Why Zero Waste Enthusists Should Think More about Permaculture

It is only probably the year or so that i’ve been thinking about my actions specifically in terms of zero waste. As i discussed previously this movement is fantastic, but it’s become very narrow. There isn’t a lot of diversity in the types of people presenting their view of zero waste and but also there is the issue that reducing waste views the environmental sustainability through only a single lens and leaves open the potential to make purely zero waste choices that intern have a negative impact to another areas of the environment (such as carbon emissions and climate change) if big picture thinking isn’t also incorporated.

While my participation in the zero waste movement is new, my involvement and practicing of Permaculture is more long-term. I’ve talked about how i’m developing a 20 acre property in Australia using permaculture principles to become self-sufficient and producers for our community before. But i realise that i haven’t exactly really discussed what permaculture even is! Permaculture is very compatible with zero waste philosophies in general and most permaculture practioners reduce waste as part of their lifestyle. But thinking about the two philosophies i realised that really Permaculture has over Zero Waste the big picture thinking that i’m always talking about and thus I think many people that might only know about zero waste but not permaculture could really benefit from learning more about it. Permaculture is also more inclusive (although ironically i’ve seen it mentioned there are not enough women in education roles which is clearly the complete opposite to zero waste which is almost entirely female) and because the focus is on designing your lifestyle and environment and problem solving in this regard it is much more flexible for adapting to different individual’s and communities ‘circumstances. If i have to compare the virtues of each movement, i’d have to say that permaculture as a more developed, adaptive, inclusive and critical thinking approach has far more potential to make greater positive changes to sustainability than zero waste on its own.

Different kinds of people though seem attracted to zero waste (or hear about it over the other) vs permaculture. Zero waste appeals to urban types and the clear directive of how to do things according to the much repeated ‘model’ of how to reduce waste and what kinds of reusables to own. On the other hand permaculture primarily becomes part of people’s lives via gardening and a desire to grow food at home. If there had to be a ‘stereotypical’ permaculture they’d be either an older very environmentally conscious individual who has been gardening for years and years and is incredibly knowledgeable about ecology and other natural sciences, or a younger person who would identify more with the kind of ‘hippy’ subculture rathe than the ‘hipster’ influences of the zero-waster. My husband doesn’t fit any of these moulds but came to permaculture with enthusiasm quite independent of myself though an interest in engineering and the scientific aspects of design. He is neither hippy or hipster and doesn’t always fit with the average permaculture crowd but will happily watch hours of permaculture youtube videos and obviously was so enamoured by the idea as to join me in our lifelong project of developing 20 acres using the approach. So the group of people involved do seem a bit more diverse, but obviously there is always room to improve for any movement.

While the majority of permaculturists are interested in growing some of their own food if possible (many people manage even in rentals or apartments or take part in community gardens), because it is a philosophy focused on the community scale, rather than the individual (like zero waste is), this really isn’t a requirement. Thus what i’m hoping with this post is to introduce the idea to people that might not have even heard of the concept or realised it could apply too to their urban lifestyles.

The ethics that underpin permaculture are:

1. People Care (Community, health etc.)
2. Earth Care (The environment)
3. Fair Share

Within this ethical framework lifestyles and the habitat (home and garden, community etc) we create are designed so as to best serve these 3 ethics. Also a feature is looking to natural systems for inspiration in our design. For example diversity rather than monoculture is very important as it is what is present in a healthy ecosystem.

Now how could this apply to someone living in a city apartment say in NY who cannot or is unable to be involved in growing food?

1. Permaculture lifestyle designs will generally favour buying local. This not only creates less stress on the environment caused by long transportation distances (earth care), but as far as food goes it will be more nutritious  as it is fresher (people care) and gives back and supports the local community with your dollar (fair share).
2. Permaculture lifestyle designs place a great importance on being part of the community, though participation, helping out where you can but also having community structures there to support you too in times of need. Volunteering, joining community organisations or even just getting to know your neighbours and creating a social network and supports achieves this. One thing i’ve definitely noticed within permaculture communities is sharing excess. If someone has more of something than they really need they let everyone know it’s available if they want it. This means less waste! This community aspect is definitely something the zero waste movement, which is primarily individual focused should learn from and also makes achieving less waste more affordable and achievable for more people as it is then not just up to the individual but a community effort.
3. Since earth care is the ethic then all sorts of practices would be implemented by someone living in their apartment in NY. This includes zero waste, but also bigger picture thinking so other more sustainable practices too. For example using more sustainable forms of transportation (eg bikes, walking or public transport), installing more energy efficient lightbulbs or solar, eating a more plant-based diet or investing in ethical mutual funds.

Ok that is just some examples and obviously like zero waste, you do what they can, and other aspects such as finances and life circumstances will also place limitations on what is possible. But as you can see it is definitely bigger picture, more community based thinking than just zero waste, yet incorporates a zero waste philosophy so far as it is beneficial to the wider goals.

I hope that if you are someone that has come to zero waste and are passionate about environmental sustainability you look further into the permaculture philosophy. Probably zero waste has a greater likelihood to go mainstream at least within the middle class of western societies than permaculture as it is very easily positioned within a consumer based practices and thus can be used and promoted by companies making zero waste things for people to buy.  Thus zero waste will always get more press than permaculture that doesn’t really ‘sell’ anything except maybe books and courses of which you need neither to learn and impliment. But as i’ve said previously i think bigger picture thinking is needed to make a significant impact on the environment overall (since we as humans really have screwed it up throughly and i forsee in the next few hundred years if nothing really changes a significant cultural disruption in line with what has happened to other historical cultures such as the Easter Islanders or the Mayans. See Jared Diamond’s book and TED talk Collapse for more info if you are interested in this).

