What an amazing workshop with Ben Habib

On Saturday May 7, BPG hosted Dr Ben Habib Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations (La Trobe University) for a fascinating workshop titled “Community resilience building” Part of the focus of the workshop was “sifting for gems in the rubble of COVID” so that we could learn from the previous two years as we adapt to the climate crisis.

Ben challenged permaculture to realise its potential and go beyond small scale, local inititatives. As he said, “The forces destroying our planet are global – acting local isn't good enough!”

Much of the workshop consisted of small group discussion following personal reflections. Some of the tasks & questions included:

• Draw a picture to represent the pandemic
• What did the pandemic force you to face about yourself?
• How did you adapt to COVID restrictions? (what worked for you? what didn't?)
• What worked for your community?
• How do we constructively work with diverse people?
• What does climate change adaptation mean for you? For your community? For Australia? For the world?
• Who are your climate allies? [how do you work with them? How often do you interact with them?]

The focus on community responses during the pandemic brought out many issues – the impact of corrosive minorities and anger, the danger of silo thinking, the need to see the humanity in all, the fact that working at different levels of scale requires different tactics and strategies.

This thoughtful and challenging material was delivered within a gentle, interactive framework that catered for participants at all levels. After the event, half the class joined Ben & organisers at a local Indian restaurant to continue the discussion!

[Ben Habib is a futured presenter during the BPG Permaculture Design Course. We highly recommend attending any of Ben's classes or talks!]