I have been busy shooting letters and talking to academic advisors and field experts, when it hit me that I should probably return to the community I already love and trust -- Permies!

Let's cut to the chase -- I share Father Paul's passion of "global domination" through the spreading of permaculture wisdom. I am 25 and never went to school, but low and behold! I am returning to school Fall 2018 to start a long and arduous journey towards a degree in Plant Science through the University of Minnesota's CFANS program.

Perhaps, I wonder, my first question is: Am I making the right choice going back to school?

What drove me to this point was,

1) Reading through Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren. AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ for lovers of plants, humans, and words alike. Her prose is sensational, and inspired so much in me.

2) This recurring hypothesis I have, probably prompted by permaculture:

"Is there a correlation between plant systems and human systems, and would a deeper understanding of those systems aid in the designing and implementing of more sustainable, efficient, proactive human systems in a climate of economic, social, political and environmental uncertainty?"

My desire is to be a community developer, a sustainable designer, an innovator and entrepreneur. My greatest abilities in life have to do with fostering human connection; I excel at communicating, empathizing, advocating, and connecting individuals with other individuals who can "get sh!t done." I am just a super passionate middleman between the wants and needs of people and the systems they find themselves in.

What do I do... how do I become more than an angsty 20-something, burning with passion and ambition; to become an actual element of change within a society that is fundamentally and principally flawed.

Help me, permies; you're my only hope!

-disgruntled citizen

Hello Christian,

being not much older than you, I decided to fully dive into permaculture about 2 years ago. That also resulted in the need to relocate, on which I am currently working on.

Am I making the right choice going back to school?

It depends.
If it is a good school, with good lecturers and mentors, that still works with the ideas of science, rather than money – yes.
Unfortunately, they are hard to find today. (I left the university due to that.)

My desire is to be a community developer, a sustainable designer, an innovator and entrepreneur. My greatest abilities in life have to do with fostering human connection; I excel at communicating, empathizing, advocating, and connecting individuals with other individuals who can "get sh!t done." I am just a super passionate middleman between the wants and needs of people and the systems they find themselves in.

Being someone who learns as much as he can – everywhere, I have found that it is useful to know all topics you are involved in, at least a little bit. Enough to determine if someone knows what they are doing, or if they just talk a lot. Then again, I do not excel at communication.

Is there a correlation between plant systems and human systems […]

Yes. The challenge is to find out what it is and how it works.

[…] and would a deeper understanding of those systems aid in the designing and implementing of more sustainable, efficient, proactive human systems in a climate of economic, social, political and environmental uncertainty?

Being that broad, the answer is unlikely to be "no".
However – knowledge itself doesn't result in good/bad results. How it is used is far more relevant. There is so much knowledge out there, that is ignored and denied and forgotten; scientists bad-mouthed, blackmailed or threatened.
We have to first create a space in which scientific work is possible. (This is actually what I am working towards.)


- a scientists on a detour

Christian Huble wrote:
1) Reading through Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren. AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ for lovers of plants, humans, and words alike. Her prose is sensational, and inspired so much in me.

Holy small world, Batman! I had no idea she wrote a book. Her brother Neal was one of my best friends growing up. I remember hanging out in their basement laboratory and playing on the teletype computer hookup at the college. Sadly, the year I took physics at the college was the year her dad took a sabbatical.

I checked out the article at http://nautil.us/issue/34/adaptation/my-family-my-science and it was nostalgic for me. I just might have to get the book.

Thanks for posting!