set that’s been put together with all of these little messages — a rain garden, making biochar, capturing water and storing it, cleaning greywater before we can use it. So, there are hundreds of little techniques that themselves are inexpensive and not so terribly complicated that you can jump into right away.
The magic is in the interconnectivity between all of these pieces. Once people get their hands on the very easy tools of permaculture, [and] the little techniques, they start to see some of the magic that can happen, and it doesn’t become so theoretical. That’s why I got into it originally, because I was so steeped in theory and philosophy. I found permaculture and said, “Oh my God, there’s a way for me to make all of these ideas practical.”
So permaculture is really a way of life?
It is and it does give you new eyes. I don’t know that it’s its own way of looking at things but once you’ve seen the potential of, say, forest gardening, where we can grow all of our own food without having to put in all that much labor if we just push the landscape in certain ways, very passively. We can create a ton of food on a very small space we don’t have to maintain. So, then you look at highway ramps and empty fields and say, “Oh my God,” there’s so much potential there. It’s a way of thinking but it’s not its own moral code. It’s not a religion.
Finally, is it your hope that a century from now permaculture is an accepted way of life all throughout society?
I think so. We’re going to have to make some changes, there’s no question. But we can make those changes very easy on ourselves and maintain our quality of life or we can wait until there’s a continuing series of crises that’s going to force us into that. My hope is that we make some creative changes now and permaculture is one avenue into those changes that does maintain quality of life or improve quality of life. That’s the real hope for me is that we don’t have to suffer. These ideas are very new, very fresh. I’d say the sky is the limit. We need to get serious about the environment.
Tuition for the permaculture course is $950, with financial aid available. To register, email Nick Swetye at nick@greentri.org. For more information, visit http://GreenTri.org.
Freelance writer John Benson spends most of his time writing for various papers throughout Northeast Ohio. When he’s not writing about music or entertainment, he can be found coaching his two boys in basketball, football and baseball or watching movies with his lovely wife, Maria. John also occasionally writes for CoolCleveland.com.