Earth Day: Save the planet, save ourselves

Many people feel we need to save the earth. I don't think that's the case. The earth will be fine no matter what we do to it. We need to save ourselves. ”

Andre the Farmer

Hey guys, Andre the Farmer here, and I hope we all had a wonderful Earth Day. In case you missed it, as I did for about 40 years, it was April 22nd. 

I celebrated Earth Day at the Central Florida Earth Day Festival at Lake Eola in Orlando (on Saturday, April 23rd). It was an amazing event. Although no one told me it was vegan. But that's another story. 

Today I want to focus on Earth Day and what it means, and why we need it.  

Earth Day was started in 1970 in response to the fact that, at the time, we had no Environmental Protection Agency, no Clean Air Act, and no Clean Water Act. It has grown in popularity over time to be what it is today. Many people feel we need to save the earth. I don't think that's the case. The earth will be fine no matter what we do to it. 

We need to save ourselves. 

If we destroy the environment, the earth will recover. It's got time on its side. But if we make it inhabitable for ourselves, then that's some endgame stuff, minus the Thanos. 

So what do we do?

Permaculture. Yep, Permaculture, it's in the name. Permanent culture. We want to create a permanent way to live on this planet. Therefore, we need a way of living or a permanently sustainable culture. We can do that in three ways: earth care, people care, and fair share.  But I'm going to focus on earth care.

Earth Care

We all know the basic things we can do for earth care, like reducing fossil fuel usage, recycling, and sustainably growing your own food.

We can start by being aware and making small choices in what we buy, what we eat, and what we wear. We can look for earth-friendly alternatives and stack functions. Stacking functions is a permaculture principle. It's a fancy way of saying use something for more than one purpose. 

We can find opportunities to stack functions in our daily lives and make micro changes to our behavior that can add up to macro changes for the planet. For example, if you want a shade tree, plant one that also gives you fruit and perhaps gives your house shade in the summer and a windbreak in the winter. Walk short distances instead of driving, so you save gas and improve your health at the same time. 

We can eat locally sourced foods or foods that we have grown or foraged ourselves. Yes, I said foraged. Central Florida is a foragers paradise, with dozens of edible plants and fruits that grow wild. From wild grapes, yams, and mulberries to wild greens, mushrooms, and veggies. Once you do a little research, foraging can be fun and economically beneficial. 

Growing food at home can be on any scale, from putting used-up green onion roots in a glass of water to be regrown, to planting rows of corn. It all counts. I call it the permaculture life. So you have to decide if you want to "be about that life." 

I decided to start a company that inspires people to "be about that life… permaculture life." We want to bring awareness to permaculture as the solution to many of the world's problems. We have created a brand to represent those in the permaculture space and those aspiring to learn more. At permaculturelife.com you can learn more about permaculture and see it in action. You can also get sustainably-sourced apparel made from sustainable materials like bamboo, hemp, and recycled plastic. 

Permaculture life is for those who want to save - not the earth from us - but the earth for us.

So…are you about that life?

Interested in meeting Andre the Farmer and learning more about Permaculture Life? Visit permaculturelife.com, follow Andre the Farmer on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. [You can also meet him at his "day job", where he's known as Dr. Andre Baptiste, your local orthodontist!]