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A friend asked on his page, what are our criteria for unfriending and/or blocking a person?

Since I use social media so much for work, I come into contact with a wide variety of people and prefer to keep it that way.

As some people pointed out, many people will choose to toss us in the bin, often for differences of political beliefs or other beliefs. But I rarely block or unfriend.

That’s pretty much my approach. I’ve definitely been tossed into the bin more than on occasion, and I suspect it’s often because of political differences.

I can’t say I haven’t blocked/unfriended anybody, but I rarely do. My criterion is if I’m feeling persistently abused or disliked by the person, and I’m not able to find a way to get the person to talk things out with me.

Now, as for choosing connections on Facebook, that is a pretty wide field.

It can be old friends I know in real life.

It can also be new people I meet in real life who seem cool.

But most often, it tends to be colleagues or just people who are in community activism circles and/or entrepreneurial circles, and we have information and resources to share with each other.

That makes for an extremely wide field! I am happy that I have rarely found a reason to have to unfriend or block anyone, despite it being such a wide field of personalities.

And — to look at it through a permaculture design lens, edge is where the life is.

Edge is any place where different ecosystems come together; where divergent ideas come together; where different people come together.

It’s no accident that food and other resources tend to be most abundant at the edges between forest and meadow; between land and river (or ocean); and so on.

The best ideas, too, tend to emerge from the “edges.” Even though it’s not cozy and comfortable there, it’s very fertile.

More important now than ever. If we want to address evil in the world, we have to be willing to look at our own shadow.

This recent post (December 9) from Caitlin Johnstone spoke very deeply to me.

“How To Heal When the World Is On Fire.” https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/how-to-heal-when-the-world-is-on

“… The thing about healing is that it leaves only an absence of something, so it doesn’t make a big deal about itself. … The more you do this though, the more the noise in your head dies down, and the real world begins to emerge. You become less reactive and less likely to inadvertently cause drama in your world, and in yourself you become generally happier and lighter. But you also see  — and this goes back to the nub of your question – that in this new light the world becomes a much less scary place. You can see that the monsters who rule our world aren’t so much monsters as just little kids with far too much power unconsciously acting out their defense mechanisms. The suffering they cause is real and horrifying, but at the root of it, they are humans playing out a very human pattern. In this context, it’s comprehensible. You’ve found similar things in yourself, so it’s not an alien threat which defies understanding. …”

On a related note, I really liked this piece by Genny Harrison on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/share/19veiwHWx2/?mibextid=WC7FNe

“When societies begin to fracture, they do not fail all at once. They fray … When we reduce complex failure to a single villain, we trade understanding for relief. …”

“When we reduce complex failure to a single villain, we trade understanding for relief.” That last sentence expresses something I’ve had on my mind for a long time.

There’s no such thing as a single villain. And we all need to be willing to look in the mirror.

A community leader in Daytona Beach, Rev. Dr. L Ronald Durham, once said something to the effect that if you are not the biggest sinner you know, you’re not looking hard enough.

Based on my own experience, that certainly is true!

This is a beautiful time of year in my city, there are all sorts of public events and seasonal decor everywhere. At the same time, as we pretty much all know, this can be a difficult and depressing time of year.

A while back, I joked with a fellow advocate of mental-health awareness that if I were to get a tattoo it would be a dopamine molecule. I have a lot of trouble with motivation, so maybe it would even help me stay motivated ha ha.

Well, I suddenly realized that for now I could just draw it in permanent marker!

And so I bring you …

“Trial tattoos” in Sharpie!
Mental-health awareness.

Left hand: dopamine molecule; serotonin molecule (neurotransmitters governing motivation and pleasure)

Right hand: semicolon (suicide awareness – inspired by Project Semicolon which someone i met on the street just told me about the other day)

Unplanned serendipitous bonus: ‘Tis the Santa season and my hand says HO HO HO

pics here on my DEEP GREEN facebook page

HIEROGLYPHIC STAIRWAY, poem by Drew Dellinger

What a treasure!! Just found this recording of the iconic poem, read by the poet himself!!

I first saw this poem in print, on a popular poster. (I had the poster wheat-pasted on the sidewalk-facing blackboard on the west fence of my yard for a couple years, till wind & weather wore it down.)

BTW the recording duration is under 3 minutes. Which means it fits in to the 3-minute time limit of citizen comment period at our City Commission meetings.

I had been thinking I might read this out loud at Commission, but then again instead I might attempt to write a riff, in which the first line will be “What did you do when Daytona was flooding?”

And I will say that these words of mine are inspired by a poem called Hieroglyphic Stairway by Drew Dellinger. And tell them to please check out that poem because it is truly spectacular.

