Younger permies group?

I'm new here so I hope this is allowed.

To make a long story short, my question is basically: is there a group oriented toward younger members of this site (say, 18-30)?

Now for the longer story... I'm 22, recently graduated college, started my first job, went to my first industry convention, aaannd every single person there was older than me and that kinda made it hard to fit in and talk to people. Don't get me wrong, I have deep respect for people older than me. I'm just saying that I'd be interested in a space for young people who are into permaculture/homesteading/etc -- not exclusive in any way, just focused toward younger demographic.

Although i'm older, i take the freedom to respond, i think it doesn't work like that here, a place for only young people, how to even check that? But it definitely is a good idea to have a section where young people speak of young people stuff.
The problem you will have though and that's that old people really love to advice younger people, so it won't be young people only.. But there could be a Junior Permies and Senior Permies category, why not?

No reason we couldn't have a 'young permies' forum (or an old fogies one)..... I think it would be wonderful to capture the attention of younger people and help them start, and have them help us with new ideas...

For reasons we like a fair few threads to start it up (about 50), so you can pick that up as a challenge if you like -  make threads for younger permies, find ones we already have. See this thread r ransom made when we put together the houseplants forum.
If you want to do some legwork, then it's likely that a staff member will be able to work some magic and make it happen, but the first step is gathering or creating the threads. Copy them here, and shout when you think we've got enough to start pressing buttons.



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Oh and welcome to permies Ean! if you're needing help with the site, please ask in the tinkering with this site forum  - senior staff keep an eye on that one so you get a quicker answer usually!

25yo here! I like this idea. Maybe even a meet up or something down the line would be fun. Where are you from?

I suffered and still suffer a lot of ageism for looking young.  Even now, I have people lecturing me about "wait till you get older..." and it turns out they are ten years younger.   For that reason, I don't enjoy communities that are age restricted.   Both old and young age limits cut groups off from experiencing the world.  With permaculture as with any hand craft, communication between generations is the fastest way to progress.  

So, what's the Permaculture approach here?  

I think it's interesting how most people feel most comfortable communicating with their own age group.  I can't help but worry we miss opertunities staying in the comfort zone.

I also wonder about the advantages of helping established generations learn to speak with up and coming ones?  To open that dialogue.  Expand the comfort zone. We have a common topic of conversation, permaculture, to fall back on.  Instead of seeking age specific methods of communication,  we seek comfort in a shared topic?  

A thread I really enjoyed along these lines is this one.  https://permies.com/t/101996/Millennial-Permies#840895

Perhaps starting a new one for your age group woul help open the conversation.

R Ranson, how will it be restricted then? Anybody can chime in, Permies does not know the age of the user.
Like you mentioned, people like to speak to similar, which is a good enough reason in itself to me. I guess they like it, because they experienced the world in the same way. They don't have to explain things , saving time and energy, moving things forward quicker. It doesn't have to mean that older people cannot chime into those groups, that might even be welcomed at times as experienced people always have a wise thing to add to the conversation. But letting the young lead themselves without having an authority figure surveilling them can be something that keeps them energized. They've had their whole youth of that already, much more so than we did. We were so free when we were young, we were allowed to make dangerous errors all the time.
It's not that there is another permaculture platform where people come together, neither should we wish for it, especially for the reasons you've mentioned before, they might even stick around a bit longer on here if we provide them a space.. How old is the average active Permies member, i guess you will know?

George William wrote:25yo here! I like this idea. Maybe even a meet up or something down the line would be fun. Where are you from?

Hi George, I’m in California! It’s where I was born and raised, but I’m thinking that it’s not an ideal place for young people looking to start a life for themselves, so I’m interested in moving elsewhere in the US.

Thanks to everyone who commented here! I’ve read every response.

r ranson wrote:A thread I really enjoyed along these lines is this one.  https://permies.com/t/101996/Millennial-Permies#840895

I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m primarily interested in creating a thread similar to the “Millennial Permies” one mentioned above. I see no need to dedicate a separate full-on group, or exclude/police people based on age. Anyway, I can start a “Gen Z Permies”-type thread soon and I’m excited to meet more people!