Interested in learning more about permaculture? One of my favourite resources is Geoff Lawton. Yes he is going to talk more about garden design than anything but he makes just some very fabulous videos that have really inspired us.

For inspiration on living a permaculture lifestyle that looks beyond just gardening check out this blog. I’m sure there are many others out there too.

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Sometimes you Need to Think Bigger Picture than Just Zero Waste

Everyone that i’ve ever read about our watched who is aiming for a zero waste lifestyle is doing so for environmental reasons. Thus the goal should always to be to do what is most environmentally sustainable, creates least negative impact and greatest good wherever possible. Possibly in part due to the fantastic branding and encapsulation of the concept by the term ‘Zero Waste’ and it’s often association with the other term ‘Lifestyle’ there a risk of the concept becoming hijacked into an ideology or dogma. This is an issue if people make a choice to do something just because it is ‘zero waste’ but in doing so create great negative environmental impact than if they had gone the other way and done something that did create waste. The issue really becomes when we stop thinking critically about our choices and rely too much on a prior choice to ‘just be zero waste’. Also if we prioritise a reduction in waste over all other areas of environmental impact.

I don’t think that the original creator of the Zero Waste Lifestyle movement Bea Johnson does this at all – i’ve always been very impressed at how critically she considers her choices and discusses them in detail in her lectures and blog. But now this movement has spread far and wide and amazingly a look at the google trends data on search terms shows that ‘Zero Waste’ has far more searches than ‘Sustainability’.

Let me give you some examples of when it may be be WORSE for the environment to chose the zero waste option.

1. A study of the overall impact of washing machines has shown that continuing to use an older (over 5 years was given as the age), less energy and water efficient washing machine has far more negative environmental impact than purchasing a newer more efficient washing machine. This is because the majority of impact a washing machine has is from use, not the construction of a new machine. Likewise you would be better off disposing of your old incandescent light bulbs now before they have actually broken and purchasing new LED ones as the energy savings are enormous.
2. If someone has to travel a long distance to buy food package free then the carbon emissions from their travel, even if using public transport could offset the benefit of producing less waste. Obviously this is a balance thing and could be assisted by taking fewer trips and buying large quantities less frequently but it is something to consider.
3. I used to live in a remote part of Australia that relied on the limited resources of the Great Artesian Basin (ground water) which underwent energy intensive desalination prior to use. It thus was a very previous resource. This town also used to have its own landfill, and the local geological conditions meant that it was an incredibly stable environment that would not cause water contamination, leakage etc. So stable that a nuclear waste facility was being considered for the area. Using disposable diapers over cloth ones in this situation therefore may be the better option as cloth diapers would require greater water use which was the more limited resource. Note that this all changed when the local landfill facility closed down and waste was then transported by truck for around 6hrs to another waste facility. This entirely changed the situation and then cloth diapers became the far better choice on balance.
4. Buying package free beef has a far greater environmental impact than purchasing packaged lentils due to the methane emissions, resources involved in creating feed for the cow and amount of water used to produce the beef.
5. Purchasing a ‘package free’ item online which is shipped to you (which will have to be in some sort of packaging anyway to be posted) where as you could have purchased the same kind of items in packaging locally reducing overall transportation impacts.
6. Buying bio-plastic or other compostable type disposable items for example compostable diapers, plates and cutlery etc when you do not have the ability to dispose of these items correctly. These items need long, very high composting temperatures to break down – much greater than can be achieved in a home composting system. A lot of municipal composting systems also do not keep their piles at the required temperatures for long enough to break down these materials and very few households have access to these kinds of green waste disposal services anyway. The issue is you can’t put these items in the recycling bin as they cannot be recycled with other plastics. Thus the only appropriate place for them for most people is in landfill. You would be better off purchasing regular plastic or paper items that can be recycled using normal methods – or far better use reusable items.  If you have a green waste disposal system that accepts food waste then check with your local council if it can handle these types of bio-plastic items before using them.
7. Using large amount of drinking water to grow vegetables in an arid climate so you can be package-free whereas importing them from a location with more rainfall may be better choice (if this is you though look into grey water use and wicking beds as possible ways to change this around).

So that’s just a few examples. Basically in all these circumstances ‘Systems’ thinking or lifecycle analysis is the best way to critically analyse the true impact of the choices we make. This takes into consideration all of the ways in which our choices have an environmental impact, on fauna and flora, water resources, air quality, carbon emissions as well as waste.

Ok… i now know what you are thinking – it is soooo complicated then so how can someone possibly make choices, it’s it just easier to go zero waste. Well yes, and the majority of time that will be the right choice. It though should be obvious to you too if you are travelling very far to make your purchases zero waste or getting a lot of these through the post and therefore may need to reassess. It is also only occasionally we need to make big purchases like white-goods so definitely for these types of big choices then you should do your research into what is best. The reality is though that we tend to do the same things over and over again, so it is only really once you need to make an assessment on if what you are doing is the right choice. Also keep in mind to think bigger picture and care about other things you can do to be more sustainable like dietary choices and energy and water use.

So let this just be a little reminder to not get too hung up on achieving a goal of only fitting your trash in a glass jar etc. but of living the most sustainable, environmentally responsible life you can live given your unique local circumstances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source of Info about the washing machine: