We need to be motivated in order to make changes. If changes are imposed from the top down, people lose the opportunity to find their own motivations for making changes. When more people are involved solutions are owned and there is less resistance.In this chapter we bring our design skills to take a fresh look at education and healthcare systems. This is intended to illustrate how we can bring permaculture design into much larger social systems. Healthcare and education systems are focused upon as these represent two major aspects of peoplecare. The last section looks at how we can integrate different generations to bring many benefits.
What would regenerative, productive, self reliant and empowering systems in our society look and feel like? We don’t necessarily know all the details at this stage but with observation and design we could be responsive to what emerges and able to act from an understanding of ethical behaviour and living within limits. Some of the qualities may be:
We need to be motivated in order to make changes. If changes are imposed from the top down, people lose the opportunity to find their own motivations for making changes. When more people are involved solutions are owned and there is less resistance.
The benefits of creating more sustainable settlements are widespread for individuals, the settlement itself and extend beyond. Currently a lot of problems created with the current systems leave people on the other side of the planet unable to meet their basic needs because they are being exploited for Western gain.
Our motivations for change can include both the moving away from the problems we currently face or see on the horizon, and the moving towards a culture that is more fulfilling.
We have many resources available to help us make changes. There is a growing awareness of the need for alternatives. People are inherently creative and resourceful. Having infrastructure already in place that could be utilised to bring about widespread regeneration is a huge resource. We also have many permaculture skills to draw upon: design skills, ability to think in systems and awareness of the four quadrants.
I started this design process with asking my 10 year old daughter Shanti to reflect on what could be improved in school. She said she would like “to have grass and trees surrounding the boring tarmac playground and be allowed to climb trees whenever you want. To have nice teachers who are firm and friendly that don’t say ‘stop telling tales’ when you say you are hurt, but are sympathetic and listen. I would like to have choices about what games to play and whether to play them on sport days and be able to learn important things like plants and trees and what’s happening in the world. It would be nice to have school dinners that are fair trade and organic with no harmful pesticides.”
The basic idea of children learning together in groups with trained teachers and spending time socially together is sound. However, I think that the needs of many children aren’t being met and schools could be improved to get more out for the same or less in.
I then thought about one of my most satisfying learning experiences; my permaculture design course. During the course the creative teaching processes captured my attention. They were engaging, thought provoking, empowering and fun. Everyone’s opinions were sought and we were encouraged to seek out-of-the-box solutions. The methods used arise from ‘accelerated learning’.
We can look at the patterns of accelerated learning for ideas to bring into a design for schools. Permaculture is informed by cyclical and non-linear natural processes, so it follows that permaculture is also taught in this way. The pattern of permaculture has parallels in accelerated learning. Accelerated learning is a reinforcing spiral of learning based on reviews and connections in a diverse, fun, integrative, cyclical manner.
Like permaculture, accelerated learning is more than just a set of techniques, it requires a way of thinking that enables us to get more out of the learning experience, just as permaculture design aims to get more outputs for less inputs.
Whenever and whatever we teach, the content, process, relationships, aims and progression are important.
Accelerated learning works equally as well for children and adults. In a nutshell it aims to inspire and motivate students to learn, enabling a high retention, integration and progression. Central to accelerated learning is the creation of a positive learning environment; this is the physical space and the emotional and social environments.
Our emotional environment deals with our motivations. Conventional education promotes extrinsic motivation, where we are encouraged to learn something to get a qualification, or to do our homework so we don’t get told off. Intrinsic motivation is where we find the reasons for learning internally. Teachers have positive expectations of their students and they are encouraged to find their own intrinsic motivation and relevance for the work.
The social environment is developed through making connections between the students through collaborative learning, and outside of the learning context. Students are stimulated to ask questions of the teacher and their fellow students.
Subjects are taught with an awareness of the different multiple intelligences to cater for different learning styles and for fun, diversity and maintaining interest.
