Health, Longevity and Ways to Wellbeing
And that Zone 00 Thingy.
One of the design methods in permaculture design is zoning. Initially, in 1976 in the first book, Permaculture One, which was aimed primarily at the Australian "back to the land" movement, this related simply to looking at how to organise stuff on the land available around a dwelling. Zoning suggested designing a system such that elements needing regular attention, like an intensive food garden, could be placed nearest to the dwelling in zone 1, while elements requiring less attention could be sited further away, such as wilderness in zone 5.
it was realised quite quickly that if we were to design genuinely sustainable systems we would have to include the dwelling itself, its materials and methods of construction and this became zone 0. It was then considered important to also include something about the psychological needs of the occupants, as a permaculture designer would need to take their attitudes and experience into account when designing for them, hence this became zone 00.
Personally, when I first learned about this in 1989, I found it both exciting and helpful, partly because I had a previous interest in psychology but also because I thought that much of the visible damage to the Earth’s environment and its many peoples was due to our inappropriate attitudes and belief systems that manifested in destructive, physical behaviours. That is, it was our internal stuff, our zone 00, that made the real difference to the Earth, whether positive or negative.
What I liked was how permaculture design courses created safe, friendly spaces in which to explore alternative attitudes and behaviours, through action learning or learning by doing and by providing the cooperative thinking tools to do so, without imposing top down, restrictive perspectives1.
One thing that we can say very clearly is that a permaculture design course can be very effective at changing attitudes. That is to say, we have been able to effect change in a course participants zone 00 without specifically designing or teaching that change.
above: a permaculture gathering at the Hollybush centre in Leeds, 2003.
In pursuit of this type of work over the years I have come across various utterances and exhortations, studies and suggestions from past and contemporary work, as to what we should do in order to be healthy, happy, fulfilled, enlightened or whatever. Its interesting to see how common elements reoccur and have some of them affirmed through my own life experience. Given that one of permaculture design's three main components is the use of principles based on the observation of nature, I present the following as observations arising from a variety of studies.
To kick off, quite a few years ago, while doing the washing in our local laundrette and perusing the available reading material, I found a Sunday paper that had done some basic research into various countries or areas of the world where people generally seemed to live longer than average lifespans. The researchers were expecting to find something common about their diets but the eventual conclusions were quite different. The common elements turned out to be not particular foods at all but rather certain shared attitudes and practices, with just three as the primary foundation, as follows;
Cultivate long term friendships
Lead an active life but not too active
Never stop learning
There was only one common restriction, namely, no smoking of tobacco.
Its interesting to apply this to permaculture design. I think gardening is quite possibly the ideal activity for human beings to practice and its certainly one of our earliest. The general and varied activities of the gardener throughout the year can become a physical discipline not unlike T'ai Chi, developing strength, endurance, flexibility and balance. These four physical attributes form the foundation of our physical health, as taught to me many years ago by permaculture designer and physical trainer Lesley Wills2. Permaculture design itself is a perfect framework in which to continually add new knowledge and experience; one only has to read Misrule’s Substack3 regularly to see this ongoing learning in practice.
above: the Permaculture Association Council of Management, early 1990’s. What a mouthful and what a bunch! Misrule 3rd from right, me 3rd from left.
A bit more recently I came across an article in Resurgence by Brian Eno4 where he pointed out that there was considerable evidence that the following practices helped promote healthy, fulfilling lives;
Singing
Dancing
Camping
Again, its not unusual to come across these elements on a design course. I well remember camping out for a fortnight on a steep hillside as lead teacher on Sussed 'n' Able's intensive design course; almost constant rain or drizzle, no electricity or hot water to begin with- talk about getting back to nature5!
Even more recently I found the New Economics Foundation6 presenting five ways to wellbeing that struck similar chords. The gist of it is as follows with quotes from the full article by way of explanation;
1. Connect
With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.
2. Be Active
Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy; one that suits your level of mobility and fitness.
above: me gardening, an active beneficial and productive in so many ways.
3. Take Notice
Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are on a train, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.
4. Keep Learning
Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident, as well as being fun to do.
5. Give
Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and will create connections with the people around you.
These five points in themselves could be taken as the outline of a permaculture design for zone 00 and peoplecare. In further support of the above, the late Dr. Michael Mosley featured all these or very similar suggestions in his Radio 4 series "Just One Thing.7
Finally here, a tale of two routes to something similar. When I decided to go down the permaculture design path after attending my first course in 1989 and went on to become involved with the national charity, the Permaculture Association, Britain, a local guy who I had become very good friends with, set off on a different course and began to help organise raves or parties as they were known around here in Cymru. He would sort out the sound systems and DJ’s and both partake of and supply the drugs that went with them, notably ecstasy and MDMA.
Our paths would cross from time to time and we would, as it were, compare notes on our different approaches. One thing he regularly emphasised, was the strong bonding and friendships that grew out of these parties and lasted long beyond the immediate effects of the drugs. A recent study8 looking at human bonding and the rave culture confirmed his experiences. The study identified four key factors for creating bonding as follows:
Dancing
Drumming
Drugs
Sleep deprivation
I find this interesting for (at least) a couple of reasons. Firstly, from anthropology we find that events involving these four factors are not uncommon in our human pre-history and secondly, that an intensive permaculture design course can create strong bonding and lasting friendships between participants without such emphasis on drugs.
That's it for now. You can find more about my take on zone 00 on my web site, embedded within in a piece exploring the idea of Integral permaculture Design. More Konsk on the way. Comments always welcome. Hello and welcome to new subscribers. Thanks for reading. Hwyl! Chris.
The article can be found here. Brian Eno, among other things, invented ambient music, was a member of The Long Now Foundation (a nonprofit established in 01996 to foster long-term thinking) and played synth for Roxy Music, who I saw twice in Sheffield City Hall in the early 1970’s.
What a bunch! Brian Eno on the left. I loved ‘em, until Eno split and Brian Ferry became dominant.
These courses were kicked off by the permaculture designers and teachers Chris Evans (OBE for his work in Tibet) and Bryn Thomas (from Devon). They were keen to reduce their time spent on this initially quite physically challenging permaculture project, run at first by Margaret Shakespeare and Resi Tomat, so they invited me up to have a look and the next thing I found myself the lead teacher doing the full fortnight while they just did a week each! I did get a weekend off in the middle.
All the episodes of "Just One Thing" can be found here plus other programmes by Dr. Mosley. Each episode includes an expert providing available evidence to support the suggestion. Of course, the draw back with the premise "Just One Thing" is that if you present lots, as the good Dr. does, then its no longer "Just One Thing", its lots of things!
Old permaculture friend Ian Lillington pointed out to me that the first book, Permaculture One, came out in 1978, not 1976. Apologies, my bad. Thanks for pointing it out, Ian.