The Roots of Finperma: Natural Capital Principled In Economics

🌱Permaculture Practices:

Finperma is simply a set of ethics that models a systems thinking approach to economics. Modern economics measure standard of living by the accumulation amount of consumption. “Consumption to be the sole end and purpose to all economic activity, taking the factors of production: land, labour, capital, and [entrepreneurship] – as the means” (Schumacher, 1973). Financial Permaculture is sort of an information technology that strives to optimize economic returns, holistically. To apply efficient design, that generates the least amount of waste for the highest yield, needs to take into account the actual social and ecological costs within a local economy (Morgan, 2023). Therefore to decode FINPERMA is to decode economic permanence.

The Ethics of Permaculture: According to Dictionary.com, the word “ethics” represents “a system of moral principles”; or “the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.” With regards to permaculture, its ethical base layer are defined as (3) subsets: 1) Earth Care; 2) People Care; and 3) Fair Shares.

Earth Care: The ethical approach to earth care respects and preserves the biodiversity of the planet and being a function for creating new habitats. As a living organism, Earth is able to self-regulate, evolve and sustain the multitude of life upon it (Macnamara, What is Permaculture?, 2012, p. 4). Permaculture is a way to intrinsically value all life on earth, and teaches systemic efficiency, productivity, and resilience. Permaculture is a value system that benefits the whole of its ecosystem, rather than a sum of its parts, not just resources society deem to be useful or attractive, but all the excesses too (Macnamara, What is Permaculture?, 2012, p. 4).

Earth care shares a relationship with economics on the basis of supply and demand. Production and reduction come with a cost. By preventing environmental damage or consequences of human action, efficient and resilient communities could form. Through community, such as permaculture communities or monetary communities, innovation tends to occur at inflection points (which in my belief we are currently experiencing one).

However, within the permaculture sphere, inflection points could be sourced from climate changes, carbon emissions, resource depletion, etc. Inflection points as it relates to money reflect economic crisis, with the dependent variable being the business cycle or secular trending macroeconomic changes. Earth care and money are disciplined in cyclicality with the cycles circling around both business and environment. How we manage woodlands, treat sewage, protect wildlife, build homes and grow food all determines the trajectory of human activity whether positively or negatively adding stress to the life support system of the planet (Macnamara, What is Permaculture?, 2012, p. 4) Therefore, it is safe to assume that if humanity fails at caring for the planet, we, as a species will not be able to survive.

People Care: People care attends the functional need(s) of societal sustainability such as physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual. For people to have their needs fulfilled, and to improve in positive ways, we must be treated with compassion, empathy, and kindness. Without the action of compassion, empathy, and kindness, it can detour people [you, me and us] into unsustainable, unjust, and polluting ways (Macnamara, What is Permaculture?, 2012, p. 5). When attaching people care and economics together, examples can include charitable actions, volunteering your time, starting social enterprises, or anything else that is social or economic in nature. 

People care is a very important ethical concept due life, death, and change being constant. Besides economic crisis, another way to inspire change is driven by community and education. The more that society learns the bigger the shifts in behavior, movement and perspective. People Care suggests that the way towards higher economic output on a longer-term basis is through the encouragement of the collective over the individual. Higher economic outputs and benefits can be attained when speed transforms and transitions. More cohesive and supportive societies, which in turn can lead to stronger and more resilient economies, can infuse humanity with a greater sense of purpose and belonging. “The current state of the planet has arisen from the thoughts and actions of humans past and present. The ethic of people care includes changing the thinking behind our actions. Once our thinking changes, our actions will follow suit. Some of the skills and qualities we need for people care are leadership, openness, kindness, acceptance, curiosity, patience, tolerance, vision, motivation and sharing” (Macnamara, What is Permaculture?, 2012, p. 5). Relating people care to money’s effectiveness is through how money gets used by by the people, thus incurring change in trajectory, supply and demand effects.

Fair Shares: The ethics of fair shares is to promote equal opportunity, justice, and abundance for all amongst society. Fair shares as an ethical can be summarized as, “some for all, forever. It has two aspects to it. The first is living within limits, limiting our consumption and not exceeding natural boundaries or exploiting people with our choices. The second aspect of giving away surplus.” (Macnamara, What is Permaculture?, 2012, p. 5). Existing research shows evidence of there being large and divisive gaps between the rich and the poor. It factors into opportunity costs as there may exist differences between needs and wants. Therefore, fair shares help to fundamentally change habits with regards to consumption. It allows the right for all people to share, contribute, and distribute resources equitably. Equal access to goods and services can enhance systems of economic and political participation. With relation to money, wealth needs to be fundamentally fair. Using universal tax to percentage as an example, and without gimmicks or cheating the system, no matter the income you fairly pay the same percentage of tax. When things are deemed fair, there may be less resentment, lack of trust, complacency, and exploitation (Macnamara, What is Permaculture?, 2012, p. 6) When considering fairness amongst businesses, consumers have tendency to gravitate toward supporting businesses that promote fairness, along with economically or socially contributing to the broader community. Equal opportunity is a candidate that can be both stable and prosperous.

🚀Bitcoin Breakdown:

To further understand drivers of economies, societies, and institutions, there must first be an in-depth diagnosis between two branches of permanence: nature and money Data suggests that economics and natural capital are correlated, and both share many patterns and similarities (see figure below).

Economic Permanence & Bitcoin: 

Economic permanence withstands economic shocks, such as recessions or natural disasters, by effectively adapting and navigating changing economic conditions and circumstances. Economic growth is a contributor of economic permanence, and is defined by four factors of production: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship (Hicks, 2020). A country’s resilience to economic shocks is influenced by its overall exposure to global economic developments and natural resources. The big difference between money and the environment, is that the environment can self-sustain itself without humans, as money cannot.