Some of the accelerated learning principles1 Dave Meier talks about are:
The activities in this book are designed on these principles to help you get more out of your reading.
We can use the integration anchor point to assemble the information we have so far and distil it into the needs of the design. We can then look at systems that could fulfil these needs and move us to our vision. The focus of this design is for schools, but it could easily be extended into other parts of the education system.
These do not include the predominant activities already in school of learning with our head and the building of intellectual capital. The assumption here is to leave existing subjects in place, although in reality these would adapt as well. Maths and physics, for example, would still be key skills for the engineers of the future but their emphasis might shift to designing renewable energy systems.
Many of these activities are already happening in various schools and a future part of the design would be to do a comprehensive stocktake: share stories and reflect on the outcomes, to take them into a more detailed design tailored for individual schools and areas.
It is also helpful to reflect more on the ‘why’ we do these things. Then we can see the needs our activities are meeting, and if there are other ways of meeting the same need. We can also identify extra yields for the same activity.
We can draw functions from the previous chapters and then look for common themes. A good starting point for this is some of the points of intervention and transformation for the problems in society. If we can embed a different way of thinking in the young this can have a big impact in years to come.
With permaculture design each of the functions would have backups and be met in at least three ways – multiple elements for every important function.
We would also want every system or element to do more than one thing, so we wouldn’t actually need so many things to be in place – many yields for every element.
| Function | System/element |
|---|---|
| Increasing ecological literacy and reconnection with the Earth |
Time outside in nature Forest schools School gardens |
| Teaching self responsibility and collective responsibility – giving and receiving feedback |
School gardens Allow some risk-taking and mistake-making Co-operative learning Peace restoration skills Peer feedback |
| Appreciation |
Valuing of education by adults and children Focusing on and appreciation of children’s abilities Celebrations Valuing of practical and peoplecare skills and all the multiple intelligences as much as academic subjects |
| Visioning and redesigning the future |
Positive visualisations to access hope for the future Design skills Avenues for ideas and designs to be seen and heard Problem-solving skills |
| Building experiential capital – learning through doing |
Real-life projects Practical skills Natural building School gardens |
|
Building spiritual capital |
Meditation Yoga, tai chi Time in nature Peace restoration skills |
|
Building social capital |
Collaborative learning Integration of different classes Integration with wider community Peace restoration skills Taking skills back into their homes |
| Building living capital |
School garden Encouragement of children to garden at home |
|
Building cultural capital |
Celebrations Storytelling Songs |
|
Accelerated learning techniques |
Multiple intelligences Thinking tools Collaborative learning Questioning skills |
| Positive social learning environment |
Collaborative learning Peace restoration skills Storytelling Songs Communication skills Decision-making |
|
Emotional learning environment |
Intrinsic motivation Choice in what and when children learn Awareness of the emotions of learning – competence cycle Relevance of learning to person’s life |
|
Mentoring and coaching |
Choices Listening Appreciation of individual’s talents Questioning skills Peer mentoring |
| Learning with hands and body |
Outdoor activities including gardening Yoga Forest school Practical activities Natural building Crafts Movement within classes |
| Learning with our hearts |
Awareness of the emotions of learning – competence cycle Attitudes Intrinsic motivation Peer support Emotional literacy |
|
Teacher training in peoplecare skills |
Negotiation Listening Mentoring and coaching Shifting patterns from their own education experiences Accelerated learning techniques |
These systems could be composed of a huge variety of elements. After getting to this point we could visit the ideas anchor point and generate many creative imaginative elements. For example, crafts that meet the function of learning with our hands and body could include green woodworking, cooking and repairing clothes.
These functions could all be met without having to do any deep restructuring of the current educational systems. We could think further outside the box and suggest that to encourage collective responsibility and collaborative learning, no one passes a class until everyone passes. We could also redefine ‘pass’.
