Today I was attending a permaculture workshop at Santa Barbara City College and we were wondering if the tsunami watch following the 8.8 earthquake in Chile that has been called for the west coast was going to amount to anything. The Chile quake seems so far not to have caused anywhere near the damage of the smaller quake in Haiti last month. Chile has a more intact infrastructure, more stringent building codes and more wealth to accomplish those aims. Despite being warned from the area, many folks were on the beach below the SBCC campus, expecting to witness who knows what. Instead of a terrifying wave of destruction, we were treated to an amazingly vivid rainbow. I drove back to Ojai passing under the rainbow that stretched from the hills to the sea. The waves crashed along the coast and the rain lashed against my windshield. I was late to a dinner and fundraiser that my friends Bob and Lisa were hosting to raise money to send to Haiti. One of the guests brought along a letter from someone on the ground in Port au Prince that was read aloud. This person described a different scene than what some of the media outlets have reported. Cooperation, orderly sharing of food and goods, medical care, even surgery, being done in modest but safe conditions and a sense of caring and dignity. The letter writer stressed that while there were some incidents of violence, those were rare and instead the overall tenor is one of compassion. Reflecting on the news of the day reinforces for me the value of the ultimate goals of permaculture: creating the conditions for life to happen in a harmonious, pleasurable and joyous way. The more we do to become resilient as individuals and communities, the more we will be able to roll with what comes our way. The permaculture ethics of care for the earth, care for people and share the surplus of our efforts are pretty simple and are being put into practice all over the world every day. The rainbow seems like a good reminder to focus on all that’s going well amidst the challenges the world is facing and to renew the covenant within ourselves as well as with one another to see and support the highest good in everyone.
