honey, can you please pass the permaculture?

How could you image getting to a world where permaculture is a household word?

Hi Troy
this is an exponentially growing movement and if the research studies on tipping points are correct we may only need to get to 12 to 18% so keep going with dogged persistence.

Wow! Geoff Lawton, thanks for the reply. I was hoping for more details, but this reply is interesting and hopeful.

My rough math is once 600 million* people know about the word permaculture we may have reached the tipping point.**

Let's think of it as story writing. We wake up tomorrow and permaculture is a household word. Remember it is only 600 million people that need to be reached. How did we get there?

In terms of reaching people, I am guessing that the 100 million people in wheaton eco scale 2 (where 30% of purchased food is organic) is a great place to start. They might not have heard of permaculture but have already made a conscious effort to buy less toxic stuff and may be receptive an even better idea.... permaculture, baby!

*(We would reach the 'tipping point' if 15% of the planets 24-64 year olds (which is 4 billion) would know about the word permaculture. Population data source: http://www.census.gov/idb/worldpopinfo.html)

**(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tipping_Point)

I suppose getting permaculture to become a household word is simply to spread it through conversation, literature, and the internet.

In the case of most people I'm guessing this is limited to talking to those around us about it. Talking to friends, family, and even the random stranger (if you're so bold) can easily spread the idea around. I certainly do plenty of that, I talk off the ear of anyone who will listen about my interest in sustainable living/agriculture practices, especially permaculture and since doing so I have found quite a few people interested in learning more who will probably spread the term further.

Those of us who have blogs, write for papers, or are involved in other forms of print could write articles.

Social networking sites are a great way to get information around. I post articles I stumble across all the time. I doubt many people share my interest and few probably pay attention but a few do and that's a start.

Implementing permaculture practices in public venues is another possibility. A friend of mine did public garden design for the city using permaculture principles. Starting local community gardens like this is another possibility.

Just a few thoughts, dunno if it's what you're looking for but I hope it helps

Well....paul built permies, what can we each do to promote permacuture to get it into enough brains to reach the tipping point?

I try the dissemination by example approach - build it and they will come copy.

Hi Nancy,

I suspect you have the best approach. Maybe I have opposition defiant disorder, but the more someone tries to beat me over the  head with their agenda, the more my reflex is to resist.  

It will come... soon.

When this thread began, the United States at least, was just coming out of the 2008 downturn in the economy. Generally with these things, as long as the general populace is comfortable and happy, there is little interest for sustainability and homesteading in general. A lot gets looped into that, but I am making a very general statement here, so please let me further explain via generalities.

But as the economy reverts back, or "corrects itself" which is what seems to be starting to happen, like the 1970 hippy movement, and homesteading starts of the mid 2000's decade, there will be a resurgence.

As long as there is a general state of comfort and confidence, there is little regard to provide for oneself.

My family has been involved in food production in the United States in a big way since 1866.  We have paid quarterly dividends to our shareholders every quarter since the year 1899 without miss. Yet our biggest years, the years our stock has had to split was always in the recessional years. Why? No one cares about food until things get tough, especially investors. Energy futures, mining, the auto industry, etc all look better from an investment view when things are going well. But suddenly add a recession and investors look at the formerly putrid share price we formerly steadily had/have, and suddenly when others have tanked our price looks REALLY good. So they invest in food.

Food is just that consistent: we all have to eat.

But when food is easy to buy because jobs are plentiful and overtime will pay for some really good food, what is there to worry about. It will be in the grocery store tomorrow. But add in job loss, a lack of overtime, fear of wondering if work will continue, and food becomes a real concern.

People will embrace permieness soon.

No one can predict the future and certainly not me, but I can draw from experience on what has occurred in the past. Just wait, that is all I can say. Homesteading will be popular again.