What would an economic system look like that synthesized some of the ideas above? The following may sound radical, and it is, compared to how we do things now. But it isn’t, when compared to economic systems used throughout history, of which there have been many.
At this time in history, with the unbelievable levels of access we have to recorded knowledge, we have a better opportunity than most to come up with an intelligent design for economic systems.
This latest iteration, by statistic, has many positives but also leaves a lot to be desired when you look at all of the outcomes, from latchkey kids to lead in our water to rising numbers of homeless to deep divisions between us.
There are many reasons for this besides economic ones. But our economic system has omitted some important elements per the permaculture principles, and we can very directly see the results.
So, what if we could design our own ideal economic system from scratch? What would that look like? It’s a fun exercise to work that through yourself.
Some of the basic points I came up with are:
It would be designed around the three ethics of permaculture.
It would reward things that have actual value, like ecosystem services, and human potential, and would not reward those actions that harmed ecosystems and human potential.
The value of ecosystems and the services they provide to both us and the earth would be a core part of determining economic value.
You couldn’t destroy or degrade an ecosystem without paying for the damages. If the earth was healthy and intact and able to recover quickly, these damages might be negligible. The worse shape the earth is in, the greater the damages for committing further harm.
Some indigenous tribes appointed medicine men or wisdom keepers who would steward key parts of ecosystems, like the tops of mountains or springs. We pay people more for destroying ecosystems than for stewarding and protecting them. This wouldn’t happen in a resource based version. Cutting down an old growth forest would cost so much it wouldn’t be profitable to do so.
When we don’t value such resources economically and let anybody take them (even on public lands in some cases), that is what happens. There is a constant tension to get access to these “free” resources to profit from them.
A resource based economy would approach an old growth forest from the viewpoint of rewarding those who stewarded it successfully, and would honor and value the people who did that - while it would not honor or value actions of trashing out forests, rivers, oceans, soil, biodiversity, and the air.
It would value essential services that people do, like child raising and caring for the elderly or sick, cleaning up the community, and stewarding water supplies or keeping a forest healthy.
People performing valuable services, like raising children, would be economically supported. Again, this was routinely done in tribes. You wouldn’t think of not feeding a mother caring for her children.
But this economy doesn’t value the mother or the children, the value of good parents is not recognized or rewarded by our economic system.
Money is just a symbol representing real value, which lies within us and within the planet that we live on. By focusing on the things money represents, instead of money, we are more conscious of what value those things actually have.
When we separate money away from real value, and value it separately from the things it represents, we get the complex mess that is our modern economic system. We get subprime mortgage debacles, homeless people when there is plenty of housing, polluted water supplies, degraded soils, neighbors that don’t know each other and die alone, latchkey kids that join gangs because they have no family, etc.
Money has become the goal rather than simply a trading tool created for convenience to represent real value.
Many of us have completely lost sight of the value of human resources and of the natural world. For instance, most people have no idea where their water comes from or how to keep it viable, clean and healthy. Many people have little idea where their food comes from either or how it gets there.
Both things are dependent on healthy ecosystems, but do we know how healthy those systems that provide those things are? In a resource based economy, we would because it would be reflected in the price of things.
When we ignore those things, it's so easy to lose sight of real value, real quality of life, and just become part of the machine that makes money (which mainly goes to the 1%). And that machine is destroying the planet, unfortunately. So it isn't really workable, is it?
We invented the subject of economics - it's entirely within our control and power to reinvent it if what we're doing doesn't make sense. Don't ever believe that the "system" is the "only" way it can be. Any one of us can dream up our own idea of how an economic system should work. It's an excellent exercise! And you have some tools now to do that in your own life and in your community.
The most exciting thing to me about the permaculture approach to economics is that we don’t have to wait for the entire system to change before we ourselves can experience better situations. There is enough wiggle room in the current system that many people are creating alternative lifestyles by using these tools, and are thriving.
Even more importantly, we can create a parallel system to the existing one that is more resilient and a number of people are doing that. We’ll talk more about that in the next section.
