For the Wild podcast

David Holmgren on a Quiet Boycott

At the end of 2020, David recorded this interview with Ayana, which has just gone live.

As so-called powerful “industrial civilizations” continue to decline into dysfunction, unable to care for the vast majority, the call to localize, reinvest in household economies, and strengthen our capacity for self-reliance is becoming emphatic. Amongst failing institutions and the remnants of exploitative wealth, this week’s guest, David Holmgren, encourages us to lean into crisis as a temporary portal that allows us to focus on the potential of all that lies around us. In conversation David explores creative reuse, salvage economies, ethical relationships, permaculture, and the intricacies of mass movements that are trying to override a system that is deeply committed to a machination of consumerism and debt.

Lauded as one of the co-originators of permaculture, we begin our conversation looking at how permaculture differentiates itself from organic gardening and agroforestry, while discussing the more salient critiques of permaculture in terms of appropriation, class, and privilege. David offers honest reflections on the origins of permaculture and its accessibility, while also defining the importance of a quiet boycott and how class privilege factors into our efforts to reduce degrees of dependency.

You can listen to the podcast in its entirety here