Permaculture:
A
Regenerative Approach to Social Justice in Highland Park, Michigan
By
Hau
Dinh
Advisor: Nathan
Ayers
Abstract
This project holistically evaluates how Chiwara Permaculture L3C
integrated their permaculture research design in Highland Park, Michigan, and
examines how permaculture affects people’s perceived notions of economic
development, social justice and engagement. As a post-industrial
community located within the city of Detroit, Highland Park struggles with
access to fresh food, public health, water conservation, and economic development.
Noting the community challenges in Highland Park, Chiwara Permaculture
L3C concentrates on researching innovative solutions to address these problems.
Using the principles of permaculture, Chiwara utilizes bio-mimicry based
design, surveys and interviews to analyze how permaculture offers the economic,
public health, and social justice benefits to the community. The results
show that many individuals demand more social changes in Highland Park and are
willing to take action using the permaculture principles to create a more just
environment and community. The results also illustrate how the
integration of permaculture design demonstrates viable solutions toward the
environment, economic, and social healing of a post-industrial city like
Highland Park.
INTRODUCTION
The Green
Revolution changed agricultural practices in order to address the famine and
economic crises resulting from World War II, by encouraging the use of
antibiotics, pesticides and fertilizers into agricultural production (King,
2008). Food production in large
industrial farms sustains the population, but it also destabilizes the
ecosystem by offsetting the symbiotic relationships between species and
homogenizing temporal and spatial diversity (King, 2008). It introduces insect plagues in crops,
soil salinity, biodiversity reduction, topsoil erosion, uneconomical water
consumption, and environmental pollution (Horrigan, L., Lawrence, R.S., &
Walker, P., 2002; King, 2008). The Green Revolution also increased the
dependency on fossil fuels. The
United States industrial agricultural system alone uses an estimated 3 cal of
fossil fuel energy for every production of 1 cal of food energy, while not
factoring in the energy required for processing and transportation (Horrigan et
al., 2002; Gundersen & O’Day, 2009).
The heavy reliance on fossil fuels further deteriorates ecosystems
through elevated carbon dioxide levels and greenhouse gases, which increase the
severity of global warming (Gundersen & O’Day, 2009). Rising temperatures endanger more
species, drastically tempered the climate, and present more adverse public health
epidemics (Gundersen & O’Day, 2009). The methods designed from the Green
Revolution meet our immediate food need, but they are not sustainable because
they present more risks to our environment and public health; more resilience
methods need to be explored to stabilize our ecosystems.
Leopold
(1949) noted that as individuals, we are interdependent members of a community,
a place where we compete for achievement but will ethically co-operate to
reevaluate our relationships with nature to attain food and environmental
security (Gundersen & O’Day, 2009).
The goal of environmental security will shift our practice from
large-scale farms that run on fossil fuels to smaller, local farms that use
renewable energy sources to produce organic gains (Gundersen & O’Day,
2009). Community members need to
utilize an alternative agriculture system to optimize the ecological paradigm
that concentrates on reducing environmental and health disparities, as well as
addressing environmental and social justice concerns. We need to change the infrastructure of our agricultural
production and dependence on natural resources to transition toward sustainable
and regenerative framework that reduces fossil fuel consumption. By interacting with nature, people’s
consciousness to environmental stewardship, distribution of resources and power
will be raised, and it will aspire people to innovatively collaborate with
nature (Jungck, 1985; King, 2008).
REGENERATIVE SUSTAINABILITY PARADIGM
Du
Plessis’ (2012) regenerative sustainability paradigm transforms our mechanistic
viewpoint to an ecological one (Mang & Reed, 2012). It reviews the filters that guide
people’s perceived notion of the world and how that assessment determines their
interactions with the environment.
It presents an environmental model for development and application of
comprehensive methodologies that generate a new perspective for people to adapt
to the changes of nature, instead of manipulating nature (Mang & Reed,
2012). The
regenerative development and design also integrates the cultural, natural, and
economic components of a community to evaluate its effectiveness in terms of
health and viability (Mang & Reed, 2012). The harmonization of people’s cultures, communities and
economic activities with the continuous evolutions influences their perceived
understanding of the world, while not focusing on preservation or restoration
(Gundersen & O’Day, 2009). The
mirroring of nature’s actions fosters people’s relationship and understanding
of the way nature works, and will encourage a positive, environmental-friendly
change in behavior.
