Arthur M.

Wellenstein

Professor Bragg

Permaculture

April 4, 2025

Prefiguring Land

The more one thinks about a word, the less it makes sense. In The Politics of

Permaculture, Terry Leahy dives head into the weeds to describe how the concept has evolved

since its genesis, how it can be understood as and be compared with other environmental social

movements, as well as how participants in the movement vary and relate in their definitions of

the term. In its infancy, Permaculture was defined as a method of sustainable agriculture rooted

in the use of perennials. In each preceding canonical text, the fundamental ethics and design

principles absorbed more realms of social organization until it became hard to distinguish itself

from other environmental social movements. Leahy describes the attributes of Permaculture that

make it a social movement as opposed to a discourse or cult, with which it shares some

characteristics. The multitude of networked, autonomous organizations, structured with local

authority with little to no defined barrier for participation other than “being actively and

personally involved” defines Permaculture as a social movement; in particular, as Leahy puts it,

as a networked egalitarian assemblage which makes it more resilient as an emergent movement

(49).

Given its decentralization, participants will define Permaculture in numerous ways

mostly lying along the spectrum existing in the canon’s evolving definition. Additionally,

participants will engage in Permaculture diversely along this spectrum while reacting to the
pressures of the market as well. The primary cohesive element within this diversity being the

localization and sustainable design of existing economies, Permaculture is an example of a

prefigurative, antipolitical environmental social movement that exists and will often participate

in some hybrid form of the market economy.

Many social scientists share a vision of a great transformation from modern capitalism

into social organizations that foster “equality, democracy, community and sustainability” in

which the seed is not a grand revolution but instead a realization and expansion of the “plethora

of economic activities that do not take the form of…capitalist enterprise” (132). Environmental

social movements that embody this thinking are prefiguring flows of goods existing in modern

capitalism today for what can exist after its demise. Examples of these institutions are worker

coops, volunteer organizations or non-profit organizations. These movements generally do not

consider the market economy as incompatible with a sustainable and just post-capitalist society.

Instead, they envision the alternatives expanding their current position.

As opposed to many social movements that contest the existing political and social

structure and seek transformations such as policy change, prefigurative environmental social

movements seek to replace what they critique with organizations that work in the here and now

and resemble their visions for justice and sustainability. This strategy exploits “the ‘affordances’

of the capitalist economy” vis a vis “the freedom of choice in consumption… to choose

employment and set up a small business” (88, 89). When the surmounting costs of modern

capitalism leads to the collapse of their favored institutions, these prefigured organizations will

be primed to meet people’s needs, fulfill their own grounding principles, and facilitate the social

structure preceding capitalism. Permaculture is an example of a prefigurative environmental

vision for a post-capitalist social structure being its complete absence of an interventionist state.

The fluidity of Permaculture’s definition makes it harder to concretely describe its nature

as a prefigurative environmental social movement. Nonetheless, the founders describe the

movement as principally anti-political. Bill Mollison, a founder, describes his disenchantment

from social movements oriented towards the “reform of the state” and critiques them for

“waiting forever for the revolution to come” (87, 88). Instead, he joyfully suggests that all we

need is “sun, plants and [to] keep your eye on the soil” (87). Despite this statement’s abhorrent

disregard for the huge inequalities in access to this soil, it displays Permaculture’s prefigurative

characteristics quite well. Its primary focus is on the stewardship of land and how humans meet

their needs through said stewardship. Human spaces can be designed with the movement’s

primary principles: earth care, people care, fair share, prioritizing each principle in that particular

order. With these priorities, human spaces look a lot different. Regular goods are produced and

consumed locally, energy consumption has descended to more reasonable levels, and economic

growth is not necessary.

Leahy describes a paradox in Permaculture’s definition in which people will often mean

all of environmentalism when saying Permaculture. It’s important to realize that Permaculture

revolves primarily around agriculture and most generally around land design. Permaculture

organizations that Leahy describes range from sustainable farmland to agricultural coops in

Zimbabwe, or even NGOs focused on land management. All of these organizations exist within

the modern capitalist economic and political structure and will often participate in it. They

exemplify how Permaculture is prefigurative and display the roadblocks that Mollison failed to

mention. Farmland is a privilege and costs money. In Leahy’s example they got access through a
kin connection, and sold the produce on the market as organic and local goods. The agricultural

coop is largely dependent on the charity of westerners but has provided a greatly beneficial and

noncontroversial solution to food insecurity in Zimbabwe. Likewise, the NGO is contingent on

the interests of the capitalist donors but has renourished large swaths of land in Indonesia. These

organizations are examples of the hybridization of Permaculture’s ideals and the opportunities

that exist presently to realize them. They are creating systems of food exchange that can exist

today, to prefigure the agricultural organization that can exist for our lineage.

Growing up in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, I am surrounded by shortly chopped Kentucky

bluegrass in front of every home, often sharing the lawn with some annual flowers, a bush, and,

without doubt, a city tree to round it off. Last summer, I worked at the Public Works Department,

treating these trees with an insecticide to protect them from Emerald Ash Borer, as well as

watering the annual beds, mulching, and, of course, mowing the vast swaths of Kentucky

bluegrass dominating medians and parks alike. My boss decides to treat trees or cut them down

based off of the monetary value they give the city, a relation between the property value they

represent the residence and the labor cost it will take to chop them down as they grow. I find this

relationship obnoxious and would like to practice a more respectful language when considering

the living world with which I share my neighborhood. Language is meant in the broadest sense

and may need to be scrapped as it expands to my active interactions with my community.

This summer I will be planting an Aronia guild in my backyard and a yet undecided

guild next to my aunt’s patio. Built from numerous gifts from my kin network, I am privileged to

have this opportunity. I plan on documenting this project and working to develop a more animist

relationship with the plants. Presently, my work with Zone 00 is improving my ability to be more

mindful and observant of the plants, hopefully to learn a thing or two. In order to establish these
guilds, anything I cannot acquire through my community economy must be bought on the

market, hopefully through local vendors. Additionally, I would like to talk with my bosses at the

parks department to consider selecting plants in the numerous perennial and annual beds strewn

about around human needs and not just aesthetics to understand the administrative red tape that

exists outside of Kenyon. Transforming the land I have legal access to so long as my parents and

aunts allow it would be fantastic, fulfilling and nourishing, but I would like to try my hand at

finding the space that my city has to transform our land to meet our needs. Of course, this

prefigured park will be contingent on the financial interests of politicians and citizens alike.

Leahy describes how many people critique Permaculture’s anti-political approach to

environmental justice. Access to participation is proportional to one’s access to land and

disposable income, which makes it far harder for lesser advantaged people around the world to

participate. Many participants will feel satisfied with transforming their own property into a

symbiotic network of fulfilling exchange and be disinterested in helping those who can’t do the

same. With that being said, there is space for Permaculture’s anti-political tactics to participate in

building a more just and a more sustainable world. Instead of fighting for huge reform to force

institutions that are not interested in prioritizing these ideals to conform, Permaculture is an

example of an environmental social movement that approaches this problem by capitalizing on

the freedom of the market and prefiguring organizations that can succeed now and flourish when

the oil runs out, or epidemics cause global supply chains to collapse. Permaculture in particular

focuses on agriculture and land design in general. Despite its evolving definition, this

understanding of the term grounds it as an extremely important part of the milieu of

environmental social movements. Having learned about Permaculture for the past semester, I am
excited to have the opportunity to explore the application of its principles and hopefully

prefigure my household for what’s to come.