If we look at ‘how the world works’ right now, it’s clear that things aren’t actually working. Our economic systems are benefiting fewer and fewer people, our education systems are focused on making ‘good workers’ more than good, informed, and critical-thinking citizens, our community organizations are emptying out even in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, and, most importantly, we find ourselves on the brink of an unmitigated climate disaster of our own making. More and more, we need to find solutions that are sustainable, adaptable, and resilient.
To me all of these things are as much about spirituality as they are about politics and economics. But our faith traditions have struggles as much as any other institutions at facing up to these challenges.
Yet while all of this might lead one to despair, there is one bright light that has emerged over the last half-century that proposes an alternative: permaculture. Initially a small-scale ecological and agricultural discipline that sought to work with the natural world and its systems, since it was first developed its principles have been successfully applied to realms as diverse as economics, personal development, agriculture, and design. As I’ve read more and more about it over the past few years, the more resonance I have seen between its approach and the world of spirituality, both individual and collective. And so in the Fall of 2023 I intentionally explored how permaculture principles might be applied to Christian life and practice.
A Faith that Lasts: Introduction (note: significant overlap of content with this page)
Matthew Root 