The Wheaton Eco Scale

It's been a few years and I've noticed a few things.

1. There is a strong need to help people lower on the scale climb up to your level... whichever level that happens to be.  It helps us feel we are in the right place if others want to join us.

2. The first instinct is to shame them for not being high enough.   This slows or reverses the journey up the scale.  This shame is usually unconscious and takes massive self understanding to prevent.

3. Kindness is by far the biggest fuel to help people find their own way up the scale.

r ranson wrote:It's been a few years and I've noticed a few things.

1. There is a strong need to help people lower on the scale climb up to your level... whichever level that happens to be.  It helps us feel we are in the right place if others want to join us.

2. The first instinct is to shame them for not being high enough.   This slows or reverses the journey up the scale.  This shame is usually unconscious and takes massive self understanding to prevent.

3. Kindness is by far the biggest fuel to help people find their own way up the scale.

This is something I struggle(d) with about my marriage. I commented a while back but don’t remember getting any responses.

Im goal oriented, have a growth mindset and an extremely motivated to work towards my ideals, which for me have a lot in common with this eco-scale.

My wife does not seem to be very goal oriented, has more of a victim mentality and has very different ideals. Definitely has not even heard of this eco-scale and I wont be bringing it up because I’m 99% sure her reaction will be ugly.

Aside from the obvious fact that our marriage is a struggle in many ways, this in particular has irked me for years. If I was alone I feel i would be busting my ass to “progress” along this scale as fast as enjoyably possible. But with her in my life I feel like I’m creeping along at a snails pace, riding the brake pedal, towing along a trailer with a flat tire behind me. She used to feel like she was being dragged along a path she wasn’t sure she wanted to go down…

Ive since realized how this was affecting our relationship, apologized and tried to explain myself. But the damage has been done, things have degraded and compounded and neither of us are sure if we will be able to make this work much longer.

I had a bit of what I cant help but call a revelation several years ago, and after gathering myself and thinking it through, I discovered permaculture and this website/community. I felt like I finally found “my people” and knew my wife would be hesitant at best, resistant at worst. I tried to explain and reason with her. I tried to get her to join me on this journey. I even tried to make a game of it. She has made changes, I cant deny that. But she does it with resentment, always looks back and talks about how much of “herself” she’s given up and cant help but feel judged and inadequate to me. I understand that, because I judge myself and feel inadequate as well. How else does one get motivated to change unless you aren’t happy with where you’re at?

I think it’s probably too late to smooth this over in any way that leads to happy progress with us on the same page. But for the sake of anyone who may read this in the future, what would you or anyone else recommend to avoid this unfortunate situation? I’m tempted to say selection of a partner is key, but honestly, we’ve been together off and on since middle school and I didnt have my revelation, discover permaculture or really have meaning and purpose in my life until my mid 20s and at that point we were already married, had moved and started a career. So selection seems too late in that scenario. This is one of the many reasons I’d like to expose middle and high school students to permaculture, so that they can realize their options and find purpose and meaning BEFORE they go to college, get married, buy houses, start careers and accumulate debt. Although honestly, it seems like college, marriage and careers are already disappearing from kids horizons as it is for other reasons.

wow, beautiful scale! just seeing this, and 12 years before my "growing your own food (0-10)" scoring i blogged just last year*. and some nice insights delivered paul! a few that i am skeptical about though are:
(1) implication to get people to advance more gradually can be very appropriate, but sometimes it can be too slow and maintaining misguided infrastructure/ways also (there are several examples, but one is when considering less water use when needing to buy a new toilet, to buy a new eco model because it flushes with less water, rather than of course, using a composting toilet (which we know this is usually not even as best as just smartly pooping directly on the land, but)).
(2) maybe unnecessary/i'm being too technical too, but i think my disclaimer was good to "be flexible when thinking of the ideas corresponding to a score, as sometimes there may be good ideas that can be implied they are also being done in other/higher scores, or ideas can be thought of as more insights in themselves than exact correspondence to a score"

i must be around a 4/5 on this wheaton eco scale

guess willie smits shows you don't have to have a beard to be a 9 or 10!

also, i think my other blogs like "how wild" or "how saintly"** test can be interesting to consider

*https://kboddula.blogspot.com/2022/08/growing-your-own-food-0-10-scoring.html
**http://kboddula.blogspot.com/2020/05/how-wild-test-from-july-2019.html
http://kboddula.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-how-saintly-test.html

I posted that Eco Level 10 poster on a power pole here locally. It looks great! And I like the irony of advertising lower tech luxuriance on a power pole.

I reference the idea of the Wheaton Eco Scale from time to time to help create and align a personal strategy on how to improve not only myself but my local environment for all. How can, in my own power, I act that is kinder/gentler to the earth. Good stuff.

I'm at about a three... working towards moving to that fourth level.

