I have been a permaculture design practitioner for 20 years and would suggest it is a both-and … we need the grass-roots daily practice and we need language that speaks to many different people (not always the same language for all or speaking to all at once) … the “lofty ideals” are organsing ideas that invite shifts up-stream, but we have to work on the whole river … most of the elders of the regenerative design and regenerative development world have a deep background in permaculture — which is to a large extent a reframing of ancient indigenous wisdom and land management practices — …

I found that I am happiest when I do all three of the practices you mention and sometimes I do not manage to do all of them at the same time, but have periods where one or the other dominates … definitely on the path to refocussing on growing a garden and growing a community again (but then don’t complain that there will be less posts to read ;-)