It is not that “money is the root of all evil” instead “it is the love of money that is the root of all evil”. Human psychology functions at its core on two emotions: fear and greed. It is fear and/or greed that pollutes our actions and conscious, and this can be viewed throughout the course of history. As money is deeply circulated as a control mechanism to make society function, then we should begin looking at nature as a bank account. An account that is we contribute positively to it, it will compound our efforts positively. On the contrary, if we recklessly spend our resources, then our bank account will be depleted and we will suffer. Human activity and natural resources aren’t any different, which we are seeing its effects today.

As we face the growing urgency from climate crisis and economic inequality, it is actually a function of cycles, because human behavior is cyclical. Let’s break this down…

Seasons occur over four quadrants (Spring - Summer - Fall - Winter)

The Human lifespan occurs over four quadrants (Childhood (including infancy) – Adolescence – Adulthood – Old Age).

Money occur over four quadrants (Expansion – Peak – Contraction – Trough)

Why is this important to understand? Because it shows the evolution of various life forms, along with its shared similarities. All cycles have peaks and valleys, changes and transitions, life and death. However, we humans come to terms with aging, dying, changing, improving, advancing, and getting accustomed to changes in seasonality, yet we have a very difficult time doing the same with money… interesting.

Bitcoin As A Part Of The Solution

In permaculture, the circular economy represents keeping things local to reduce dependencies, solidify identity, and to be used as a tool for building strong communities. It is a monetary system that teaches its participant to locally connect untapped resources with locally unmet needs. By studying the needs of people, is to understand the needs of money. Money is insightful, has a story to tell, and acknowledges the needs of the community. However, as all money operates under different systems and regimes, there are only ever two outcomes for the usefulness of money: success or failure.

Nothing is fundamentally more important than the exploration of a fair system. To give voice to furthering potential solutions as we strive towards a more sound, efficient, resilient monetary system, where everyone can win without the need to artificially grow, but rather grow through reciprocity. Therefore, the best approach to identifying problems and potential solutions is to begin rethinking, not how the world has previously worked, but to imagine how the world can be reimagined. Therefore Bitcoin, as with nature, functions poorly without a highly dense network of participants. The network is how Bitcoin And just like any other investments (which I argue Bitcoin is not only an investment, but a long-term savings vehicle), when the life cycle of a Bitcoiner ends, if proper estate planning hasn’t been implemented, or if an owner chooses, they can “pay it forward” by donating their Bitcoin to the network upon death, which makes the value of everyone else’s Bitcoin rise. “obtains yield.”

Financial intimacy occurs within Bitcoin, permanently written within its original lines of Bitcoin code, which uses trust in a trustless way (nodes, developers, miners, users organized by predictability, scarcity, transparency, etc.). The self-regulation component of Bitcoin is the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Without all the parts, there isn’t any innovation, use-cases, scalability, and revolution.

Bitcoin observes and interacts by being a deflationary currency that operates in an inflationary world. When money prints, the value of all assets against Bitcoin falls. Bitcoin is a paradigm shift that creatively uses scarcity to mirrors the economy against fiat currency debasement.

Lastly, Bitcoin uses and values diversity because its edge is that anyone can participate, regardless of another’s opinion. Bitcoin is freedom money, and freedom doesn’t segregate.

🌍Community Events & Workshops: 

My learn for learning never stops, especially with regards to technology. I try to make minimum one Bitcoin conference per year to get up to speed with new Bitcoin developments.

2021: Bitcoin 2021 (Miami, Florida)

2022: Paris Blockchain Week (Paris, France)

2023: Adopting Bitcoin (San Salvador, El Salvador)

This Year (2024): Baltic HoneyBadger 2024 (Riga, Latvia)

Conferences are great places to learn and network simultaneously. If you are serious about learning, try a conference. In my experiences at Bitcoin conferences, Bitcoiners love discussing all thing Bitcoin with those from novices to experts.

But if you prefer to listen less, and experience more, then maybe Adopting Bitcoin - Arnhem, which will take place May 25th, 2024 at Arnhem Bitcoin City, The Netherlands. Arnhem Bitcoin City is one of Bitcoin’s first circular economy that linked people with local businesses generating local commerce paid in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin circular economies are popping up all over the world, and are great advocates for how a global currency can look, feel, express, and produce change and opportunity at the local level.

�Hand-Picked Recommendations:

If you would like to know where you potential spend some of your Bitcoin, definitely checkout BTC Map…one of my favorite applications to locate and support local Bitcoin businesses. Is it really possible to buy a beer or coffee with, Bitcoin? Yes.

#SowSaveSustain

Next Month: The Bitcoin Halving Edition !

Raven S. Richardson at Finperma

Source(s) Verification:

Schumacher, E. (1973). Peace and Permanence. In E. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered (pp. 19-21). London: Blond & Briggs Ltd.

Morgan, J. E. (2023). Financial permaculture in action. Retrieved from Permaculture Women's Guild: https://www.permaculturewomen.com/financial-permaculture/

Macnamara, L. (2012). What is Permaculture? In L. Macnamara, People & Permaculture (p. 4 to p. 6). Hampshire, England: Permanent Publications.

Hicks, C. (2020, December 22). US News. Retrieved from What Are the Four Factors of Production?: https://www.wichita.edu/academics/business/CIBA/wtc/documents/FourFactorsOfProduction_Investing101_USNews.pdf

Pal, R. (2023, July 19). Academy Sessions: The Importance of the Business Cycle (Part One). Retrieved from Real Vision: https://www.realvision.com/shows/academy-sessions/videos/the-importance-of-the-business-cycle-part-1-0agK?tab=details