Eliminating scarcity and fear with the 3 Permaculture ethics

We are living in a very interesting time.  I’ll be honest scarcity sends a pulse through my body with a feeling of unpreparedness, guilt, isolation, and even selfishness.  As we stumble blindly through this pandemic, I’m feeling a scrambling pressure as it escalates rapidly around the globe.  

I’ve seen the infrequency of items in the store and with trepidation wanted to take all the organic broccoli so my child can eat healthy for the foreseeable future!  I even feel a scarcity of loved ones, as we all hunker down ready for impact.  

Here germinates the fear of scarcity, a virus that’s been waiting for a host.  We fear for our families and ourselves. We begin to spiral out of control and panic, grabbing items in the store we don’t even need just so someone else doesn’t grab it first. You see everyone as a contender in this crazy game you didn’t even want to play.  Though, you look into the eyes of the strangers among you in the grocery store with an acknowledgment of comradery.  We are all in this war, we are at battle.  But who are we fighting?  This virus or our neighbor?  AHHHHHH!  Whoa!  Slow down!  It’s like watching a slow-motion train wreck and a fast-paced speed skating competition at the same time.

Fear of scarcity can plague anyone. It’s totally normal.  But let’s all stop and breath for a moment...or two or three; and realize our common bond is that we’re all pressed against this earth by gravity. Let’s embrace our commonality and help each other through this.  Helping each other can come in many forms.  Getting groceries for your elder neighbor, staying home and not going anywhere, or even stopping yourself from buying all the hand sanitizer in the store so others can buy some and protect themselves.  

Fear of scarcity is the adverse effect of the three main ethics of permaculture which are: Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share.

I feel that the last is the utmost Ethic which trickles down to the first two.  Fair Share is meant to keep us aware not to over harvest. A proclamation to remind us not to take more than we need and leave some for others whether that’s for humans, animals or the earth.  This can happen by leaving plants to decompose to organic matter, letting plants reseed or be eaten by birds, maybe offering eggs from your chickens to your neighbors if you have an abundance, or even just taking what you need from the store now to withstand a week or so and leave a roll of toilet paper or two!    

This sounds tacky and cliché, but we’re all on the same team.  We are a mere organ or a set of cells within the system.  When the system thrives, we all thrive.  When your neighbor thrives, you and your community thrive.  And when your garden thrives, you directly thrive.  Best part is, it feels good; which brings us back to Earth Care, and People Care.  By practicing Fair Share, you are undoubtedly practicing the first 2 ethics.  Setting intentions of Fair Share creates an awareness that we are all connected.  We are not alone.  Caring for the earth and the people around us makes us more resilient, more apt to combat, say a pandemic.  When the system is out of balance there is scarcity.  Right now, there’s scarcity of social connection, scarcity of food, scarcity of medical supplies, maybe even a scarcity of toilet paper! 

But what isn’t scarce, yet, is nature and connection to the earth, which is free and abundant depending on how you look at it!  National Parks may be closed, and social distancing is serious, but that’s not what I’m getting at.  Nature is all around us, it’s inside us…it IS us.  Let us find balance and shed our fear of scarcity.  Let us nurture Nature with the ethics of Permaculture.  Take care of the earth, take care of yourself and your community, and only take only what you need.      

As Walt Whitman wrote, “After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on - have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear – 

what remains? Nature remains.”