A school in Sweden has taken the idea of choice and intrinsic motivation to a high level where children have the choice to attend every lesson. When this was first introduced the children didn’t quite believe it and still went to every lesson. Then it swung the other way and no one went to anything. Finally it settled down and the children had to find their own motivation to attend lessons and learn. It also meant that the teachers had to put more effort in to make their lessons interesting.
For each of the systems above ask children for their ideas about how to meet the needs above and also the different elements that could comprise the systems. We might be surprised with the creative and out-of-the-box ideas they come up with.
As one of the limiting factors in schools is time, when it comes to deciding what could be done first we would choose anything that frees-up time. In this case practising accelerated learning techniques during existing classes could ease the pressure and provide a springboard for other systems as well as giving yields in its own right.
Rod Cunningham, a secondary school teacher, uses a method called ‘Philosophy for Communities’2 or P4C for short. It started in the US in the 1960s by Professor Matthew Lipman, and is now in over 60 countries. P4C engages children in developing their own questions in response to a given stimulus. They then choose one question and enquire thoughtfully and collaboratively, guided by the facilitator. It aims to build ‘communities of enquiry’ where participants develop the ‘four Cs’: creative, critical, caring and collaborative thinking skills. P4C puts great emphasis on open questions where there is no single right or wrong answer.
The stimuli used can be related to the three ethics of permaculture and may lead us to conceptual or value questions such as ‘is it important to save species?’ Rod often uses a photo from South Africa showing very expensive homes with people living in shacks and squalor right outside the fence; this leads to questions about fairness and distribution of wealth and resources.
A school in London uses this method and has 18 students trained up as facilitators, further enhancing opportunities for collaborative learning. Behaviour shows improvement as a result of P4C as students become more open-minded and are more willing to talk than resort to violence. Students’ exam results also show improvement.
It is also used in community groups, prisons and youth custody centres. It is very successful in prison environments as it gives people an outlet other than violence.
P4C fulfils many of the functions above including visioning the future, collaborative learning, creating a positive social environment, learning with our hearts, emotional literacy, building cultural capital and self and collective responsibility.
When we think of healthcare systems our thoughts immediately turn to nurses and hospitals, doctors and specialists. If we want a nation of healthy people we must broaden this understanding to include all aspects of life that impact on our health. Again the assumption here is not to replace existing systems; we do need our surgeons and hospitals. The idea would be to create spirals of health that increase the overall well-being of society.
Hippocrates is often cited to be the father of modern medicine. Practising in Greece in 460BC he viewed illnesses as imbalances in the body, responsive to medicines, rather than as expressions of supernatural forces. One of the biggest themes of his practice was to facilitate the body’s capacity to heal itself, by properly supporting it with clean air, good food and adequate exercise. In his vision the role of medical practitioners was to work with and assist the natural healing forces that bring the body back into balance. Although the focus of their practice might have changed, medical practioners today still have to take the Hippocratic oath.
We can begin to better comprehend our health care service through a whole-systems perspective. Quite simply, a system that enables profit to be made from illness will establish feedback loops over time, which will increase rather than reduce illness, creating an illness industry. In creating systems that sustain health, profit cannot be a prime motive and must be removed from any health care system.
Changing the goals of the system from one of treating illnesses to one of maintaining health will kick-start a huge transformation of our healthcare services and lifestyles. We will be creating a system that supports people in staying well. There will be two main focuses – one on health and one on care.
Cuba has a high level of health in comparison to other majority world countries. They have an integrated approach to their health care with herbal medicine and acupuncture available. There are a high percentage of family practitioners and small clinics in relation to specialist doctors and bigger health centres, with one doctor to every 200 people, compared with one doctor to every 400 people in the US.3 The family doctors are very much part of the community and know the family and social context of their patients. The focus on preventative and primary health care has resulted in a high life expectancy of 76 years for men and 80 for women.4 They have rationalised the pharmaceutical medicines available to a limited number manufactured not-for-profit by the government. Where profit of the pharmaceutical industry reigns, we see the reinvention and reconfiguration of these basic medicines to produce a confusing array of pharmaceuticals, and growing health care bills.