PERMACULTURE: A REGENERATIVE FRAMEWORK
One
example of a regenerative model is permaculture. Mollison (1979) combined the words “permanent” and “agriculture”
to create the term ‘permaculture’ to describe the principles and ethics of working
with nature, not against it (Jungck, 1985). Permaculture is an ethical, economic, ecological, and social
design system that metabolizes innovative solutions for individuals or a
specific location in terms of food production, land use, and community empowerment
(Holmgren, 2002). It is
human-centric with the following principles that focus on Earth-care,
People-care, and Fair-share (sustainable consumption limits) to ensure an
abundance of food and energy (Holmgren, 2002; King, 2008; Jones, 2009):
1.
Observe
and interact-Seek solutions as we engage with nature.
2.
Catch
and store energy-Collect abundance energy to use them in times of need.
3.
Obtain
a yield- Harvest rewards.
4.
Apply
self-regulation and accept feedback-React to feedbacks to function effectively.
5.
Use
and value renewable resources and services- Reduce consumptive behaviors and
dependence on non-renewable energy by maximizing renewable resources.
6.
Produce
no waste-Use available resources; waste is a socially constructed concept.
7.
Design
from patterns to details-Note the detailed patterns created by nature.
8.
Integrate
rather than segregate-Create a supportive network between organisms.
9.
Use
small and slow solutions-Utilize local resources to produce.
10.
Use
and value diversity – Strengthen with diversity
11.
Use
edges and value the marginal – Value the interfaces between organisms.
12. Creatively use and respond to
change – Create a positive change.
These twelve
principles set the foundation for
permaculture design. They
ensure that food and energy are adequate, accessible, and available (De
Schutter, 2010). Following these
principles will set the stage for people to consider the functions of their
resources and environment, while designing the infrastructure for our systems
and communities.
As
an interdisciplinary, scientific protocol, permaculture differentiates various
elements and underlying premises of objectives, strategies, methods, and
progresses (King, 2008). It manifests a sustainable demand for
biodiversity and productivity of micro and macro organisms in a community. It holds and
manifests a new perspective that expands people’s perceived understanding of
nature and current awareness of social issues (Haggard,
Reed, & Mang, 2006; Mang & Reed, 2012). Permaculture also combines the
natural and human infrastructures by tapping into the psychological,
ecological, and cultural literacy of a community (Mang & Reed, 2012).
It directs effort towards resiliency to maintain the effectiveness of
social and environmental injustice, and to reverse the present ecological
degradation (King, 2008; Mang & Reed, 2012). The engineering and implementations of harmonious
infrastructures and systems renew resources and build healthy relationships
between the ecosystems and people.
Permaculture
also offers itself as a tool to empower the individuals living in a community
as they work towards the regenerative goal. It
activates multiple intelligences and skills to cultivate innovative practices
of energy conservation and localized production, which amplify the love for life
and nature (Mang & Reed, 2012). It breaks away from pure academia by
tailoring a practical and experiential model that can be incorporated in places
that face sustainable crises (Gundersen & O’Day, 2009). By planting the seed of a regenerative
purpose, community members can transition their purpose and determination to
surpass the existing disparities and sense of hopelessness. They can also highlight the importance
of different forms of energy and life processes that introduce people to a more
collective thinking, in terms of lifestyle and maximizing the capacity of
nature. Their assessments and
assimilations of the relationships between systems and people will visualize
the functions of different parts of life to ensure that the community planning and
efforts are compatible with nature (Gundersen & O’Day, 2009). Working with nature instead of against
it will empower a community to creatively find a solution that protects the
place from crises.
Regenerative
Place: Highland Park
A community that struggles with economic,
environmental, and social hardship is Highland Park, Michigan. Highland Park is a city within Detroit, known as the birthplace of the auto-industry. The city bloomed during the climax of
Henry Ford’s automobile assembly lines, but now it is home to approximately
12,000 residents, with approximately 94% of the population identified as Black,
3% as White, and 3% as others (US Bureau Census, 2012). More than 85% of the people in Highland
Park have been living in the same house for more than one year and only about
76% of the people graduate from high school and approximately 9% of the people
who are 25 years or older receive a bachelor degree or higher education (US
Bureau Census, 2012). Moreover,
approximately 11% of the people are unemployed and about 48% of the residents
live below the poverty line (US Bureau Census, 2012). Even with the Davison Highway running across the city, there
are only approximately a thousand established business firms in the area (US
Bureau Census, 2012). Like the
shutdown of the Ford’s Motor Company in Highland Park, most people and
investments abandoned the city.
