I get asked a lot what does timebanking have to do with permaculture…or resiliency in general. In this article, originally published on Sociocracy for All’s website, I attempt to answer that question.
I majored in Economics at the University of Michigan back in the 1980’s and at that time struggled to understand or even imagine a model that could bridge the divide between the mainstream capitalism so prevalent in that era of Reaganomics with the need to implement economic policies that would be more gentle on our natural resources. I studied Economics of Sustainable Forestry and Fishing as well as the Economics of Population and Superfund Cleanup sites.
Upon graduating in 1988 I struggled to find employment in any capacity that utilized the knowledge I learned as an undergraduate and thus began a long and mostly successful career in sales and marketing. Around 2016, approaching the age of 50, I yearned to delve back into finding solutions for the issues I had been passionate about as a younger adult. I had begun to use my marketing power to host an environmental podcast and to host monthly meetups for local environmentalists. Though people were happy to gain knowledge and limited opportunity for networking and connection monthly, I sensed a greater need beneath… They also wanted more – more connection, more hands on learning “how” to do the things we talked about in meetings, more opportunities to feel a part of something.
I learned about timebanking and decided to create one where I live in Northwest Indiana. One of the first organizational members to join was a fledgling group called Northwest Indiana Permaculture Meetup that my friend Christine Maloney England had started. She had recently earned her Permaculture Design Certification and was eager to introduce others to permaculture basics. I had taken an online PDC that frankly did not go deep enough so I was eager to support her efforts to spread permaculture via the timebank. Her first event was packed to capacity and her presentation was excellent! One of my favorite concepts she shared was the 8 Forms of Capital.
Most of the other material she covered I was familiar with through my own PDC but the 8 Forms of Capital were new to me. I felt like I had found the Rosetta Stone for understanding how to value energy flowing through my life as well as in the economy at large. As an undergraduate Economics major I had always preferred Micro Economics to Macro. I considered how the timebank (and my own) support of Christine’s efforts perfectly demonstrated many of the types of capital.
- Intellectual Capital – As our teacher for the evening, Christine was sharing her newfound knowledge of permaculture with our community, something very new that no one else was talking about or teaching yet.
- Material Capital – Christine needed a projector and a screen to do her presentation, both of which I owned and agreed to lend to her for timebank credit.
- Experiential Capital – Christine had never hosted a presentation before or done any event marketing. One timebank member with event management and graphic design experience designed a poster for her and shared on social media. Another husband and wife team with video production experience recorded the event for her.
- Spiritual Capital – I know I wasn’t the only one who felt truth shivers when I heard Christine’s presentation. This felt like my church and I was there for her to preach!
- Cultural Capital – I am a fan of carpooling but I don’t always remember to do it. My elderly neighbor mentioned wanting to go to the event and I decided I would at least make the effort to create a culture of carpooling whenever I went to an event like this one. It felt better arriving together and built in the added benefit of having someone to talk about what we learned on the way home.
- Natural (Living) Capital – Christine showed images of her home permaculture garden and later made the offer for me to visit her and share some plants. I have wild ginger, many strawberry plants and an elderberry bush that all came from Christine’s generous sharing of her natural capital.
- Social Capital – I felt called to learn more about social permaculture even more so than land-based permaculture. Christine introduced me to one of her teachers, Rhonda Baird, who in turn pointed me to several good resources for immediate learning, including Looby Macnamara’s People and Permaculture book and an upcoming new workshop Looby was leading with Starhawk and Jon Young in Oakland, California in early 2018.
In early 2020 Christine Maloney and I decided to do an online workshop together called “Timebanking: Social Permaculture in Action.” We had an engaged group and the material was well received and then…just a few weeks later the whole world went on lockdown due to covid. Our mutual aid networks became more important than ever but our ability to support everyone, especially from a distance, became a challenge. It was during this time that I pursued learning about sociocracy.
Being able to organize people and run meetings efficiently and effectively became very important skills. Both the timebank and the meetup went on temporary hiatus. Fast forward to 2022: I reconnected with Rhonda Baird and joined the Sociocracy for All Permaculture Circle, which she led. After some months of working with her, I asked what it would take for her to come to my area to lead a PDC. She would need an assistant teacher and my friend Christine Maloney was interested and available! Now, we just needed to create a workable budget with enough financial support to pull it off…
- Financial Capital – Last weekend we completed Weekend #5 (of 6) in the PDC I am enrolled in, taught by Rhonda as the Lead Teacher with Christine as her apprentice. On Saturday Christine introduced our class to the 8 Forms of Capital. We have come full circle!
We passed around thank you notes to send to the organizations and small businesses that offered their financial support to our effort, a first in Rhonda’s experience. We garnered enough additional revenue to run the course through sliding scale tuition and a donated meeting room space. Other costs were kept low by community and timebank members lending their expertise and even one timebanker’s home as lodging for Rhonda. In fact, we even generated a surplus, which our organizing team decided together how to utilize. Some of the surplus will go to support the timebank and the Meetup.com software.
I feel sorry for people who only speak Cash, for it will introduce artificial barriers for why an important thing “can’t” be done when all it really takes is for a community to be willing to map and share its assets. I couldn’t be more grateful or more proud of what we were able to accomplish together. I feel truly rich.