In Germany doctors will prescribe the plant St John’s Wort for depression, in preference to a course of anti-depressant drugs. This both moves medicine away from multinational corporation profit, and results in less extreme side effects than refined pills and medicines.
We can create spirals of health within our societies.
Self responsibility for maintaining own health > more awareness > receive and interpret feedback from our own bodies > trusting the wisdom of our bodies > diagnosing problems earlier > treating problems sooner > more self responsibility >...
With this spiral we are more likely to be treating causes rather than symptoms that have had time to develop.
Integration of complementary practices > Choices available > Empowerment of patients > healthier and happier patients > training in basic first aid and herbal back-yard treatments > more integration of complementary practices >...
Complementary practices are also helpful in maintaining health through relaxation and reducing stress.
Key to the success of this spiral is the shift of goal to one of focusing on care so that a drop in the number of patients doesn’t mean fewer staff.
System-wide learning > communication loops between doctors and nurses > feedback between different medical professionals > skill sharing > system wide learning >...
We can maximise the existing knowledge and systems and improve quality with perhaps only small minimum effort actions.
Training medical professionals in health > education > prevention > influencing other systems to address issues of health > healthy diet and living > training in health >
Currently most training is centred around treating illnesses and not on how to maintain health. This spiral starts to introduce a more holistic understanding of health and illness; the causes and the other social systems that are related, in particular nutrition, exercise and socio-psychological well-being.
Our bodies are integrative systems. They are part of the physical and social environment and will reveal the imbalances of the bigger systems they are part of. Disease in our collective psyche appears as external individual illnesses.
Most diseases of ‘modern’ industrial societies are chronic and degenerative, arising as a consequence of poor nutrition, lack of exercise, stress and social dislocation. Doctors rarely have the opportunity to address the source of the imbalance and affect the disease process itself. Instead they have drugs available that may alleviate symptoms, but may be needed to be taken for life and which themselves cause further imbalances.
The current paradigm is to look at things in parts not wholes. Connections have been broken and we need to weave them back. There is a striking parallel in how we treat the natural world and how we treat our own bodies. The relationship between the health system and food system is key in tackling the root causes of many of the chronic diseases. Thus a health system could start to influence other systems in the outer collective quadrant such as agriculture and food processing. The advertising industry is highly influential in our cultural conditioning and the inner collective quadrant. Advertising of alcohol and unhealthy food could be banned or taxed to pay for the treatment associated with them. If the burden of these chronic diseases could be lessened, it would release resources for keeping people well and happy. It is significant to note the number of people who do recover from life-threatening diseases through changes to their lifestyles and diet.
Schools play an important part in education and in laying down patterns for later life. The increase in childhood obesity, sitting in classrooms all day and tuck shops in schools would be seen as linked.
The current emphasis is on individual rather than collective health. Our emotional health is directly influenced by our sense of community or lack thereof. If we are lacking in community we feel the effects of not having support around us. There could be a sense of ‘we’ as a healthy community evolving through food-growing projects in council estates, community clinics and health centres. There could be peer-to-peer learning in the community, where people who have had a particular illness and become ‘experts’ in it could share their experiences and support and advise other people, helping others to find solutions for themselves.
The design of our hospitals is an outer expression of the thinking of the collective inner quadrant. The collective intentions of health, care and system-wide learning could be reflected in hospitals. It would be beneficial to design opportunities to exercise and to connect with other patients as both of these can help speed recovery. Studies show that patients who are next to the window in hospitals recover more quickly than those who aren’t. Hospitals could be designed with more input from all the users, everyone from the surgeons to the cleaners and especially the patients.
The four quadrants can support each other in the spirals of health above. Health becomes a strong cultural pattern.
