In Dialogue with the Environment: A Holistic, Place-Based Way of Thinking

Text/ Yi-Hsin Photo credit/ Yahoo! Kimo Topics

At the end of 2009, I completed the foundational course in permaculture design. At the time, even though I had received the certificate, I was still not entirely sure what "permaculture design" actually was. What I could be certain of, however, was that through this course I clearly saw what was severely lacking in the upbringing and education of myself, someone who grew up in Taiwan. So I knew where I needed to supplement my nutrients next.

To borrow the words of Mr. Chen Yu-feng, a pioneer of Taiwan's environmental movement: "Reason is the deepest emotion, and emotion is the most elegant reason. Without sufficient awareness, we remain divided among circumstance, reason, and insight, and cannot treat ourselves, others, the living world, the earth, and the universe with a complete humanity. What we need to learn and be educated in is holistic studies."

What I understand as permaculture design is closer to what Mr. Chen calls "holistic studies": a comprehensive, integrative science woven from different quadrants - individual and collective, the organic living world and the inorganic realm, reason and sensibility, the spiritual and the worldly, inheritance and innovation, contemplation and action, and so on. What it proposes are the great principles for humanity in facing its existential situation:

1. Observe phenomena humbly and carefully
2. Discover problems and face them
3. Solve problems by tracing them to their roots

In other words, permaculture design is a creative outlet for dialogue between people and the environment in which they live.

Many people mistakenly think permaculture is a farming technique, a kind of architectural design, or an environmental action, community building... I really feel it has been wronged. But the breadth of its dimensions and the diversity of its applications do indeed give people a sense of being hard to grasp, so it is inevitable that people, like the blind men touching the elephant, narrow it down to certain concrete images.

Discover problems, face problems, seek possible solutions

Back to the 2009 permaculture design course. When I was asked to introduce which watershed I belonged to, which sacred mountain, which ethnic group, I was shocked to discover that in my upbringing and education I had never been taught to start from a "local" perspective, so much so that I almost completely ignored the land beneath my feet. And when we did group practical exercises, I also painfully discovered that in my upbringing and education I had never been taught to squarely face problems and solve them with my own hands.

The former (being unable to think from a "local" perspective) is definitely related to long-term brainwashing by the Kuomintang regime's ideological education of counterattacking the mainland and ultimate great unification. I think most people who grew up in Taiwan and are 35 to 55 years old today have suffered deeply from it. The latter (being unable to face and solve problems oneself) is related to the colonized character created by Taiwan's 400 years of colonial history, as well as to the fact that Taiwanese people have not yet broken free from imperial authoritarian thinking, that individual sovereignty has not yet fully awakened, and that democracy has not yet truly deepened.

When I saw the root of the problem, I also saw possible solutions: I believe that if Taiwanese society wants to develop a truly sustainable way of life, it must develop a culture with a true Taiwanese subjectivity, as well as a civil society with a high degree of democratic literacy.

And at this moment, the challenge we face may be this: can Taiwan, this immigrant society, this political and economic community of shared destiny passively formed by historical factors, form a free community through the promotion of a culturally self-aware subjectivity, spiritual quality, environmental ethics, and universal values?

And we should ask: when such a free community takes shape, would establishing a true country called "Taiwan" and enacting a constitution "tailor-made" for this land and its residents be a historical inevitability?

A culture with Taiwanese subjectivity

The poet Li Min-yung said that in the past, Taiwan's "economics of ambition," which satisfied people economically while ignoring the fictional nature of the state, must be replaced by a "culture of ambition," and the national spirit (that is, the soul of the nation) awaits reconstruction.

In Taiwan, culture is often simplified into arts and letters. In fact, culture should be understood more broadly as "the style and symbol of people" within a community, including art, culture, religion, language... In Taiwan, because of more than 400 years of colonial circumstances, the shaping of this cultural style and symbol has long been held hostage by rulers. At this moment, only by intervening politically to take politics out can it truly return to society and develop freely.

A civil society with a high degree of democratic literacy

In today's Taiwan, the democratic movement, after years of accumulated momentum, has released its energy anew, and its forms have become more diverse and lively, with less passion, anger, and accusation, and more reason, respect, and dialogue. Yet at this very moment, Taiwan's democratic development seems to show a phenomenon of stagnation, or even backsliding. To continue advancing on the path of democracy depends on the awakening of individual civic consciousness, alliances and actions among various non-governmental organizations, and the practice of true transitional justice through investigating human rights violations under the authoritarian era and pursuing legal accountability against perpetrators.

Everyone must have a deep inner awareness: my freedom is not merely to defend individual freedom, but even more to protect the natural human rights with which every person is born equal.

In this era of globalization, "managing oneself well = helping the world" is an overly simplified formula: because institutional injustice and injustice are at all times oppressing and distorting the outlets of others. Merely "turning off the lights when you leave" while ignoring or disregarding the evil of institutions will make us accomplices to the system. Therefore, supervising public power is the inescapable mission of modern citizens.

Well-proportioned, inside and out

Sustainable land and resource use cannot be separated from cultural life, ideology, or political structure. If Taiwan is viewed as a living organism, we hope she will be well-proportioned, inside and out: bone represents institutional structure, flesh represents cultural consciousness, the inner is core values, and the outer is national positioning.

I believe everyone hopes to be a person well-proportioned, inside and out. Only in this way can one live out true vitality, and only then can there be sound relationships - including on the X-axis, relationships between self and others, between the individual and the group, and between nations; on the Y-axis, spiritual life and attachment to the land; on the Z-axis, cultural inheritance and intergenerational fairness and justice.

This kind of all-round way of thinking about problems is the precious inspiration the permaculture sustainable living design course brought me.