I realised yesterday that I have definitely moved up a bit on the scale since I came on Permies!

I came across a thread on toilet cloth in my early browsing ( maybe this one?) and felt "woah ....wierd....these people are deep green!".  Now I've gone off toilet paper a bit, and would like to reduce the amount we put in our septic system. I'm going through my dead T shirt pile for cloth, and thinking how to convert my husband to the idea!

Thank you Permies!

Ah I come back to this again and I'm still conflicted.

I live in community and don't have a car which puts me at institutionalised according to level 0. But I'm not sure the community is much above level 2.

But the 60ish bed retreat centre we run is pretty sustainably wood chip heated. But the community houses are oil fired. But the kitchen produces remarkably little waste. But we buy in all the food. But between 25 people we have about 5 cars and most only get used a couple of times a week. But...

So I'm conflicted.

My own consumption is pretty good but trying to steer the community a bit won't be easy.

It's good to come back to the scale every now and then to see how things have changed and how people have grown. I know I have, but I do get ahead of myself sometimes! This brings me down to earth with a bump. There is so much more to do!
Then I get frustrated when life ( and occasionally a husband)  stops me acheiving all these goals. The biggest issues are beyond my control; buying organic (expensive), reduce waste (forced to buy food packaged in plastic), growing my own (water a serious issue).

Those frustrations do have upsides though, expensive, local organic food encourages me to strive to grow more of my own food which forces me to be more water wise, changing my diet to become more C02 neutral- which ultimately results in less plastic use. Being cash poor also means we buy less- less to recycle and more upcycling/repairing of what we have.
Water shortages mean that I can sell the idea of a waterless loo - achieved, but still working on re-usable loo wipes!
It also makes me think very carefully about what, where and how I plant. Quietly reading the landscape and implementing little changes that show their benefits has visually inspired my neat freak spouse - more than my enthusiastic permie rhetoric ever did- to leave the weeds, use mulch and stop raking up the "mess". He has eaten the fruits of my labour and is starting to garden "his side" more like mine. He doesn't really need to know about the permaculture idea behind capturing and holding the water which I find so fascinating and clever. So we use much less water than a lot of folks.
Off grid on a limited budget means we have to be careful about energy consumption so, because he doesn't see it as a permie solution but a necessity, he's onboard.

Reflecting on my journey I realise that trying to drag him along with my enthusiasm and  my  "duh, its common sense if you would just stop fighting the Permaculture idea" wasted time and energy, probably set him back a few years in his journey and certaintly made mine a lot harder.
He's come so far that he's actually eating radishes grown in humanure! Which is more than I will do currently.........

Has anyone recently thought about where they were on their permaculture journey at the start compared to now?

Do you notice yourself rising up the Wheaton Eco Scale? What holds you back?

dandelions to clean water ...

One of my favorite parts about the scale, is where I talk about dandelions.

level 0:  spray dandelions
level 2:  pluck dandelions
level 4:  eat dandelions; blow on dandelion seed heads to make more
level 6:  seeking tastier dandelions



And now that we are contemplating water quality (drinking water from homestead wells, and the water quality downstream of sewage treatment plants) I think we can add to the scale.

level 0: clean the paintbrush with turpentine in the sink; harsh cleaners, soaps, bleach, etc.

level 1: buy some "eco" substitutes; try to use less turpentine and utter the phrase "I wish there was a better way."

level 2: no more turpentine (because there are many better ways);

level 3: poo-less-ish; no more harsh cleaners/soaps in the house; exploring using the eco cleaners less - typically doing a first pass at cleaning with just warm water.

level 4: true poo-less (pure water); seeking cleaners/soaps that are better than the "eco" brands.  Stock up on edible cleaners.  95% of cleaning is now with warm water

level 5: everything that goes down the drain could be re-routed to a greywater system; contemplating willow feeders and mulch pits

level 6: experimenting with a small mulch pit and a small willow feeder system

level 7: 100% mulch pits and willow feeders; nothing goes to septic tanks or sewage treatment plants

my kickstarter about clean water

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/willow-feeders?ref=94epia

Here are my ideas for  8 to 10. Right now I am between 3 and 4 on cleaning a paintbrush. I have tried poo-less once but I need to try it again. I could get to level 5 one issue is oil from engines and other toxic things that would be bad for a greywater system. I just need to read Art Ludwig's books.

Level 8: Starting to recharge ground water with better water than what is in the ground

Level 9: Starting to recharge fossil water

Level 10: "Holzer water" Water is so good no treatment is needed. People come from all over just to drink the water.

Regarding the eco scale for water, one day you might want to (and it may be cheaper in the future) integrate the measurement of De (deuterium) as an indicator/measure for the health/cleanliness of water. Deuterium is a keystone canary is the coalmine for determining the health of people (most diseases manifest, amoung other things, as very high levels of De) and water. De levels are much higher throughout Earth than they were historically. There is an interesting history of research done in Siberia where people grew relatively old (more than a hundred and up to 140 years of age) due to the glacier water they were drinking. The research was not released for one or several decades.

