We explore the concepts of collective power, mutual aid, and cultural healing for personal and planetary wellness in this video podcast episode with my original teacher and mentor, Zev Friedman! Zev was a permaculture educator & consultant for 12 years before stepping into his current role of running Cooperate WNC, a mutual aid network & cooperative economics community in Western North Carolina. We unpack why a lot of permaculture and ecovillage undertakings fail, and how collective power helps navigate through that. Patterns of mutual aid and cooperativism, historical and cultural examples of people working together in this way, and where to start in your own life to overcome the isolation of individualism are all topics we dive into in this hour together! Zev is brilliant, so knowledgeable, and so fun to talk to. I hope this episode leaves you feeling uplifted and empowered!
Resources:
Cooperate WNC - join their mailing list, become a member, and join their patreon! Zev also hosts Wednesday night Cooperatude calls.
Kudzu Culture
Earthaven Ecovillage
Zev's email: zev@cooperatewnc.org
Show Notes:
- Jennings' initial learning via Zev of how humans can be a positive force on the planet - and how Zev has expanded that beyond individual permaculture projects. Permaculture is cool, but a lot of how we’re implementing it is permeated by an individualist mentality - working in isolation doesn’t create the support structures for people to do this meaningfully in their lives.
- Patterns of mutual aid and cooperativism - history of how humans have organized ourselves to get things done and care for each other more effectively than we have now. Mostly immigrant and low income communities do it now, and those with money live in illusion that's all we need - but mental health issues and suicide rates point to a different answer.
- People start cooperating because of present, concrete needs - examples are: 1. Spanish speaking immigrant communities in WNC forming housing cooperatives with LLCs as a way to own properties, forming a translation interpretation cooperative, informal childcare cooperative & school, a community center and community garden and 2. Mixteca region in Oaxaca Mexico. (book about them: “Milpa: Seed to Salsa” ) There are 12 villages within a watershed area with a multi-thousand year history of mutual aid and cooperative culture. They start 700,000 trees a year to sequester carbon, grow building materials and materials for charcoal through pooling money and labor to create greenhouses and plant trees out.
- In other cultures, like spanish speaking cultures, the imagination is there for how to participate in mutual aid due to being born into cultures where it is very much alive due to ancient cultural patterns and need - in an isolated, individualist society where we are told everything is up to us from birth, the imagination for cooperation isn’t there, and so it has to be grown. (examples are via journaling on well-framed guided questions to see how people may already be cooperating in their lives without recognizing it, gatherings, and learning experiences)
- Looking for leverage points in our society - where can we take action and get people risking more trust at a deeper level? One answer is starting community savings pools. A savings pool is 15-20 people near each other with shared interests who create a shared savings account. People from group can then get 0% interest loan from group for, for example, pieces of equipment for starting a new farm business.
- Recommended exercise: Relationship mapping!
- Archetypal scales of Cooperation: Crew, Pod, Hub, Network
- And so much more!
