If we take the food away from the monster it will shrivel up and die. At the same time, people protest fracking from their home that is heated and powered by fracking. Or protest chem-ag with a mouthful of chem-ag food. It seems silly to protest a monster’s actions while simultaneously giving that monster enormous amounts of money. Once this conflict is pointed out, most people give up on their quest because they don’t see an obvious, simple, and fast solution. Or they think that all of the solutions stink of frustrating sacrifice.

The problem is not that there are no good alternative solutions to vote for, it’s that oftentimes, people don’t know that any good solutions exist. It would not be in the fracking companies’ best interests to convince you to use less natural gas. So unless you go digging for solutions yourself, you’re not going to hear about good ways to cut your natural gas usage. The only reason farmers are currently doing conventional ag is because they’ve only been presented with the fancy brochures on chem-ag by the chem-ag companies. Since there is no massive middle person in permaculture, there is no one sending farmers the brochures on permaculture that tell them they don’t need chem-ag to feed the world or turn a profit. Please allow me to offer alternative candidates when it comes to voting with your wallet. Candidates that provide a more luxuriant life at less expense while embracing our values.

Natural gas is America’s favorite form of heat, and it is now getting quite popular for generating electricity too. If you allow yourself only six seconds to solve the problem of fracking for natural gas, you are probably stuck with being cold. Or damn cold. Or building a brand new passive solar home that is super insulated. This sounds uncomfortable or like a lot of work. In chapter 13 we will explore solutions for heating the people instead of the whole house. This can cut 50% to 90% off your heating bill…while keeping you warm. Maybe some folks will only do 50%, but, hey, that could still be hundreds of dollars a year in your pocket instead of in the fracking companies’ pockets. That would go a long way in making the fracking monster go hungry. But we have more: a rocket mass heater is cheap to build and will effectively eliminate your heating costs while providing luxuriant heat. Further still – if you are going to build a house, we will talk about a better option than passive solar in chapter 30.

If you are against chem-ag toxins in your food, or if you are against your taxes being used to subsidize chem-ag,¹ then stop buying chem-ag foods. And if you are against mass deforestation and mass habitat destruction, then stop buying palm oil.² My hope is that someday the food at all grocery stores will be permaculture food³ because the demand for permaculture food makes it so that all farmers make more money growing with permaculture than with other systems. It would be the result of consumers voting with their wallet. At first blush, a lot of people will be concerned that buying organic (or better) food is going to cost way more than chem-ag food. I think that in order to make this comparison fair, the long-term costs of healthcare associated with eating chem-ag foods should be factored in. As Joel Salatin⁴ has said: “If you think the price of organic food is expensive, have you priced cancer lately?” That said, using techniques outlined in chapter 17, it is possible to grow some, or possibly all, of your own food for little effort and way less money than any food you can buy at the store.

For every problem that comes up, try to see if your wallet is feeding the monster. If it is, then the mission becomes “how do I stop feeding the monster and lead a more luxuriant life?” If the solution eludes you after at least five minutes of deep consideration, come ask our community,⁵ and we’ll figure it out together. Once you’ve cleaned up your own backyard (literally or figuratively), then share what you have done with others who are still upset about the problem. That’s all it might take to change the world.