If not now, then when, if not us then who?
The Permanent Culture Now Project is an outlet for the knowledge we have built up from decades of thinking about ways to address the major problems facing ourselves and future generations. We have now gotten to the point where we believe that there needs to be a move towards a Permanent Culture. When we talk of a Permanent Culture we do not mean a static culture, in fact we believe that future culture will be dynamic and evolving, but in order to facilitate this there has to be a move away from a unsustainable culture based on endless towards a culture that is permanent in the sense that it is sustainable, or as Holmgren puts it a culture that is “Beyond Sustainability”.
The website itself is based on the principles and ethics of permaculture.
It seeks to preserve knowledge that is shown to work and is useful.
It looks at ways to enhance this knowledge and build on existing ideas.
It introduces new ideas and knowledge.
Our aim is to aid a pragmatic and positive social, economic and political transition to a permanent culture through sharing information, knowledge and also making crucial links between different areas of thought. Knowledge and education are the key to a fair and sustainable future. People require an holistic overview of society in order to achieve a transition and this is why Permanent Culture Now is providing information on a wide range of subjects. Ideas and concepts do not exist in a vacuum which is why we also look at theoretical, historical and cultural issues as a means of analysing the issues and solutions. For example you cannot consider food production for example without considering politics, economics and labour issues. We believe that the topics covered on the site are interrelated and complement each other and in truth, these are also the areas that excite us and give us hope.
Permaculture highlights a way to provide for our needs in a manner that moves beyond sustainability, as well as providing food for thought on a range of other issues. The Commons provides a framework for reimagining a society based on need and not greed and has recently been at the forefront of many new social movements. DiY and Alternative Culture has had a massive impact on our lives in a really positive way and needs to be highlighted because it is the reality of organisation and action that drives change. Cooperatives show people that there are different ways of organising that are positive and beneficial for society. History is really important and we can learn so much from the past in particular the history of the common people and their struggles. Transition deserves an area of its own as it the big issue that needs addressing, how do we move towards a permanent culture that benefits all without leaving people behind. Theory covers economic, political, social theory and philosophy and we aim to highlight the theories and ideas that have shaped our thoughts and actions. It also shows us how society operates and most importantly highlights our role within it as worker and consumer, as well as providing tools to analyse our situations. That said theory is a bad master and should not lead us to be dogmatic, it should be used as a tool and not a leader. Educational approaches are also key, as we believe that education should not be the preserve of the wealthy and privileged and we hope to educate people to different forms of learning and educational practice.
We hope that this approach we can help people to understand the difficulties we are going to face and offer solutions to these problems and also teach us
We hope to pass on the knowledge that we have gained over the years through personal experience, education and from other people. We are into pragmatic solutions and believe that all ideas, appropriate technology and practices should be considered. All topics will be covered from a variety of perspectives using our own information, short films and content along with some of the best content on the web. We will also seek the help of our friends and comrades in producing interesting and thought provoking content and hope that you will also contribute articles and ideas to the site. We are also producing a feature length film around some of these issues, but more on that in the future.
We hope that Permanent Culture Now will be an abundant garden of knowledge for you to harvest ideas and practices to promote new ways of living. It will attempt to root out the causes of the current problems we face, so we can fully understand and address the issues that affect our generation and future generations. We don’t believe that this transition is necessarily going to be easy, but it will be essential if we are going to be in a world worth living.
We hope that you will join us in our journey towards making sense of the current world in order to achieve a Permanent Culture Now.
Thanks for reading,
Mike and Steve