Currently,
Highland Park dispossesses economic, social, and environmental
investments. More than two-thirds
of the streetlights in the city were removed because the city was incapable of
paying the cost, which added a sense of danger and fear to the area (Williams,
2011). Moreover, in 2012, the city
of Highland Park failed to pass the drinking water standard set by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Michigan Department of
Environment Quality (MDEQ) ("City
of Highland Park 2012 Water Quality Report"). The water assessment showed that there
were collected water samples that exceeded the turbidity standard of 0.3 units
per month ("City of Highland
Park 2012 Water Quality Report"). The city temporarily closed its water plants for repairs,
and since November 13, 2013, has been buying drinking water from the Detroit
Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) ("City
of Highland Park 2012 Water Quality Report"). Having to purchase water from DWSD
increased the cost of water to an unaffordable price for the communities living
in city, making it difficult for people with a low income to have access to
high quality drinking water (Williams, 2011).
Permaculture Designer: Chiwara Permaculture L3C
Disparities
in food access, water conservation, and economic development are major
community problems that need urgent attention from researchers and
developers. Heightened interest on
how to reduce and eliminate these issues has been raised by Chiwara
Permaculture L3C. Chiwara
Permaculture L3C is a Michigan-based research firm that focuses on integrating
permaculture solutions in six main areas: food, energy, water, building, transportation, and waste.
It offers educational programming and research for science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) education and experiential learning to solve
community issues. Chiwara aims to
explore, incubate, and share ecological and economic development solutions, as designed with permaculture principles for the community of Highland Park.
As
permaculture designers, Chiwara partnered with other professionals, organizers,
and community members to define the needs of Highland Park. Chiwara assimilated information about
the geography, sociology, geology, hydrology, and biology of Highland Park to
bio-mimic the ecological structures of nature (Gundersen & O’Day, 2009). It asks Highland Park residents and
other designers to be conscious of the culture in the area, to correctly mimic
the blueprints of nature and to effectively yield an abundance of food and
energy (Holmgren, 2002). It
aspires to motivate other advocates and community members to take ownership of
the community, the environment, and of the world to unfold the answers to the
defined problems.
By
installing a krater garden in Highland Park and following the permaculture
principles and designs, Chiwara seeks to study the effectiveness of the
application of permaculture in Highland Park. Specifically, in this paper, Chiwara aims to holistically
assess how permaculture is a possible answer to reduce the economic and public
health disparities, as well as social injustices in Highland Park. It seeks to test the intersection of
permaculture and social justice with the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis
1: Participants express an awareness of
social justices issues with the integration of permaculture principles in
Highland Park, Michigan.
Hypothesis
2: Participants express
a positive response to engage in social justice action using permaculture
principles.
METHODS
Participants
This report
collected information from 22 participants (35% female; 65% male) who are
either associated with Highland Park or are interested in permaculture: 17 from
the surveys and 5 from interviews.
The participants varied in age, race/ethnicity, and gender. The age range for participants was from
13- 34 with standard deviation of .51.
Material
Observation
Notes: Hau Dinh took
notes on the demographics and the interactions exchange between the community
members in Highland Park and the environment.
Interview: Hau Dinh interacted with the community
in Highland Park, gauging the community members with questions about
permaculture and social justice.
She wanted to understand and identify some of the concepts that determine
people’s attitudes and behaviors.
She sought to investigate their living habits and their perspectives on
how they view their community.
·
Participants: She interviewed five community members,
whose age range from 7- 32. The
interviewees were diverse in terms of age, race, and gender. Three of the participants were White
(60%) and two were Black (40%); three were females (60%) and two were males
(40%).
·
Procedure.
Participants were
engaged in an informal dialogue with Hau Dinh. To ensure the participants understand that some information
shared during the dialogue may be noted and highlighted in the report, consent
were asked and given in the beginning of the conversation. Hau Dinh reiterated the message to the
participants about the possibility of recording the shared dialogue in this
report.
Surveys: Online and paper versions of the
questionnaire were distributed to the participants. The purpose of this survey was to get an assessment of the
community’s perspectives about sustainability. It aimed to understand how the
integration of permaculture in Highland Park could potentially reduce existing
socio-economic and public health disparities. It measured the people of Highland Park’s past
energy-consumption history, attitudes and interests in sustainable food,
energy, and environment.
