My Agenda

     I have occasionally been accused of “having an agenda”—a phrase which has acquired bad connotations in recent years, since people often equate “agenda” with “hidden agenda”—that is, some nefarious or conspiratorial plan to gain money, power, or influence over others—or worse, to deceive, exploit, or harm them for one’s own benefit.  To such charges, I plead innocent. 

But if we take “agenda” in the original sense of the word, it is actually a neuter plural of the Latin word “Agendum,” which is a gerundive meaning “things to do” or “things worth doing.”  It derives from the Latin verb “ago, agere” meaning simply “to do”  So properly understood, an agenda is a list of things to be done.

And I have something to be done, to which I have devoted my life for as long as I remember. When I was a kid, it took the simple form of wanting to save animals from harm. But as I grew into adulthood, my agenda became more complex, and more philosophically elaborate. Prior to Earth Day 1970, I was a passionate “conservationist.”  After that watershed date, I became a passionate “environmentalist.”  And then, a decade later, after I first encountered Dr. James Lovelock’s visionary and scientifically rigorous “Gaia” hypothesis, I became a passionate Gaian, and have remained so ever since.  I define a Gaian as one whose first allegiance is to the living Earth, and who fully understands what most people have long forgotten: that humanity is a part of, and not apart from, “nature” (or Gaia), and that “nature” (or Gaia) is a complex adaptive system of which we humans are a part, rather than a “resource” with no value at all until it is transformed into commodities.

  In the 1990s, I encountered the luminous Buddhist teachings of the eminent Vietnamese Buddhist monk and teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, who led me to embrace Buddhism. As a practicing Buddhist, I am committed to the Bodhisattva Vow:  to take care of everyone and everything, and to abandon no one and nothing—and to resist, as best I can, any impulse to pursue my own ego-interests at the expense of others.

So as a Gaian Buddhist (which is the most accurate label I have yet adopted), I came upon the most recent watershed event in shaping and clarifying my life agenda, right into old age: my discovery—and wholehearted embrace--of Permaculture in 2015 or thereabouts.  I had heard of Permaculture many times before, but had assumed it was not really for me because the writings of Bill Mollison seemed to be intended for a target audience of practical-minded small-scale agrarians, or what we used to call “back-to-the-land” types. And as an urban college professor with no practical skills whatsoever, I saw little personal use for this line of inquiry. Philosophy was my “thing.”

But then I happened upon a YouTube clip featuring Geoff Lawton, a prominent Australian Permaculture teacher (and the student of Bill Mollison), which was entitled “Greening the Desert.” It was about a project he led on a 10-acre plot he had procured in the parched semi-arid deserts of Jordan. And with contagious enthusiasm, Lawton showed exactly how he and his crew of volunteers had transformed their dry, hard, empty desert plot into a rich and bountiful garden, which captured, retained, and slowly distributed the small amount of annual rainfall so that the garden was largely self-sustaining. Suffice to say I was blown away by this!  So I dove into Permaculture, reading everything I could get my hands on, and my enthusiasm just kept growing.  

Once I retired and my wife and I moved to Oregon in 2017, I first signed up for training with the Marion County Master Gardeners (since a thorough basic knowledge of gardening is a prerequisite to the study of Permaculture), and then, in fall of 2018, I signed on for an online Permaculture Design Certification course at Oregon State University, with the incredibly gifted Andrew Millison as the instructor—one of the best Permaculture teachers on the planet today, with a brilliant gift for succinct and beautifully crafted instructional videoclips on YouTube.  I quickly came to realize that Gaian theory is useless—just an intellectual exercise—without Gaian praxis, and Permaculture is the essential Gaian praxis: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share.

Hence my life agenda: From now on, until I’m dead, composted, and pushing up the daisies, I will devote my life to Gaianity, which I broadly define as the integration of Dharma practice, Gaian consciousness, and the practice and propagation of Permaculture. And my most recent watershed moment was only a month and a half ago, when I hatched a new idea that struck me immediately as the ideal vehicle for propagating Permaculture (and thereby, Gaian consciousness)  as widely and quickly as possible: my Garden Guild initiative.

A Garden Guild is a voluntary association of contiguous neighbors, who live within walking distance of one another, to collaborate in growing and sharing vegetables, herbs, fruit trees, shrubs, and flowers, and also in sharing ideas, skills, and tools for growing these more efficiently and responsibly. And the purpose of Garden Guilds, as expressed in the slogan, is to “grow gardens, grow community, and grow awareness,” each leading to the other and reciprocally reinforcing each other. And so, in this sense, I would define Garden Guilds as the seeds of a Gaian future, which now may be our only alternative, both individually and collectively, to no future at all.

Hence my specific agenda for 2022 is as follows: to use the  32 (sometimes 33) Gaian holidays as times of convergence, conviviality, and conversation for fellow Gaians (and anyone can be a fellow Gaian, as long as you breathe air, drink water, eat food, and care about your children’s future). What are these holidays?  The Eight Solar Holidays (solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days) and the 24 (sometimes 25) Lunar holidays (new and full moon dates, with a blue moon (twice a month) on rare occasions).

How so?

1.      On or near each of the eight Solar holidays, when possible, we can arrange to meet in person (with masks, if necessary) for a “Gaia Walk” at some convenient local park or natural area.  Here we will practice formal walking meditation in the first part of the walk (going out) and an ordinary, sociable walk on the second (coming back). Our purpose, in keeping with the first of the Twelve Permaculture Principles, is to "observe and interact."

2.      On New Moon days, those interested can meet (on Zoom or in person if possible) for a Dharma Gaia Circle, an ecumenical Sangha (meaning “gathering” or “meditation group”) based on study and practice of the universal Dharma (as manifested in any or all wisdom traditions) as a principle, a precept, and a practice.

3.      On Full Moon days, members of the Garden Guild Network (and anyone else interested) can meet (on Zoom or in person if possible) to read, watch, and discuss instructional video presentations or book chapters on Permaculture, in order to strengthen our gardening skills and stay in touch with each other.

The purpose of these meetings?  You guessed it: to grow gardens, grow community, and to grow awareness. And to encourage one another to continue learning, teaching, healing, and creating Gaia.  So be it.