Nicole Freris works as a GP in London, and also teaches permaculture. She has brought her knowledge of systems into her practice and is taking action to initiate the spiral of awareness and self-responsibility. When she speaks to her patients she makes small steps towards this vision of health by handing back responsibility to her patients. She listens and then reflects back an understanding of everything that they bring in terms of systems. She opens up for them a new way of understanding their bodies as a natural system that is affected by the things put in to it, and their illnesses as a state of imbalance. Even within the constraints of 10 minute appointments Nicole has an appreciation of the whole and opens up a different way of seeing the problem. She says, “because this makes sense to most people it reassures them and it’s amazing how easy it makes the consultations”. She describes the options they have available to them, while illustrating the limitations, benefits and issues of the current medical system, and what the system does and doesn’t do. She empowers them to take responsibility for their choices.
Creating change in systems as big as our national healthcare systems can be daunting, but we can all make individual actions to improve our own health and well-being. We can begin the spiral of empowerment with the simple step of growing herbs that can be used in teas as simple remedies in the home and could reduce our reliance on allopathic medicines and ease the strain on GPs. There are also the added benefits of connecting with nature and the feelings of empowerment that accompany the growing and using of herbs.
What is my vision of a healthy society?
What would that look and feel like in all of its expressions?
Every person follows different phases of development. Within our cultures we have different generations of people at the same phase.
Child > apprentice > adult > elder
Each phase has different approaches to learning about the self and the world, as well as different perspectives. These phases relate to the design web, where the child phase is about growth, the apprentice one about searching and experimenting, the adult phase about doing, being decisive and productive, and the elder phase is reflective.
In the past there was, and within current indigenous cultures there still is, a web of connections5 between the different generations embedded into everyday life. Each generation would have connections between all of the others as well as peer support. Now, along with so many other connections, these have been broken and people are segregated. Children are isolated within their age groups at schools, elderly people are alone in homes, the apprentice stage is being eroded and adults are lacking in support. The consequences of this are probably much deeper than realised. We are unable to learn from the other generations and expend energy making the same mistakes or reinventing the proverbial wheel.
We are falsely insulated from the need to connect with each other by the reliance on fossil fuels and material goods. The broken web means our communities – and we as individuals – are less resilient. Our emotional health suffers from the lack of connections, as does our on-going education.
When we lived in extended families we would have had natural connections with different generations, but now there is greater distance between families, both physically and metaphorically. We have grown up in a culture of ‘stranger danger’ where we are actively discouraged from talking to people we don’t know. These broken pathways in our culture mean it is difficult for us to respond on a person-to-person level with each other.
This isn’t to say that we need to take integration to extremes; there are times when children and work don’t mix, for example.
The connections are not just linear from one stage of life to the next, or within each generation, they are woven between all of the generations. There can be flows of energy, wisdom, learning and support in all directions. We can recognise our interdependence.
Increasing tolerance by having a ‘look to like’ attitude, valuing diversity and examining our own beliefs creates flows of respect in all directions. Personal connections help to break down the media caricatures of grumpy old man/woman, bossy adult, young hooligan and troublesome child. When we know individuals we can move beyond these stereotypes and prejudices. We can see the wise elder, active adult, enthusiastic teenager and playful child.
Each generation has different strengths and characteristics. By respecting the value of each, people will start to have more time and incentive to connect. Combining these strengths will compensate for weaknesses. We can try to find ways to harvest the gifts of each stage. Focusing on the strengths will start to shift some of the negative language and attitudes that we have about the different stages. Every human (unless their life is cut short) will go through each of these stages. By not honouring them in other people we are actually pushing away part of ourselves, whether past or future. It is important to know about the stage of life that is coming next.
There is a natural succession from one phase to the next. As well as acknowledging birth and death, the movement from one generation to another would be recognised with people clearly knowing which stage they are at. Indigenous cultures honour the progression with rites of passage, acknowledging the loss of the previous phase and welcoming the gifts of the new stage. In the West youths might create their own, possibly destructive, rites of passage such as stealing a car, or getting drunk.
