– Bill Mollison, Permaculture: A Designer’s Manuel 

For me the prime directive is the root from which all action in the world emanates. It’s about how we meet our needs in a world of finite resources and how we respond wisely to the multiple converging crises around us.

“Use your gifts and dreams for good…For all of us, becoming indigenous to a place means living as if your children’s future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it.” Skywoman (Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer)

I have chosen to illustrate the prime directive with this starburst pattern. From me at the centre, nodes move out in all directions. It is a reminder that I have been called to action. That my primary goal is to use the gifts and talents I have for good.

In order for us to begin addressing the challenges we face we must focus both on individual behaviour change and collective action.

To begin understanding the system in which I live, I have created two network maps. One of my personal relationships, the other of the projects I am involved with in the community. The network maps uncover the way each node in the system is connected, by linking them together. 

UPDATE Feb 13 2022 – And as is the way of things, everything changes. The process of creating these network maps has made me realise I am aiming to do too much. This has helped me identify what’s actually important for me to be focusing on. I have seriously culled and reigned in the scope of my projects and endeavours. This was a useful process indeed. I can now move forward from a place of better awareness of what I can achieve and where to put my energies.