Deutenomics is the science of deuterium. One place to start is with the book "Deuterium Depletion: A New Way in Curing Cancer and Preserving Health" by Gábor Somlyai
https://www.amazon.ca/Deuterium-Depletion-Curing-Cancer-Preserving/dp/6150143864/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1FQ9KCNCHE9ST&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.EBnk6G9DlvJX2TQ4vZXufD5irJgEM29kqUyUcLjnU9nGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.fXDMDzjm7by1tyGIrtPFbAzx8jXsqXqSQQ_7V0B7W1Y&dib_tag=se&keywords=deuterium+depletion&qid=1730069387&sprefix=deuterium+depletion%2Caps%2C247&sr=8-2

Washing machines here in East Asia come with a pump to draw the used bath water from the tub into the laundry machine.

Further the soap part of getting clean happens outside the bathtub, so the old water in the tub is relatively "clean".

Such a nifty idea that really blew my mind once I moved to Japan.

Bump

Timothy Norton wrote:Has anyone recently thought about where they were on their permaculture journey at the start compared to now?

Do you notice yourself rising up the Wheaton Eco Scale? What holds you back?

Since joining Permies I have moved up mentally & educationally even though I haven't been able to move up the scale physically very much. Some things I have always been aware of, and some (like light bulbs) I was almost aware of, but unsure who to believe, and being here has given me confidence to make changes regardless of my family's or society's opinions. It's good to see other people ahead of me on that scale so that I'm less wary or nervous or unsure about moving up here & there. I can't be a freak when there are freakier freaks ahead of me, lol! (I say that with love) <3

Based on the dandelions, I am a 4! But in general I am a 2-3 who has been stared at for crawling around my front lawn picking violets to make a lovely syrup, just because I felt like it.
What has held me back was location and general living situation.
Also, there are some topics where I'm quite ahead and others where I am behind on that scale. For example, we'd sometimes get a mailing that says we are using 50% more natural gas than our neighbors (or some nonsense) in order to get us to buy their energy saving products. I once sat down and determined that we were actually using about 1/4 what typical Americans used. We were 2 people with no kids in a small apartment. We kept the heat down low all day & night except for evening, when we'd crank it, shower, & want to feel comfy going to bed (and we turned it back down for the night). Alternative heat was not possible, as we were renting half a house. So, a rocket mass heater felt like "HA! crazy", but we did really well with the heating system we had.

On other things, like gardening & composting, well, I never had much space for those things. Soon I'll have land and be able to start growing my own food more. Up until now it was the typical fall tomatoes, cukes, peppers, and whatever else I felt like trying to grow, and usually failed at, lol. Now I am starting to read about fruit trees, and I'm daydreaming about where I'll put what on my land.
I've been reading about soil amendment because while my husband suggested solving our heavy clay problem by purchasing a truckload of dirt, my thought was, "Oh yeah, watch the neighbors gather round and make fun of the new city folk buying dirt when they own 50 acres of it." So I am starting on a path of moving up the scale food-wise.

In the past I always used more natural cleaning products, and our go-to is a bottle of vinegar & water. I also washed my hair with baking soda & vinegar for over 10 years (got back on the shampoo train and want to get off again), and don't use things like makeup, nail polish, hair products, etc. My "home & beauty" category has always been bare minimum. I also have been fermenting veggies for their probiotic purposes for about 10 years now and have tried canning. These are things I can do in an urban area, and fortunately my state (New Jersey, USA) wants people to mandatorily recycle, so every other week a garbage truck comes to pick up recycling. That makes it super easy.

One last thing: I have read in numerous places on this site how to plan well. I am an observer and a planner when it comes to big decisions. So far I have drawn maps of my new land over the past year that will help me decide where to put things. Now I will be able to take the knowledge I've been picking up here and start putting it to use. The land I'm acquiring is the best piece of land ever in the whole world.  That's how I see it, anyway. It has a hill, a semi-flatter area, it has fields, woods, a small house that needs work, an old dried up pond, possibly a spring (if it's still there and we can find it)... big deal, right? Well, it's got potential! And there is NOTHING around to pollute it. It is pristine. There is nothing higher to run down onto it, in fact I take it very seriously that the watershed starts with me! Rain runs down my fields into a ditch or two, and joins with other ditches to make streams that go to rivers. There will NEVER be harmful chemicals used on my land, because anything that goes into my soil can potentially contaminate millions of people from NY to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
I am honored to have this land,
and I am thankful to Permies for teaching us all,
and I am thankful to my dad who bought the land as a hunting cabin in the 80's and did nothing at all to it, ever.