What_Is_Permaculture

What is Permaculture?

(Note: The following is an excerpt from The Willowell Land Parcel:

Designing Education with Permaculture by Emily Watson-Blagden.

This text is copyrighted by the author, <c> 2007)

The Permaculture concept was created in Australia in the mid

1970s, the result of collaboration between Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, It was meant as a positivist response to the environmental crises facing modern society. The word “permaculture” comes from a contraction of permanent (sustainable) agriculture and permanent (sustainable) culture, suggesting the permaculture vision of using whole-systems thinking to create “consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fiber and energy for provision of local needs” (Holmgren).

Though popularly known as a system of gardening, permaculture has developed into a comprehensive design system that is applied both to landscapes, physical and energetic resources, and human organizations. For some, permaculture also represents a counter-cultural lifestyle that exemplifies sustainability. As Australian permaculture designer Emma Chapman writes, “Its goals and priorities coincide with what many people see as the core requirements for sustainability."

Permaculture design is defined as “the use of systems thinking and design principles that provide the organizing framework” for implementing the permaculture vision (Holmgren). It is traditionally applied to land stewardship, impacting nature as well as drawing on natural systems for inspiration. However, the permaculture design system is now being more broadly applied to other spheres including social structures, community living models, and individual lifestyles.

Permaculture design uses a set of specific ethical principles to provide an organizational framework to implement its vision of creating sustainable human living systems. Three major ethical principles guide its implementation: Earth Care, People Care, and Resource Share.

Earth Care involves several key elements: care for the soil out of which all food comes; stewardship of resources in order to leave them in better shape after use; preservation of biodiversity, and; demonstrating respect for the intrinsic value of all living things by reducing our environmental impact.

People Care defines permaculture as intrinsically human-centered, but encourages us to accept responsibility for our choices and lifestyles by using permaculture to improve our quality of life and the quality of the lives of others (both human and non-human). People Care also involves reducing our dependence on the global economy in order to limit our contribution to an unequal world.

Finally, Resource Share encourages us to set limits to our own consumption and reduce our “ecological footprint.” in order to aid in the distribution of surpluses and eliminate a world of “haves” and “have-nots.”

In addition to ethical principles, permaculture employs a specific set of design principles to provide a framework for implementing its vision. Design principles are defined as short statements used by designers to recall overarching design concepts in permaculture when considering the many options for designing living systems. Design principles find their scientific foundation in systems ecology, landscape geography and ethnobiology, as well as systems thinking. Though they are seen as universally applicable, their application is greatly variable according to individual situations and locations.

Permaculture design principles are many and varied. Here, I briefly lay out five principles as defined in David Holmgren’s 2005 book Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.

1. Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services: This principle encourages us to focus on renewable energy sources and services to provide for our needs.

2. Catch and Store Energy: This principle looks at capturing and storing energy over the long-term, as seen in the use of ponds to store water or the creation of insulating buildings to store heat.

3. Observe and Interact: This principle embodies the belief that protracted and thoughtful observation over time, in combination with interactive gathering of feedback, is necessary to determine the success or failure of a design choice.

4. Integrate Rather than Segregate: This principle explores the ways in which the needs of one design element can be met by the yields of another.

5. Use and Value Diversity: This principle focuses on the understanding that diversity allows us to meet our needs in multiple ways while protecting us against failures of critical systems.

Designing the Willowell Land with Permaculture

In addition to the Permaculture design principles, I used the Permaculture design process outlined by my mentors Dave Jacke and Jono Neiger in designing the Willowell Land. Based on the Conway School of Landscape Design’s process, permaculture design involves extensive interviewing of land owners, detailed site analysis and assessment, and a meticulous design phase. The results of the design process are available here.

To learn more about permaculture, I highly recommend these books as a great place to get started.

Introduction to Permaculture, Bill Mollison and Reny Mia-Slay

Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability, David Holmgren

Edible Forest Gardens, Dave Jacke with Eric Toensmeier

To learn more about the Willowell Foundation’s long term ecological land use plans, please Click Here.