·
Participants. There were 17 participants: 7 participants identified
themselves as people of color (41%), 9 identified as white/Caucasian (33%), and
1 of the participants’ racial information selected “Other” for their racial
identification (17%). As for the
gender distribution, 6 of participants identified females (35%) and 11
identified as males (65%).
·
Procedure. The questionnaire consisted of four sections,
with the four questions for the first section, 14 for the second, 7 for the third,
and three open-ended questions for the final part. Questions were
designed to determine how participants expect permaculture to affect the
community.
Measurements.
Awareness
of Social Injustice. Hau Dinh and Chiwara (2013) developed a
scale that measures the awareness of social injustice with 14 items. A sample item is “to learn about
growing food and producing energy.”
Participants responded on a four-point Likert scale with 1 = not at
all important, 2= somehow
important, 3= very
important, and 4 = of
crucial importance. All of the 14 survey questions
demonstrated an acceptable level of internal consistency (Cronbach’s a = .88).
Engagement
in Social Justice Action. Hau Dinh and Chiwara (2013) developed a
scale that measures the engagement in social justice action with 7 items. A sample item is “take a class on how
to reduce energy consumption.”
Participants responded on a four-point Likert scale with 1 = very
unlikely, 2= unlikely, 3= likely, and 4 = very likely.
All of the seven survey questions demonstrated an acceptable level of
internal consistency (Cronbach’s a = .71).
Procedure
Procedure
Over the
span of 10 weeks, Hau Dinh studied the community of Highland Park in the context
of permaculture. Hau Dinh is a summer UROP Community-Based Research
Program intern who is placed at Chiwara Permaculture L3C. She was in charge of collecting,
analyzing, and reporting all data in this report. She has no prior exposure or knowledge on permaculture in
Highland Park, Michigan before the start of the internship.
Knowing that
she is the main researcher for this report, Hau Dinh examined the potential
risks associated with ethnographically gathering and analyzing data to impose a
minimal amount of personal bias onto the processes of data collection and
interpretation. She used mixed
methods consisting of observations, interviews, and surveys to compile a
comprehensive assessment of how community members in Highland Park perceived
the integration of permaculture, and its effects on the reduction of economic, food and
environmental, as well as social disparities in the area.
The
value of this study depends on the information voluntarily given by
participants. All data obtained from participants were
kept as confidential and reported in an aggregate format (by reporting only combined
results and never reporting individual ones).
RESULTS
Observations
and Interviews. Observational notes and informal interviews were combined to draw
out key themes. Overall, the
community in Highland Park positively reacted to the integration of permaculture
designs in the area. However, three
major themes can be drawn from the qualitative data: 1) economic gains, 2) public
health, and 3) social empowerment.
1.
Economic Gains:
Extracting from the installed permaculture garden, permaculture produced
economic gains. Participants
revealed that the communities living in Highland Park do not have many areas for economic
development. Many people are
unemployed (11%) and many depend on social welfare programs to sustain economically. However, in adopting the permaculture
concepts, many expressed hopes to reduce their households’ energy
consumption. Chiwara introduced
methods that reduce the community members’ energy use, such as carpooling, home energy conservation, and installing water-catchment systems. The water catchment systems in
particular, can catch and store rainwater for later usage, such as watering the
gardens of Highland Park residents. Moreover, participants see permaculture as a possible venue
for reducing the water bill and the cost for fresh produce. Growing and harvesting fresh produce
with permaculture design demonstrates to the community that permaculture
minimize the use of city water and can sustain with the will of nature. The garden also produces an abundance
of food that can be shared with the whole community. With less energy consumption and having the abundance and
availability of food, integrating permaculture alleviates the community from
these aspects of economic struggle.
2.
Public Health: More than just economic benefits, permaculture introduced a
healthy and diverse diet to the community, encouraging positive public
health. People consume and
creatively invent new recipes to spice up different dishes and ways to cook the
green vegetables produced in the garden; they do not want to feel guilty or
wasteful by not taking advantage of the available fresh produce. The new creations of recipes invite the
community to dialogue and share tips on how to stay nutritionally balanced and
more health conscious. Along with
being health conscious, people will be more aware of the water quality
distributed to the area. This
consciousness coupled with a strong understanding about the importance of water
quality will prevent them from contracting adverse health risks such as
cardiovascular diseases and respiratory problems.
3.