Here is the YouTube link.

https://youtu.be/XW63UUthwSg?si=eURXCEXFH8AK588V

BTW you will be amazed at what you can find on YouTube. If you’re not already using it as a resource, please check it out! It’s also just a great way to play almost any song do you want to hear. (And, I have heard from some musicians that they treat musicians better than some of the other platforms do. If I hear anything else or different, I’ll update you.)

hieroglyphic stairway, drew dellinger, 2:51

Nothing like a soft rainy afternoon to encourage me to get to a really basic maintenance task that I had been meaning to get to for a while! Refreshing existing labels, and writing new labels as needed, on the plastic baggies where the different categories of cords & chargers live. (For the various cords and chargers and other bits associated with electronics, even the relatively minimal quantity of electronics we have.) The blue sharpie marker was ideal for this task.

BTW the black nylon drawstring bag is something that somehow arrived in our house / life a few years ago – I think someone was throwing it away.

A couple years ago I added the embroidery of a lightning-bolt to remind us that this is the bag where chargers & cords live. It was great actually using some of the silver metallic thread from my multigenerational stash of embroidery threads!

PS. Although the consensus among professional organizers seems to be don’t allow yourself a MISC bag (or a MISC drawer etc), I always seem to break that rule LOL. And I myself am actually a professional organizer, so if you too find yourself unable to help breaking that rule, you can have my blessing!

Photos here on my deep green Facebook page

Such a hyperindividualistic and lonely scenario. Probably inevitable that many of us EAs would have this vision, given how hyperindividualistic our capitalist industrialist Anglo-centric culture is.

Why is it that when tribalism memes combine with whiteness, the scenarios always look like either Mad Max or saltine Dreadlock American Gothic? (Don’t answer that, I know why. It’s a rhetorical question.)

PS. Some folks asked what makes it individualistic. And what makes it lonely.

What makes it individualistic is that it ignores the fact that so many cultures worldwide are already living a tribal indigenous sustainable lifestyle.

We don’t have to reinvent it. We just have to stop destroying it, and take a page from their book. We can look all over the Asian continent and African continent, and Mexico, South America, indigenous Australia, the South Sea Islands, the Caribbean etc.

BTW in recent months I seem to have a wealth of reels from Indonesia and the Philippines popping up in my feed. Just one example of why we don’t need to reinvent.

So many traditional cultures all over the world have ALREADY got sustainable Village life down pat. They are close to nature AND they have deep community.

We don’t need to make a Eurocentric reinvention of this, and shouldn’t!
it won’t work as well because we’re not socialized to create community. We can see the fruits of our mis-socialization all around us, it’s not our fault individually, I’m not blaming anyone – I’m just reporting societal reality.

Permaculture design principles & ethics are rooted in observation of nature, and of indigenous ways. And then adding any beneficial pieces of modernity / industrialization, of which there are some! Witness the solar oven, passive solar water heating, etc. And modern tweaks to optimize rainwater harvesting, greywater systems, humanure composting, composting in general. Not everything modern is bad, and these Mad Max type names or romanticizing tribalism tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Within this category we need to stop romanticizing hunter-gatherer society in some weird bleached form. Instead look at peoples who are actually living this way successfully for thousands of years. Such as the Masaai.

Also animal-herding tribes such as found in Mongolia and elsewhere in central Asia.

Their ways are rapidly being crushed by creeping colonialism, and we need to just do the work of getting out of the way and allowing them to exist. As opposed to reinventing our own weird take which will not work.

Indigenous cultures alive and well today are who we should look to for the blueprints of how to manage resources and create real community. Including tribal governance etc.

#decolonize #DecenterAnglocentrism

PS. If you’re curious about the various flavors of toxic white tribal / hunter-gatherer / cottagecore type memes, check out “Anastasia Ringing Cedars”, as well as this quote from Tyler Durden which prompted my rantish post.

BTW I learned something new today. Tyler Durden is the name of the character in the popular Hollywood movie Fight Club (1999). I saw this movie but it was years ago, and I don’t have a very detailed memory for movies, and I don’t remember this quote, but here it is:

“In the world I see – you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You’ll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You’ll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you’ll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.”

Honestly I can’t even tell if that’s meant to be utopia or apocalyptic. But I hear a lot of people quoting this kind of stuff as an example of some sort of weird future paradise. “Sounds about white,” as some of my favorite antiracism teachers say!

We, humanity as a whole, have unprecedented access to information including skill sharing. We are a living library and laboratory of best practices from all times and places. All throughout history, and extending all across the globe in present day as well. Multiple axes — temporal and locational.

Let’s use this wealth to make a society(ies) that’s nurturing to all creation! BTW if you want inspiration, you can also look up “solarpunk” and read some stories and see some beautiful art.

Wrote this in response to a colleague who commented in a thread about doing away with long-distance travel, especially flying. Colleague feels we should not be criticizing the jetsetting perma-bro, but instead focusing our criticism on the Paris-lunching Kardashians of this world.

I replied:

1 Actually, those of us who identify as eco-minded / climate-aware — and ESPECIALLY those of us who identify as ecological *professionals* / climate communicators etc — are the ones who need to hold ourselves to the strictest standards. I have no business expecting a “civilian” (be they Kardashian or just regular folk) to voluntarily rein in their travel or other consumption. WE have to take the lead and set the tone.

