I thought if something was a good idea, we should be able to apply it to ourselves as guinea pigs and do something with it, rather than just tell other people what they should do.

A lot of people do get stuck on the idea that they can't pour energy into something unless they own it. Given the current situation, property ownership is getting more and more unlikely. And it is not the essential part. If you're able to roll with adaption, and build the skill base of being a really useful person, there are so many more opportunities. And that's a skill for the future, because that's what the world is going to be like.

Some ideas need to be continually reinvented and rediscovered, particularly an idea like the omnipotence of humans. It takes a long time to give up.

The Earth is a living, breathing entity. Without ongoing care and nurturing, there will be consequences too big to ignore.

The permaculture's whole principle of having to work with nature, rather than fight against it, is not just an ethical restraint. It's also about realizing you're not the one in control. Nature is not only a nurturer but also a great destroyer.

I'm under no illusion that the future will be a neat and tidy or desirable world. We will gain a lot of things through necessity and a lot of them through all sorts of fragile dysfunction - not because they're bad ideas but because they will inevitably be adopted in a chaotic, reactive way.

When we work with nature instead of trying to impose our will, the solution is often found within the problem.