Social Justice: Lastly, the participants stated that permaculture assists them in
feeling socially empowered in their community. The presence of the permaculture garden welcomes the sharing
of narratives, building of trust, and teamwork. The participants expressed that it is an open and safe space for people to gather together, to dialogue and reflect on their sets of
values. One participant in
particular shared that she was thankful to address the misconception about
farming and not having a well-kept lawn as being poor to another community
member. She felt proud that she
can grow her own food and was glad for the opportunity to correct the flawed misconception
of home food production.
Permaculture did not introduce a new regenerative design for the city of
Highland Park alone, but it brought along hope, optimism, and knowledge of ways
to advocate for social justice in the area.
Surveys.
Independent
t-tests were used to analyze the quantitative data. The results showed that the mean for all of the participants’
awareness of social injustice is 3.56 with SD = .45. It also showed that a not statistically
significant mean difference for awareness of social injustice in Highland park
for females (M = 3.55, SD = .39) and males (M = 3.57, SD = .50), t(15)=-.10, p =.92. As for the
engagement in social justice action, the results showed a mean of 3.32, SD = .53. It also showed a not statistically
significant mean difference for engagement in social justice action Highland
park for females (M = 3.38, SD = .40) and males (M = 3.29, SD = .60), t(15)=.35, p =.73.
DISCUSSIONS
Holistically, the results support both hypotheses (1 and 2). This suggests that regardless of the
gender identity, the participants are consciousness of the importance to
challenge the social injustice in Highland Park and have a positive perspective
about using the permaculture framework as a regenerative strategy to engage in social
justice action. This implies that
permaculture is a possible solution to transform Highland Park into a
regenerative place. It also
suggests that permaculture can be used as a tool to connect and build trust in
the community to install economic, public health, and social justice in
Highland Park.
Limitations
Because
all of the data were collected and analyzed by one researcher, there is a risk
of research bias. Research bias is
the subjective tendency of the researcher to shape the results; however,
cautions with the methodic process of collecting data were taking into account
prior to the data collection to minimize the exposure to bias. Participation bias is also a threat to
the validity of this report. Most
of the participants in this report were connected to Chiwara or have a basic
understanding of what permaculture is; their participation in this report is
not random. Moreover, due to the
limitations of time and resources, a small and not statistically valid sample
size of data were collected for this report. However, even with these risks, the data collected in this
report still illustrates the scope of how permaculture can affect people’s
perceived notion of economy, public health and social justice in Highland
Park. The holistic assessment on
the impacts of permaculture and the intersection of social justice in Highland
Park is useful for the development of future designs in the area, as well as
other possible integrations of permaculture design in other aspects of life.
Recommendations
Permaculture
contributes to the growing resilience in Highland Park by creating and
maintaining more webs of relationships between people and the earth. It has also been a powerful tool in
countries such as: Indonesia, Vietnam, China, India, Mali, and Pakistan (De
Schutter, 2010; Aidstar-One, 2012).
However, to further optimize the benefits of embedding permaculture
designs and development into our daily lives, we need to integrate it into our
education systems, as “education is the way out of unanticipated consciousness
and “poverty” of any type” (Jungck, 1985; Jones, 2009). Having permaculture as the core
concepts in the education curriculum will nurture the skills and knowledge that
prepare students to face realistic challenges such as decreasing supplies of
natural resources, global warming, and unequal distribution of social power
(Jungck, 1985; Gundersen & O’Day, 2009). Students will have a comprehensive understanding and be
equipped with tools to utilitze energy and resources in
a sustainable manner. Most
importantly, exposure to permaculture will heightens students’ awareness of the interconnectedness of life. Their understanding of these interdisciplinary lessons will allow them restructure communities to make our world truly
regenerative. Investing in
sustainable agriculture is not enough, but investing in knowledge of
permaculture will ensure the protection of resources and access to food,
affirming that food is in abundance, accessible, and adequate (De Schutter, 2010).
Permaculture
can also be integrated into dialogues.
As the community members and advocates sustain the environment and enhance their community, they can be enriched through dialogue, articulating their
ideas to resolve the present problems.
Through discussion, individuals can be more conscious of the natural world,
allowing them to see the patterns of human and nature’s evolution and
interactions (Mang & Reed, 2012).
People can form a collective identity to work towards a vision of connecting
the bridges and encouraging collaborations between diverse groups of people
(Mang & Reed, 2012).
Furthermore, it can help to break down stigmas associated with
self-sustaining food production, such as the notion that producing one’s own food is only for
poor people (Aidstar-One, 2012).
Having an honest narrative will fortify people’s confidence and demands
as they advocate for a more regenerative world using the permaculture
principles.
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