My models in this regard are the landscaping reformer Benjamin Vogt, and the professor and “low-footprint motivator” Joshua Spodek, both of whom take a hard line on travel even for professional purposes. They rightfully believe in the power of virtual conferencing / workshops. And they refuse in-person long-distance requests even when it’s uncomfortable to refuse.

2 I don’t know and don’t need/want to know the name of the permie-celeb you reference. There are SO MANY of these guys who fit the same description. So many. I receive their email newsletters and have even taken some of their webinars. Online is a great way for them to disseminate their teachings globally.

And, in each bioregion, there are gifted & knowledgeable people undertaking the physical tasks of planting trees and so on. Part of our job is to identify these local hands / “boots on the ground” and resource them. Empower the locals in each place!

When we get into justifying our flying or other high-footprint activities “because MY work is so important,” we are going down the slippery slope of eco fascism. I get to consume resources; you don’t. No wonder so many people distrust the eco movement as a whole.

3 What we did in our professional lives in the past is what we did in the past. Be it high-flying perma-bro or jetsetting climate-conference attendee. Many of us used to travel to teach, consult, etc. in person.

But times change, and now we have a rich ecosystem of tele-community tools at our fingertips. The rise of virtual learning and conferencing opens up deep worlds of connection ad collaboration — free of the distractions of jet lag and hotel arrangements and expensive meals, all the while constantly worrying about the home front and trying to keep tabs on our families/neighborhood urgencies back home. It’s an exhausting and toxic hamster-wheel.

In travel as in all other areas, the escalating biospheric crisis calls for ratcheting-up our voluntary self-restraint. WE are the ones who need to lead that. No one else has motivation as strong as we do.

4 Core principles and ethics of Permaculture design call for pushing back against the rapacious consumption that has become so normalized we don’t even think about it. This casual and deadly normalization includes submitting to the ruthless extraction of our OWN human energy and life-force; the diversion of our innate creative juice.

Permaculture design principles and ethics instead lead us to prioritize a smaller, slower, more human scale. What a great opportunity we have here to show REAL leadership.

The government is intricately hitched to war and extraction motives, and cannot politically afford to do what we the eco professional sector can & MUST do.

WE have the tools and the inspiration to help people create beautiful livelihoods in their own neighborhoods and bioregions. How cool is that! And it’s already happening. The shift is under way.

5 – PS. Regarding teleconferencing, distance learning and collaboration, the fact is that the Bioneers set an example of success in this mode decades ago! Long before Zoom.

And, the original post was actually my colleagues commenting that they would love to be able to take high-speed rail but can’t spare the time because flying is so much faster. This is to places far across the country.

I replied: Ummm … So just don’t go? Or go less? Or make a long seasonal migration arc or something? Is that not an option? Or just find ways that you don’t have to be in so much of a hurry?

I know we’re not going to change our culture overnight but maybe we can push back against some of the normalization of hurry. And busyness.

If we, the Permaculture leaders and self-employed and ecologically aware, can’t or won’t do it, I don’t know who can.

*******

And the OP that’s being referenced here. Standing up for high-speed rail vs flying. I do have mixed feelings about high-speed rail; I think we should just deal with regular speed. Closer to nature’s natural rhythms.

Especially if high-speed means we have to build more & separate infrastructure. That will chew up yet more land, and people’s homes and locals livelihoods.

But at least advocating rail vs plane is a step in the right direction regardless.

We have to stop being so self-important that we have to Jetset all over the country and be every place five minutes ago.

(Added later for clarity – NOTE – This is a comment on a pattern I see, and not one particular person! It’s actually quite widespread in the ecological movement. And in academia as well. We are inevitably conditioned by the social norms of the society around us.)

BTW speaking of ground transport, I just learned of a trend: the emergence of luxury transport that’s not a private bus. It’s billed as semi private bus service.

Very cushy (Big seats,, and competitive with airlines when you consider the “time overhead” hassle of Airport time especially on a short like 50-minute flight. And on the bus, it’s your rolling office; you can be working the whole time. Yes, this is geared mainly at the business traveler; it’s not an economy service but it still feels like a very good value.

Further Exploration:

• Joshua Spodek website. https://joshuaspodek.com “My mission is to help change American (and global) culture on sustainability and stewardship from expecting deprivation, sacrifice, burden, and chore.”

Two bus services to check out in this up-and-coming category are Vonlane in Texas; and Jet Set in Florida. A Facebook friend who rode Vonlane Austin – Dallas route recently gave them lavish praise on her Facebook page which is how I found out about Vonlane, and learned about this “luxury bus service for the business traveler” category in general.

I appreciate that Vonlane’s website, even though clearly aimed at the luxury-seeking business traveler market as opposed to the “green” market, mentions as an advantage of buses the lower environmental footprint than flying.

• Benjamin Vogt website. thttps://www.monarchgard.com/benjamin-vogt.html “Benjamin is author of several books, including the disruptive, call to action A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future (watch the presentation based on the book) as well as Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design. Active on social media with over 60,000 followers, he runs the Facebook page Milk the Weed and posts frequently on Instagram.”