By listening we will build a better picture of how to meet everyone’s needs. We can find out what they think life is about, ask them what they want and what they know. Elders and teenagers are both marginalised groups in our culture; together though they represent a significant proportion. They have things in common and similar needs; when they speak together their voices are louder. There has been a push for more buses and public meeting places when these groups have connected.
Each of the generations has its own gifts and abundances, as well as challenges; these could be matched up to share both to create beneficial connections.
Children bring joy, enthusiasm, curiosity, creativity, humour, wonder, lightness, playfulness, imagination and observation. They need entertaining, teaching and care. The apprentice can be the role model for children. Playing with children allows apprentices to stay connected with this aspect of themselves.
Apprentices have willingness, new ideas, ability to think outside the box, and energy. They need teaching, self-esteem and a channel for their energy.
Adults bring stability, knowledge and responsibility, taking care of hearth and home. They need support with their work and home life. They are able to share their responsibilities with apprentices who are thirsty for real life experiences.
Elders are the wisdom keepers holding a wider perspective; they have time, patience, introspection and reflections. They need to be honoured, have dignity and respect, and be listened to. As elders slow down they are in tune with the pace of children and able to walk together, hopefully having time and patience to spend with children too. Traditionally elders have had the role of passing down ancestral wisdom and tribal knowledge through storytelling to children and apprentices.
If we remember from looking at inputs and outputs, when there are unmet needs in the system there is work, and when there are unused outputs there is waste or pollution. This is exactly what is happening. If you imagine elders who have no one to share their stories with, this then becomes a waste and they can feel depressed. Meanwhile there are children and apprentices who want entertainment and guidance, and this becomes extra work for adults. Age UK has schemes where the elders help young people with their reading and provide mentoring roles.6 Connecting these generations makes use of the skills and wisdom of the elders so that they feel useful and valued, and gives children and apprentices the attention they need.
There are many other ways we can connect up the inputs and outputs of the different generations, saving energy and avoiding waste. This will ultimately mean that education will improve by us having a more complete understanding and different perspectives to draw upon, and all aspects of health will be enhanced. Our emotional health will be increased through being valued and the feeling of belonging.
It can become a web of kinship, love, learning, health, reciprocity and support.
My colleagues and I run teacher training courses. We are all permaculture teachers and it could be seen as strange that we are training up our competition. If thinking in the scarcity model of the world then it wouldn’t make sense to do this. However we are thinking from an abundance mentality and have the belief that there is enough for everyone. Training up other teachers, and having them apprentice with us, has allowed us to pass on our skills to the next generation. We have improved and developed our skills in the process of transferring them. If we did not pass on our knowledge and skills to the next generation they would have to take the same learning curve as we have. Instead the energy saved has allowed everyone to advance their skills. The overall body of knowledge of permaculture teaching has increased through sharing. Our sense of ‘we’ and being a community is also enhanced.
Contrary to the thought of competition, having more permaculture teachers has actually enhanced our work opportunities. We have expanded the centre, the core of teachers, which has also expanded the edges and links with interested people. The more edge the more links and the more people come on everyone’s courses.
Knowing that there are other people to run introduction and design courses we are also able to move away from this centre and into different niches, extending our skills to more advanced and specialised courses.
The formal passing on of knowledge to apprentices is just one of the ways in which we can value and use this stage.
Bringing these generations together on a person-to-person and group-to-group level will enhance our understanding of the whole human experience. Building these connections will start to heal the fragmentation and separation and create a friendlier, more balanced, sustainable society. Connecting the different generations is a way of using renewable resources to increase health and education in society.
What generation am I in?
What strengths do I hold?
Identify three people that you know from each of the different generations. Perhaps you can’t personally name three people from each generation outside of your own family; it wouldn’t be too surprising if you can’t. Now you have some awareness of this perhaps an opportunity will present itself to you to connect with someone from another generation. This could be something simple like initiating a conversation at the bus stop or in a shop. Perhaps you might even choose to go looking for an opportunity, volunteering or offering your services.